How Social Continues to Shape the Buyer’s Journey: A Q&A with Marketo

06 Oct How Social Continues to Shape the Buyer’s Journey: A Q&A with Marketo

By Dara Fontein

Think about the last big-ticket item that you bought. Chances are, you didn’t simply go to the store and pick out the first television that caught your eye. You probably spent some time researching the product and reading customer reviews so that you could make an informed decision.

Thanks to social media, today’s consumer is more educated and equipped than ever. To understand the impact this digital transformation has had on every stage of the buyer’s journey, we spoke to Lisa Marcyes, social media and marketing manager at Marketo.

Q&A with Lisa Marcyes from Marketo

What part of the buyer’s journey has social media had the biggest impact on?

One of the most exciting parts of my job is the fact that social media touches buyers at every stage of their journey. At the initial stages, we’re looking to increase new followers and drive awareness and engagement with our content. We’ve also seen customer support on social become a huge part of the digital buying journey.

People are expecting an answer from me within one hour maximum. Along with social listening and finding customers and potential customers discussing the brand, we’re able to build advocacy. The buying journey is impacted from beginning and discovery of the brand, to gaining valuable brand advocates.

Building this brand voice on social helps to establish you as a thought leader, an expert in the field, and a go-to for advice. With 55 percent of B2B buyers doing their research through social networks, social channels provide a real-time platform where they can share information, research products, and make informed buying decisions.

With engagement, you’re interacting and nurturing strategies to help nudge that potential customer toward a conversion. This is an especially critical time not to be too pushy or salesy, but rather informative and approaching with a ‘here’s some tips that could maybe help you’ stance. Great ways to approach this are with social targeting with paid, using organic listening and engagement, participating in chats, and responding to inquiries.

Once your buyer has converted into a customer, social is a great way to address retention and loyalty. Social really does give the perfect platform to create long-term relationships with your customers. Continue to provide them valuable content, provide customer service, and actively engage. You’ll find customers feel valued and listened to.

The goal in social is always to offer a great customer experience. And hopefully, if you make your customers feel valued, they’ll become advocates, share your content, and refer you to others. View Full Article >>

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