Santa vs. Cupid: A Valentine’s Day Social Media Showdown

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and a frightening eventuality looms on the horizon. In a matter of hours, someone close to you may fall victim to a scantily clad, portly and homicidal flying infant wielding thorny blossoms and boxes of decay-inducing treats. A frightening prospect, I know, which is why I am happy to report that Social Media Marketing Hits & Misses: How 2007’s Hot Holiday Brands & Products Performed Online, the eagerly anticipated follow-up to our September study, is available right now. Forget Cupid. Take some time to see how Santa ruled social media over the holidays.

And, for those who are beaming in anticipation of love poems, chocolates and dizzying adoration, Santa still beats the big baby for you, too! With 12 of the season’s hottest products and an in-depth analysis of how they used social media over the holidays, amazing gift ideas and priceless expert analysis – the chunky sharp shooter, cards and candy can’t compare.

Santa starts early, so back in September of 2007, Oneupweb looked at how social media played into the online marketing strategies of 12 of the season’s hot holiday products in our study, Secrets of Social Marketing Success: How 2007 Hot Holiday Products Are Being Marketed Online. Now, get the answers to our questions, see how products like WebKinz, Starbucks and Coach fared with social media over the holidays, and learn the lessons of social media from these hot products in our Cupid-crushing post-holiday follow-up, Social Media Marketing Hits & Misses: How 2007’s Hot Holiday Brands & Products Performed Online.

Here is a peek at how we broke things down:

The products and brands that were the “Best of the Best” with social media marketing strategies include:

• • Nintendo Wii

• • Coach

• • Pronto.com

• • PLEO

• Sephora

Those products and brands that had a “Nice Showing” include:

• • WebKinz

• • iPod Touch

• • Starbucks

• • Target

• Casio Exilim Camcorder

Those products and brands that “Missed Out” on social media marketing include:

• • A Thousand Splendid Suns (novel)

• Taryn Rose

And, some of our predictions:

• • We said: We anticipate some hits and misses with exclusive online social communities and private social networks centered around products. We expect more winners than losers, especially where these activities are designed around kids.

• We said: With the increase in interest and participation in consumer-generated media, and the two new YouTube ready cameras, we expect that consumers will be demanding even more video content as the holiday season progresses.

Forget the chocolates and haikus. Flower’s die, but-as you will see – social media is true commitment. Download Social Media Marketing Hits & Misses: How 2007’s Hot Holiday Brands & Products Performed Online to find out what makes the “Best of the Best.” Discover whether our predictions were on the mark, see detailed product profiles and site traffic reports, and find important lessons and recommendations from Oneupweb experts.