{"id":75746,"date":"2021-06-25T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=75746"},"modified":"2021-06-25T11:10:06","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T16:10:06","slug":"messenger-business-grows-40-percent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/75746-messenger-business-grows-40-percent\/","title":{"rendered":"Messenger Convos Between People and Businesses Grow by Over 40%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Social<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As we come out of lockdown hibernation, many of us still find ourselves unready and unwilling to hold face-to-face conversations with other human beings. Millennials, in particular, were already known for being antisocial \u2013 favoring polished digital interactions to face-to-face contact before the pandemic hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A PSA for store associates on behalf of millennials everywhere<\/strong>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please speak slowly. Don\u2019t touch us. Don\u2019t smile too aggressively. And please, please don\u2019t try to upsell us. (Navigating that type of uncomfortable social situation takes a level of interpersonal prowess we\u2019ve long forgotten.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t want to interact with restaurant and store associates\u2026 it\u2019s just that we have to get used to it again. Many of us still experience a sense of panic when our eyes behold the bottom half of another human being\u2019s face. It\u2019s a re-acclimation process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe that\u2019s why Messenger conversations between people and businesses grew by over 40%<\/em> in 2020 alone. And why social media companies are tripping over themselves to ensure their platforms are the most optimized for shoppable ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Data Behind the Exodus to Social Media<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Green<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2021 is social media marketers\u2019 time to shine. After over a year of mask-wearing and extreme social isolation, only 44% of consumers<\/a> look forward to returning to malls. Customers are still doing much of their shopping on social media while they reacclimate to normal life. In fact, B2B companies report that social media advertising was used by 83% of marketers<\/a> last year alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selling on social is a lucrative venture. Social media marketing ranked second<\/a> in investment success (29%) \u2013 right behind search engine marketing (33%). And marketing spend makes up 11.7% of company<\/a> budgets in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest\u2026 Oh My!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It should come as no surprise that social platform owners are doing everything they can to create effective, shoppable ad opportunities for businesses. It feels like every week there\u2019s a new partnership being announced between brands or marketplaces and social media companies. Let\u2019s take a look at three of the most notable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TikTok:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"tiktok<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

TikTok may be newer to the scene, but that hasn\u2019t stopped it from attracting over 100 million users to the platform. The unique advantage of TikTok over other shoppable platforms is its younger-skewing audience. Younger consumers are the most likely to make purchases on social media, which might explain why TikTok\u2019s collaboration with Shopify has been such an incredible success. Kantar found that<\/a> 83% of TikTok\u2019s audience have made purchases inspired by its trending content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TikTok recently announced plans to make its Shopify partnership available in five European countries, including Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and the U.K.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook\/Instagram:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Instagram<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Why deal with a business in person when you can do it online? Instagram introduced Shops<\/a> in 2020. Creating shoppable stories was the next logical step for the platform that birthed the influencer marketing craze. A whopping  90% of marketers <\/a>in the U.S. name Instagram as the most important social media platform for influencer marketing. The platform<\/a> also claims that 70% of \u201cshopping enthusiasts\u201d turn to Instagram for product discovery. The definition of what constitutes a \u201cshopping enthusiast,\u201d however, is nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Facebook<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Facebook is vying for a slice of its subsidiary\u2019s success with Facebook Shops, launched in May of 2020. The company is beta testing a new feature called Login Connect on Messenger. According to Facebook\u2019s press release, Login Connect would enable businesses to create new customers by sending personalized messages on the platform. If customers opt into the dialogue, the business would then be able to send customers offer and product recommendations and personalize the customer service experience online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s beginning to look like all of Zuckerberg\u2019s Messenger optimization efforts are paying off. Conversations between people and businesses on Facebook Messenger and<\/em> Instagram grew by more than 40% this year alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinterest:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"pinterest<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of platforms that lend themselves to the inception of great (and appallingly bad) ideas, Pinterest Shopping is on the rise \u2013 attracting new brands and customers to the platform. Pinterest added more than 100 million<\/a> monthly active users to its database in 2020. And 6x more businesses used<\/a> Pinterest Shopping Ads in the fourth quarter of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pinterest Shopping takes an interesting approach with the data-backed assertion that shoppers who take their time to make a purchase ultimately purchase higher-ticket items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Will Customers Keep Shopping on Social Channels?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have some bad news:<\/em> People are going to start using the word \u201cseamless\u201d to describe customer expectations again. And, once again, social media will become a steppingstone along the shopping journey. Some customers will use platforms like Pinterest as a vehicle for discovery, others will convert on Facebook Messenger, and still others will find products on Instagram or TikTok and make their final purchase in-store. But regardless of how they use the platforms, social media shopping is here to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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