by Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media.
On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show, we explore Facebook Shops and Shops on Instagram with special guest, Allie Bloyd.
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Watch the replay of this week’s show below.
About Our Special Guest
- Allie Bloyd is a Facebook ads expert who specializes in helping local businesses with their marketing. She’s the founder of Allie Bloyd Media, a local business agency that focuses on content marketing, social media marketing, and lead generation.
Use the timestamps below to fast-forward to our top stories in the replay above.
- 1:52 Facebook Introduces Facebook Shops
- 36:12 Instagram Debuts Shops on Instagram and Ability to Shop Directly From Explore Tab
- 44:48 Facebook Launches Capability to Sell Products Through Live Video
- 50:08 Facebook Will Connect Loyalty Programs to Personal Facebook Accounts
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Facebook Introduces Facebook Shops: Facebook announced a handful of updates “to help small businesses adapt and make it easier for people to discover and shop for things they love” earlier this week. The main product announced is Facebook Shops, a new version of an existing Facebook feature with a similar name, Facebook Page Shop.
Facebook Shops allows retailers to upload product catalogs to their Facebook page or Instagram profile, with support from partners such as Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and more. The company notes that users will be able to find these shops directly within the retailer’s Facebook page or Instagram profile or by clicking on an ad that redirects to a shop inside Facebook instead of the retailer’s website.
Facebook Shops is rolling out now and will be “more widely available in the coming months.” The company provides insights on how it built Shops with privacy in mind and details how to get started on its Facebook for Business site.
Instagram Debuts Shops on Instagram and Ability to Shop Directly From Explore Tab: Instagram offers a new place for users to discover products and brands, Instagram Shops. Like its counterpart on the flagship Facebook site, Instagram Shops is an immersive online store that can be accessed on a business’s Instagram profile or Facebook page, as well as through the feed, stories, and ads. Instagram shops are “free and simple” to create and the feature is being expanded to all businesses globally on Facebook and Instagram in a phased rollout.
Starting this summer in the U.S., Instagram Shops will allow users to browse products and explore collections directly through a dedicated Shopping tab found within Instagram Explore that will take users directly to a brand’s shop or shoppable posts. Eventually, Instagram users will be able to jump into a shopping experience from the app’s main navigation bar “in just one tap.”
Once in a shop, customers can even seamlessly purchase products in-app or from a web browser where checkout on Instagram is enabled.
Facebook Launches Capability to Sell Products Through Live Video: Along with the new shopping experiences rolling out to both Facebook and Instagram, the company is currently testing the ability to sell products in real time through Live Shopping.
Sellers, brands, and creators will soon be able to tag products from their Facebook shop or catalog before going live. As they broadcast, these products appear at the bottom of the live video, and viewers can easily tap to learn more and purchase. Live Shopping is being tested with businesses on Facebook and Instagram and will roll out more broadly “in the coming months.”
Facebook Will Connect Loyalty Programs to Personal Facebook Accounts: Facebook says it’s testing a way for customers to connect company loyalty programs to their Facebook profiles. Then businesses can manage those loyalty programs through their Facebook Shops accounts.
In March, Facebook launched a new pilot program in the U.S. with a handful of businesses that would connect a customer’s existing brand loyalty membership with their Facebook identity. For instance, customers of beauty brand Sephora could easily view their points and rewards within the Facebook app.
Facebook tests program that lets users link brand loyalty accounts to earn, see rewards in the app by @soulmilkco https://t.co/6JzKGcapCD
— Marketing Land (@Marketingland) March 19, 2020
This week, Facebook appears to be expanding this program to include ways to help small businesses create, manage, and surface a loyalty program on Facebook Shops. However, the company didn’t share any further details.
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