The holiday shopping season is in full swing, and this year, trends show that consumers are heading to social networks to shop. For the past several years, we’ve seen a growing shift to online shopping, so it’s not really surprising that social networks would be the next stop for gift ideas.

Are you utilizing social networks to gather gift ideas this holiday season? Let us know.

According to a GfK survey released in October, 39 percent of consumers plan to look to social networks before they make purchases. Laura O’Shaughnessy, the CEO of Facebook advertising agency SocialCode, told us that social networks played a large role last year but were expected to play an even bigger role in this year’s shopping season.

“What we saw last year, and we expect even more of a bang this year, is that social networks are really just key to holiday shopping,” she said.

As a result of this trend, marketers have another area in which to reach consumers. In order to leverage social networks, O’Shaughnessy told us that marketers should have a clear goal for social networks whether it be to introduce a new product, to purchase a product, or to increase brand awareness.

Secondly, she said marketers should be very specific in identifying their target audience. As she explained, social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn make it very easy to target particular groups.

Thirdly, O’Shaughnessy advises marketers to drive an action through their social media effort. Marketers should, however, make sure that they are taking advantage of the social power of the networks in order to encourage sharing.

If marketers can integrate a gaming aspect to their campaign, the results can be powerful in this way as well.

Once these elements are implemented, O’Shaughnessy said that marketers need to have tracking tools in place so that they are making the most of their marketing dollars.

Are you utilizing these opportunities this holiday season, marketers? We’d love to know.