One of the trends we have to look forward to in 2015 is social commerce: social media that supports e-commerce transactions. Although it hasn’t yet “blown up,” as Mark Zuckerberg predicted back in 2010, it has been gradually gaining momentum and intrigue through creative and successful social media marketing tactics by big brands. In efforts to better report direct social-to-shopping-cart conversions, we’ve heard a lot of talk about in-stream purchases over the last 12 months. For example, Starbucks’ “tweet-a-coffee” campaign that allows users to make a purchase without ever leaving the Twitter platform. And where there’s a growing demand, you’ll find new businesses to fill that niche. One of the most successful to date is Shoppost, owned by Zantler. Shoppost is a web app that allows users to easily share a rich and attention-grabbing preview of each product directly to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr. Within this post, you can include detailed information like sizing, colors, product and shipping information and more, which helps viewers to click with confidence to your product page. The Buy button included within the update helps to boost conversions considerably. As it stands, Zantler has reported a 22% engagement rate with its social commerce posts on Facebook; and their offerings have proven to be tailor-made for tablet and smartphone users, as 42% of all Shoppost’s recorded interactions are taking place mobile. This young platform is already linked with Shopify, Bigcommerce and the Amazon webstore – and last week, Shoppost announced that it would be partnering with Etsy, so that retailers can share their newest merchandise directly with audiences via social media. Once a customer clicks the Buy button in a Shoppost update, he or she is taken directly to the merchant’s Etsy branded shopping cart. Etsy users will also be able to take advantage of Shoppost’s analytics tool, which offers insight on referral traffic, most popular items, the number of social reactions and more. According to President of Zantler, James Lively, shoppable posts have been overwhelmingly leveraged by fashion and apparel retailers. He notes, “Sellers with active and engaged social audiences seem to do best with shopposts, and both men and women seem to engage equally with the products featured within our sellers’ shopposts.” Trinity Insight expects that social media users will see more in-stream product offerings and buying options through Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr in the New Year. Facebook, of course, remains the lowest common denominator among socially connected businesses; but as branded, organic Facebook posts see an average interaction of less than 1%, expect to see retailers spend more time and resources pushing through to social channels that offer better visibility in 2015.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 15:51:19 +0000