Dive Brief:
- Macy’s Inc. is trying to determine how effective its brand advertising is in the social media, analyzing engagement in addition to views, Internet Retailer reports.
- Macys.com gets 1.3% of its traffic from social networks, mostly through direct response advertisements that include a specific call to action.
- Instagram placements of the “Wish Writer” holiday ad produced increases in favorable feelings for the Macy’s brand among current customers and lookalike demographics.
Dive Insight:
Macy’s wants to take attribution on its social advertising efforts beyond last-click for direct sales. The company tabulated comments, likes, and shares as well as views to measure the impact of its holiday “Wish Writer” brand ad placements on the social media, and used Facebook’s audience tools to target those ads to like-minded viewers.
A 15-second treatment of the brand advertisement, 2015’s installment of Macy’s long-running “Believe” holiday campaign theme, attracted 3 million views on Instagram after being targeted to 20 million current and look-alike customers. A survey discovered a significant rise in favorable feelings about Macy’s after viewing the video.
Those good feelings are the essence of branding—and an important consideration for the legacy retailer. While Macy’s also runs easy-to measure direct response ads, direct sales lag on mobile, giving brand advertising added importance on the small screen. With most Facebook interactions now initiated on a mobile device, the social network also has an interest in proving the value of branding on smartphones.
