The Drum Network does retail: Brands and social - a match made in retail heaven

KH: Many retailers focus on the short term product push and wonder why customer attrition and consumer disloyalty are on the rise. Social is in the psyche of customers today and forms an active part of the consumer purchase journey. According to Euromonitor’s Hyper-Connectivity Survey, 25 per cent of global consumers have made a purchase through social media. There are sales to be had and ROI to be delivered – but not by pushing products and goods, instead by meeting customer needs.

Consumers are complex. Their buying behaviour is complex. Social taps into this constantly evolving and ever changing consumer. And that is how the smart retailers maximise social media. They tap into the insights, real-time communication, relevant content and context. Plotting the customer journey and serving contextual content to the right audiences, at the right time and at scale. All with the aim of driving the sale both today and in the future.

DN: Do you see social as a tool for brand loyalty? What other advantages are there for brands investing in a sophisticated social strategy?

KH: Let’s assume all the caveats about specific business objectives and multichannel integrations. In which case, social has the flexibility to support retailer’s efforts across customer service, acquisition, brand messaging, differentiation, campaigns, loyalty, and of course, sales. I am sure there are more, but that is not the point.

Social media is a perfect storm for personalisation. Marketing on social is about the relationship with the consumer. A more demanding consumer. One that wants you to be personal, without stalking them. A consumer that is irritated by irrelevant or constant tweets, but wants to identify with the brand. A consumer that tells you what she wants by her behaviours, including when she is unhappy.

Trying to push your consumer to meet your objectives when their behaviours tell you otherwise is a fool’s errand (and one that often happens). For instance, if your customers are complaining about long queues, then it is not the time to tell them to buy more stuff. Social should be used to connect with your customers. To build profiles and persona targeting that meets consumer needs and ‘nudges’ customers through the purchase journey to meet your objectives.

DN: How can retailers ensure there is a brand message consistent across platforms?

KH: For years now, Immediate Future has been saying how social media is leaky. It impacts and is part of all your channel marketing and beyond (it even gets between the cracks of your channels and tells you things you didn’t know). With the ubiquity of mobile, it is even more prevalent – with offline presence moving to social at the tap of a button.

The result is that to achieve brand consistency you need to integrate social. But not as an afterthought. Social should be planned right from the start if it is to be effective. Then it can not only succeed in its own right, but boost and support your other marketing channels.

It isn’t just about planning social from the start either. Social holds up a mirror to your whole company. Your sales staff, your displays, your POS, your OOH, your branding and so on. Insights from social can inform and feed your wider marketing and brand positioning too.

DN: What brands do you think are doing it right so far?

KH: Currently the best retailers in social are, in my honest opinion, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, NotOnTheHighStreet and H&M. What is interesting though is the gaping void between the best and the rest. This is no gradual ranking of expertise in social. Instead there is a chasm between the few that do it well and the rest are still fiddling at the edges.

It is time that retailers got serious about social.

DN: What do you think the future holds for retail and social?

KH: Social is only going to get more pervasive. Already it is integrating into instore apps, technologies and services. But the smarts will be with the retailers that embrace social as a way to finely target and connect to customers. Retailers who keep the audiences they have engaged (reducing churn), while continuously staying in front of the audiences they want (driving acquisition).

Yes, it will require connectivity across the board. Social, CRM, POS etc all talking together. Social is a lead player in the wider digital transformation agenda. After all social is your customers’ voice.

Then there is the future customer. Braver retailers will collaborate with customers. Bringing them into the business process and embracing feedback as part of their ways of working. The savvy customer no longer wants to be bashed with sales promotions or followed around the internet with products. Brands need to win hearts and minds if marketing is going to continue to have impact.

The future: retailers need to get close to social customers, be relevant and always stay front of mind.

Katy Howell is managing director of Immediate Future.