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Reviews and recommendations dominate 70% of shopping conversations on Twitter
Mumbai: Shopping is a hot topic in the social space, and especially so during the festive season in India. While shoppers turn to services like Twitter to discuss their big splurge plans, do these conversations about brands and products actually impact sales? With the festive season in full swing, microblogging platform Twitter’s latest #LetsTalkShop report finds out how marketers can engage the festive shopper more effectively.
Twitter partnered with Publicis to study 2,400 consumers in India on leading social platforms. The study reveals the sentiment that is driving conversations and shopping decisions today, while also throwing light on content consumption patterns and, most importantly, expectations from brands, both in terms of customer service and content.
Through these insights, Twitter has revealed how brand conversation powers shopping. Twitter wants to help marketers lean into shopping conversations and drive festive success this season.
Moreover, Diwali conversations on Twitter also open doors for Indian brands to connect and engage with the leaned-in shoppers who are looking to spend during the festivities. The service witnessed more than 3.1 million tweets about Diwali in the festive week (30 October 2021 to 6 November 2021).
As we head to the festive highs this year, Twitter India country lead-large client solutions, Kanika Mittal said, “Shopping has always been a social experience and the festive season is one of the busiest times of year on Twitter. Today, online brand conversation has become a trusted, everyday part of the shopping process. Our data reveals that 97 per cent of people surveyed seek comments and opinions from others on the service, with reviews and recommendations dominating 70 per cent of shopping conversations. Trust, too, plays a major role. 9 out of 10 consumers are more likely to consider a purchase after seeing someone else’s opinion about a brand or product. In fact, for the majority of shoppers, these spontaneous conversations are as impactful on purchase decisions as traditional reviews. So yes, talk matters.”
Reviews and recommendations on Twitter take a front-seat during festive shopping
Connecting with other shoppers to share experiences and make decisions based on these exchanges forms a significant part of today’s tech-savvy consumers’ purchase decisions. As a testament to this, the report indicates that 9 in 10 consumers are more likely to consider a purchase after seeing someone else’s opinion about a brand or product.
Reviews and recommendations dominate 70 per cent of shopping conversations on Twitter today. For consumers, Twitter has been one of the go-to services for them to help them in their purchase journey, as more than half (51 per cent) of Indian online shoppers agree that ads or tweets on Twitter help them discover new products or brands.
55 per cent state that reviews and comments on Twitter are more trustworthy than on any other social media platform.
Consumer Excitement And Buying Inclination During Diwali
The study reveals that the build-up to the festivities is the most exciting for consumers as 50 per cent of the Diwali conversation on Twitter takes place before the festival, whereas 35 per cent of the conversation happens on the day of the festival.
92 per cent of festive conversations around Diwali are mostly positive or neutral in tonality, with 75 per cent of mentions of Diwali on Twitter being linked to ‘joy’.
As brands increasingly tap into the power of click ‘play’ to engage with their audiences, the report notes that 64 per cent of people on Twitter enjoy watching video ads to see what brands have to offer.
Four in 10 shoppers are on the lookout for deals and promotional offers from brands around Diwali.
Brand conversations: A beaming opportunity for businesses
Brand conversation is increasingly becoming influential at every stage of the purchase journey and has the power to influence shopping decisions. As a matter of fact, 93 per cent of Indian shoppers recall brand conversations online before making a purchase.
In fact, shoppers on Twitter consider 4 out of 5 (80 per cent) of the brand conversations as “trustworthy.” 88 per cent of brand conversations made people feel differently about the brand. Among consumers that made a purchase, 62 per cent said that their experience with brand conversation made them much more likely to consider the purchase.
Evidently, consumers are increasingly seeking meaningful dialogue with brands. This festive season, engaging audiences beyond ‘clicks’ and moving towards ‘conversations’ is the route that brands must take to drive consideration and purchase behaviour.
MAM
Madison World to launch AI platform M BrAIn for media planning
Agency group invests about $1 million as it shifts to AI driven growth planning.
MUMBAI: If media planning once ran on spreadsheets and gut instinct, the next chapter may run on algorithms and curiosity. Madison World is preparing to roll out the first version of its proprietary artificial intelligence platform Madison M BrAIn in early April, as the independent agency group accelerates its transition toward AI driven planning and product led media services.
The platform, expected to involve an investment of around $1 million, is designed to reshape how the agency approaches strategy by combining internal knowledge, external data sources and advanced AI models into a single intelligence ecosystem.
According to Madison Media, OOH and Hiveminds partner and group CEO Ajit Varghese the initiative forms part of a larger structural rethink within the organisation. “Traditionally agencies built frameworks around media planning and allocation. We are redesigning that structure into what we call a Growth Planning System (GPS),” Varghese said.
The shift reflects a growing belief that effective media strategy must begin earlier in the decision making process. Instead of jumping directly to channel allocation, planners must first decode the market itself identifying consumer barriers, purchase triggers and the core challenges facing a brand.
Once those insights are mapped, agencies can build clearer growth agendas for clients and design media strategies that connect more closely with business outcomes.
To support that approach, Madison has built Madison M BrAIn as what it describes as a human AI cognitive ecosystem. Acting as a central intelligence hub, the platform aggregates proprietary insights alongside external data sources and large language models, enabling planners to access deeper market intelligence before building campaign strategies.
Varghese said one of the core objectives is to democratise knowledge across the organisation. “In the past, this level of understanding was largely available to senior leaders or experienced strategists. With Madison M BrAIn, even a junior planner should be able to access the same intelligence and approach clients with a far more informed perspective,” he said.
The agency has already implemented the new planning philosophy internally and completed three months of testing for the AI platform, with early trials showing encouraging results in terms of learning capability and system performance.
While the first version relied on global large language models, Madison is now developing its own proprietary Small Language Model (SLM) to serve as the core of the M BrAIn ecosystem.
“The SLM will be able to read global LLMs, but the LLMs cannot read the SLM,” Varghese explained. “That ensures all the intelligence we build remains within the Madison ecosystem and strengthens our proprietary knowledge base.”
The first version of Madison M BrAIn is expected to go live in early April, with a more refined version targeted by the end of June. Over time, the platform will integrate additional external data streams and APIs including consumer insight platforms, social listening tools and client datasets.
These integrations are expected to enhance the system’s learning capability and enable it to generate increasingly sophisticated strategic recommendations.
Although the platform is currently being deployed for internal use, Madison sees potential for it to evolve into a licensable product in the future.
“At the moment, our focus is to stabilise and strengthen M BrAIn internally. But over time there is potential for this to become a product that could be licensed externally,” Varghese said.
The AI platform is also part of a wider technology transformation underway at the agency group. Alongside M BrAIn, Madison is building a broader digital infrastructure called the Catalyst operating system, which aims to integrate operational processes, data and product platforms into a unified ecosystem.
This broader technology stack could require an additional $1 million to $1.5 million investment over time, though spending will be phased and reviewed regularly.
“We are evaluating progress every three months and prioritising the most critical capabilities first,” Varghese said.
Madison expects the full AI and operating ecosystem to be fully functional within 12 to 18 months, positioning the agency to combine human strategy with machine intelligence as the advertising industry enters its next data driven phase.
