American consumers increase purchases stemming from social media advertisements and survey reveals engagement with ads precedes purchase

BrandTotal, the leading social competitive intelligence and brand analytics platform, announced the results of a survey to 1,000 adult US consumers on how they interact with social media ads, key purchasing signals behaviors and how it affects their likelihood to buy a product from a brand.

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The survey revealed:

• Two thirds of consumers show purchasing intent signals early on in the social commerce funnel with a pre “click” consumer behavior – 65% of consumers reported they engage (like, share, comment) with brand ad campaigns and from those who engage with the ads, a staggering 90% are more likely to make a purchase.
• 65% of respondents show purchasing intent signals early in the social commerce funnel by engaging with social media ads, including liking, commenting, or saving the post and from those who engaged with the ads, a staggering 90% are more likely to make a purchase from a brand they engaged with.
  • Engagement can also be a result of your established social network. Nearly 60% of survey respondents shared they become aware of a product or service advertisement or sponsored post because a friend tagged them within the comments section.
• Social media ads are effective in converting immediate purchase for an item the consumer “had been meaning” to purchase with over 60% answering they will click to purchase immediately.
• Over 80% of respondents said they have purchased a product or service as a result of a social advertisement and of those, 84% said they had purchased an item as a result of an advertisement within the last three months.
• Nearly 80% of surveyed respondents said they find most of the brands that advertise to them on social media relevant to themselves and their interests and over 70% said they had a favorable opinion of brands that advertise to them.
• When it comes to product discovery, 79% of respondents said they had discovered a brand they were not previously aware of via a sponsored post that resulted in a purchase, and 84% of those who discovered a new product purchased it in the last three months.
  • For brands consumers were familiar with, 73% said a social media ad will increase the likelihood of a purchase with over two-thirds sharing they buy products or services from brands they follow on social media.
• When asked about influencers, just over half of survey respondents (54%) said they are more likely to make a purchase because of an influencer featured in an ad or sponsored post.
• What a brand stands for and how they share this with their followers matters. Just 23% of survey respondents said that there was no impact on their purchasing decision if a brand spoke about causes they are passionate about including politics, cultural phenomenons and social causes. 42% of the same group said it makes them more likely to purchase when they see brands speak up.

“These survey results showcase that brands can affect every point in the funnel for potential customers and shouldn’t measure just clicks as an indicator of social advertising effectiveness,” said Alon Leibovich, co-founder and CEO of BrandTotal. “We must measure the top and the middle of the funnel, just like we measure the bottom of the funnel and pay attention to consumer engagement, sentiment and interaction with brand ads and a brand’s competitors ads.”

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Leibovich continued– “The statistic I found interesting noted that a majority of respondents interacted with an ad by liking, sharing or commenting, before ultimately purchasing what the ad was showcasing. It’s a real proof-point for paying attention to and measuring consumer engagement and sentiment on your own ads and your rival brands ads as this is the earliest purchasing signal you can impact with your brand ad creatives. With the rise of social commerce and fierce direct-to-consumer challenger brand competition, there is a clear need to measure and predict social advertising effectiveness and pay attention to the earliest signs of consumer purchase intent at the pre-click level. With a staggering 90% of respondents indicating they engage, comment or share an ad as the first step before making a purchase, brands must take their blinders off and measure not only consumer response and interaction with their social media ads, but with their rival brands social ads and pay attention to and respond to the most important early signs of purchase intent at the consumer engagement and interaction stage, before it’s too late and they convert to a purchase.”