For non-profits, November and December translate to donation season. For businesses, it’s a time to think about what deals to offer their customers. And for marketers, it’s time to think – how will I help businesses reach the RIGHT customers?
[via MediaPost]
With consumers determined to limit their holiday spending, a new study predicts they will do more of their Christmas bargain-hunting through social media, and less through search engines or shopper review sites.
The study, from Oneupweb, compared holiday traffic trends over the last two years at the top-ranking e-tailers, social sites and review sites against the latest user trends, and found that while search engines have typically been the leading driver to retail sites, “social media is influencing search behavior and affecting the purchases a consumer makes.”
“We found that traffic to social sites steadily gained on retail sites in 2007 and 2008,” it says. Despite a holiday bump, direct traffic to online retail sites fell 10%, behind traffic to social sites, which grew 12% from December 2007 to December of last year. “Traffic to the review sites remained stagnant throughout the year, experiencing a mild bump during the holiday season,” the report says.
Will you be using social networks to drive sales this holiday season? If so, how will you work to adjust your existing marketing budget?