Jordan Con
Recently, both Instagram (surprisingly) and Pinterest (less surprisingly) announced that buy buttons are coming imminently. It’s likely that these buy buttons will be widely available on these two platforms before Twitter and Facebook announce theirs. It’s unusual for these up-and-coming platforms to beat the giants, but it shows the tremendous potential and capabilities of the rising visual and mobile-first social networks.
Among several new Instagram marketing tools, advertising partners will soon have access to “Shop Now”, “Install Now”, and “Sign Up” buttons. While not truly “linkable” because the buttons keep you within Instagram via a mini-browser, they are Instagram’s first forays into using the platform for acquisition marketing rather than brand marketing. According to Instagram, they don’t want to lose users down the rabbit hole of links; instead, they want users to easily buy, install, or sign up, and then quickly return to continue scrolling down the Instagram feed. “We’re staying true to the values of simplicity,” says Global Head of Business and Brand Development James Quarles.
As far as targeting goes, Instagram is starting to look a lot more like Facebook. Currently, Instagram advertisers can target based on gender, country, and age, but more features including interests will be rolled out in the future. They plan to even eventually offer a custom audiences-like option.
Facebook’s advertising experience should help make the rollout smooth and robust, and everything we’ve heard from Instagram makes it seem like they understand the value of Instagram’s uniquely simple experience. That combination should make marketing on Instagram extremely powerful, although probably frustrating for marketers who want all of the products (sophisticated targeting, scale, analytics, etc.) available right away.
Pinterest recently made a handful of advertising announcements, but the buy button is something we’ve been expecting for a while. Because of its full-funnel impact — from search engine-like discovery to planning to purchase influence — we have always believed the buy button was going to be a game changer. I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard someone say, “I wish I could do all my shopping from Pinterest.” Well, by the end of the month, they will be able to (iOS first, Android and desktop later).
Through a new blue “Buy It” button, pinners will be notified that the product is available for purchase through the app. Alternatively, pinners can now search buyable pins with sorting features such as price, gender, and other traditional ecommerce categories. For marketers, it will be important to tag pins correctly so that they can be accurately searched in this new feature.
Similar to Instagram, the ecommerce bit will all take place within the Pinterest app, to get pinners back to pinning as quickly and seamlessly as possible.
From the consumers’ perspective, when it comes to advertising, every move from Pinterest in the past has been very careful and deliberate, so there’s no reason to believe the buy button will negatively alter the pinning experience.
Pinterest has always been in a good position to drive commerce. Now, it’s just easier than ever.
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