By Jonathan Baker, with insights from Christina Botte, EGC’s Director of Social Media Here, there, everywhere, people are engaging on one or more social media platforms. They have in fact grown accustomed to relying on their social sites of choice as search engines. Going further, people are utilizing social to browse and purchase products and services. This in turn changes the game for advertising on social media. As noted by Christina Botte, Direct of Social Media at EGC: “Social media isn’t just about awareness, it’s about the entire customer journey. From discovery to purchase, consumers are now using platforms like Instagram and TikTok as their search engines.” The Shift from Social to Selling As their technologies and user-friendliness improved, social media platforms were bound to become more than places where subscribers stayed connected with family and friends. The popular practice of social commerce—where goods and services are purchased directly from favorite platforms—is evidence of this ‘branching out’ of social media. And there is other evidence… From ‘Upper-Funnel’ to ‘Full-Funnel’ A recent e-Marketer article observed the growing number of U.S. consumers who were using social media in their browsing and purchasing journeys. (Significantly, the term is ‘U.S. consumers’—not ‘U.S. social media users.’) Indeed, social search was once classified as ‘upper funnel’ (building brand awareness to promote a product or service). The popularity of social commerce has elevated this status to ‘full funnel’ (the full browsing and purchasing journey mentioned above). Another factor is escalating this change in social media shopping. Yes, it is artificial intelligence (AI). Image Credit: e-Marketer The Influence of AI Since 2024, the generative artificial intelligence (GAI) capabilities introduced by Meta (Meta AI for short) have continued to evolve. Prompts that encourage consumer engagement as they browse on Facebook, Instagram, or other Meta-owned platforms now accompany select in-feed posts. Additionally, Instagram and WhatsApp allow for visual search, joining the ranks of Pinterest, Snap, and TikTok in the overall appeal of letting users see an item for purchase. So, social media has become both a sophisticated and sought-after venue where consumers are visiting to make purchases. To maximize on this trend, marketer and advertisers should ask three questions. 1. Can the ‘Big Picture of Search’ on Social Media Be Narrowed Down? Unfortunately, it is difficult to pinpoint consumer intent in social search. Also, purchases via social media represent a small share of how well a campaign performs. Advertisers and marketers should therefore focus attention on the effectiveness of engagement rates rather than clicks or referrals. If possible, and their budgets permit, they should consider investing in a marketing mix modeling (MMM) technique that has the capacity to discover the full impact of social search. 2. Does the Style of Ads Match the Content on a Social Media Platform? This question may seem obvious, but it is easy to overextend promoting an ad on social media, regardless of its relevance to a specific category. And if an ad doesn’t appear to fit within a social media page, it will go unnoticed by users (read: consumers). The tone and look of an ad must align with designated content of the social media platform it appears on. 3. Does the Content of Social Media Ads Answer Questions? The emphasis of searching on social is meaning and context. As with every type of advertisement, the foundation of the content should answer questions asked by consumers who are conducting a search. Whether in a text overlay or description within the ad, the answer must appear clearly to consumers seeking products or services relevant to a social media ad. By following this method, advertisers and marketers strengthen contextual marketing and ad performance. If your brand or business is new to social media, or you want to refresh your existing presence on one or more sites, find out what EGC has to offer. Our social media capabilities, which range from custom content creation to uncovering audience insights, among other strengths, will help your brand get noticed. In short, consumers will be socializing about you.
