In 2012, Harvard professor David “Doc” Searls predicted that marketing will thrive or succeed because of its ability to bridge the gap between customer intent, business user experience and needs. the customer about data privacy. Ten years later, we look back at his assessment of the era of social commerce.
How social media became an intention map
Searls accurately predicted the future of social marketing in his 2012 book, “The Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge.”
“Both Customers will come to the market with tools at their disposal for collecting and storing personal data, expressing requests, making choices, setting preferences, presenting transaction terms, offering payment and participating. in relationships – whether these relationships are shallow or deep, and whether they last for a short period of time or many years,” Sears writes. “These methods will be standardized. There is no marketer to control them.”
While consumers are not completely in control of their data, social media companies, in many ways, are. When consumers opt-in to social media, they are handing over search and behavioral data to social platforms, a practice that has drawn the attention of the federal government. for many years. According to recent studiesthe average app may connect to 15 domains, with 12 of those connections initiated from unknown domains.
This data allows these platforms to perform much of the work that Searls described above using only predictive algorithms. Surprisingly, social apps were linked to the fewest URLs. Part of this may be because social apps can access personal data from first parties. The platform now acts as a proxy for consumer intent, translating consumer behavior into a perspective that enables marketers to target their target audience. But there are obstacles — even on social media, banner ads still exist low click-through rate.
Today, marketers are shifting spending to platforms that provide content that consumers actively engage and share. TikTok, the social media platform with the highest number of users, has average watch about 16 percent. That bond is even more valuable for brands, because TikTok’s dominance in user engagement means it has tied in with consumer intent and used those insights to deliver. $2.5 billion in consumer spending by 2021.
According to TikTok, customers are engaged with their content and take action on a regular basis. This means that marketers can use insights from TikTok (or other platforms) to determine customer intent and bridge the gap between intent and purchase through social marketing. – in case of legal and privacy issues. is discussed.
Social marketing opportunities for brand marketers
As cookies become a thing of the past, first-party data on social platforms will be key to finding ways to identify intent and shorten the sales funnel. Social marketing meets the needs of all brand marketers, allowing them to access insights from first-party data and making it easier to market their brand through the native world.
One simple way to do this is to work with creators on platforms like TikTok. About 67 percent of users surveyed said that TikTok inspired them to make purchases, and partnering with creators on TikTok has seen a 193 percent lift for brands, according to Hootsuite. According to eMarketer, American social marketing may reach 45.74 billion dollars by the end of the year, with half of the country’s adults making purchases through social media.
The main reasons why social media users don’t buy through social media platforms range from the desire to make direct purchases from brands to the need for information about payment security. For marketers looking to capture customers on social networks, solving payment problems and developing a branded e-commerce experience will be key to engaging as social commerce grows. But we should not forget the brand, as Searls points out in his original text in principle, but Economy Intention is more than a transaction: “The conversation is clear. The same goes for relationships. The same goes for fame, power, and respect. But these virtues are received to the seller (as well as to the buyer) and not just a “brand” to the seller in the buyer’s mind like a breeder’s brand is burned into a cow’s hide.
For Searls, an advocate for data privacy, ad technology and media must focus on something deeper than promoting clicks. Companies should design their distribution based on customer intent—users’ needs and preferences shared voluntarily. While Searls was a vocal critic of all things advertising technology, his words may give some ideas to the seller.
“So what can we do?” Sears writes. “The simple and complex answer is to start building tools for individuals, and the services that use those tools. These are tools that empower people to better participate in global organizations, especially businesses. […] Fix some of them and we’ll have an economy of purpose that will do much more than what it’s currently getting out of the economy, regardless of how much money that economy is making today. “
