How Social Media Has Changed Retail Business

How social media has changed retail business

Offering customer service on social media is becoming increasingly important for connecting with customers. With three billion social media users globally and an average 100 minutes a day spent by active users, the dynamics of doing business has changed in the last decade.

According to figures produced by social media training and resource specialist Maybe, social media users grew by 328m between October 2018 and October 2019 (Source: Brandwatch). If an estimated 67% of consumers now use social media networks like Twitter and Facebook to connect with brands and retailers, are you on their wavelength?

Over a quarter (28%) of consumers have used social media to communicate with a company in the last year. More than 30% said it is a convenient contact method (Source: SmartInsights).

Answering a customer complaint can increase customer advocacy by as much as 25%, meaning that responding to complaints can help create loyal customers.

Brands on average receive 39 messages per 1000 fans on Facebook per month, while 49% of users like a Facebook page to support a brand they like (Brandwatch).

More than 50 million small businesses currently use Facebook Pages to connect with their customers (LyfeMarketing). Facebook and Twitter are 48% more accurate and 44% faster at delivering customer service responses than email (Spark Central).

Meanwhile, 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand when their Tweet has been replied to. The last two years have seen a 2.5x increase in customer service conversations on Twitter. Companies using Twitter for customer service see a 19% lift in customer satisfaction and 76% of consumers are likely to recommend the brand following friendly service (Brandwatch).

Instagram is used by 47% of Millennials, while a third of all Instagram users have purchased through the platform on mobile. More than half of its users have discovered new products while on the platform, and they’ve been open to learning more and even purchasing, according to Maybe.

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