Retailers rely on social media advertising for Christmas

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Retailers and food chains are leaving traditional marketing channels behind this Christmas as 47% look to increase their social media campaigns over the holiday period, according to Shop.org.

According to a report on Reuters, marketers believe that the medium of social media just wasn’t as far along and important last Christmas as it is this year.

A number of brands have said already that they will use sites like Twitter and Facebook to post their best holiday deals to reach loyal consumers.

But the question remains how many of those fans, friends and Twitter followers will translate that loyalty into sales.

Last year's weak holiday results provide e-tailers with a relatively low hurdle to meet, or exceed, past performance. Doing more than just beating last year' s performance will be hard, especially in a year of restrained shopping, when consumers are looking franticly for "free shipping and handling" offers, sales, and coupons to keep their holiday spending costs down.

Social media is luring an increasing number of consumers. Facebook has 300 million users, up from 250 million in July.

Companies are shifting dollars away from traditional marketing and putting them toward interactive marketing, according to Forrester Research, estimating that spending on social media marketing in the US alone is set to reach £370 million in value by the end of this year.

However, many advertisers have admitted they are still trying to figure out how the media can be used to support sales beyond generating a one-time boost, while also not becoming overly promotional.

Meanwhile, eBay Advertising is predicting a healthy Christmas for online retail with 85% of consumers intending to maintain or increase their online shopping, on the back of new findings.

The study also found that more than a third (37%) will shop more online compared to last year, despite the prevailing tough economy. It also reveals 86% of UK online shoppers are shopping the same or more online overall compared to six months ago, citing trust (78%) and selection (70%) and value (70%) as the key reasons.