As of July 24, shoppers now need to wear a mask when browsing and spending in their favourite shops. We surveyed over 2000 people on the announcement of that news and found that 88% of them will wear a mask. So safe in the knowledge that a mask is not a deterrent, and are happy to do their best Greys Anatomy impersonation, we’re now looking at what’s engaging shopping centre customers, beyond social distancing measures. Read on to see how a smattering of community spirit and a sprinkling of pride will score you social media success.
Community celebration leads engagement for shopping centre
by Amy RountreeLeaderboard Table
| Organisation | Followers | Posts on social channels | Engagements on posts | Average posts per day | Average engagement on each post | Average engagements per day. Includes likes, retweets and comments. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trinity Leeds | 252.9K | 72 | 13.3K | 6.00 | 184.60 | 1107.58 |
| Bluewater | 188.3K | 32 | 8.3K | 2.67 | 259.34 | 691.58 |
| Intu Trafford | 133.7K | 23 | 2K | 1.92 | 87.57 | 167.83 |
| Meadowhall | 56.7K | 73 | 1.9K | 6.08 | 25.71 | 156.42 |
| White Rose Shopping Centre | 80.7K | 40 | 1.4K | 3.33 | 35.43 | 118.08 |
The beautiful game united Leeds’ shoppers
Trinity Leeds perches at the top of the 40 shopping centres in the UK, in terms of social media engagements. Meanwhile White Rose have come from behind over the last fortnight and soared into fifth place.
While football has been taking place behind closed doors, Leeds United have snuck one in the back of the net and scored a promotion to the premiership. And both the centres have got onboard with this via their social content tapping into the city’s pride in the club.
Trinity have taken it to a whole new level, by bestowing Leed United related place names upon the centre’s walkways, and they’ve rebranded their social media presence to Trinity Leeds United. The result at full time? Trinity scored 60% more engagements than their nearest rival and over 3000% more on the previous fortnight.
We have a new addition... @LUFC ⚽️ #MOT #MarceloBielsaWay pic.twitter.com/Ax9jEgM4PJ
— TRINITY LEEDS UNITED (@TrinityLeeds) July 22, 2020
How Trinity Shopping Leeds have driven offline engagement from online engagement
Sheffield Pride
But it's not just sport that gives our Top 5 centres their community minded engagement, Meadowhall’s best post reflects on its Pride celebrations and its commitment to the LGBTQ community.
As well as shining its rainbow lights on the pride community, the centre scored some bonus points for recognising the customer behind the photograph.
View this post on Instagram
Why Maybe* for shopping centres
Key takeaway
Centres are positively delighting their communities by helping them to celebrate local success, local diversity, new openings, and re-openings. Shoppers are now expected and expecting to wear masks, and the retail experience has changed for them. But by communicating and celebrating your local area, local people and by creating excitement, the positive benefits of turning up and joining in, does seem to mask the perceived restriction and friction that this new dress code might impose.
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