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Christmas is coming: be prepared for shoppable social

By Andrew Roberts |

Gravity Thinking

|

The Drum Network article

This content is produced by The Drum Network, a paid-for membership club for CEOs and their agencies who want to share their expertise and grow their business.

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October 20, 2016 | 3 min read

Don’t be fooled by the displays in shops, it is still 67 days until Christmas and six weeks until Black Friday. Coupled with consumers no longer conforming to a long and logical purchase, brands are asking the million-dollar question ‘how do I get my social to payback?’ It's not too late to think about shoppable social.

Christmas is coming

Time for payback

With only 1.5% of e-commerce sales coming from a direct social media referral, the next big opportunity for brands is monetising your social audience. In short turning the significant investment of money and time building followers and likes and taking advantage of the increased reach, the better brand engagement and advocacy and the deeper, ‘real’ connection you have with your customers into a genuinely attributable ROI.

Shoppable social

There are a host of opportunities to talk to your customers in social, innovative ad formats such as Facebook Canvas or Instagram Carousels, platforms such as Snapchat, or capturing customer attention when it matters on mobile. However probably the most important element is getting payback through the integration of shoppable social into your brand content.

Social commerce

The concept of social commerce is not ground-breaking, it is the inevitable next step in the journey, indeed with 40% of consumers researching products on social media (GWI) and most finding shopping inspiration on Instagram (24%), Facebook and YouTube (both 22%) and Snapchat (5%). Social now needs to be a multi-channel shopping experience.

Shoppable tools

The core channels have got their act together by launching native tools such as Pinterest’s ‘buyable pins’ and Instagram’s ‘Shop now’ plus there are a number of frictionless media checkout tools such as Pixlee and Wirewax generating links between social media and ecommerce webpages.

Tools and branded content

However we strongly believe it is not just about harnessing these tools and adding ‘buy’ buttons. Brands also need to understand how best to engage with consumers and the key here is strong branded content that get their attention and keep it. As the agency that levitated whisky for Glenfiddich, created mind reading toppers for Hendrick’s’ Gin and drove cars through the power of positive thought for Hyundai we know the power of great content and the integration of shoppable social is the (mostly) logical next step.

Andrew Roberts is managing partner at Gravity Thinking.

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Content by The Drum Network member:

Gravity Thinking

SOCIALLY CONNECTED COMMUNICATIONS

At Gravity Thinking we create work that maximises the opportunity social media offers brands. From content that competes with cat videos for attention, to the amplification of consumer touch points, to funnel thinking that delivers quantifiable sales. It’s how we made the school run into a internet mini-series for Allianz, got Hendricks gin five times more talked about than their competitors and delivered over 18,000 new leads for Hyundai in just 5 months.

CULTURALLY DRIVEN

We exist to rid the internet of sh*t. To do that you need to get closer to culture in order to understand the trends, conversations and people that matter to your audiences. It’s why we pass up Cannes for VidCon, watch the top 10 on Youtube not Adweek and aspire for our work to appear on the front page of Reddit not in Campaign. Just take a quick look at our work and you’ll get the point.

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