80% of Christmas shoppers embrace ‘dark social’ to propagate gift ideas
With the Christmas countdown now well and truly underway advertising technology firm RadiumOne has conducted some festive research indicating that eight in ten Christmas shoppers now share Christmas content such as gift ideas and requests via email or instant messaging.
80% of Christmas shoppers embrace ‘Dark social’ to propagate gift ideas
Dubbed ‘Dark Social’ such activities are described as the ‘biggest missed opportunity in marketing’ as many brands are ill-placed to capitalise on such communications.
The report found that 30% of consumers shared more content in this way over the Christmas period than normal with 72% of this content shared via dark social channels as opposed to just 22% via Facebook.
Craig Tuck, RadiumOne’s UK managing director, commented: “Sharing behaviour is an indicator of consumer intent and the most likely moment they’ll interact with a brand. Our data shows that 61% of shoppers will also do a ‘big shop’ vs little and often. So harnessing the planning and sharing period is key in influencing consumers’ final purchase, and tracking sharing dark social is imperative at any point, but more so during the Christmas period where there is more to gain.”
The researchers further found that while most consumers still research purchases via mobile the majority will revert to desktops to complete the final purchase.
Amnet teamed up with RadiumOne last December to help brands better understand dark social messaging.