Often placed at opposite sides of your local mall, retail giants Macy’s and Sears have been going head-to-head for years. We could compare revenue numbers or stock prices to find out which department store brand comes out on top. But we’re much more interested in social’s bottom line, which is why we’ve put the brands head-to-head in this week’s Social Media Face Off.
In order to compare the brands in social media, we set up search streams for each in the uberVU via HootSuite platform. We’ve compared the results from the past two weeks to determine our winner.
Let’s find out which retail brand is cashing out in social.
Round One: Mentions
Macy’s takes a quick lead with 68,452 mentions, easily topping the 19,281 mentions of Sears. That’s more than three times as many mentions!
Winner: Macy’s
Round Two: Engagement
In round two we’ll find out which brand is driving the most engagement across Facebook and Twitter by comparing the number of times mentions of each brand name were retweeted, liked or shared. Macy’s dominates on Twitter, easily outperforming Sears in RTs. But Sears bounces back to win in both Likes and Shares.
Winner: Sears
Round Three: Conversation Mapping
In round three we’ll compare the conversations maps from the uberVU via HootSuite platform to find out what topics social is discussing most in relation to each brand. Both brands rank for “shop” or “shopping” as to be expected for retail brands, but what’s surprising is that both brands are earning more buzz for employment opportunities than the stores themselves or the products they sell. On Macy’s map you’ll see “work”, “Retail Cosmetics”, “Retail Sales Associate” and “Manager,” which all refer to jobs being shared in social. Sears’ map is very similar with “work”, “job at Sears Holdings” and “job.”
Both Macy’s and Sears have “great” show up, but Macy’s does one better with also having “love.” As always with conversation mapping, love wins all.
Winner: Macy’s
Overall Winner: Macy’s
With wins in mentions and conversation mapping we declare the winner of this Social Media Face Off to be Macy’s. Get shopping, social.
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