68% of People Use Social Media to Check Out Their Next Purchase

From snaps to livestreams - everyone is making buying easier.

A new report shows that social media continues to increase in importance for search and discovery.

There's a now-cliché saying that goes around every few years that goes: "Social media is the new website." While that may not be exactly true, the data is starting to show that our social channels do a lot more than just collect likes and comments.

In a recent report from Sprout Social, social media users reported that they're following significantly more brands this year and that they are using social media to search and discover new purchases. What's most interesting is how social media now seems to play a role in every step in the purchase journey. From awareness, which is driven by user-generated content; to interest and consideration, which may show up as content engagement; and finally, to the conversion itself, which is increasingly happening in-app, social users are able to get everything they need without ever leaving their channel of choice.

The new data is food for thought the next time you're building a media plan or allocating a content budget because it just may cause you to rethink where and how those investments can pay off.

Read the full report here. Just this year, shoppable experiences have launched in each of the following places:

• Facebook's Summer livestream shopping series (imagine The Shopping Network for 2021)
• Poshmark teamed up with Snapchat to create Poshmark Mini where users can attend Posh Parties and learn about the latest products, then check out all within the Snapchat app
• YouTube is making TV-connected ads that link directly to your phone where you can purchase what you're seeing on your screen

So what? As we think about where and how our brands are going to show up this year, increasingly we'll be able to consider the whole customer journey, driving and measuring everything from awareness to conversion.

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting