Social Media's Impact on Brands

Social media has infiltrated the purchasing funnel, helping consumers make informed decisions, from what to have for lunch to where to go on vacation. Depending on the decision, sometimes you turn to your social media, and sometimes you turn to Google. So, as a brand marketer, you want to know what online channels you should be targeting in order to reach the perfect audience for your product.

To better understand the new social consumer, Beyond and M Booth conducted a study of 1,500U.S. consumers, asking about the two products and services they had most recently researched online and how they went about it. They were then categorized as either a high sharer or a low sharer, each utilizing various digital channels differently, depending on whether they are researching and interacting with high or low involvement products.

Of the 1,500 consumers polled, 53% use Facebook to interact with a brand, with 42% going so far as to write a post or comment about a brand, and 40% ‘liked’ a product. 33% wrote a product review, and 20% use Facebook to research a product at least once a week.

Products research or purchased were categorized as either high involvement or low involvement. High involvement products such as photography equipment, other electronics including computers, and vacations, were less frequently purchased. This due to them being more complex and expensive, requiring more time and effort in the research phase. Low involvement products, such as cosmetics, baby supplies, and food were bought more frequently with less thought and research effort, due to the lower cost.

High sharers tend to be the most valuable to brands as they recommend products three times more often and influence other’s buying decisions. They make up 20% of online consumers and tend to be younger, have stronger brand loyalty, own multiple internet devices, and research low involvement products.

Low sharers make up about 80% of online consumers and tend to be older, are more open to changing brands, care more about quality than brand image, are more likely to purchase researched products, and research high involvement products.

The three channels that influence the social consumer are Earned, Owned, and Search. Examples of Earned are rating and reviews sites, news articles, word of mouth, and blog posts. Owned channels are brand websites, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Search channels are paid search and organic search.

Channel influence on products is very similar for all three channels, with baby products the most influenced, with personal finance products the least influenced. Facebook has the most influence on baby brands, YouTube on music brands, and review sites on electronics.

After online interaction, 31% are prompted to purchase, 26% take no action, 20% are prompted to recommend, 9% are encouraged to visit, 8% have an increased awareness, and 3% had their product impression changed and were encouraged to contact.

All digital channels play a role in a brand’s marketing strategy; looking at the channel your consumer is most influence by will lead to an increase in your digital ROI. With Search acting as the gateway of influence on today’s consumer, creative digital content is essential within Earned and Owned media channels to boost a brand’s organic search relevancy. Identifying high sharers in the most effective digital location, and engaging them with sharable content, will help lead to a cycle of recommendation, loyalty, and purchase.



Sources: Lauren Drell, Mashable, and data from M Booth and Beyond