In this week’s Content Marketing Weekly, we’re going to focus on one of fall’s most popular activities: shopping.
Your customers are stocking up on warm-weather clothing, getting ready to decorate and dress up for the many festivities ahead and, of course, starting to shop for holiday gifts. As such, there’s no better time to ramp up your ecommerce efforts than right now.
Luckily for ecommerce marketers everywhere, social media platforms are ahead of the game. Here’s the latest on social media ecommerce marketing this week:
Snapchat Partners With Amazon to Let Users Shop From Pictures
Snapchat ramped up its efforts in ecommerce influencing. Earlier this year, the company announced its Shoppable AR lenses, which offered ecommerce retailers attractive self-serve options like funnel measurement metrics and preset audiences.
The latest move to benefit ecommerce retailers is its partnership with Amazon. Users will be able to look up nearly any product by photo or barcode using the Snapchat camera. When users see a product they like, they can use the camera screen to take a photo, then hold down on the camera screen to see if the app recognizes the product.
If Snapchat successfully identifies the product, an Amazon card will pop up with information about that product or a related one. Users will then have the option to take their shopping experience to the Amazon app or the retail giant’s mobile site.
Snapchat shared that the development is being tested now, and its rollout will be slow. But it’s something ecommerce retailers should be excited about.
Pinterest Lets Small Businesses Use ‘Shop the Look’ Pins
Pinterest is a highly effective social marketing platform for retailers, and the company is making it easier for companies to promote their products to pinners through Shop the Look pins.
Shop the Look pins have been available for large retailers to use for some time, but access was very limited. Previously, companies could use them only if they worked with third-party Pinterest marketing partners.
Now, Pinterest has made the tool available to small- and medium-sized businesses, empowering retailers of all sizes. Additionally, the pin is now available as a free self-serve tool, making it much more accessible to all companies active on Pinterest.
When pinners see a product they like that has been tagged with the Shop the Look pin, they’ll see small white dots on the product image. When they tap or click on the dot, information about the product will appear and users will have the option to leave the Pinterest site to complete a purchase.
Instagram Introduces Shopping in Stories, New Shopping Section in Explore
Shopping in Stories, a test feature initially rolled out for a select number of businesses in June, is now available for all companies approved for shopping on Instagram.
To become approved for shopping on Instagram, companies need to follow a few simple steps and wait for their account to be reviewed, which generally takes a couple of days, according to the social platform.
To capitalize on the feature, businesses simply add stickers to their stories. When users tap the stickers, a product page pops up from which they can make a purchase. Instagram believes this presents a lucrative opportunity for businesses that utilize the platform, as more than 400 million accounts use the Instagram Stories feature on a daily basis.
Research Tells You How to Pick Better Images for Social Media
Regardless of whether you’re promoting your products on Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest or another social platform, it’s imperative that you know the best practices for attracting your intended consumer.
It goes without saying that your effective social media ecommerce post begins with a great photo. As it turns out, though, you should be using different rules to choose your pictures depending on the platform you’re focusing on.
Facebook users like to visualize themselves wearing or otherwise using a product. That means that seeing another person’s face or the entire figure of a person are no-gos. Instead, an image that shows the portion of the person’s body that interacts with the product may be more effective. For example, if you’re promoting a new line of lipstick, a close-up of a smile should do the trick.
Instagram is another story – images that feature a face are much loved by the Insta community. That said, if there’s no face, Instagrams should be simple, with a healthy amount of whitespace, a dedicated colorscheme and relatively low saturation.
Get more social media image tips here.
The holiday season isn’t too far off, so ecommerce companies should be getting their social media marketing strategies in gear now. Impress your customers by taking advantage of your favorite platforms’ new features. Check back next week for more content marketing tips.
