Most brand managers are interested in social marketing even though the actual value of social is still difficult to document. One of the missing metrics is how many social site visitors head for a local retailer to buy the product they saw on a social site. Well, here is a study that starts to track social to local retail.
Pinterest users outdo Facebook users when it comes to the number of companies they follow and the likelihood of purchasing an item they see on their respective sites, according to a pair of studies released in May 2012. Data from a joint study between Shop.org, comScore and the Partnering Group indicates that US online consumers follow an average of 9.3 retail companies on Pinterest, compared to 6.9 on Facebook. And results from a Steelhouse survey show that 59% of Pinterest users have purchased an item they saw on the site, compared to 33% of Facebook users who have bought an item they saw on their news feed or a friend’s wall.
Lots to learn here but the first takeaway is the need to put good brand content in your retailers hands so they can post it on their social site. Even better, make sure there is a link in what they post that brings the consumer to an even better dealer/brand product presentation on a hosted landing page. You want to host the landing page so you can track the results.
The other thing you should notice is that all of this local marketing can be done without you or your dealer spending any dollars on media. That’s the hidden value of social, leveraging your dealers’ efforts to help build your brand online for free!