Digital Blog

Social media influences purchase behaviour

The purchase cycle has changed dynamically in this generation due to the influx of digital sources now available for scouring information. What do you do before making a ‘major’ purchase? Do you call a friend? Search on Google? Post on Facebook? Buy a magazine? Depending on the purchase you may have lots of information at hand, however often you won’t!

Social media has infiltrated the purchasing funnel helping consumers make purchases from what to have to lunch to where to go on holiday! Depending on what you need to know, sometimes you turn to Google and sometimes you turn to your social graph. Is your brand available across the relevant online channels in order to target your perfect audience? Regardless of what type of consumer you are targeting, people will either search or ask a friend so your SEO/SEM must be focussed on in order to turn those in the search stage of the buying cycle towards your brand. In order to target those in the social funnel it is essential that you know the different types of consumers on platforms such as Facebook. An interesting study by MBooth and Beyond analyzes the differences between high and low sharers.

The social consumer -

53% use Facebook to interact with a brand.
40% liked a product on Facebook
20% use Facebook to Research products at least once a week
42% wrote an online post about a product or a brand

The analysis compares the ‘high sharer’ with the ‘low sharer’. If you are likely to ‘share’ a lot on Facebook, what does that mean about you as a consumer? High sharers only represent 20% of the users on Facebook as opposed to low sharers. What does that mean for you?

High sharers are -
Younger
They recommend products
They are generally brand loyal
They own multiple internet devices

As opposed to low sharers -
They are older
They research high involvement products
Care more about quality than brand (less likely to share to be in the ‘cool group’)
Open to change…
More likely to make a purchase on a researched product.

As you can see, people will trust their friends recommendations or a brand with consumer interaction (where they can ask a question) for personal products like baby and beauty) – however review sites or blog posts are less relevant as a consumer cannot tell if it is a genuine statement or a subjective advertorial. Notice the importance of search throughout the social funnel. By disregarding the bread and butter of consumer research (search) you put your brand at risk of not being exposed to the consumer through their decision making process. Facebook – has the most influence on ‘baby’ brands, YouTube – has the most influence on ‘music’ brands, Review sites – have the most influence on ‘electronics’ brands

The emphasis on search as being still the main way people research products might be a reality but it’s fast being challenged by social, word-of-mouth referrals from the people we trust must in our lives, our friends/family. The advent of Sponsored Stories in Facebook’s new plans may continue to erode the dominance of search as the means by which people research products as prep for purchases however it is always going to part of the cycle.

Knowing where your consumers are is essential… you can’t target them if you don’t know how to get in touch. For advertisers, business owners, marketeers or anybody wanting to acquire new customers – socialmedia/digital offers great opportunities to get in touch with them. Talk to us today to find out more.