Social media networks were never meant to be online shopping channels. Times are changing. In today’s paradigm, a growing mistrust in branded ads has seen consumers turn to social media networks in search of verifiable product information and the valued opinion of peers.

There’s no doubt that social media has the potential to open up revenue channels for brands – significantly more so than it did in its infancy a decade ago. 

In today’s e-commerce environment, consumers are more aware of what they are purchasing. The customer journey starts online around 87% of the time. Consumers in the UK also prefer to discover products rather than receive brand advertising. 

Social media is a major contributor to product and brand discovery. Because social platforms enable people to keep one another informed, consumers are more empowered.

Social media can, therefore, help and hinder brands. Get your marketing strategy right and social networks most definitely give you a platform to help leverage your bottom line.

To harness the power of social media, it’s important to consider why people use certain networks during the shopping experience. It is no longer enough to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a social media strategy on one campaign alone. There is a much broader impact.

Nurturing Customer Loyalty

Research has shown social media can be advantageous for brands that utilise the platforms in the right way. Social networks should not be used as a marketing platform but as a tool for nurturing relationships and developing bonds with customers. 

Today’s customers want to associate with brands they feel an affinity towards. Driving customer loyalty involves tapping into the mindset of your customers.

Social media strategies that are human-centric are the most significant drivers of brand loyalty. Online users demand useful information and enhanced user-experience. 

What’s more, social shoppers expect brands to relate to personal needs and interests. Use social media accounts to engage in a two-way conversation to show people you care. 

Companies that run effective social media campaigns take into consideration the benefits, values, advantages they offer to the consumers. Furthermore, they have a multi-pronged approach. 

Let’s take Costcutter’s 2018 Bringing Christmas Together campaign. The company partnered with Mondelez to engage followers with a sponsored online game, hooked up with influencers and offered exclusive festive recipes. 

As a result of their social media activity, Costcutter saw a 53% traffic spike to their website and a 27% increase in content that showed surfaced in the feeds of social media users that were not following them. 

Social networks are the most powerful tools available for sharing information, sparking conversation, provoking thoughts and evoking emotion. To develop an engagement plan:

• Listen and interact with your audience 
• Always engage with your most active advocates 
• Offer benefits and rewards to social VIPs
• Publish content that takes followers behind-the-scenes
• Host a competition

Social networks do not always pave a smooth path to success. The inconvenient truth is consumers will launch tirades on your social media account when they feel aggrieved. 

Don’t neglect social media management. Brands can bounce back from negative feedback by actively addressing dissatisfied customers and showcasing how much you care about their wellbeing and satisfaction. 

Brands that listen to what customers have to say, understand their needs, pain points and complaints build bonds with existing customers and project a strong public appearance to prospects.

By using social media to resolve problems and engage customers in a genuine way, brands are able to develop lasting – and lucrative – relationships. 

Product Discovery

Marketers used to use social media as a tool for raising brand awareness and engaging consumers with a view to driving traffic to your website. 

Social platforms have now evolved beyond mere brand building exercises. People are using social sites to find products. Brands can also enable direct sales into the marketing funnel by installing one-click buy buttons. 

According toPwC’s Global Consumer Insights Survey 2018, 37% of consumers confirmed they regularly use social media to find inspiration for goods and services. 

Kleiner Perkins also produced an insightful report that revealed how social networks drive product discovery and purchasing decisions. The report claims 55% of consumers bought an item after seeing it on social media. 

Another study published by social commerce company Curalate reveals 67% of UK consumers purchase an item they discovered on a brand’s social post. 

Instagram has been pinpointed as the most powerful social network for driving sales. The Facebook-owned platform is known to influence how shoppers behave.

Instagram has seen the highest growth rates for purchases made through product discovery rising from 18% to 48%. Product discovery on Facebook increased from 52 percent to current 70 percent and Pinterest rose from 22 percent to 28 percent. 

You have to be patient when marketing through social channels. Four times as many people will make a purchase eventually rather than immediately. Impromptu purchases only happen around 20% of the time. 

Remember, social media is generally used for research and product discovery, not shopping.

However, staying on top of social media accounts does have its advantages. Consumers can start a two-way conversation and want an immediate response. 

The messenger function on social networks enables brands to communicate with customers in real-time. What’s more, people prefer to speak with humans rather than chatbots – which are prevalent on websites. 

Social media, therefore, humanises the shopping experience and enables your sales team to answer questions directly and immediately. Be prepared to provide links to useful content from both your website and third-party websites. 

It goes without saying that you should be promoting your content through your social account to enhance your ecommerce strategy. But shake up the style of content. 

If your only strategy is to republish blog posts and embed links to drive traffic to your website, you’re missing out on opportunities to engage customers and build awareness around your company. 

Consumers want to know they can trust brands. Publishing content that provides them with a behind-the-scenes look and demonstrates you have a social responsibility and care for your customers puts you in a stronger position to cultivate loyalty. 

Influencer Marketing 

Brands with the most lucrative social media strategies partner with relevant social influencers. 

One study reports that influencer marketing is 11 times more effective than banner ads and Tomoson report influencer marketing is the fastest growing marketing strategy on account of businesses recovering returns of $6.50 for every $1 spent.

Influencers are blog owners that have built a sizeable audience in a particular niche. They know their subject matter, the pain points of their audience and leverage high quality, authentic, and high performing content.

Word-of-mouth advertising has always been the strongest marketing strategy. With consumer trust in brands is at an all-time low, it’s no surprise that consumers are seeking advice from peers. 

Edelman’s 2019 Trust Barometer report reveals that 81 percent of customers feel they must trust a brand to do what is right. 

Whilst 84% of consumers trust recommendation from family and friends over brand advertising, 82% of consumers say they are “highly likely” to follow the recommendation of influencers.

Bear in mind that today’s consumers want valuable sources that enable them to make informed purchasing decisions. Influencers are seen as at least 10% more credible and knowledgeable about products than the general population.

Influencers have social media accounts with a sizeable number of followers that trust their recommendations.

However, it’s important to note there are different types of influencers, each of whom validates different degrees of trust. 

For example, consumers don’t trust celebrities and reality TV stars because they are aware this type of influencer has been paid to endorse a brand. 

The most effective influencers for brands are journalists, micro-influencers (with a few thousand followers), nano-influencers (with around 1000 followers), other industry experts in the same niche and activists that promote brands that make a difference. 

Consumer purchasing decisions are typically influenced by peers. Studies have shown that user-generated reviews matter, shoppers gather recommendations from mixed sources and crowds lead the way to buyer preferences.

Because social media influencers are proving to be such a powerful marketing tool, 39% of marketers planned to increase their marketing budget on influencer marketing.

The shift is happening for good reason.

Influencer content impacts your sales funnel at the top by generating brand awareness during the product discovery stage. This helps to drive bottom-line sales. 

Companies that seek to utilise the power of influencers tap into a ready-made audience that comes from a trusted source. 

More to come from Social Shopping 

Although the jury is still out on how effective social media platforms are as a shopping channel, there is little doubt these platforms have had a significant impact on consumer behaviour. 

Encouraging customers and influencers to use their social media accounts to enhance the credibility and reputation of your brand will help to attract more customers. 

Moving forward, social shopping will become more prevalent. We are already starting to see one-click buy buttons on the social media accounts of brands that purchase paid advertising. 

Brands that have to rely on organic growth will not be overlooked providing your deploy effective strategies and make a good impression. If consumers expect brands to do the right thing, make sure you are using social media channels to demonstrate you are a brand that actively makes a difference.