Brenna Bunch is a rising senior at NC State University and a digital marketing associate at Eckel & Vaughan.
As technology continues to evolve and social media continues to serve as a primary form of communication, brands are going back to the drawing board in their efforts to reach target markets.
Their primary focus? To keep up with their audiences and those audiences’ ever-changing online habits.
Brands are adapting the newest technologies to offer their consumers innovative and creative services. Following their audience’s lead, brands are taking advantage of social media to connect with customers in their day-to-day lives.
Take Domino’s for instance, whose new online ordering system harnesses the simplicity of Twitter. The service allows customers to register their favorite pizza online and then tweet a pizza emoji at the company. Not long after, the customer will receive a pizza, hot and ready at their front door.
Social media giants Pinterest and Instagram are unveiling buy buttons, giving users the ability to purchase the items seen online or in their feed with the click of a button. Eliminating the hassle of searching through products or copying and pasting links, customers can now easily and impulsively shop ’til their thumbs drop.
Companies are increasingly monitoring consumers’ online habits and are inserting themselves into the most popular platforms. However, they may not be using online channels solely to generate immediate sales.
Oreo has used its Instagram account to creatively highlight products and entertain more than half a million followers at the same time. By showcasing their personality with imaginative posts, brands like Oreo have been able to connect to their audiences on a more personal level. This is a nice change of pace from the stuffy corporate communication oftentimes associated with large brands.
So what can we expect in the future? The simple answer is anything. Brands are following consumers and catering to their demands. With the help of innovative services and technologies, companies are working to adapt to the online habits of their customers and to pick up a few sales along the way.
