Love is in the air! Valentine’s Day is coming up this weekend, and romance brands are capitalizing on the social discussion. We analyzed ten brands that are heading into their biggest revenue weekend of the year, to see who is utilizing their customers to drive the most engagements and awareness. Which V-Day brand is the loveliest-ahem, we mean most successful- at interacting with its core customers?

We used Mavrck’s Fan Grader to analyze which Valentine’s Day brand has the most influential Facebook fans, based on each brand’s top 100 micro-influencers and their ability to drive engagements with brand posts. Who is generating the most love on February 14th? Scroll down to find out!

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Victoria’s Secret’s household name status certainly helps its social media street cred, but the lingerie and clothing brand powerhouse is also very proactive at attracting new fans on Facebook. In the last week, Victoria’s Secret has released three sexily branded posts around Valentine’s Day, which have collectively driven over 9k shares; the week before, the clothing brand posted two videos to generate hype around the Super Bowl. The posts alternate between snackable videos and pictures, often highlighting well known Victoria\’s Secret Angels with behind-the-scenes footage of photo shoots (can you say celebrity influencer?). The page has received 53k new Facebook likes in the last week, showing that the fan base is continuing to grow in response to this marketing strategy.

People Talking About This

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Dollar Shave Club’s Super Bowl ad might have generated substantial buzz, but it’s nothing compared to the announcement it made this week regarding DSC’s intentions to donate razors and supplies to the U.S. army bases in Afghanistan, leading to a PTAT score of 179k in the last week. The announcement post, released on February 1st, has driven 50k shares and over 7k fan comments on the original post. This is especially impressive considering that DSC\’s Super Bowl commercial was viewed twice as many times on Facebook but drove 48k less shares, proof that social good can drive revenue in a big way.

Brand Posts & Micro-Influencer Comments in the Last 30 Days

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Match.com has the highest ratio of brand posts to micro-influencer comments, as the brand that exerts limited posting efforts and drives the greatest engagement per branded post. The main reason for this is that Match.com’s Facebook fans actively comment on branded posts with their personal mating attribute desires, commenting with descriptions of the type of person they are looking for in a romantic relationship, totally unprompted by the branded post. The comment section on each post is treated like an extension of the Match.com user base, as fans interact with one another to parse romantic interest through comments.

Percentage of Engaged Fans

Ghirardelli

3%

Godiva

2%

1-800-Flowers.com

1%

Hallmark

4%

American Greetings

1%

Hershey's

3%

Victoria's Secret

38%

Match.com

22%

Alex and Ani

7%

Dollar Shave Club

19%

Vicky S wins again, taking the biggest piece of the cumulative engagements pie. Although Victoria’s Secret doesn’t utilize UGC strategies like our previous winners have (ahem, Taco Bell & Doritos), it posts content that reflects a consistent brand image, one of luxury, appeal, and aspiration that its users trust and desire. It also engages its users with promotional offers and discounts that are only available on its Facebook page, further incentivizing consistent engagement. One relevant promotion on the page asks fans to tag a Facebook friend underneath the post, which allows the post to rise above the noise by showing up as a notification for the friend to click from a trustworthy source.

Highest Influencer Index

Victoria’s Secret’s average Influencer Index of 50.59 is proof of how successful the brand is at engaging its core micro-influencers on Facebook. From consistently posting event and holiday-related content, to alternating between videos, photos, and “exclusive access” to well-known Victoria’s Secret models, the lingerie and clothing brand is killing the Valentine’s Day brand game by giving their fans exactly what they want. Dollar Shave Club and Match.com follow with respectable Influencer Indexes, and then there is a significant drop off: one surprisingly low Influencer Index belongs to Alex and Ani, a jewelry brand that defines itself off of product customization, not to mention its emphasis on selling products that are entirely American made. Despite the brand’s frequent posts and calls for engagement on its Facebook page, it’s driving very low engagement with its most influential fans, with an Influencer Index of 5.5 engagements driven per micro-influencer comment.

The Valentine Victors

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Sex sells, and nobody does it better than Victoria’s Secret, as the Valentine to rule them all. With its relevant content, consistent brand image and strategic use of celeb influencers as well as its engagement with its power middle of micro-influencers, the lingerie and clothing brand is scoring a stellar Influencer Index as well as pushing high numbers for Facebook fans, in both their presence and their consistent social engagement.

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