Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you know the holidays are in full swing. And while spending time with family and friends are holiday staples, another holiday pastime is shopping. By that, I mean Black Friday.
While we’re still a little over a week away, many consumers have already begun planning their Black Friday strategy. But who are these consumers? What are their interests? For marketers who want to target these consumers, understanding who they are is paramount to those efforts. The more they understand, the easier it will be to reach them.
We recently leveraged our Social Media Analysis tool to conduct a study* of active social media users who mentioned #BlackFriday in posts, and we got a glimpse into the television shows, restaurants and types of brands they were more likely to follow and engage with on social media.
Top television shows
These are the social media handles for the television shows that #BlackFriday enthusiasts are more likely to follow than the overall population.
- Extra TV – 20.12 times more likely
- Stranger Things – 17.29 times more likely
- Jessica Jones – 16.64 times more likely
- Daredevil – 15.14 times more likely
- Gotham – 13.89 times more likely
- The Flash – 12.36 times more likely
- Star Trek – 10.95 times more likely
- Robot – 10.82 times more likely
- Empire – 10.67 times more likely
- Agents of Shield – 10.15 times more likely
Top restaurants
These are the social media handles for the restaurants that #BlackFriday enthusiasts are more likely to follow than the overall population.
- Little Caesars – 24.43 times more likely
- IHOP – 18.82 times more likely
- Krispy Kreme – 18.77 times more likely
- Red Lobster – 17.94 times more likely
- Applebee’s – 14.87 times more likely
- Dairy Queen – 13.96 times more likely
- Outback Steakhouse – 13.93 times more likely
- KFC – 13.88 times more likely
- Olive Garden – 13.59 times more likely
- Burger King – 13.42 times more likely
Top brands types
These are the types of brands that #BlackFriday enthusiasts are more likely to follow than the overall population.
- Household-Toys – 26.09 times more likely
- Stores-Consumer Electronics – 9.68 times more likely
- Beauty-Skincare – 8.70 times more likely
- Stores-Department – 7.15 times more likely
- Services – 6.94 times more likely
What marketing fuel does this provide?
There’s no doubt that core demographic and geographic information are key components to understanding a specific consumer population, but marketers that want to stand out also need to understand the psychographic and lifestyle characteristics of their audience. These insights give marketers a glimpse into what makes the #BlackFriday consumer tick; what they like; where they eat; etc.
When you tap into this type of rich, organic, consumer-generated data, you have the power to start making marketing decisions that may not have been obvious before. In this case of our #BlackFriday analysis, a brand who wants to reach the Black Friday shopper who is willing to put down their turkey day casserole and take out their holiday cash, may consider revising their media buy. For example, perhaps a brand doubles down on TV ad buys and commercials during Extra TV in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. And since three of the top five shows are OTT (over the top or streaming), they could also consider pivoting to other channels or partners to help get the word out. Who knows – maybe you could reward parents shopping at Toys R’ Us with a free pizza from Little Caesars to take off some of the holiday stress. The data shows there could be synergy in partnerships or promotions that hasn’t been tapped before.
When people hear the word ‘data,’ they may have visions of people pouring over spreadsheets and numbers into the wee hours of the night. But when I look at Social Media Analysis, I see billions of pieces of data that have been distilled into audience intelligence that marketers 20 years ago would have fought over. This data cannot only fuel great business decisions, but more importantly, a ton of creativity. And backed by data, creativity is where brands can crush it. I can’t wait for this holiday season to reveal which marketers have used data successfully with the hearts, minds…and pocketbooks, of the people they are looking to attract.
For more information on the launch of Social Media Analysis, visit https://www.experianplc.com/media/news/2016/social-media-analysis/
*This analysis is based on SpotRight’s active Twitter user profiles, and is derived from consumers tweeting about “#blackfriday” between August and November 2016. Active is defined as consumers who have tweeted in the past 12 months.