An analysis of the performance of the major supermarkets on social media in the run-up to Christmas has shown those using the platforms to reflect human interest stories, provide practical support or suggest cost-saving ideas resonated most with users.
The analysis, conducted by social media specialists Maybe*, reveals that Aldi and Marks & Spencer top the overall list for the most engaging social media posts during December with a total of 127k and 116k engagements each respectively. Aldi came out on top despite having only 3.5 million social media followers compared with the 8.4 million who follow Marks & Spencer.
Ironically, the two have been in the news for more contentious reasons in recent months, with Marks & Spencer suing Aldi for allegedly copying the look of its ‘very Instagrammable’ light-up festive gin bottles, a dispute that comes in the wake of a now settled copyright row between the two retailers which saw M&S accuse Aldi of copying its Colin the Caterpillar cake.
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The most successful post overall in December was Aldi’s video guide on Facebook showing followers how to make an affordable, edible charcuterie Christmas tree from products all available in store. The post received 156k likes – some 7% of its 2.17 million Facebook followers – and was shared 58k times.
“If you look at the posts that resonated most with social media followers this Christmas, the best performing were the ones that were less overtly commercial,” explains Polly Barnfield OBE, CEO of Maybe*.
“Whether it was Waitrose in November on Instagram promoting free hot drinks from self-serve coffee machines in store to Marks & Spencer’s Instagram reel three days before Christmas on how to create candy-cane-inspired nail art, the focus was very much on practical help and guidance. Of course, it’s not all altruistic – the supermarkets will know that ideas that resonated well on social media will have driven footfall in store for shoppers to make these ideas happen for themselves.”
The third most successful post genuinely tapped into our desire for feel good human stories at this time of year. ASDA’s Facebook post about seven-year-old Hayden Santer, who used his pocket money to buy groceries in its Blyth store to donate them to the town’s food bank, received 18,000 likes and was shared 498 times.
The supermarkets whose social media performed worst were Sainsbury’s, which secured just 2714 engagements from 84 posts in December, despite having nearly 2.7 million followers and Morrison’s with 5,051 engagements from 92 posts to its 1.24 million followers. The UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, secured just 9,263 engagements from its 150 posts to its 3.9 million followers.
The analysis overall found that Facebook was the platform that resonated best with supermarket followers in December, providing the most successful posts for six of the supermarkets, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Lidl. Instagram provided the best performance for Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, and Morrison’s.
Maybe* provides a range of social media engagement and insight tools that help clients engage with conversations on social media to improve business results. These tools enable businesses to see what content is working best and boost their best performing content, to compare their social media performance to competitors or collaborators, and, by knowing what content is working, being able to join the right conversations. The company works with BIDs and local authorities across the UK to train retailers in how to position themselves at the centre of local conversations to ensure their businesses gain support and interest.
