• by Tania Yuki , November 27, 2013

By now, we've all seen them -- hundreds of tweets, posts, ads and email alerts asking us to “Save Early!”, “Preview the Holiday Gift Guide,” and hurry up because “Special Prices Start Now…."

The race for Black Friday is officially on -- and retailers are spending and working hard to own the momentum. So how are they doing?

We've been paying very close attention to the social content strategies of the 25 biggest retail brands this November. To learn who's winning, who's losing, and who's leaving opportunities on the table, read on.

Tapping social messengers

There is no stronger measure of content stickiness than having customers amplify your message for you. Word of mouth is free, trusted… and viral.

But the biggest winner of one social platform may not take all. Walmart clearly takes the lead in social word of mouth on Facebook, but Best Buy outperforms all other brands in retweets on Twitter. By leveraging these insights, both brands have a unique opportunity to extend and target their message to a much broader group of consumers.

Success through loyalty

For retailers and brands focused on improving repeat sales and customer retention, social media presents daily opportunities to influence customers in real-time.

When it comes to keeping fans coming back for more, Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus own the winning formula. Over 40 percent of their fans have returned to engage with content over the past two weeks. For these brands, winning Black Friday is about sparking inspiration. Motivating a broad base of loyal fans to get the word out about offers could lead to huge returns.

Actions speak louder

When trying to make a message stand out from the crowd, it's all about actions. 

To illustrate, let's review two very different content strategies. This November, Target has outpaced all competition in the retail category with six times more Black Friday posts than any other brand. By contrast, JCPenney has released just one Black Friday post, but it earned the highest level of engagement with over 54,000 actions.

Let's break down the anatomy of their winning posts (see below):

• 17,702 actions (likes, comments, shares)
• Includes a photo of an offer
• Status Update
• No calls to action

54,000 actions (likes, comments, shares)

• Includes a photo of an offer
• Poses a playful question
• Includes a hashtag
• Links a call to action to Pinterest for deeper discovery

With less than three days left until the big day, we have uncovered several untapped opportunities for big retail brands to hone their social prowess in simple yet effective ways. There is plenty of room left to optimize, engage and ultimately rally the biggest crowds to get out and go shopping with your brand in mind.