Using Social Media to Win the Shopping Game

I was reading this report a joint study by Deloitte and Harrison Group titled, “The 2010 American Pantry Study: The New Rules of the Shopping Game,” when I came up with some winning ingredients for using Social Media in the B2C market.

Before I talk about the ingredients for Social Media success lets discuss some of the key findings from the report.

This study was done to gauge how consumers are reacting to shopping since the recession. The report highlighted that Americans are rethinking and adjusting their shopping patterns. This has resulted in a more strategic, informed, and even calculating approach to shopping which was previously driven by impulse, advertising responsiveness and the fundamental attractiveness of brands.

The key finding here is that Americans are less likely to make their consumer purchases because of a brand’s traditional marketing strategies.  Other key findings are:

• 93% of Americans expect to continue spending cautiously even when the economy grows.
• 89% feel they have become more resourceful because of the economy.
• 55% of those cutting back suffered no decline in income, but simply felt they “should be” cutting back.

The report also revealed that businesses are chasing those resourceful shoppers with the same old tactics that include advertising and point of purchase promotions.  Consumers on the other hand are employing strategies that include waiting for the brand to go on sale at a neighborhood store which means they are dictating the price they are willing to pay, more use of coupons and loyalty cards and purchasing private label brands as an alternative.

There is a real shift in how consumers are purchasing and they are in CHARGE.

How does Social Media assist in the Shopping Game?

An August 2009 report by Razorfish, found that exclusive deals and offers were the

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primary motivation of US Internet users following brands on Twitter.  Consumers are following your brand on Social Media because they know you’re going to offer special deals, and discounts that may not make the weekly sales circular.

However, if you’re using Social Media there are opportunities to build brand loyalty and Brand Evangelists where there is more value to following your brand than waiting on the deal of the week.

The 1st ingredient to building an evangelist is to use your social media platform(s) for honest communications with your consumers.

Create opportunities to listen to their praise and concerns and address both.  Addressing concerns will build a Brand Evangelist because once  a person is satisfied they are apt to use Social Media to tell others of their experience. That in turn will create brand loyalty where the value of your brand has risen in their perception.

The next ingredient is educate consumers on what makes your brand the best solution. This is an opportunity to help consumers use your product and create opportunities for your Social Media community to share best practices.  The more versatile uses the Social Media community discovers about your product the more valuable your product becomes.

The 3rd ingredient is to make it fun and engaging.  The recent Nielsenwire report “What Americans Do Online“  shows that Americans spend more time on Social Media and online games than watching online video and email.  Actually there is a decrease in email usage as I reported in an earlier Blog post.

Pepsi is one example of a company that made buying their product an interactive experience with Pepsi Loot.  Pepsi is using mobile phone apps and location based incentives to create consumer loyalty. The fact that Pepsi is using mobile phones for their delivery method shows they see the big picture of where consumers are opting to receive their information. You can read Mobile Behavior for more information on Pepsi Loot and how major brands are planning on using mobile applications to educate consumers and offer incentives.

Using location based services like Foursquare or Gowalla coupled with incentives and a mobile app are excellent toppings for the recipe to creating  a successful Social Media Brand Evangelist.

My last point is this behavior shift in consumer thinking will not only affect the items they purchase for their pantry but it will affect their behavior on all purchases.  So this is a good time to begin planning a Social Media strategy that will allow your brand to:   Listen, communicate, network and publish regardless of what you produce.