Social Media

New York - Across the country, there was strong support for local businesses on Small Business Saturday, with shopping up 14.9% from last year, according to the results from the Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, released today by American Express and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).    

Cyber Monday, the day of the year that traditionally sees the highest volume of digital shopping transactions, falls this week. In honor of the occasion, I’d like to offer three tips on how to keep the spirit of Cyber Monday alive throughout the year.   Obviously retailers cannot afford to offer Cyber Monday-level online bargain prices all year long, but there are several non-monetary steps they can take.   Make It Personal

San Francisco – Social media posts around holiday shopping peaked on Black Friday (Nov. 28) at 2.7 million. According to data from Salesforce, there were also about 1.84 million holiday shopping posts on Thanksgiving (Nov. 27), and about 719,000 posts the day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 26).  

To celebrate the busiest monogramming season of the year, Lands’ End is launching #MonogramMonday.

New York - Nordstrom was the most engaged retail brand on Pinterest, followed by Amazon, according to Curalate, which collected more than 180,000 Pins and analyzed nearly five million interactions associated with the Top 100 brands from November 1st to November 21. Rounding out the top five:Urban Outfitters, American Eagle Outfitters and Zulily.

New York - Macy's continues its aggressive social media push with the launch of online video ads on Facebook starting on Thanksgiving evening. The ads are part of the retailer’s Black Friday weekend campaign.   The ads will feature cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants, who will also appear in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. They will target women age 21 and over.   

When Macy's kicks off the holiday shopping season with its traditional parade on Thanksgiving Day, the retailer will also be deploying social media to complement its holiday push.

The company earlier this year was one of the first retailers to launch Facebook video ads. On Thursday evening, Macy’s will roll out its next round of video ads, this time to coincide with its Black Friday weekend campaign.

Armonk, N.Y. - Online sales were up 18.7% the weekend before Thanksgiving (Nov. 22-23) compared to the same two-day period in 2013. According to IBM Digital Benchmark analysis, mobile traffic accounted for 48.8% of all online traffic, an increase of 24.4% year-over-year.

In addition, mobile sales accounted for 26.6% of all online sales, an increase of 23.9% year-over-year.

Armonk, N.Y. - Online sales were up 18.7% the weekend before Thanksgiving (Nov. 22-23) compared to the same two-day period in 2013. According to IBM Digital Benchmark analysis, mobile traffic accounted for 48.8% of all online traffic, an increase of 24.4% year-over-year.

In addition, mobile sales accounted for 26.6% of all online sales, an increase of 23.9% year-over-year.