Nov 12, 2014 By Drew Beechler

in Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Industry Report

Top Social Media Benchmarks for the Retail and E-Commerce Industry

We recently analyzed over 3 million tweets and 2 million Facebook posts in our Social Engagement Benchmark Report for Twitter and Social Engagement Benchmark Report for Facebook. These reports analyzed benchmark statistics across our seven key industries-including Retail and E-Commerce-and revealed several key insights. I've pulled out some of the key recommendations and findings for the Retail and E-Commerce industry below. You can also see our Slideshare decks with all our Retail and E-Commerce research at the bottom of the post.

Social Engagement Benchmark Report:

Metrics from 3+ Million Tweets Sent Through Our Platform
{Download Now}

Don't Overlook Twitter During the Holidays

Given retail brands' propensity for holiday marketing, it comes as no surprise that December sees the most tweets from retail brands, with the number of tweets steadily increasing from October through the end of the year. Consumers responded in December by nearly doubling the amount of replies. Average retweets in December for retail brands also reached 27.1, and the average retweets for the whole year was only 11.5.

Devon McGinnis recently wrote on our blog about this holiday bump in Twitter usage and engagement for retail brands. Be sure to read her article for a deeper analysis and data on this trend.

Post More on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays

Consumers are most engaged with retail brands on Twitter on Thursdays and Fridays, so brands in this industry have a unique opportunity to capture consumer attention before they make plans for weekend shopping trips.

For Facebook, retail posts may be especially well received on Fridays and Saturdays, when Facebook engagement rates for retail and e-commerce brands are at their peak. Engagement by reach on Fridays is 1.79% while the average engagement by reach is 1.47% for retail and e-commerce.

Tailor Your Social Posting Strategy to Your Brand's Shopping Trends

In our Twitter benchmark data, we see a peak in engagement from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. CST for retail and e-commerce brands. The average retweets in this time frame was 14.7 as you can see in the chart below. Our recommendation, though, would be to think about your brand's unique peak shopping times when planning a Twitter content strategy and test your own posting and content for optimal posting times. Don't be afraid of posting during "off-hours," though.

For Facebook, marketers posting between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. CST are garnering the highest rates of likes and links clicked. 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. was the second-highest time of day for links clicked and the best time of the day for average shares.