Facebook’s Festive Marketing Guide marks social video, influencers, conversational marketing as key trends

The key insight is that social media is a leading channel to drive brand discovery and purchase during the festive season.

Facebook India’s Festive Marketing Guide for 2021, released on Tuesday, names social video, influencers, immersive experiences and conversational marketing as the key trends that will drive the discovery of brands and festive shopping this year.

The key insight is that social media is a leading channel to drive brand discovery and purchase during the festive season. A Facebook-commissioned online survey by GFK showed that 96 per cent of the people discover brands and products online.

Of the people who use Facebook platforms weekly, 83 per cent discover new brands and products on the platform. The same study showed that of the online shoppers who use Facebook platforms weekly, 96 per cent ultimately purchased fashion, beauty, furniture or consumer electronic products they discovered on the platform.

Arun Srinivas, director, Global Business Group, Facebook India, said, “The intent to spend on festive is higher this year, and several businesses on our platforms have already seen strong results from their festive campaigns as early as August. Digital has emerged as the largest influencer of festive purchase decisions.”

“With more than 400 million Indians on Facebook, we play a pivotal role in discovery and delivering truly incremental business outcomes. The opportunity for businesses, small and large, is to leverage digital to enable personalised discovery through video content, creators, immersive experiences, and conversational marketing.”

Facebook’s Festive Marketing Guide also highlights the structural trend towards online shopping, with 1.2x people adapting it in April 2021, versus before the COVID pandemic. It cites independent research from August 2021, indicating that Diwali spending index for 2021 is higher than last time, meaning stronger spending intent.

It brings together insights from key Facebook commissioned researches, most notably with YouGov, GFK, IPSOS and Crowd DNA, and calls out multiple key trends.