With the impending doom… er, launch of Black Friday, we decided to take a look at how people are talking about it on certain social media platforms. We dove into the numbers (using our Social Footprint tool) on Pinterest to find out which articles and other content pieces were getting pinned the most.
Some interesting trends started to appear almost immediately.
First, there is a huge difference between the top spot and the #50 spot. There could be a number of reasons for this, from the dedication of that pinner’s followers to the products on display.
Second, the rules of Pinterest hold true, and we see again that pins can carry value for a much longer time that the average social post.
Let me be a little more specific.
A simple search on Pinterest that related to Black Friday, and some data analysis with our social tool, gave us these results:
You will notice a lot of articles related to the best sales or deals of that particular year. But some of these sales actually happened back in 2013. And yet, a simple search brought them to the top of the results.
(Related content: The Real Value of Social Media for Your Business)
Of course, as this year’s Black Friday hovers ever closer, we would certainly see a lot more pins related to sales that are happening this November. It’s just that this information hasn’t been released yet. (But, as we’ve seen in another article, online marketing for Black Friday starts earlier every year, so it shouldn’t be long until those pins start appearing.)
The Takeaways
So what have we really learned here, aside from the fact that Black Friday is a national holiday for some and a day of pure anxiety for others?
Well, we’ve seen that even though some of these pins are years old, they still get thousands of pins and still show up in relevant searches. Some of these pins were even linked to pages and products that don’t actually exist anymore, but you can bet the websites are still receiving traffic from them. (Assuming they’ve got everything properly redirected, this can still be as effective as landing on the original product page.)
We’ve also seen the types of content that interest people around this season. Obviously, the deals pages are going to have a lot of interest. Social media practically blows up on the days leading up to and including Black Friday as people seek out, find, and share the best deals.
But we’re also seeing that a lot of the content that gets shared are the hints and tips to either a) survive the day, b) save money, or c) have a good laugh about the entire experience.
As this holiday marketing season continues, keep these trends in mind. Even after Black Friday is over, a variety of content types that spans the spectrum from fun and light to serious and important can help you reach the right audience.
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