Facebook Shared 5 Holiday Shopping Season Tips for Marketers

Conversations about the holiday shopping season are already happening on Facebook, as the social network reported that some 19 million people generated about 40 million related interactions from Nov. 1 through 8. According to Facebook, 76 percent of the talk was driven by women, and 27 percent came from the 25-through-34 age group. The top countries in terms of holiday shopping season conversation during that time period were: U.S. U.K. Canada South Africa Philippines And the top five U.S. cities were: New York Chicago Houston Los Angeles Atlanta The top 10 related hashtags were: #blackfriday #christmas #holidays #gift #shoplocal #shopping #love #family #christmasgifts #thanksgiving Facebook said in a blog post that research firm eMarketer pegged the 2018 holiday shopping season as the first one in U.S. history to generate $1 trillion in sales, and it shared five ways for marketers to ensure that their brands grab their share: Grab the attention of users with new themed templates and overlays: The social network created new holiday-themed video templates to help marketers convert images and text into mobile-first video ads. And for brands already using dynamic ads to provide personalized product recommendations, new creative tools enable them to overlay seasonal decorations. [kickout id="1"] [kickout id="2"] Use the collection ad format to help people discover products and services and complete the purchase journey: Collection ads enable people to browse brands’ offerings in a quick-loading post-click experience powered by Facebook’s Instant Experience (formerly Canvas). They can tap on a collection ad in News Feed and quickly move from discovery to purchase. [kickout id="3"] Use Instagram’s shopping offerings to drive sales: Facebook cited a study by Salesforce, which found that ecommerce traffic on Instagram is projected to rise 51 percent in the 2018 holiday shopping season compared with the same period a year ago. The social network said during its third-quarter-2018 earnings call that 90 million Instagram accounts tap on shopping posts to learn more about the products being featured—pricing, product details—every month. And the Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing network began testing shopping in its Explore tab in September. Use ads in Marketplace to help maximize campaign results: 800 million people are coming to Facebook every month to buy and sell things, so including Marketplace as an ad placement via automatic placements can help drive holiday sales, the social network said, adding, “It's important to promote your products and holiday offerings where people are already shopping.” Take advantage of the store visits objective: Facebook cited an eMarketer study that found that despite surging ecommerce numbers, the majority of U.S. consumers will still shop in brick-and-mortar locations this holiday season, and the social network added, “The store visits objective can help drive traffic to your store by targeting shoppers near your store with personalized messaging based on their location.” Facebook vice president of global marketing solutions, North America Nada Stirratt said, “Every holiday season, people gather on Facebook to discuss, discover and shop for the experiences, brands and products that bring them joy. And over the past few years, we've seen these conversations kick off long before the heart of the holiday shopping season—and that holds true this year, as well. To help marketers as we approach the busiest shopping days of the year, we're sharing a few key tips to make it easier for brands to connect with shoppers and for shoppers to discover and buy just the gift they were looking for.”