Aldi and M&S have topped the list for the most engaging social media posts over Christmas, new data has revealed.
According to analysis of the performance of major supermarkets on the internet over the Christmas period by social media specialists Maybe*, both Aldi and Marks and Spencer achieved a total of 127k and 116k engagements each, respectively.
German discounter Aldi came out on top despite having only 3.5 million social media followers, compared with the 8.4 million who follow upmarket retailer Marks & Spencer.
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The analysis revealed which retailers were most successful in using online platforms to promote human interest stories, provide practical support or suggest cost-saving ideas that resonated most with users.
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.
Another successful post was 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, receiving 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. Morrison’s saw 5,051 engagements from 92 posts from its 1.24 million followers.
The UK’s largest supermarket, Tesco, secured just 9,263 engagements from its 150 posts to its 3.9 million followers.
Maybe*’s data 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.
“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,” CEO of Maybe*, Polly Barnfield OBE said.
She added: “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,” Barnfield added.
The news comes as Marks & Spencer sues 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.
