Written by: Joe Pappalardo
Engaging with customers through social media channels is no longer an option for retailers. As evidenced by the 2014 holiday shopping season, Walmart alone had over 40 million Facebook interactions. The issue for many retailers is deciding the best way in which to engage with their customers to influence shopping behavior. With Facebook recently turning 10 years old, many retailers are wondering if it is still a relevant platform. Following are statistics that say retailers should not only stick with Facebook but look towards expanding Facebook customer engagement.
Who uses Facebook
Several noteworthy Facebook customer engagement trends include usage has increased for both women and seniors. In addition, median number of Facebook “friends” is 155. Regarding “friends:” Facebook users also have a wide variety of friends on the network:
- 91% say they are Facebook friends with current friends
- 87% say they are connected to friends from the past, such as high school or college classmates
- 58% say they are connected to work colleagues
- 36% say they are Facebook friends with their neighbors
Source: Pew Research Center
What do they do on Facebook
Source: globalwebindex
Following brands on Facebook
Source: BuzzStream and FACTL
Facebook fans are better shoppers
Source: Yeti and Collective Bias
Shares pay off for Facebook
Facebook is the most popular platform for sharing, generating 73.68% of all social shares. For every Facebook share, 1.10 clicks where driven to the site. In addition, Facebook shares drove 3.4 times more revenue than a Facebook like and had a conversion rate 5.44 times higher than a like.
Source: AddShoppers
Where are marketers spending their time and money
Facebook is the most commonly used social platform by both B2C and B2B marketers surveyed. 92% of marketers surveyed say their social media efforts have generated more exposure for their businesses. 80% say they have seen increased traffic from their social media efforts.
Source: MarketingProfs