Global Journal of Management and Business Research, E: Marketing, Volume 23 Issue 1

Figure 7: Total Engagement Rate (Engagement Across Posts/Total Posts) IV. F inding and D iscussion The data shows that the three brands have taken a very different approach to their social media strategy. When looking at the results closely, it is evident that the three brands engage with the users very differently and are also seeing varied results in terms of performance. Below are a few key takeaways based on the analysis that other brands can learn from. 1. Macy’s is leading the competitors in the total number of followers and has seen tremendous growth in followers despite not posting as frequently as peers, as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. Nordstrom, on the other hand, has lost approx. 7K followers across the platforms, and Kohl’s has slightly grown. The analysis indicates that Macy’s is doing an impressive job of acquiring followers while optimizing their content publishing cadence. 3. The proliferation of social media channels provides an opportunity to engage users uniquely and can form the base for content strategy. Figure 6 indicates that each brand can target effectively on specific channels. For example, Macy’s is doing equally well on Facebook and Instagram, whereas Kohl’s sees higher engagement on TikTok, and Nordstrom sees higher engagement on Instagram but not on other channels. 4. Brands should take a data-driven approach and continuously iterate and change course based on performance results. Table 1 and 4 and Figure 6 showthat brands are not getting the same engagement from Facebook as they are getting from Instagram and TikTok. For example, Kohl’s has more followers on Facebook and posts relatively more on Facebook vs. other channels but has significantly higher engagement on TikTok vs. Facebook. We see similar insights from data for Macy’s and Nordstrom. Therefore, Brands should re-evaluate their strategy on Facebook and emerging channels such as TikTok to increase followers and engagement. They should analyze their target audiences across these channels and refine their content strategy to ensure they are creating content for the right audience and allocate resources and campaigns across the channels based on performance. V. C onclusion The analysis has highlighted the need for brands to consider various aspects of social media strategy, from target audience to content, and leveraging data to refine and iterate on their strategy continuously. This will help the brands to optimize their strategy, save costs, and drive higher engagement from the users. For a social media strategy to have successful outcomes, marketing teams should be able to adapt quickly, be agile and nimble to respond quickly to ever-changing market dynamics. While the above will help brands and practitioners with the foundational skills, metrics, and tools to create a social media strategy successfully, it is essential to review and 1852 924 439 Macy's Kohl's Nordstrom Total engagement/posts across the social media platforms (April 21, 2023, to May 20, 2023) A Data-Driven Approach and Framework to Social Media Strategy and Performance Measurement for Brands © 2023 Global Journals 72 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXIII Issue I Version I Year 2023 ( )E 2. A higher number of posts or publishing multiple posts per day does not result in a higher follower count or higher engagement from users. Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 indicate that Macy’s has the lowest number of posts during the analyzed time (less than half of that of Nordstrom’s total posts) but enjoys twice the engagement (likes, comments, shares, etc.) compared to both Nordstrom and Kohl’s. It is clear that Macy’s has optimized its social media strategy and is creating high quality content that is sufficient for them to garner higher engagement from their users.

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