CPC Strategy: Black Friday through Cyber Monday social trends on Instagram and Facebook

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Dec 9, 2017

Specialty e-commerce agency CPC Strategy has released a Black Friday through Cyber Monday holiday consumer spending report that sheds light on key social media conversations and shopping trends on Facebook and Instagram.

According to Facebook, 130 million users posted about deals they obtained shopping from November 23-27. Content shared included deals shoppers found online and specific products they purchased.

Facebook reported 90 million posts about shopping. The report also found that 52 million accounts discussed holiday shopping and purchases on Instagram.

The data revealed that Small Business Saturday discussions outpaced Cyber Monday. 3.5 million consumers used hashtags including "shop small" and "shop local" on Small Business Saturday, compared to just under 2 million consumers who engaged on social channels for Cyber Monday.

Facebook's ad prices went up on both platforms. Retailers had to spend an average of 12.5% more per ad over last year, however clicks and revenue were both up 36% from last year. Facebook reports the return on advertising sales almost doubled as a result of more sophisticated audience targeting.

Other trends Facebook's analytics revealed were that there was a dip in pre-Thanksgiving sales, suggesting consumers were waiting for sales before purchasing. Consumers also seemed to view the five days including Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday as a long-term promotional opportunity, a departure from the historic view that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two singular shopping days.

Facebook also saw a lot of advertisers run out of product due to poor inventory planning. Another aspect to be considered by companies in their preparation is that ads have to be manually approved on Facebook and Instagram – they do not go live immediately which caused a delay in ads, sometimes up to 72 hours.

CPC Strategy also noted that while Q4 tends to be when people purchase gifts for others, Q1 in January sees a boost as well. At the start of the new year, consumers shift their purchases to cater to themselves, in part due to returns, gift cards and more cash in hand. CPC Strategy, which works with Google Shopping and Amazon among others, noted that January tends to be "massive" for its clients.