How much influence do social media ads have on our shopping behaviour?

Gone are the days when consumers had to follow advertisements before finalizing the brand that they want to go for. Today, the advertisements follow consumers as millions of users have become active on social media platforms, even in developing nations. The revolution is further being facilitated due to increasing penetration of smartphones.

The brands which do not join the social media advertising bandwagon lose visibility and thereby, consumer base. The reason is simple — the number of active users on Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, among others are even higher than the population of most of the countries. Consequently, these platforms have become the best, the most convenient, and interestingly, the most reasonably priced advertising medium for businesses.

Why social media advertisements?

Besides ensuring a large audience, social media provides the opportunity to interact with customers/clients (or the prospective ones), build relationships, and increase brand awareness and sales as well. When businesses join these platforms, consumers get to interact with them directly. These responses can really help an entrepreneur devise future business strategy and address any existing issues.

Additionally, social media ensures “word of mouth” publicity for a brand as these sites (and blogs) allow followers to like and repost any positive comment uploaded by a consumer for a brand’s product. And this happens quite frequently on websites. Not to forget, when an individual appreciates your product on social media in any which way, it creates a domino effect. Some others echo the appreciation, and this compels the rest of the social media users to try to your brand’s product /service.

The statistics too back these claims. In a careful and detailed study, it was found out that 57% of Facebook, Google, Instagram, YouTube, GDN, and NATIVE users say that advertisements posted on these platforms influence their shopping purchases. Not just this, 30% of social media users also confirmed that they have made a purchase after checking out Facebook, Instagram, Google, and YouTube advertisements.

How social media ups your marketing?

The science of data analysis and audience penetration has been transforming as business owners are switching more and more to digital marketing. Advertising firms can help businesses in strategizing successful social media advertising campaigns. The firms, through data analytics tools, can even gauge the progress, success, and engagement of these advertisement campaigns.

Social media marketing has become such a crucial business aspect now-a-days that companies cannot afford to overlook it. We provide services like buyer traffic, demographic and engagement filters, geo-location filters, exact and relevant keywords, call to action based sorting, powerful search algorithm, video, and image advertisement integration, among others to our clients. These services give an edge to them over their competitors. Thus, it has become imperative for companies to acknowledge the power of social media to attract and engage customers.

A shift in approach

Social media platforms were initially approached by advertisers in a different manner. It was simply a tool to connect with the audience. But now, firms are going beyond conventional trends to keep up with the consumer behavior and technological trends.

Holiday-specific and day-specific campaigns are being launched on social media to cash in on an occasion of celebration. Several firms also prepare a social media calendar with an aim to achieve very specific goals. Since the product/service offered, social media platforms are chosen to target the right audience demography to ensure greater retention.

As society leans more towards social distancing due to Covid-19 pandemic, consumers are relying on digital media like never. Acknowledging this, firms are switching from traditional to social media marketing techniques. Also, with internet connectivity expanding each day and technology penetrating deep into our society, social media platforms are sure to have a long run and thus, entrepreneurs must adapt in order to advertise their products/services effectively and engage customers.

Authored by Sumit Ghosh, CEO, PowerAdSpy. 

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the publisher.