Editor’s note: Scot Wingo is founder and chief executive officer of ChannelAdvisor.

MORRISVILLE, N.C. - With the July edition of the ChannelAdvisor Facebook Commerce Index we’ve been tracking total fan count for six months, throughout which we’ve seen an addition of nearly 80 million fans! For the July 2011 ChannelAdvisor Facebook Commerce Index, fan count grew by 13.8 million, back up into the levels we were seeing earlier this spring.

Here’s what we saw from a macro level in growth of the audience across the entire index:

Growth – The total number of online retailer fans increased 6.5 percent since June – up from June’s 5.9 percent, it is still a 78 percent annualized growth rate without compounding.

Audience – The total fan count jumped from 213 million to 227 million fans from June to July. This is the aggregate fan count across more than 500 pages without de-duplication, but indicative of the scale of the Facebook Commerce trends we have all heard anecdotally and are now able to track quantitatively.

Each month we sort the data into three different grids: Top 25, Top 25 Growers and Top 25 Percentage Growers. The charts are included, and for full commentary on what some of the biggest movers and shakers did to gain ground you can download the white paper here.

This month Levi’s jumped nine spots, to eighth place from 17th! Levi’s was the top grower at 35 percent this month. Tactics include philanthropy and fan perks.

When we looked at top growers by percent, Tiffany & Company was no slouch, increasing its fanbase by 37 percent. Tiffany’s really amped up its exclusivity, requiring visitors to become fans before sharing access to the site and promising access to new products, red carpet photos and behind-the-scenes videos.

Sleep Number definitely “woke up” to Facebook with an 84 percent increase in fan count!

Looks like July puts retailers on a higher growth trajectory with growth up from June. We’re eagerly anticipating the back-to-school push in August, then the kick-off of the Holiday season. Stay tuned and be sure to let us know of other interesting tips or tactics and we’ll cover it in a future post.

(c) ChannelAdvisor. Reprinted with permission.

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