Do you remember just a few short years ago when social media was taking the business world by storm, but many people were still in disbelief that it was here to stay? A common conversation included, “Twitter won’t be around much longer” and “Instagram will never work for businesses.” Well, it seems social media as a tool has proved naysayers wrong. It is here to stay. It’s thriving. And, the capabilities of some of these platforms are pretty astounding.
Now that the business world truly is fully immersed in social and it’s a viable, and probably one of the leading marketing tools out there, turning marketing into actual sales dollars and transactions is where it’s at. The latest social media trend? And, one that’s growing at a rapid pace….Buy Buttons. Have you noticed these popping up on your Facebook and Pinterest feeds? With all the changes happening out there on social media platforms, developers are scrambling to keep things fresh and adding value – and, buy buttons are the next big social trend.
In a recent blog post on the Pinterest Blog, developers announced the addition of buyable pins (hooray!) – here’s what they had to say:
“Blue means you can buy. When you spot a Pin with a blue price, you’ll know you can buy it right from the app. Searching for something specific? Use the price filter to hone in on just the right Pin.”
“When you’re ready to check out, tap Buy it and pay with Apple Pay or a credit card. Soon, you’ll be on your way and back to Pinning. Once you enter your personal info, we’ll store it so you don’t have to thumb it in again next time.”
You can even sort through colors and styles all within the pin – pretty cool, right? Facebook is right there too, issuing a recent blog post letting business owners know about the test phase of Facebook Buy Buttons. Here’s what Facebook had to say:
“We’re beginning to test a new feature to help businesses drive sales through Facebook in News Feed and on Pages.
With this feature, people on desktop or mobile can click the “Buy” call-to-action button on ads and Page posts to purchase a product directly from a business, without leaving Facebook.”
Having the convenience to buy a product while you’re looking at it on a social platform is pretty incredible from a consumer perspective, but think about how amazing that is for businesses. Rather than losing customers in the process from seeing a product on social to having to navigate to the business website, the in app purchasing power means lots more sales for lots more businesses. Social media is here to stay, friends – and it’s getting smart and smarter by the minute.
Have you purchased anything through a social media buy button? How was the process for you?
*Images via Facebook & Pinterest.
