As social media increasingly integrates with retail, consumer behaviour is undergoing a period of transformation. Almost three quarters of adults use social media so these platforms present retailers with an opportunity to engage with existing customers and attract new interest.

Social media is influencing an increasing number of purchases both on and off-line. According to DigitasLBi’s Connected Commerce study, social platforms influence the spending habits of 52% of users, with Facebook having the greatest impact followed by Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter.

Many retailers are consequently making moves to unlock the potential of social media. Providing extra services and increasing engagement can be a way to boost sales and enhance brand reputation. Here are four ways your brand can use social media to enhance customer experience:

Use Twitter to provide extra customer support

Customer support centres accessed via telephone and email are being gradually replaced by social media. Customers are increasingly turning to the retailer’s online platforms to ask questions, post concerns or comment about a particular product.

Through social media retailers have the opportunity to converse with customers in real time and appropriately answer queries and complaints. Twitter has carved out a niche as a suitable platform for social customer support.

When things go wrong, retailers can post explanatory tweets to disgruntled customers. Keep your tweets simple, too much information will only deter people. Retailers can also directly reply to customer tweets with apologies and solutions to problems. This way, Twitter can prevent small problems from turning into major crises. Customers are, on most occasions, appreciative of the speedy communication.

Twitter can be used to provide customer service and to gain customer insights about your brand and products they have purchased. is a useful function retailers can use to see what people are saying about their brand.

Use Facebook to offer exclusive promotions

The smartphone revolution has made almost anything available at the touch of a screen. This ease of access has led consumers placing more importance on saving time and money. One way retailers can meet this demand is to offer exclusive online promotions. Specific deals targeted at a brand’s social media following not only boosts online engagement but also helps to drive sales.

Facebook can be used for online promotional marketing strategies. A major benefit of the network is which enables a retailer to direct traffic to its Facebook page or website. The relatively new ‘’ feature allows brands to set up exclusive deals that can be redeemed in store and online. Furthermore, when offers are claimed by customers, their friends may also see the promotion in their news feeds potentially fuelling further sales.

Use Pinterest to promote popular items

Photos allow retailers to showcase items on sale and provide a platform for interaction between products and customers. Images can also be used to promote and build up anticipation to a new product that has yet to go on sale. Pinterest is the perfect platform for retailers to display their product range, engage viewers through high quality images and give them the opportunity to browse potential purchases.

Fashion retailer Nordstrom have blurred the boundary between in-store commerce and social media through Pinterest. With almost 4.5 million followers, Nordstrom’s Pinterest community now have direct influence over displays in every store.

Items that are popular on the photo sharing platform are now displayed in-store with an identifying red tag. Nordstrom have described Pinterest as the world’s biggest wish list and claim it fits in with their goal of having their merchandise appear on customer wish lists. To aid salespeople, Nordstrom created an in-store app that matches popular Pinterest items with current inventory on a store-by-store basis.

Use Instagram to encourage customer generated content

Creating ways in which customers feel like they are contributing to your brand is a great way of maintaining a relationship. User-generated content (UGC) is one of the most influential marketing techniques a retailer can use. This usually involves a retailer asking their customers to upload images of themselves using or wearing a product they have purchased. This image is usually captioned using a hashtag that groups all posts that are uploaded in response.

These posts are visible to both the retailer and the followers of those that upload images. 84% of consumers value the recommendations of people they know higher than any form of advertising. UGC is therefore a great way of reaching a wider online audience through customer reviews.

Starbucks launched a hugely successful UGC campaign with its White Cup Contest. Customers were asked to doodle on their empty Starbucks cups and submit pictures to Instagram using the hashtag #WhiteCupContest. The winning entrant’s prize would be to have their design featured on a limited edition Starbucks cup. Nearly 4,000 entries were submitted in just three weeks. Starbucks earned much publicity and was able to demonstrate that it valued customer feedback.