Based on the marketing funnel, we have always known the customer journey to start the same way. Consumers become aware of a brand, gain interest in a brand, consider buying from the brand, evaluate the products from the brand, and then finally make their purchase. During this process, consumers are commonly known to open up Google and search up a question or product. Many brands rely heavily on paid search in their marketing strategies.
Today, customers are drifting away from the internet, and diving deeper into social media platforms. They are turning to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to find answers and make purchase decisions. This shift in consumer behavior calls for a shift in marketing strategies at the risk of having an outdated gameplan for future campaigns.
Old vs New Customer Journey
The customer journey used to follow a pretty predictable path:
- Gain awareness through advertisements or word-of-mouth
- Go online and research the product/service
- Visit websites and compare
- Make the purchase
This path made paid search seem like the most viable option for increasing sales and awareness through marketing strategies.
The new, more modern customer journey is less linear, and involves social media platforms more than ever. It may look a little something like this:
- Discover a brand or product on TikTok/Instagram
- Find similar brands and products on other platforms
- Compare options on social media platforms
- Visit a website after forming an opinion
- Make a purchase
Search is no longer the first or second step in the customer journey. Social media platforms have become the way of making purchase decisions.
Social Media is the New Search Engine
Younger audiences, especially Gen Z, are increasingly using social media platforms as their search engine to find products, services, and brands. They are commonly searching for things such as a haul, a review of a product or service, or videos and images of a certain place. Consumers are looking for visuals of what they are inquiring about on social media platforms, rather than looking at Google reviews, or going on a website and looking for testimonials.
Consumers are looking for reliability and realism in influencers, celebrities, and other consumers in what they post, and then make their own purchasing decisions. This shift in behavior is important for brands to catch on to because it changes what content needs to be created and where it needs to be put out. The social media strategy is not just about key words and SEO, it’s about relevance, educating consumers, validity, and reliability.
Social Media Marketing Strategies that Will Work
TikTok Shop and Buying through Instagram
A huge shift in the customer journey is buying products through TikTok shop and the in-app checkout on Instagram and other platforms. These features make buying products much easier because if consumers see a product they want to buy, they can do it right then and there. There’s no need to go through a bunch of other steps to make the purchase. The customer can purchase a product when they are still engaging in the content. This shortens the sales funnel significantly.
For brands, this means:
- Optimizing product listings
- Partnering with influencers and creators who can promote the products
- Treating social media platforms as a place that can capture consumers in every part of the customer journey
Short-Form Video Content
Consumers want quick videos that have visuals and can show them exactly what they were looking for. Not only that, but consumers want to know if they’re looking in the right place within five seconds of the video.
Short-form videos allow brands and influencers to:
- Explain products and services
- Demonstrate how to use the products/services
- Build trust and loyalty
- Influence consumers into buying the products
Search-Optimized Content Through Social Media
As the customer journey evolves, the copy that is embedded into videos and images and the captions on those posts are extremely important. They are a valuable part of the content that is carefully thought out, even down to the hashtags.
All of this copy functions similarly to keywords on a website. The language, words, and phrases used are how consumers find these brands and products because they appear in search results and on the feeds of social media platforms.
To leverage search-optimized social content to the full extent, brands should make sure to include:
- Relevant keywords in captions, on-screen text, voiceovers, and hashtags
- Avoid relying on trending but unrelated hashtags
- Write captions that provide context or more information, even if they are short
- Use phrases and keywords that would be searched in real time
How Brands Can Adapt Their Marketing Strategy
Adapting to the new customer journey requires a change in marketing strategy across all platforms. This will create a unified marketing ecosystem. It is important that the content answers real questions and shows real information that consumers would actually save, reference, or pass along to others.
Consumers tend to move between platforms quickly. All while different consumers use different platforms for different reasons. For example, they may use TikTok to look up a talking review, but may use Instagram to look up pictures of what a dress looks like on a person. Because of the constant changes, brands have to have consistent messaging and strategy across social media platforms, websites, email marketing, and paid advertising. This ensures that when a potential customer comes across a brand, the experience feels cohesive.
Marketing is also a very fast changing industry. So, constantly monitoring platforms, content and data is imperative to adjusting strategies accordingly.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the shift toward social media becoming the way consumers enter and exit the customer journey is not a temporary path. What was once a predictable path from the Google search bar, has now evolved into a multi-platform journey shaped by social media content from brands, influencers, and other users. It represents how the times are changing and how consumers are adapting to these changes in order to find, evaluate, and trust brands.
Whether you’re a brand trying to figure out how to best adapt your marketing strategies to utilize social media marketing tactics, or an influencer trying to gain engagement and trust with your followers through the impact of social media marketing, Power Move Marketing is here to help. Check out how we have helped brands transform their marketing through social media here, or feel free to request a quote here!