A recent Harvard Business School study has found that, if your customers are heavy social media users, they are more likely to refrain from making purchases as a result of encountering commercial offerings on social media, particularly those from friends. The results are succinctly summarized in this article.

The interesting question is obviously why. According to the study report, heavy social media users are “well connected, high status members” who are less likely to be positively influenced by the purchase behaviour of people in their network. Instead, they are likely to be influencers themselves and essentially see no reason in following their followers. In fact, they would probably actively go against what their so-called followers advocate, as it is unbecoming that a leader would want to look to her followers for direction, even when it concerns something trivial like online shopping. Pride seems to be the underlying reason.

The study did not authoritatively pinpoint the reason for the negative effect of social media on the purchase behaviour of heavy social media users but merely made speculations as to the explanation behind the results. What is relevant, however, is that more impressions and more buzz do not necessarily lead to an increase in positive engagement. There is also the possibility that heavy social media users are just not active purchasers in general, i.e. the negative engagement observed is not caused by their being heavy social media users. The results can truly be interpreted in many ways.

Does this mean that, if your customer base comprises heavy social media users, social commerce may be a futile investment? It is perhaps so, but if your customer base consists primarily of influencers by definition, there may be an opportunity to use them as a conduit to reach a wider audience, driving an increase in awareness and reach. So while their own purchase tendencies may be suppressed, their ability to affect the purchase tendencies of others may not be diluted.

After all, you do not have to purchase an offering yourself to (want to) promote it to your friends. What is your take?