Page 17 - Adnews Magazine Sep-Oct 2020

www.adnews.com.au | September-October2020 17
in reality, the knock-on effect on ad spend has been minimal, but it has solidified our social media apps as an intrinsic part of modern life.”
Clement Tsang, general man- ager of global media partnerships and innovation at Amplifi, has also seen the pandemic accelerate the adoption of “newer” formats such as digital catalogues.
“Consumers that could no longer enjoy receiving direct mail catalogues could now continue their browsing experience via online channels,” he says.
“And the significant growth in sales via ecommerce channels reflects that shifting journey. The launch of Facebook and Instagram Shops, YouTube Shopping and the focus around commerce enable- ment reflects this trend and behav- iour. As that meme states, COVID- 19 is the digital transformation driver, not the board or C-Suite.
“With this focus came a recogni- tion that social commerce was a positive business growth driver for advertisers that were capable of sell- ing more. According to a Hubspot report, Instagram is the social chan- nel with the second-highest ROI among marketers.”
The Hubspot 2020 report, which surveyed 3400 marketers around the globe, found that just over 20 per cent of respondents saw the most ROI out of Instagram, second to Facebook which was at about 50 per cent.
Speaking to AdNews, Facebook Australia and New Zealand group industry director Naomi Shepherd says the company has been focused on building its shopping and ecommerce tool to allow business to sell directly on its platforms for some time, and the pandemic meant a greater focus on that.
Businesses of all sizes have had to invest more on online shopping and Shepherd has seen the process for brands to adopt Facebook and Instagram’s ecom- merce tools go from a year to weeks out of a necessity to meet consumers where they are.
“We’ve seen a breakneck shift to ecommerce. PwC had a statistic that 40 per cent of Australian businesses have changed their route to market since COVID-19 began, which is amazing when you think on the