Several brick-and-mortar retailers are facing challenges competing in a world where everything is readily available at your fingertips. With physical stores seeing much less traffic, it is time to reevaluate their business approach in the digital realm. While ecommerce has proven itself successful, it is lacking the social interaction that physical stores have to offer.
Introducing the digital storefront. More and more retailers are now focusing their attention on promoting and selling through digital storytelling. As a result, Stories have created an interactive platform helping bring products and services to life. In fact, social commerce is becoming the most important way to drive real shopping intent.
Stories are taking over social media by storm. No matter where you turn, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all using the same Stories format. Since brands are already tracking shoppers using social media, from discovery to conversion, Stories have been valuable in driving key metrics.
Consumers Want More Than Just a Transactional Relationship With a Brand
Retailers are using Stories to form a connection with their consumers by facilitating a more authentic experience. Stories allow for a plethora of content and expression rather than focusing on one element alone. By incorporating features such as live video, polls, music, and Q&As, brands are providing a platform for creativity and open dialogue. As a result, this activity helps brands get to the root of what their audience truly wants by monitoring their behavior and interaction with their posts.
Stories Create a Personal Relationship
With the addition of Stories, brands can take advantage of several key benefits including increased brand awareness, increased web traffic, cost-effectiveness, and continuous engagement. Not to mention, they are able to tap into a much more diverse demographic including Millennials and Gen Z who have made social media a constant in their day-to-day.
Instagram reports that over 500 million people use Stories daily and one-third of the most viewed stories come from brands. Furthermore, data shows that Stories generated 35% of impressions and 29% of total Instagram ad spend for brands in 2020. Since Instagram is a visual based platform, it is the perfect place for brands to display their products and interact with their audience. It also provides brands with the opportunity to provide quick and easy service and support to their customers.
Of course, influencers have a big impact on these statistics across all platforms. Many shoppers now turn to social media for product discovery with 90% of people following a business on Instagram alone. According to MediaKix, standard image posts and Stories are the most effective types of content formats by influencers.
The shopping experience is rapidly changing with the overwhelming influence of social media. With that change comes adaptation as brands follow the shopper’s journey, trends, and buying habits. With Stories still being a relatively new concept, now is the time for businesses and brands to capitalize on all the digital storefront has to offer.
