The turkey and pumpkin pie are stowed away, and the Black Friday and Cyber Monday rushes have passed. Now it is time to figure out which social strategies worked and which did not when spreading the word about all of those holiday deals.
Buddy Media analyzed user engagement of Facebook Wall Posts from more than 400 of the world’s largest brands during a four-week period (November 1, 2011 - November 28, 2011) to figure out what posting strategies received the most engagement in the days leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Three primary success metrics were reviewed in relation to brand Wall Posts: ‘Like’ rate (# of likes as a percentage of the fan base), Comment Rate (# of comments as a percentage of the fan base) and Engagement Rate (a combination of the previous two, factoring in fan base size).
Here are the six things to know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday Facebook Wall Posts:
1. "Coupon" received the highest engagement among sales keywords.
Eight sales keywords within Black Friday and Cyber Monday Posts were analyzed to determine which received the highest engagement. Posts containing “coupon” was the clear winner, with engagement rates twice as high as the average. Other words that received high engagement included “deal” and “sale.”
2. Thanksgiving was the best day to post about Black Friday.
Although brands posted less about Black Friday on Thanksgiving, engagement rates were highest on the holiday. Because people were online and shopping for deals right before sales were launched, Thanksgiving had an engagement rate 31% above the week’s average.
3. Brands talked less about Cyber Monday than Black Friday.
Brands posted more and received higher engagement rates about Black Friday than Posts about Cyber Monday. Black Friday Posts were five times as prevalent than Cyber Monday content, and had 23% higher engagement.
4. Black Friday messaging started late.
Even though brands started talking about Black Friday as early as November 1, they really only started ramping up Black Friday Posts during the week of Thanksgiving. Approximately 81% of all Black Friday Posts were sent out during a five-day period starting November 21. Brands still posted about Black Friday even after the event was over, but there was a 90% drop in Black Friday content from Friday to Saturday.
5. 72% of Cyber Monday Posts occurred on Cyber Monday
Unlike the week-long messaging focusing on Black Friday, Cyber Monday posts were only prominent on two days: Sunday and Monday. The heaviest Cyber Monday posting fell on the day of the actual event. Approximately 72% of Cyber Monday Posts occurred on Cyber Monday.
6. Simple status updates received the highest engagement.
Brands utilized text-only status updates with frequency equal to Posts containing links and photos, with videos making up only 1% of all Posts. But it was the text-only status updates that received the highest engagement, approximately 58% above average. Keeping it simple and avoiding complicated Wall Posts was the best way to engage users.
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