Meta talks consumer decision-making

Sahail Ashraf posted on 14 December 2022

Meta has just created a new report about consumer decisions. It’s a useful piece of research, and we dig into it below.

No matter what the brand has faced when it comes to problems in recent times, Meta is still a huge social media powerhouse. So when it starts to make noises about the industry it plays a major part in, it’s best to take notice. It collaborated on a white paper recently, which was all about consumers and how they make decisions. We took a look at it, and have pulled out the main takeaways in this post.

So what does it tell us?

It has to be noted that the report looks at South Eastern trends when it comes to consumer choices. However, it’s fair to say that this particular region has a similar profile to much of the global reach of Meta, so we can safely assume the findings have plenty of relevance to other parts of the world.

The first real finding of the report concerns video. For a long time now, any social media marketer has known that video is king when it comes to moving consumers down the sales funnel. But Meta really highlights just how powerful it is in the report.

“Video has the highest engagement rate of all content types. Whilst TV is considered the most influential video touchpoint, Facebook is one of the most efficient video channels due to accelerated digitization and increased mobile video consumption.”

It then goes on to make a useful point. While television advertising has more influence, video on social media seems to be more cost effective, as well as more targeted. Social video can be carefully aimed at precise demographics, and digital advances can make video on social media much more versatile. 

Cost is a serious matter, and social media video has targeted reach for much less of an expense when compared to creating TV ads. 

Obviously, this is Meta telling advertisers to use them, but it does make sense that a versatile, cost-effective and targeted platform for ads has more of an impact.

Frictionless shopping

The next point is a key area for all brands to focus on. Any brand that uses ecommerce to maximise sales should pay attention to this.

The online social landscape has been built on the principles of ease-of-use and convenience. This makes it different from other areas in culture and communication. Everything is quicker and easier.

The same goes for making purchases. If a shopper sees an ad on TV they will most likely then have to go online and search the web for an opportunity to find out more about the product, before making their decisions.

With social commerce, all of this can be done in one place. You can market and advertise your product. You can inform and answer questions/address pain points. And then you can allow customers to buy the product right there and then in the app. This makes everything regarding shopping ‘frictionless’. 

The return of the Influencer

Okay, influencers have never really gone away, but at times it has seemed like they have turned into an annoyance. When brands realised they could pay less for ‘micro-influencers’ the market began to become saturated.

Meta argues that recommendations are actually a key part of consumer decisions. We have done this for centuries. See something you like, then buy it, then rave about it to your friends. But Meta argues that this is more pronounced on social media.

“Nielsen reports that 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family more than advertising, and 74% of consumers identify word of mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decisions. Tactics such as influencer marketing on digital touchpoints is one of the most popular ways in generating word of mouth where marketers would leverage influencers to create ‘buzz’ – they are the ones spreading the word about a specific product/service.”

The takeaway here is that it is more than worth it to develop a relationship with an Influencer so that you can leverage their power to push your product out there. 

It’s a useful report, and one to focus on as we move into the new year. Leveraging influence, focusing on video and ensuring shopping is frictionless should be the main elements of your social selling in 2023.

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