How stressed out do you think Mark Zuckerberg and the team at Facebook are these days? The government is cracking the whip but luckily for us, the marketing machine that is Facebook and Instagram continues to function (mostly).
Ahead of the holiday season, Facebook is testing out two new shopping ad options, both of which are aimed at streamlining the path to purchase, and keeping users in-app, as opposed to filtering them off to other websites. Yep, they're hogging ALL the traffic!
Let's Start with Facebook
The Social Network is testing out a new, Dynamic ad option which would enable users to order an advertised item direct from the News Feed ad itself.
Facebook's Dynamic Ads are designed to "automatically show the right products to people who have expressed interest on your website, in your app or elsewhere on the Internet" by utilizing your uploaded product catalogue and taking cues from user behaviour.
As you can see in the above example, with this new type of Dynamic Ad, users would be shown relevant products, but then also have the added option of making a purchase, via the 'Checkout on Facebook' option.
In order to do this, users do need to have a payment option attached to their Facebook account, which, given Facebook's more recent privacy issues, may not be an ideal option for some. But then again, convenience tends to outweigh privacy in most respects—if there's a way in which users can buy relevant items quickly, which is obviously boosted by the matching of Dynamic Ads, then it could be a winner.
When you've reviewed your information, you can tap on the 'Place Order' button, and you'll get a confirmation note sent to you via Facebook.
I'd say this is the most significant update to Facebook's ads platform in quite some time.
Instagram Wants Your Traffic Too!
Instagram has been slowly rolling out its Shopping Tags to more businesses, but thus far, they have only been available within organic posts. Selected businesses will now also be able to amplify their on-platform shopping prompts, via Facebook Ads Manager, while Instagram has also noted that it's looking to add paid promotion options to its 'Checkout on Instagram' shopping posts in the near future.
The expanded options would keep users on Instagram, while also facilitating quick purchases via targeted ads - a win-win for both Facebook and the relative brands.
Instagram is shaping up as a key platform of focus for shoppers - according to Facebook, 80% of Instagram users follow businesses, and over 130 million people tap to reveal tags on shopping posts every month.
There's clear interest in Facebook's on-platform purchasing options, and the capacity to reach users where they're active, and capitalize on that active shopping intent, will be of significant interest to many brands.
Conclusion
Of course, all of this times out with testing and expansion for the lucrative Christmas season. Oh, Christmas ... it's coming. I, for one, as a marketer welcome this change. At Sync we have a pretty strict rule to keep people on the platform they want to exist on. So, keeping people on Facebook, while still turning ROI is optimal.
Need help with Facebook, Instagram, or any social media? Let's talk!