Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/739734
38 S C T / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 SOCIAL BARRIER LANDLORDS LOOKING TO BENEFIT FROM SOCIAL-MEDIA MARKETING STRUGGLE TO STAY AHEAD OF THE SECTOR'S FAST-CHANGING TRENDS By Rebecca Meiser A – large majority of shopping centers are using social media. But how many are actually managing this technology properly? Research firm Alexander Babbage released a report in August in partnership with ICSC that sought to examine the ways shopping centers are using (and/or not using) so- cial and digital media. The survey was sent to roughly 1,000 shopping centers with 300,000 square feet of gross leasable area or more and which had at least 100 followers on their social-media platforms. Given the over 2 billion active social-media users globally, it is un- surprising that the majority of shopping centers in the survey say they are active on social media. Nearly 70 percent of respondents cite a presence on Facebook, 56 percent have a Twitter account, and 41 percent are on Instagram. Yet, the study concludes that though a majority of these shopping centers know the social-media party is the place to be, as it were (the respondents said they spent an average of 16.3 hours per week on social-media initiatives), they do not always know how to dress or talk or interact among the other partygoers — or whether the things they say are having an impact. "What was surprising to me was that 67 percent F E A T U R E