A survey of 499 frequent UK online shoppers conducted by online marketplace vendor Capterra found that an overwhelming 91% said they see too many ads on social media.
In response to social media advertising, over a third (37%) have blocked certain ads and 35% have unfollowed a brand in the past 12 months.
Excessive advertising on social media can lead to ad fatigue, causing consumers to lose interest and potentially leading to negative perceptions of your brand. This research highlights the need for brands to address this issue and adapt their social media marketing strategies accordingly.
Eduardo Garcia Rodriguez, an analyst at Capterra UK who has been writing about the intersection of retail and technology for the past three years, said: “While the findings suggest that consumers are being influenced by excessive social advertising, businesses don't necessarily need to stop being active on social media. Our research found that 57% of respondents searched for information about a product in the past year in response to a social media ad, and a further 29% purchased one or more products, suggesting that if done right, it can be effective. Brands just need to be careful with their use of advertising, making sure it's well-targeted and timed and personalised.”
Although 33% of online consumers do not want to interact or engage with brands on social media, 48% say they would be open to engaging with brands if they sent them offers and discounts. Additionally, 45% of respondents believe it is acceptable to receive ads for products related to their interests.
Software such as social media marketing, monitoring and analytics tools help brands identify these trends and customer sentiment to better track and understand their audience.
But consumers overwhelmed by advertising overload may be fleeing to dark social channels for product discovery and recommendations that are harder for brands to track. For example, while 24% of respondents recommend products on social media, the majority (76%) recommend products in person or over the phone, 49% recommend products in private messages or group chats, and 12% recommend them via email.
This untraceable information poses a challenge for brands, but there are ways around it, such as implementing URL shorteners and UTMs and including CTA buttons in your content to make it easy to share across email and messaging apps.
An added challenge is that consumers are taking steps to protect their privacy when shopping online, such as rejecting or clearing cookies (51%), using guest checkout (46%) and paying with digital wallets (42%), making it even more difficult for brands to gain customer insights.
Eduardo added: “If shoppers are concerned about privacy, companies should look for ways to build trust with customers by being transparent about how they use data and clearly communicating their privacy policies, which will make consumers more likely to share their personal information with the company.”
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