Social Media Rarely Used to Guide Purchases? Really? Let’s Chat…
It’s well past time to look at social media as just another channel, and start getting involved in the conversation.
Recent survey data published by Knowledge Networks a couple of months ago – and written about in Adweek to some fairly enthusiastic online comments – came to what sounds like a surprising conclusion. It claims that a very low percentage of social media users – under 5 percent – “regularly turn to social media sites for guidance on purchase decisions.”
This “lackluster” performance points out that a mere 4 percent (for “travel or travel services” and “banks or financial services” categories) 3 percent (“clothes or shoes,” “eating out or restaurants” and “personal care products”) and 2 percent (“cell/mobile phones and services,” “cars or trucks” and “groceries or food”) of users turn to these kinds of sites for guidance on purchase decisions.
Yet in the same breath, the study notes that 83% of the online population, ages 13 to 54, use social media, with 47% participating weekly.
It’s about influence…
No, I don’t suppose that you’ll see a great number of users “Regularly turn(ing) to these sites for guidance on purchase decisions.” That’s because the social media metrics relevant to brand marketers aren’t related to purchase decisions, but to purchase influence – on attitudes, perceptions, and loyalty. And as a result, yes, on purchase decisions.
This is why those organizations that leverage “social media” are looking at it well beyond its efficacy as just another media channel. It’s why word-of-mouth spending on online communities increased 26.6% in 2008 (in the face of declines in almost every other area) and word-of-mouth spend is projected to grow 14.5% annually between 2008 and 2013.
It’s also why nearly 90% of online shoppers read customer ratings and reviews at least “some of the time” before making a purchase decision.
Pretty influential indeed. Did they click on a banner and buy? Probably not. After all, social media is really word-of-mouth online. And that is massively influential when it comes to guiding purchase decisions. Both online and off, the power of word-of-mouth is well documented.
As the most influential medium, the question is how Social Media affects you.
Of the top ten most influental media, Social Media is number one. In our approach to customer experience research (Brand Mapping, Touchpoint Mapping, Loyalty Mapping), we’re usually charged with helping organizations better understand how to better serve and get “closer” to their audiences. In a nutshell, this means understanding those touchpoints that have influence on desired perception and behavior, and seeing how they fit into the customer relationship lifecycle unique to a particular brand.
As a result, we’ve seen many instances – across sectors, segments and markets – where social media strongly influences purchase decisions, as well as brand perception and customer loyalty.
That’s why research like this Knowledge Networks survey can be problematic. Because data can be misleading if you’re aiming for the wrong target. As with all research, what you get out of it is only as useful as how well you define your research goals going in. So if the goal of this research is to find out how many people go to social media with the express intention of purchasing products, or to find specific products to buy, of course the answer will be “few.”
But if we’re trying to discover how “social media” influences purchase decisions, that’s an entirely different question. And the answer to that is clear: a lot.
