With a predicted growth of 8 percent as compared with last year, according to Prosper Spending Score, the 2014 U.S. holiday shopping season has begun. Many companies bank on the success of sales from November and December to wrap up their fiscal years on a profitable note, with Prosper estimating this year will be a $650 billion holiday retail season. Although Facebook and Twitter recently announced built-in commerce options, they’re being tested only by a handful of companies.
After surveying more than 120 social-media marketers, my client Offerpop found that Facebook still reigns supreme among ad dollar allocations, with 92 percent of marketers planning to spend the majority of their holiday social-media marketing budget on Facebook, despite the platform’s plummeting organic reach. (Offerpop clients and participants in its educational seminars were surveyed.) Sixty-seven percent of marketers polled said that they will increase their spending on social media this holiday season with the direct goal of increasing sales.
Oceanside, Calif.-based headphone company JLab Audio is also preparing to sell products online with the help of Facebook ads in a crowded marketplace (with competitors like Beats and Skullcandy). While the company leverages brand partnerships on social networks such as Instagram and Twitter, Facebook will be getting the lion's share of JLab Audio's holiday social-media budget, said marketing manager Jordanne Muldner. JLab plans to double this year's Facebook ad budget (over with 2013's level) and increase its social-media advertising budget for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Below view Offerpop's infographic about social-media marketing trends for this holiday season.
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