If you are on social media, you have already seen them everywhere. “Buy buttons” are the new hot trend across many platforms, most notably Twitter and Pinterest. Is this something that your company should be utilizing? If you have a product to sell, then the answer is yes. Getting started is, well, as easy as the click of a button.

Why Buy Buttons?

You already have a website with exceptional checkout functionality. Customers can easily select the products and/or services they need with ease, and your transactions (from purchase to shipping) are seamless. So why should you fix something that’s not broken?

The key to Buy buttons is recognizing that these are complementary to the foundation you already have in place. They are not designed to replace your e-commerce system, but rather are designed to enhance your profitability with some extra advertising. Think of it this way: when you put a Buy button onto one of your social media posts, you’re presenting them to a captive audience…one that already loves your brand and products.

Adding a Buy button just makes it easier for your customers to buy something with a simple click. At the same time, you increase your chances to reach new potential customers with every “shared” post they put out to their own networks. It’s a win-win situation.

How to Implement Buy Buttons on Twitter and Pinterest

In his Social Media Examiner article, “How to Use Twitter Buy Buttons and Pinterest Buy Buttons,” Taylor Nelson outlines some simple steps (summarized below) to launch Buy buttons into your own company pages starting first with Twitter.

Cha-ching goes the tweet

Put a Buy button in a tweet and your audience can purchase your product right from their news feed without ever leaving Twitter. Nathan Hubbard, Twitter’s head of commerce, explained this offering: “The goal [is to] make it as easy as possible for businesses to connect directly with, and sell to, customers on Twitter. With Buy Now, businesses can drive more conversion and remove much of the friction in the mobile purchasing process.”

Article author Nelson describes how to implement the Buy button into Twitter using Stripe Relay below, and recommends seeking out specific information for the Bigcommerce, Demandware, or Shopify platforms.

1. Create a Stripe account.
2. Connect your Stripe account to your Twitter business account (in settings).
3. Determine your shipping and tax policies and put them into your settings (these will automatically be factored into purchases).
4. Select “Create your first product” and complete all required information.
5. After your product is set up, check out your Stripe dashboard, and you’ll see a Tweetable product URL. Once you use this URL, the Buy Now button is automatically added to your tweet and your customers can purchase away!
6. When you receive an order, you’ll be notified via email through your Stripe account and you’ll see it in the dashboard.
7. As a side note, please be sure to check out the policies and steps for implementing any functionality and app since it’s always changing.

Purchase that pin

According to the article, 93 percent of Pinterest pinners have the intent to purchase. With such a motivated buying group, it’s crucial to get in front of them with attractive and actionable buyable pins. People stay within Pinterest and can purchase through their news feed. At the time that this article was written, buyable pins were only available on Apple devices in the United States with payments processed through Apple Pay or any major credit card.

While Pinterest does not take a portion of sales, they benefit from an increase in promoted pins. And, of course, this inclusion is designed to help your brand boost sales. Companies such as Macy’s, Nordstrom, and Michael’s are already taking advantage of this service.

The process to implement the Pinterest Buy It Buttons is fairly similar to the Twitter process; Nelson walks us through it using Shopify as the primary example:

1. Obtain Shopify (you can also use Demandware, Bigcommerce, Magento or IBM Commerce).
2. Confirm you’re eligible with Shopfiy (you’ll have to meet a set of requirements first).
3. Add the Pinterest Sales Channel to your Shopify admin account to add the Pinterest Sales Channel.
4. Connect your Shopify site to your Pinterest business account and authorize the app.
5. Wait for Pinterest approval.

Once you get that stamp of approval, check what pins are eligible. Again, an approval process is required for your buyable pins. (If you don’t get approval, re-read the guidelines, especially the requirements for the title).
Newly approved buyable pins will appear on the Pinterest iOS app. When they’re live, you can see how the orders are faring through Shopify.

Is Your Buy Button Plan Working?

While these two platforms were the most thorough examples, you’ll continue to see an increase of sponsored social media content with the functionality to purchase within various apps.

The best part about Buy buttons, or really any new component of social media, is it doesn’t hurt to try it out. If it doesn’t work for your brand, that’s fine. Simply redirect your efforts toward something that will be more profitable for you.

How are Buy buttons working for you? Post your experience here!

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Reference: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-use-twitter-buy-buttons-and-pinterest-buy-buttons