Social Media, Social Media ROI

Social Media and the Buying Cycle

The secret of social media is… timing. More than ever consumers are looking for something relevant and authentic – so you need to make sure that your brand is delivering content exactly when consumers need it.

Social media provides the perfect tools to do this. From brand exposure before purchase to customer support during the use of the product; right through to a relationship with the brand after purchase, social media allows brands to engage with consumers at every stage of the buying cycle.

The Customer Experience Impact 2010 report released last month in the US claimed that 82% of US consumers abandon brands after they’ve had a bad consumer experience. Therefore, if you can ensure that content and support exists for consumers at all points in the buying cycle then you are putting your brand in a very strong position.

Through best of breed monitoring tools social media has given businesses the insights to create a clear picture of what consumers are saying and where they are saying it; better understand consumers’ decision making processes and know how they can meet their specific needs.

Brands can then utilise this information in order to engage online customers in targeted and relevant conversations, adding benefit to their perception of the brand, influencing decision making and ensuring they create loyal customers who will come back again and again.

As you may have realised, it’s impossible to overemphasise how important it is for businesses to use social media to map their social media activity to every stage of the buying cycle of your consumers in order to maximise ROI:

Promotion and brand exposure before purchase

How: Social media monitoring tools allow you to pinpoint your target audience and evaluate the buying cycle for your products and services – as well as your competitors.

You can then use blogs and social networks to engage with prospective customers before the sale, influence decision making and shift behaviour. This allows you to make people aware of your product and how it could fulfil a need they perhaps didn’t even realise they required.

Moment of purchase

How: Once prospective consumers have been made aware of your brand you need to ensure you do everything you can so that they purchase your product or service. This could be through promotion of your product through engagement or advertising.

However, social media also provides an array of other opportunities – from relevant product recommendations to sponsored blog posts, you can now influence consumers at the moment of purchase decision. With the increase in mobile use this could be at the exact moment of purchase, with consumers accessing ratings and reviews for products, from their mobile, while in-store.

Relationship with the brand after purchase – loyalty loop

How: The immediacy of social media means you can track user feedback and offer instant customer support. Using monitoring and analysis you will know what people are saying about your brand and product, deal with problems quickly and efficiently, increase brand advocacy and ensure return on investment.

Understanding your customers’ requirements also means that this is an ideal opportunity to upsell and recommend other products that may interest your customer base.

How to influence friends and befriend influencers

In the digital age, with the rise of social media and the ‘attention economy’, brands are wrestling with the question of how to get their name not only heard but trusted when there are so many voices out there.

Social media has empowered consumers and changed the face of marketing. Traditional ‘push’ marketing has been replaced by ‘pull’ and monologues have been replaced by conversations. The influence of traditional marketing is being rapidly replaced by social media such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook which provide trustworthy, personal recommendations.

People now spend so much time engaged with all aspects of social media that these sites have become the first place they go to for advice. This means it’s crucial for brands to utilise social media to influence consumers’ decision making, build brand advocacy and increase brand consideration.

Influencer outreach provides a cost effective and measurable solution to this need. Offering their own personal view, influencers on blogs and micro-blogs, such as Twitter, are in a unique position to foster a relationship between brands and consumers. Their personal recommendations are a way to greatly improve brand awareness – when your audience read a blog or Tweet that positively endorses your brand or product they are much more likely to be receptive to it.

The question is: how do brands successfully reach out to bloggers and forge a relationship with them? For any company looking to engage with the blogosphere there is a list of ‘must dos’ that are essential in helping to build genuine and long-lasting relationships with these influencers. It requires careful and expert planning, an extensive network and a willingness to engage on a personal level with them.

It starts with in-depth research into your target market and the influencers within this market. You need to find relevant influencers who post content that your audience find interesting – and then begin to build relationships with them. This process requires hard work and if you don’t have the time, manpower or tools to do this it would be beneficial to your brand to hire someone who does.

You must get to know the bloggers you’re targeting – having a clear understanding of each influencer’s offering and their audience before approaching them could prove to be the difference between success and failure. Make sure your products and brands are relevant and that the influencer is open to writing sponsored posts. Our experience in reaching out to influencers has also taught us that sometimes bigger isn’t better: it can be difficult to try and get very popular influencers on board who may not be the best fit for your brand. A better tactic could be to engage with passionate influencers who have a small (but perfectly formed) following of people who are within your target market.

Each influencer then needs to be contacted individually. Remember these influencers will receive similar offers everyday so you need to make sure your brand stands out. Don’t patronise them. Get your business proposition right and clearly set out how it will benefit the influencer (a fee or the offer of a free trial of your product, for example).

The time it takes to do this is definitely worthwhile and will prove beneficial not only to your brand but everyone involved. Consumers receive relevant, tailored information; influencers gain greater traffic and income; and your brand will gain invaluable (and trusted) brand exposure.