Consider, too, your target audience. Younger consumers may be easier to reach on social media, whereas older consumers will be at their trusted retailers. Finally, consider your product’s star qualities: If it’s visually appealing (i.e., clothing, beauty, travel, luxury), then it lends itself well to social media, whereas a less sexy but more essential, everyday category like groceries may perform better in retail media. (RMNs also offer same-day delivery of consumer packaged goods, but social could help with that soon!)
Again, these aren’t binary choices; digital ad tools have long been embedded in social media features (think swipe-up ads in Instagram Stories or Shopify’s integration with TikTok), and new partnerships appear regularly. At NewFronts last week, TikTok launched Pulse Premiere, which allows advertisers to place their brands directly after premium content from top publishers like BuzzFeed and Condé Nast. TikTok also rolled out a paid search ad feature in beta to advertisers this year, directly competing with Google, Bing and Instagram (which also offers search results as ad placements now). I see a huge opportunity for TikTok to partner with Instacart or Walmart for same-day delivery of products bought in shoppable TikTok video ads.
All of these integrations are dissolving the boundaries around what is considered paid search. The remaining question is: Will social develop a keyword-specific targeting approach for advertisers, or will it rely purely on product content like many sponsored product offerings in retail media?
The brands we work with need us to adapt to the ever-changing media landscape as they adapt to changing consumer demands. A proper omnichannel marketing approach integrates social and RMN solutions to leverage the strengths of each platform and effectively reach consumers at different stages of their purchase journey.
