42 percent of Americans are using social media to shop – this equates to nearly 95 million social shoppers in the U.S. – and that number continues to rise. In fact, when asked how often social media is used to shop today versus a year ago, almost 73 percent of people confirmed they are using it more.
SocialShop – a national quantitative and qualitative research study – looks at social media usage from the eyes of a shopper to understand the influence each respective platform has on a person’s buying behavior.
From Facebook and Twitter to YouTube and Groupon, people of all ages are using social networking sites and other user-generated content platforms as shopping tools. In fact, SocialShop found 42 percent of social shoppers are using Facebook more than they were a year ago, while 55 percent of shoppers are utilizing daily deals more and 46 percent of shoppers have increased engagement on review sites and forums.
With rapid expansion of social channels and the frequent launch of new platforms, brands and marketers are trying to figure out how to successfully use social media to connect with shoppers. According to the research, success is not measured by visibility on all social media channels, but by leveraging the strengths of platforms that cater to your shoppers’ needs.
4. And they use social
media to enhance
In-store On mobile phone shopping beyond
the desktop.
54 % 23 %
With Geolocation On Twitter/Real Time
20 % 51 %
% for Heavy / Index Heavy vs. All Social Shoppers