Over the last decade, women have become extremely savvy in the way they shop - using social media to find deals and connect to brands. Brands must harness channels such as Twitter and Pinterest if they want to attract female buyers 

We have all seen the images: the shopping-crazed woman buying her eighth pair of shoes, while an exasperated male companion sits in a corner looking dejected. Stereotypes such as this one permeate the dialogue and influence how we think of ourselves as consumers, as well as how brands market their products. Women are often portrayed as the more reckless spenders, and men as more shopping-averse. As this image is repeated it is perpetrated as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“Over the next decade, women will control two thirds of consumer wealth in the United States and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history,” Clare Behar, Senior Partner and Director of a new business development at Fleishman-Hillard told She-conomy. “Estimates range from $12trn to $40trn.” Women are by far the biggest luxury goods consumers and account for up to 85 percent of all consumer purchases in developed markets like the US and Europe, according to market research compiled by Mindshare and Ogilvy & Mather.

Window shopping
What is perhaps most interesting about female shopping habits, is that they are ever-evolving. Though the clear stereotype is that women buy personal and luxury items at exhaustion, data actually reveals that women are responsible for the vast majority of consumer electronic, vehicle, healthcare, holiday and food purchases; in fact, women far outstrip men in shopping in almost every category of consumer goods and services.

According to She-conomy, a male guide to marketing to women, in 1998, 69 percent of women aged 18 to 24 were involved in the purchase of home electronic products. By 2008, that figure had risen to 91 percent as personal electronics such as mobile phones and computers became vital personal items to own. During that same period, the number of single women in that age bracket living alone increased from eight percent to 38 percent – giving rise to an important consumer segment, in possession of disposable income and a predisposition to want to spend it.

Though the psychology of gender-specific consumer habits is questionable at best, the figures speak for themselves; women shop, and increasingly, the way women shop is changing. The same Ogilvy & Mather research reveals that up to 22 percent of American women shop online at least once a day and up to 92 percent of online shopper’s pass on information about deals to their friends or social media connections.

“Women tend to be more loyal to brands and because they maintain a great deal of the buying power, brands are foolish not to speak directly to them,” Emily Carroll, Manager for Strategic Planning and Consumer Insights at Leapfrog Interactive told Pontflex’s Social Media Marketing to Women report. “Social media and email represent the best way to get a brand in front of women consumers. You have to be where they are to talk and give advice.”

Changing habits
A decade ago Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were barely even ideas in the heads of Silicon Valley developers. Today the social media industry is worth around $1bn in advertising and sales annually. Though virtually every single western adult has a social media account of one type or another – be it a YouTube playlist or a LinkedIn profile – in reality it has taken a long time for these platforms to find viable business models in which to operate.

Advertising and sales was the clear path for profit for social media brands, which traditionally have a lot of access to their users’ information, location and personal habits. Social media has not only changed they way we communicate with one another; it has also changed the way we consume information and goods. And all of the data generated by these exchanges is helping companies to reassess how goods are marketed and consumed.

“We have to make sure we’re using the channels that allow us to find the right people wherever they are online,” Deb Swinder, Director for e-Marketing for ASPCA, told the same Pontiflex report. “We have to constantly be reaching out into new sites, new audiences, new demographics to expand our reach.”

Women have emerged as the real power in the social media industry. According to data compiled by Alex Hillsberg for NMK, from reputable sources such as the Pew Research Centre and Burst Media, women are vastly more likely to interact with brands on social media then men. Up to 54 percent of women consumers show support to their favourite brands online, 53 percent access offers and 28 percent comment, compared with 44 percent, 36 percent and 25 percent of men respectively. This information may not appear that significant independently, however, when taken into consideration with other statistics relating to the consumer patterns of women, then suddenly a significant pattern arises.

Appy customers
Women dominate all the major social media platforms in the US, apart from LinkedIn, which is still a largely male-dominated environment. But more importantly than that, women vastly outstrip men in volume of users and time spent online for Facebook and Pinterest – the two social media platforms with the most sales potential.

Women also lead the way in the use of mobile apps for social media in both smartphone and tablet categories, meaning that marketers and brands have more access to women consumers online than they do men. On Facebook alone, women are up to 55 percent more engaged with brands than men are, according to a survey by Women’s Marketing and SheSpeaks. That same survey suggests that women are 55 percent more likely than men to purchase goods and services from brands they interact with online.

The wealth of data that is generated by our collective social media use is perhaps the most valuable tool a brand has today, because it is a direct blueprint of its customers lifestyle and shopping habits. But not all brands have mastered how to convert this information into useable clicks and increased sales. For instance, according to the 2014 Mobile Behaviour Report by ExactTarget, 71 percent of female social media users like or follow brands on social media for deals, compared to only 18 percent of men. However, women are far more likely to ignore paid digital adverts on social media and mobile ads than their male counterparts. This means that women want to interact with brands in a creative and rewarding way, rather than just be bombarded with ads.

“First you have to know your customer and whom you want to reach,” explains Bonnie Kintzer, CEO of Women’s Marketing Inc in an American Express Open Forum article. “Who is she and how does she buy? What media does she see and what channels does she shop in all day long? Once you know that, you know where to focus.” The issue is that many brands are still struggling to answer even these simple questions. Data from the Marketing to Women Conference, suggests that 91 percent of women still feel misunderstood by advertisers. As many as 59 percent of women feel let down by food marketers and 66 percent feel misunderstood by healthcare marketers – two of the biggest markets for female consumers.

Understanding the consumer
It is clear that having an effective and consistent social media presence is vital for any brand, especially those hoping to tap into the female demographic. However, many companies are still falling short of the levels of success they seek. The way companies approach digital strategy today “is no different from what companies have done on other media,” Mikolaj Piskorski, author of A Social Strategy: how we profit from social media, told Forbes. “They simply took this approach and put it on social media platforms. The problem is that this approach does not work well. Most firms can’t generate the requisite engagement, and those that do often fail to convert it into sales. This is because people use social platforms to interact with their friends, and firms are seen as intruders who interrupt the experience.”

Kintzer agrees: “Women use social media to integrate disparate roles – family, work and personal online. They use it to connect to family friends and brands.” This means that a traditional approach of targeted ads is unlikely to reach women shoppers online. It is a surprise that more brands are not making the understanding and targeting of women shoppers their number one priority when it comes to social media.

Additionally, this is not a new trend; women surpassed men in terms of internet usage as early as 2000, and yet, many brands still struggle to reach women online. “To reach women, know who she is and what media she consumes all day long,” suggests Kintzer. “Plan an integrated campaign, because all the channels feed off each other. If a potential customer hears or sees your message in more than one context or venue, she will remember it, and it is far more effective.”

There is a wealth of data on social media marketing and consumption available, and yet many brands are still struggling to understand exactly what it is their consumers are looking for in their social media experience. It is abundantly clear that female social media users are a powerful demographic when it comes to online shopping and they are generally looking for a personalised interaction with their favourite brands. By putting in the extra effort brands will be rewarded with loyalty and enthusiasm – women are far more likely than men to share their shopping experiences and the deals they find online with their friends and connections.

With the social media industry worth $1bn annually, no brand can afford to miss out on any slice of that pie – especially as research shows that people want to consume online, and are more than happy to engage. While women continue to dominate the lion’s share of this market, they should be afforded the royal treatment by every brand online, without condescension or cheap stereotyping.