JOHANNESBURG – In order to understand the social media exposure and reach (also referred to as views) of the shopping bonanza, PwC Strategy& conducted a high-level analysis of tweets over the period November 14 to 20.
The analysis of several hashtags related to Black Friday found that Twitter reach increased from 2.4 million views on November 12 to 47.2 million on the 20th of the month.
The trending themes are, unsurprisingly, captured in key words such as “amazing deals”, “Black Friday tips”, “mall” and “surprises”.
With these positive enforcements seeing as much combined exposure as the official #BlackFriday tag, the event could be interpreted as generating much anticipation and happiness among social media users and customers.
Social media analysis can look beyond the volume and themes of tweets and consider this sentiment.
According to the tweet analysis, about 67 percent of Twitter sentiment towards Black Friday was positive over the period. This is in line with a survey by global discount website Picodi.com finding that nearly two out of three South Africans will be taking part in Black Friday this year.
Only 5 percent of tweets were negative, with the remaining 28 percent classified as neutral. An example of a more downbeat – yet very valuable in the local context – message was a tweet from the South African National Police Service (SAPS) indicating a higher threat of crime during the day.
Indeed, many websites offering tips about how to make the most of Black Friday warns consumers about the risk of exploitation by criminals and unscrupulous retailers.
Content supplied by PwC Strategy& economists Lullu Krugel, Christie Viljoen and Maura Feddersen with contributions from Nina Kirsten and Genevieve Frydman.