Harnessing social media into a wider strategy

In today’s fast moving, multi-screen world, social media is often perceived as an awareness generating and brand building tool, which could potentially replace real world engagement. With the increased amount of time people spend on secondary devices, this could be seen as a sensible marketing strategy.

Yet, with 76 per cent of all purchase decisions still being made at shelf — commonly known in shopper marketing as the ‘first moment of truth’ — it is the naive marketer that sees social media as the saviour to all brand problems.

With people moving more fluidly between screens, the moment one decides to buy a particular product is what Google has called the ‘Zero Moment of Truth’. It defines that single moment in time when brands make it onto the shopping list, as this often happens digitally. But how do brands ensure they stay on the shopping list and that purchase momentum transcends that particular medium interaction all the way through to the shelf?

Case in point; one might see an online video for a cereal brand whilst browsing Facebook early in the morning, and share it with friends and family. That same brand is subsequently advertising in the daily newspaper. But upon reaching the store and faced with a plethora of options, the shopper deviates to a competing brand.

Physiological shift

It means that somewhere between sharing the video with friends and standing in the aisle, there is a barrier to purchase that has not been overcome or a physiological shift not taken into consideration. Hence any idea created and beginning on social media needs to carry the consumer all the way to store, at which point they become a shopper and, more importantly, purchase your product.

A good example of doing this successfully was recently created by my colleagues at Saatchi X London. Weetabix (since we are on the subject of cereals) simply asked fans to watch a TV advert, take a photo with any device and use that as payment for a free pack. #Takethebiscuit was a social sampling technique that not only encouraged organic word of mouth but drove purchase momentum along the entire shopping cycle.

It worked so well because it was essentially a participatory form of direct marketing that improves a shopper’s life. It was unobtrusive and, most importantly, easy to manage because consumers always nearly always have their phone on them, therefore remaining automatically connected to social media channels.

New technologies as tools

And this is why we should consider new technologies as tools to help people shop and improve their lives. Ideas that are fun and engaging on social media might not necessarily build purchase momentum or loyalty. They just offer a bit of light relief from an everyday routine. As shopper marketers, we need to ensure the complete shopping journey is taken into consideration.

If companies are insightful enough and deliver something of true value, then shoppers will respond and interact with the brand. They’ll even pay for the privilege.

And when you have a sufficient following then comes the in-store activation that is integrated with the social media strategy. Whether by pack promotions or more usefully an extension of the discussion online that is instantly recognisable at the point-of-sale or on the shelf. Vice versa, brands can complete the loop by driving shoppers back online once they have purchased the product. A typical example might be gamification integrated with codes.

This is where brands will achieve their return on involvement — by creating a long term and sustained behaviour change through communications that integrate digital communications into the shopping cycle.

— The writer is the managing director at Saatchi and Saatchi X.