Niche Social Networks Reinvent Cyber Monday 2.0

Facebook and Twitter might be the ruling social networks for sharing Cyber Monday deals, but niche sites like Pinterest, Reddit, and Foursquare are climbing into the social deal space in ways that are comfortingly familiar. Pinterest According the the Adobe Digital Index, Pinterest will show the most growth in referrals year-over-year. How does the virtual pinboard compare to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ in terms of overall share of referrals? "Facebook and Twitter will jointly comprise 76% of social referral traffic to retail websites this season," said Tamara Gaffney, senior marketing manager at Adobe Digital Index,"but their growth is flat compared to last year, whereas Pinterest referrals are expected to double this year as the very visual platform has proven to have a strong influence on purchasing. Social referrals from Google+ are very minimal." Like a holiday catalog on steroids, this Cyber Monday board from Budget Savvy Diva shows a new Cyber Monday deal every hour. The Diva marks the pins with a "** Cyber Monday **" tag and also makes use of Pinterest's price banners. The pictures aren't quite as artsy as those of the holiday desserts she posts, but they match the newspaper inserts that consumers look for every Sunday. Foursquare and Reddit Check-in service Foursquare is truly a click-and-mortar experience, with an online activity to match in-store visits. Today, Foursquare's Explore tab is filled with discounts that shoppers can unlock by checking in, like 20 percent off or more at Toys ‘R’ US . Burlington Coat Factory will also donate a coat to charity when Foursquare users check into the store. Another site that's getting people into the spirit of giving is Reddit, where community members are once again playing Secret Santa for each other through redditgifts. With tens of thousands of gift-givers to wrangle through the process, the project is a monstrous undertaking, but the reddit team makes sure that everyone who signs up actually participates and is working on matching santas without revealing home addresses. The site also offers gift cards for its virtual currency, reddit gold. Cyber Monday versus Black Friday According to Gaffney, Cyber Monday will be even bigger than Black Friday. "Just to be clear, we’re predicting that Cyber Monday will far outpace Black Friday in terms of online sales only, but not in terms of retail spending overall," she said. "In general, Mondays are the largest online sales days year-round due to high speed access available at work. Recently, as high-speed access has become widespread, other factors drive Cyber Monday sales. For example, promotional activities have conditioned customers to expect the biggest in-store discounts on Black Friday and the biggest online discounts on Cyber Monday, prompting them to save more of their online purchasing for Monday."

Social Pro Daily

Niche Social Networks Reinvent Cyber Monday 2.0

Facebook and Twitter might be the ruling social networks for sharing Cyber Monday deals, but niche sites like Pinterest, Reddit, and Foursquare are climbing into the social deal space in ways that are comfortingly familiar.

Devon Glenn

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Devon Glenn