The customer journey has changed fundamentally over the past decade, and social media is central to that change. The linear model of awareness, consideration, and purchase, each stage driven by a different type of marketing intervention, no longer describes how most people actually make buying decisions. Today, the journey is non-linear, multi-channel, and heavily influenced by social media at multiple stages, often in ways that are invisible to brands tracking traditional attribution metrics.
Social media now plays a role at every stage of the buying process. It is where initial brand awareness is formed, often through content encountered long before any active buying intent is present. It is where consideration is shaped, through the organic and promoted content that brands surface to audiences who are beginning to explore options. And it is where purchase decisions are validated, through the reviews, recommendations, and visible social proof that give hesitant buyers the confidence to commit.
The Discovery Function Of Social Media
For a significant and growing proportion of consumers, social media has replaced traditional search as the primary channel for product and brand discovery. This is particularly pronounced among younger demographics, but the trend is evident across age groups. The implication for brands is that social media presence is now as important as search visibility for being discovered by new customers, and in some categories it is the primary discovery mechanism.
Research from Forrester on the customer journey consistently highlights the growing role of social media in the consideration and evaluation stages of purchasing. Consumers who discover a brand through social media typically conduct further research through the same channels, reviewing the brand’s content history, engagement behaviour, and customer interactions before making any direct contact with the brand. This makes the cumulative body of a brand’s social media content as important as its website in shaping first impressions.
Social Media In The Consideration Phase
The content a brand publishes during the consideration phase of the customer journey serves a different purpose than awareness content. It needs to answer the questions that someone who is evaluating options would ask, to demonstrate expertise and trustworthiness, and to provide the kind of evidence that moves a hesitant prospect towards a decision. Educational content, case studies, transparent information about the product or service in action, and accessible demonstrations all serve this function.
Aligning the content strategy to the customer journey, rather than producing content in isolation from commercial purpose, is one of the more sophisticated aspects of social media management from a company like 99social. It requires a genuine understanding of how the brand’s specific audience moves through the buying process and what content serves them at each stage.
Post-Purchase Social Media And Retention
The customer journey does not end at purchase, and neither should the social media strategy. Post-purchase content that helps customers get more value from their purchase, that celebrates and acknowledges the choice they have made, and that connects them with a community of other customers, drives the repeat purchase and advocacy behaviours that are commercially most valuable. Retention is consistently less expensive than acquisition, and social media is one of the most effective channels for building the ongoing relationship that makes retention possible.
Brands that treat social media as a full-funnel tool rather than a top-of-funnel awareness channel get significantly more commercial value from their investment. The audience a brand has built on social media is not just a marketing asset. It is a customer base in constant communication with the brand, providing signals, giving feedback, and presenting opportunities for ongoing value creation that go far beyond any single transaction.