47% of top 100 shopping centres don’t use social media for marketing
47 of Retail Week's top 100 shopping centres are not using social media as a marketing channel to engage customers.
West Quay shopping centre takes to Twitter
VIP Marketing, in conjunction with Peer Index, took the annual Shopping Centre 100 list as published by Retail Week and added each centre's social capital - a combination of reach, influence and engagement.
Hammerson's WestQuay in Southampton came first on the list, and it was discovered that 30 of the top 100 do not have a Twitter feed.
Rob Day, managing director of VIP Marketing, said: “The Social Media landscape can be daunting, but the returns in terms of brand equity, loyalty and increased effectiveness of all your marketing channels make investing in social media more than worthwhile.
“This objective research truly identifies best practice and we hope will lead to an increase both to the industry’s awareness and adoption of Social Media.”
Tom Foulkes, marketing commentator and until 2009 head of marketing for the Retail Portfolio of Land Securities, said: “Looking at the Top 100 in this way is really refreshing. It allows us to look past sheer scale and really shows where the switched on, forward thinking and strategic marketing teams are.
“Social Media is now a vital channel in the marketing mix and for a market that has such a close relationship with its consumer, it's heartening to see that many are using these new channels to build value and effectiveness into their campaigns”.