Some great data from Marketing Profs on the growth of social media marketing among 100 US retailers from mid-July to mid-Sept. 2010. If you’re interested in seeing the full report from Media Logic, please click here.
Facebook fan bases have risen dramatically. In 2009, only Victoria’s Secret and its PINK division could boast a Facebook fan base of more than 1 million “fans.” By mid-Sept. 2010, 14 additional brands had surpassed the 1 million mark, with Victoria’s Secret on top (6,825,254 fans, up 87% from two months earlier), followed by Victoria’s Secret PINK (4,944,048), H&M (3,643,420), Kohl’s (2,752,182), and Forever 21 (2,194,373, up 45%).
A couple of interesting things jumped out at me here. One is that among retailers with 1 million or more fans, fan-base growth was 40% on average from mid-July to mid-Sept.; among the top-10 specialty apparel retailers, growth was near 50%. Four brands, Michael’s Crafts, Dress Barn, Kenneth Cole, and New York & Company, recorded fan-base growth of 100% or more.
That is tremendous growth on platform that that a has a high degree of saturation. Facebook is not a new social network anymore. So how did these retailers manage to grow their fan-base by so much?
It seems that to acquire Facebook fans, seven of the top 10 surveyed retail brands (and 14 of the top 25) land visitors by default on a promotions tab on their Facebook pages, at least during the active period of a promotion. These promotions offer insider access, self-promotion opportunities, and dollars (discounts and/or prizes), and they mix and prioritize such offerings based on what they sell.
Top 15 National Retailers by Facebook Fans:
Some great data from Marketing Profs on the growth of social media… http://bit.ly/aWiEKW