Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

The recent 2015 Next Generation of Commerce study from Acquity Group, looks at what the firm considers “untapped opportunities” for brands across nontraditional spaces. It says these opportunities cater to younger generations especially.

For one, it found that nearly half of consumers (45%) say recognizing a brand they often buy on multiple media channels, such as TV, social media and magazines, makes them more likely to shop from that brand next time they’re in a brick-and-mortar setting. It’s 28% for online.

The study, which surveyed over 2,000 consumers in the U.S. about their habits and preferences surrounding digital entertainment, content, shopping, and services, also found that 3 in 5 consumers (59%) say they would be more likely to watch an online streaming TV series produced by a brand if that meant no commercials. 1 in 4 consumers indicated they are influenced by native ads in news outlets.1

28% of consumers ages 18-22 and 32% ages 23-30 would switch retailers if offered the option to pay in social currency, such as engagement for discounts, it found. On the other hand, it also found that 60% of consumers believe they see too many ads. According to Acquity Group, this means brands should focus on “weaving their offerings into an appealing and relevant user experience.”...

Want to learn how social media can scale? Use this strategy and it cannot fail....

Remember when social media was social? Now, among the deluge of complaints, emoticons, and spam, individuals and businesses alike now find it nearly impossible to find and manage those one-to-one conversations that matter. Instead, social media strategies have become automated, impersonal, and actually contribute further to the exact problem they were put out there to solve for: streams of noise, shouting, and irrelevant messages.

Developing a people-centric social media strategy is a huge opportunity for companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors. A seemingly “faceless” brand making a personal connection over social media is such a rarity, that when it does happen, the resulting positive emotion from the recipient is remarkable in comparison to the avalanche of noise out there....