How creators and creative design spark “discovery-led shopping”

Rely on creators as agents of change and learn from them about ways to evolve your brand. When creators do more than simply introduce a product and talk about their personal connection to it, they give their audiences a credible reason to believe in your brand.

On your owned channels, ignite your audience’s imaginations with creative ideas that speak to a truth about your brand, a product or a cultural moment.

Feed curiosity with interactivity and conversation

When people are intrigued—but not sold and need some extra convincing—consider designing creative ideas that open a conversation. When you allow people to share their questions and preferences, you can give them personalized information that they’re looking, for to move from curious to convinced. And when you let them participate in your brand and product experience, they become co-owners of the discovery.

Live Shopping on Facebook and Instagram is a two-way exchange, allowing viewers to post comments during the broadcast and brands to reply to increase engagement. A recent example of this in action is the Live Shopping event created by the marketing team at the pet retailer Petco. The event, a first for the pet category, featured seven adoptable dogs that each walked down a runway wearing the brand’s YOULY and Reddy apparel. Throughout the show, animal lovers could learn more about the dogs, shop the collection and post comments.

Not only did the event drive strong return on ad spend (ROAS) and engagement, but Petco also announced its foundation’s contribution of $100,000 to Los Angeles Animal Services during the show. Within a few days, each featured dog had found a new home.

Reward connection with opportunities

People come to social platforms not just to view content but also to participate and make their mark. To do just that, you can turn new experiences into opportunities for people who may know and love you. This can help give them memorable moments that extend and deepen their connection with you, and prompt them to share their experiences with their family and friends.

Here’s an example: When sportswear retailer Adidas planned to launch the new signature brand Harden 5 in Europe, its marketing team knew they had to rethink its previous approach in light of a global pandemic. Before the pandemic hit, the professional basketball player James Harden would visit Europe and connect with local players and creators in support of a launch. The Adidas team re-created those experiences virtually, giving local creators a chance to “host” Harden in their cities. Creators received augmented reality training and used Instagram Checkout so their communities could make purchases directly from creator’s profiles.

Given this freedom and flexibility, Creator Engagement—Adidas’ core KPI—was boosted to 7.3% over its norm of 4.8%. The Adidas team also saw a significant level of interaction with the AR effect itself, which saw 898,000 impressions, with 45,000 people using it.

Design to be discovered

Today, as more people shop online, breaking through as a brand can be a challenge. There is a growing appetite from people to make the online shopping experience more exciting, engaging and often entertaining. Progressive businesses have already begun responding to this call by offering innovative experiences like Live Shopping events, AR try-ons, gamified shopping experiences, virtual goods, business messaging across platforms and bridging the creator ecosystem with the shopping ecosystem.

As you develop your creative ideas, consider how you can spark people’s interest, feed their curiosity and reward their connection with you.

By leveraging the full suite of tools at your disposal, you can go beyond hoping to be found. You can intentionally design to be discovered.

Source: AD Age