How social media shapes buying decisions

In short: Social media influences buying decisions at three points: when people discover an offer, when they evaluate it through reviews, comments and videos, and when they decide whether to trust the people behind a brand. In B2B, that influence works mainly through LinkedIn and recommendations within people’s networks. That is why Vienna-based Maze & Friends aligns social media content with these moments in the buying decision rather than with likes.

Hardly anyone buys a service, a car or a machine today without first doing some research online. Social media is rarely where the purchase happens, but it is often where the decision is prepared: you come across a provider, read what others say about them and look at who is behind the company.

This guide explains where social media influences the buying decision, what is different in B2B and how you can measure whether your posts actually lead to enquiries.

How does social media influence the buying decision?

A buying decision is a path with several stages: a need arises, people research, compare providers and make their choice. Social media plays a part at almost every stage, though not with the same weight.

• Discovery: posts, recommendations and ads draw attention to an offer, often before anyone is actively searching.
• Evaluation: prospects read comments and reviews, watch videos and compare profiles.
• Trust: visible people, real projects and answers to questions reduce the perceived risk.
• Decision: targeted reminders, for example through retargeting, bring back people who have already shown interest.

Retargeting means showing ads again to people who have already visited your website or your profile. How strongly social media works in the end depends on the product, the price and the audience: the more trust a purchase requires, the more important the evaluation and trust stages become.

What role do reviews, comments and recommendations play?

Reviews, comments and recommendations are social proof: people take their cue from what others say about an offer. A post in which customers describe their experience is more credible than anything a company says about itself.

That leads to two tasks. First, make genuine customer voices visible, for example as a video, a quote or a project report. Second, reply to comments and questions, including critical ones, calmly and factually. Future prospects will read those replies too. How service providers build trust systematically when their work cannot be tested before purchase is explained on our page about marketing for B2B service providers.

Why do people trust people more than logos?

People trust people. A face, a voice and a recognisable point of view make a company more tangible than any logo. That is why posts by management, specialists and employees often have more impact than posts from the company page.

For companies, this means: show the people behind your service, their knowledge and their work. In B2B this happens mainly through personal LinkedIn profiles, in other words through personal branding. Video is the strongest format here, because it shows expertise and personality at the same time.

A real-world example: the corporate film for Lumitech, which shows its services and everyday working life to customers and applicants.

Does social media also work for B2B buying decisions?

Yes. In B2B, social media works above all during the long research phase, before a prospect ever speaks to sales. That is where the list of providers worth considering is drawn up. If you are visible during this phase with expertise, projects and familiar faces, you are more likely to make that list.

Unlike in consumer markets, B2B decisions usually involve several people, such as management, purchasing and the relevant department, and they take longer. Content therefore has to explain and prove more. How Maze & Friends chooses channels and content for B2B is explained on the page about social media marketing.

How do you measure whether social media triggers purchases?

You measure the influence of social media on purchases by what happens after the click. Likes tell you little about that. Three tools help:

• UTM parameters in every link, meaning tags that assign a visit to a specific post or ad
• Conversion tracking on your website, which records enquiries, applications or purchases and assigns them to their source
• The question in your contact form about how someone found you, because many decisions are made without a direct click

Maze & Friends sets up this measurement on the technical side as part of website & tracking.

What can companies actually do?

The stages of the buying decision translate into five concrete steps:

1. Be present where your audience does its research, rather than on every channel at once.
2. Make customer voices, projects and reviews visible, ideally as video.
3. Reply to comments and questions, including critical ones.
4. Show the people behind the company, especially management and specialists.
5. Re-engage prospects with targeted ads and measure the result in enquiries, for example through performance marketing.

Trust before reach

Social media shapes buying decisions less through reach than through trust: at the discovery stage, during evaluation through reviews and comments, and through the people behind a brand. If you show customer voices, answer questions, make people visible and measure by enquiries, you put that influence to deliberate use.

Maze & Friends produces the content and campaigns for this under one roof, from the brand film to the ad. If you want to know at which point in the buying decision your customers drop out, book an initial call.

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Frequently asked questions

How strongly does social media influence buying decisions?

How strongly social media influences a buying decision depends on the product, the price and the audience. Its effect is greatest where people need trust before buying, in other words for services, products that need explaining and large sums. That is where prospects look most closely at reviews, comments and the people behind a provider.

Which content influences buying decisions the most?

The content with the most influence is content that builds trust: genuine customer voices, verifiable projects, answers to frequent questions and videos featuring the people behind the company. Pure advertising messages have less effect, because they prove nothing. Reviews on platforms that prospects find independently of the company also help.

What is social proof?

Social proof describes people’s tendency to take their cue from what others do or say, for example from reviews, comments or recommendations. In marketing, this means statements from satisfied customers are more convincing than what a company says about itself. On social media, visible customer voices, project reports and answered comments are therefore important building blocks.

How do I measure the influence of social media on my revenue?

You measure the influence of social media on revenue with UTM parameters, conversion tracking and a question about the source in your contact form. That shows you which posts and ads lead to enquiries or purchases. Also expect some decisions to be made without a direct click, and evaluate the results over several months for that reason.