ClickZ News looked at Black Friday marketing activity on Twitter by the top 10 department, consumer electronics, and home goods stores and found a variety of activity. While Target made a splash by purchasing the Promoted Trend on Twitter before the big day, other retailers offered a slew of promoted deals – and some were strangely inactive.
BestBuy not only has the most followers among the top retailers analyzed, the company was the most prolific on Twitter on Friday November 26. The @BestBuy account featured around 70 posts on Black Friday, including several specific offers on items such as digital cameras and appliances. Though many posts – also tweeted through the official @BestBuy_deals account – featured deals on particular products, several of @BestBuy’s posts highlighted photos of shoppers on line at its stores.
Many of the 49 posts made to the official @WalmartSpecials account on Black Friday used phrases such as “Black Friday Offer,” “Cyber Week Specials!” and “Black Friday In-Store.” The company featured several specific deals in posts without links to promote products such as a SanDisk USB flash drive, Disney baby pajamas, and a Jeep luggage set.
Home Depot included a variety of specific deals in the 41 posts made to its @HomeDepotDeals account on Black Friday, but few were retweeted. In fact, the most retweeted post, about a sale on poinsettias, was only retweeted three times. By contrast, Target had a post retweeted 57 times about a chance to win a $25 gift card.
Macy’s may have been too busy with its Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. Its “shop, shop, shop away!” tweet was the only one posted to the official Macy’s account on Black Friday. Lowe’s had only six posts that day, while JC Penney’s Twitter account made no mention of its self-proclaimed largest Black Friday sales event ever before that day — and no posts were made on Black Friday at all.
