The e-commerce industry in the UK is experiencing strong and exciting growth; UK online retail accounts for 11% of global internet retail sales, and the UK has the highest e-commerce spend per capita of any country. With the online commerce landscape becoming more competitive, retailers are increasingly looking to maximise the value of social media when it comes to engaging consumers and driving sales.
With 66% of online Britons actively using a social media account, it’s not surprising that big brands often have significant numbers of followers on the most popular social platforms. However, followers who are passive do not tend to drive revenue, and retailers are aware of the importance of converting them into active customers and brand advocates.
With 300 million monthly users, Instagram is one of the most potent platforms in terms of browser-to-customer conversion rates - making it of particular interest to commerce marketers.
Visual storytelling
Underpinning Instagram’s success is the ease with which users can make their photos look beautiful. The user experience is simple and seamless, and the integrated filters and image-editing tools ensure the final image is visually stunning. Of course, visual imagery is highly effective at engaging customers, which is why Instagram could be the platform with the most potential for retailers when it comes to brand advocacy and revenue conversion. Instagram may also prove to be the stand-out and most cost effective solution for retailers wishing to promote products directly to their followers.
Social advocacy
Having established a voice on social media, the idea of social advocacy - in which a brand’s followers promote content amongst their own followers - becomes extremely powerful for retailers, as it amplifies their reach. Customers tend to be influenced strongly by recommendations made by friends or family, so social media - and more specifically Instagram, which actively promotes the sharing of content amongst users - is perfectly positioned to further drive advocacy and boost retail sales.
Instagram users can use the platform’s branded hashtags and location-based tagging to share images of their choice with their followers, and in doing so, promote the products and brands they favour. Of course, other social media platforms offer the brand-tagging options too, but Instagram images are so visually appealing that they tend to be particularly effective at promotion.
Whilst all retailers welcome small-scale social advocacy between individuals and their followers, greater gains can be made via large-scale advocacy campaigns. One recent example of was the highly successful “art of the trench” campaign run by Burberry. Instagram users - as well as users of other social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook - shared images of themselves in their favoured Burberry trench coat using the #artofthetrench hashtag.
The campaign drove users to not only share images of themselves with their own Burberry trench, but to also seek out and ‘like’ images from other participating users. In doing so, Burberry ensured its name was being shared and searched for by thousands of Instagram users on an hourly basis, and the brand was also able to use the imagery for their own marketing purposes. Widespread take-up of the campaign greatly increased the level of Burberry’s social media exposure, and boosted brand engagement overall. The campaign was testament to the value of sharing interesting content relating to a product, rather than pure product promotion.
Browser to buyer - a quick transition
Instagram does not currently support retailers’ commerce efforts natively, and brands are unable to link to their website directly from a post. However, brands have come up with innovative ways to overcome this hurdle, and create a seamless path between social post and point-of-sale.
Next and Topman have both invested in third-party platform Like2Buy, which creates a separate shoppable Instagram feed that is linked-to by the retailer’s original Instagram page. This parallel feed allows users to browse and identify items which previously caught their eye on Instagram, and easily purchase them. For retailers, the advantage is clear - there is a smooth transition between viewing an item on Instagram and being able to buy it, and they can also analyse data to identify the images and products that are driving the most sales.
This method isn’t without its challenges however; users still have to leave the original Instagram feed in order to buy the item, and retailers risk losing the sale if the user chooses to continue browsing Instagram rather than making the purchase. It will be interesting to see whether Instagram chooses to broach this, and integrate a native commerce option for retailers.
Instagram is helping to lead the way in exemplifying the value of social media platforms within the e-commerce market. The easy development of compelling visual content, coupled with the platform’s natural propensity for social advocacy means that Instagram is an extremely useful tool for commerce marketers. In an age where the line between social media user and online shopper is becoming blurred, a new opportunity for retailers has emerged; they will be keenly fighting it out to engage consumer interest, and convert social media users into active customers.
By Georges Berzgal, Managing Director of Bronto Europe.
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