Study: Facebook leading social network for holiday promotion

New York-- During the 2014 holiday season, marketers will run more campaigns on Facebook than any other social network. According to new data from Experian Marketing Services, 49% of global marketers who run social-media campaigns will do so via organic Facebook posts, and 34% plan to use paid ads or boosted posts.



Facebook advertising will be more popular in North America than anywhere else in the world, with 46% of marketers planning paid campaigns in North America compared with 34% of all marketers globally. North American marketers are slightly more likely to use Twitter organically than they are to pay for Facebook, but they are more likely to pay for ads on Facebook than conduct organic campaigns in other social networks.



During the 2013 holiday season, Experian Marketing Services found that there was a 39% increase in traffic to retail sites from Facebook.



However, social campaigns will not stand alone. Experian Marketing Services found that 2014 social holiday campaigns, when used, are more likely to be integrated with other channels.



SMS will be the most popular mobile tactic this holiday season globally, with 29% of mobile marketers around the world reporting plans to use it. However, North American marketers will use mobile quite differently than other markets. While also taking advantage of SMS and apps, North American marketers are using mobile advertising much more widely than any other tactic at 47%. Mobile coupons will be another stand-out tactic used in North America.



In addition, 91% of marketers surveyed around the world will use email in their 2014 holiday marketing campaigns. Further, as more marketers look to integrate their campaigns across channels seamlessly, email will be the foundation of those cross-channel campaigns. Forty% of all marketers, and 68% of those running cross-channel campaigns, plan to integrate email in their cross-channel holiday campaigns, making it the most frequently integrated channel.



Experian Marketing Services also found that despite the barrage of emails from companies, especially during the holiday season, 71% of online adults say that they are influenced by promotional emails to take some sort of action. In addition, 40% of online adults say they’re influenced to make a purchase as a result of an email received from a retailer or other company.



In 2013, the most popular offer was free shipping, which was used by 39% of marketers in North America. For 2014, only 25% of marketers globally plan to use free shipping. Meanwhile, in North America, there was only a 1% decrease in free-shipping offers.



Experian Marketing Services found that among multichannel retailers, transaction rates for emails that include a free shipping offer are 72% more effective than those without, and revenue is 53.3% greater than those do not offer free shipping.