Britain is nation of ‘social media shoppers'
Posted on in Business News
Future Thinking, the business intelligence research consultancy, has revealed the findings of the 2015 Shopper Barometer, an annual independent study of current trends and future consumer habits of UK shoppers.
The research showed that 44% of British shoppers follow brands on social media in the hope to receive discounts and rewards for their loyalty.
Social media plays an important role for shoppers, with over a quarter (26%) following retailers on social media. The biggest group of users following brands on social media are under 35s (60%), followed closely by families (59%) and women (51%).
More than half (52%) ‘like' or ‘follow' brands on social media, with Facebook (93%) and Twitter (52%) being the most popular platforms. Significantly, a third (32%) of UK shoppers use social media platforms to seek advice or leave an opinion about a product or brand.
So, how can your business make the most of this growing number of ‘social shoppers'?
The world of social media has changed the way consumers interact with each other and businesses/brands. It is now more important than ever to have a social media presence and a solid strategy in place. Not doing this leaves you open to negative feedback due to lack of service, as well as missing out on huge opportunities for increased traffic, brand awareness, leads and sales.
Before investing time and effort in every social media channel out there, it's important to identify which channels and communities will work best for your brand.
As people spend longer on social networks, their community expands and brands find themselves fighting for attention. However, you must be careful not to bombard followers with unnecessary or annoying content.
To ensure their users are only seeing the type of messages they want to see from the brands they like, Facebook have announced changes which will be coming onto the platform in 2015. In a recent announcement, Facebook highlighted the kind of posts that will receive less space on newsfeeds.
"People told us they wanted to see more stories from friends and Pages they care about, and less promotional content. According to people we surveyed, there are some consistent traits that make organic posts feel too promotional:
- Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app
- Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context
- Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads"
Avoiding posts like the ones listed above will see your social channels perform better.
For more tips and guidance on social media and all other types of marketing to help your business succeed online, why not get in touch with Leadspring - the online marketing specialists.
Leadspring have partnered with ActSmart to offer preferential rates on local online marketing packages to Subscribers.
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