01 / 07 / 2015

Social Media and the 'Buy Now' button

Author

Faye Hodgkiss

Category

News

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You might have noticed while scrolling through Instagram recently, that the sponsored ads which occasionally sneak into your feed (usually sandwiched between a baby picture and a cat meme if it’s anything like mine) now feature ‘shop now’ / ‘learn more’ / ‘sign up’ buttons. This means we can now shop directly from an image within our feed.

This is quite a big leap for Instagram who, of all the Social Media networks, were the ones who least bombarded us with sponsored ads. That may have been down to the fact that their ad guidelines were very specific, ensuring they blended in with people's photo feeds as much as possible so as not to disrupt the user experience too much. Well, that and the fact they were displayed intermittently at most. So half the time, whilst scrolling through on your lunch hour with sandwich in one hand, phone in the other, you might not even notice that you aren’t following one of the few and select partners Instagram allowed to market to its 300 million+ customers. 

On the other hand, Facebook has over 2 million advertisers and, as a result, the experience of scrolling through your newsfeed is nowhere near as pure or enjoyable as Instagram. However, thanks to the new Instagram upgrade and Facebook’s 2012 acquisition of the photo sharing giant, it’s only a matter of time before those 2 million advertisers become potential Instagram clients as well.

This news comes at the same time that Pinterest announced they would be launching ‘Buyable Pins’. They will come with a blue “buy it” button in the top right hand corner of the post, with a price point and options to search for different colours and costs.
Pinterest will also be utilising the information they get from your purchases to ensure that the sponsored pins which appear on your feed are far more targeted, which can only be a good thing for retailers and advertisers alike.

Pinterest has always been slightly different to the other social networks, giving its users inspiration and ideas for house decorating, weddings, clothes, etc. Their users are already in ‘plan to buy’ mode and so this next step for the platform seems only natural. Meanwhile, Instagram is more personal. I go on there to look at great images of wonderful places, famous people’s antics, check in on friends across the globe, and laugh at general funny pictures. So I’m intrigued to see how Instagram approach this latest step. How carefully they choose which ads we see and how often we see them could have a major impact on user experience.

For both platforms the commercial potential is huge, and the ability to buy on social media is going to direct previously unknown customers to the website wanting to explore. Retailers need to be smart, taking their inspiration from influential users and keeping on top of trends.



Consumers have long become savvy to traditional marketing techniques, and influencer marketing is a proven strategy to generate revenue while expanding reach. So my top tip for surviving the harsh and fickle world of social media would be tapping into the world of influencers and bloggers, doing my research, and finding someone who complemented my product and teaming up with them.