Leanne Gibson Tells Us How Facebook Canada Has Evolved for the Better in the Last Year

Leanne Gibson, Head of Industry at Facebook and Instagram Canada

Leanne has been with Facebook and Instagram Canada for 2 years as the Head of Industry, after starting her career years ago in advertising and media when digital marketing was just starting to surface. Leanne has experience working with big names like Yahoo, AOL, Twitter, and eventually Facebook where she works today. Leanne attributes her success to always being willing to learn and lean into situations that allow for growth and sometimes make her uncomfortable, especially in the digital space where technology is always evolving.

With evolving technology comes the expectation from consumers for their online experience to be tailored to their every need and personal taste. Leanne says that since the start of the pandemic, the online shopping experience has become more important than ever, with new shoppers and old both taking advantage of shipping, and even curbside pickup to allow social distancing. “This is a trend that many of us thought would take 3-5 years, and it happened in a few short months,” she explains, “there are still many questions around the fragile consumer psyche and how brands plan for all this unpredictability. But 2 major needs that we anticipate will continue for a longer-term: one is the need to drive what we’re calling ‘near store traffic’ so delivery, and also the need for brands to invest in commerce.”

Leanne thinks these commerce updates will continue to change, but will certainly not go back to the normal we knew before the pandemic. This means business owners and marketers will have to anticipate consumers' needs as they change by following trends and simply focusing on what is working for them. There is one thing to be sure of now though: you must have a seamless online store experience or you will be left in the dust. It's just what is expected of any business these days. “We're seeing an urgent partitive to accelerate the pace of e-commerce adoption, not only in Canada but around the world as consumer’s expectations have accelerated exponentially,” Leanne explains.

At Facebook, Leanne mentions they have noticed four trends that sum up the expectations of consumers right now: discovery, immediacy, personalization, and safety & security.

Discovery has evolved into being an all-day every-day experience, rather than shopping in-store to find what you need. You scroll through your favourite social media platform and see new products or ideas all the time. “Over 50% of online brand discovery happens in public social feeds,” Leanne mentions.

Immediacy is another expectation that has changed in the minds of consumers because they expect a quick and easy experience, it should be that way every time something is ordered or the experience is not the same.

Personalization has become a major expectation because we are offered such personalized experiences like Netflix or Spotify, creating this assumption that all services should be tailor-made for that specific person. “Over 90% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them.”

Safety and security are what rounds out this list of expectations. When people shop online they want to know their payment information is kept safe. Leanne says global 60% of online shoppers express extreme concern about data privacy, and half say they will pay more for a product if they have that assurance. So security will remain to be important.

After the Brand Boycott that went on in the summer, Leanne wants to also touch on why she thinks Facebook is a good brand. “We are incredibly focused on the important work we are continuing to do to remove hate speech, and providing credible voting information,” she expands, “our number one priority on our platform is to keep people safe and we have zero tolerance for hate speech, whoever zero tolerance does not mean zero occurrences,” Leanne says that the systems they have in place are able to remove 95% of all incidents, so they are pulling it down themselves without any users reporting. “95% is great, but there is more work to be done and we know that,” she confesses. They are continuing to work to show progress in a transparent manner, reviewing their policies and coming up with new product investments to fight back against hate.