Study: Top retailers leave 73% of customer tweets unanswered

Chicago -- E-commerce and digital marketing company Acquity Group announced Monday social media findings that revealed the vast majority of retailers don’t respond to customer tweets.
 
The 2012 Brand eCommerce Audit evaluated Interbrand's 2012 Best Retail Brands on customer engagement across major digital channels, including big browser, social and mobile.
 
While every brand on the list except one has a Facebook page, and 45 out of 50 are on Twitter, only 12 brands had a cohesive presence across all five of the major social networks analyzed (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube).
 
The audit revealed Twitter had the largest gap between usage and interaction. With a 90% adoption rate among the brands, less than 27% actively participate in Twitter conversations with consumers. In fact, companies were least likely to respond to or engage with customers via Twitter than any other social media channel evaluated.
 
"Although most brands are signed up for the major social networks, many struggle to understand how they fit into their overarching business strategy,” said Jay Dettling, executive VP, Acquity Group. “As a result, our audit revealed several critical areas of improvement when it comes to actually connecting with consumers across social channels."
 
Brands were most active on YouTube, according to the research, with 80% of the brands leveraging the channel at an 85% engagement rate. Even though the majority of companies (56%) have yet to utilize Instagram, the brands with a presence on this platform also had a high level of interaction (79%). Pinterest was identified as the most popular up and coming social network, with 60% adoption and 70% interaction.  

The 10 brands scoring best overall in social interaction include, in order of ranking: Target, Home Depot, RadioShack, Bath and Body Works, Nordstrom, Gap, eBay, Coach, American Eagle Outfitters and Banana Republic.