Even though it seems every month has some breaking new social media development, April in particular has seen some exciting announcements that are more focused around enhancing the social e-commerce journey.
This is something that we here at Return On Digital have been closely monitoring and we are continually seeing growth in the user purchase journey from social to checkout; but also in the different journey methods available for social customers.
Read on to discover some of the latest social developments that are sure to shake up e-commerce:
Facebook is betting big on Messenger e-commerce
Facebook’s next big plan for e-commerce is transforming its Messenger platform into an all-encompassing tool enabling users to connect, purchase, pay bills… pretty much perform any interaction with brands. Facebook has taken this a step forward by integrating with Dutch airline KLM, meaning you can now check-in, get flight notifications and access boarding passes through Messenger alone.
Businesses can take advantage of what looks to be a promising tool for creating a streamlined one-thread user process by enabling direct connection to Messenger via their website. Our advice? This one could have the potential to be a huge advancement in social platform customer integration – get on-board before everyone else does!
Plus, Messenger Bots are on their way!
Linking in with the Messenger update, this will include the introduction of Messenger Bots (announced at Facebook F8), allowing businesses to build their own ‘chat bots’ – basically automated response tools to assist with complex user queries – all while gathering further consumer preference data. Alongside the notifications and updates above, these will be complemented by the chat bots, giving an all-round customer experience within one window.
Learn more about the announcement, including how to get started, in the full announcement here.
Another Facebook News Feed algorithm update?
Yep, Facebook is switching it up again and this week announced plans to measure time spent reading content (as well as your typical likes and shares) to determine the quality of a post and its priority position in a user’s feed.
Now, the social media giant did originally announce this way back in June last year, but this latest development regarding read-time means that it will factor in time spent reading content or interacting with sites OFF-platform (after clicking the link). This means brands in general are going to have to not only up their game content-wise on social platforms, but also consider quality and conversion rate optimisation on-site.
YouTube introduces unskippable 6-second bumper ads
Hooking onto the fact that 50% of 18 to 49-year-olds turn to their mobile device first to watch online video, YouTube has upped its mobile advertising efforts – a move that will both pay off for brands and engage mobile users a lot better through short, snackable video content.
Other insights from Nielsen’s latest report show over 90% of 18 to 49-year-olds use a smartphone or tablet when watching TV – so for aligning brand awareness with TV advertising, this could be a strong tool for driving surges in traffic through to site.
Finally, Pinterest rolls out advertising for UK brands
It’s been a long time coming (Promoted Pins launched in the US last January!), but finally Pinterest has started rolling out Promoted Pins for UK advertisers. However, hold off on the party poppers for now – Pinterest is still only working with selected partners, including Tesco, Made.com and Manchester United.
When they are rolled out to everyone, advertisers will be able to serve these native pins and track (via conversion pixel) the user’s purchase journey from platform to site. With reports last year indicating UK users pin up to 1.6 billion times a day, there’s some real potential for e-commerce brands to inspire and engage the pinning community through paid amplification.
So, there it is! Lots of exciting advances in the socio-sphere to look forward to, but if you’re wanting to know more or just starting out in paid social, drop us an email to chat all things social.