Trend Watch: In-Platform Social Media Ecommerce Trends for 2022

Many predict that ecommerce within each social media platform will rise distinctly in 2022, as we mentioned in our exploration of several trends predicted for that year. What will that look like in each platform? Here’s the skinny on what Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and even Snapchat are developing:

Facebook In-Stream Shopping Opportunities

For Facebook, this looks like more in-stream shopping opportunities, more than the occasional sponsored post. According to SocialMediaToday.com, that means:

• More shoppable posts via Facebook Shops 
• Streamlined payment processes
• Improved product discovery options 
• More alerts for buyable products in-stream
• Live-stream shopping

Instagram and Ecommerce

For Instagram, which has been the leading ecommerce platform to date, this means more features above and beyond its Instagram Checkout. It plans to make all posts shoppable, which will allow influencers to:

• Create storefronts
• Curate collections by theme, like new releases, seasonal, etc.
• Provide product detail pages with relevant info like pricing and descriptions
• Insert product tags, which highlight items in your images and videos, so people can easily tap and learn more
• Increase the reach of their shopping posts by using ads with product tags
• Announce upcoming product launches so that people can preview details and set reminders to buy as soon as it’s available

They also plan to provide objective identification tools, and advanced product searches through still images and video, with a big push for live shopping, the same as Facebook.

Shopping on Twitter

Of course, it’s not just Facebook and Instagram that will have sole rights to the growth of ecommerce in 2022. Twitter is striving to provide ways for creators to monetize their tweets through:

• Super Follows, which give selected creators in the US the ability to charge a monthly fee for exclusive, extra tweet content for their biggest fans.
• Ticketed Spaces, in which creators charge for exclusive access to audio Spaces sessions, with variable ticket price options.
• Twitter Blue subscriptions, which will allow users access to new tweet features, like tweet deleting and more.

While Super Follows launched in September, and Ticketed Spaces in October, Twitter Blue is still in testing.

Ecommerce Pinterest Style

Pinterest, too, is jumping more wholeheartedly onto the ecommerce bandwagon. In June of this year, they launched, in select markets, Shopping List. This feature allows Pinners to easily access all the product Pins that they have saved on Pinterest in one place. There they can find key data such as prices, reviews, and shipping information in a grid to compare products and make purchasing decisions. This is in addition to other new-ish features like:

• Shop from search. This provides a shop tab on any search, with 100% shoppable results.
• Pinterest Lens. If a Pinner sees something that inspires them out in the real world, like a chic lamp or minimalist sweater, they can take a picture of it with the Pinterest camera. Then, they can run a visual search for similar in-stock home decor and fashion product pins, and find what they are looking for.

Shop from Pins. This enables Pinners who’ve clicked on a Pin they’re interested in to see products and shoppable categories that are featured in the image. Pinterest’s visual search technology means Pinners can shop the aesthetic of the Pins that inspire them.

SnapChat Joins the Ecommerce Game

Even SnapChat is upping their ecommerce game, with exploration of an in-app scan option similar to a QR code. This gives users the ability to tap for additional information, special offers, and links to purchase.

Wrapping It Up

There are so many ways that any and all of these developments could go, so it will pay to keep a close eye on authoritative reports and sources to measure their success. Before you invest a lot of money in any brand-spanking new development, you should either continually monitor sources like Facebook’s newsroom, Instagram’s blog, Fox Business, Reuter’s technology reports, or partner with us! We do the work of staying on top of all the trends for you!

Sources

• https://about.fb.com/news/
• https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/introducing-instagram-checkout#:~:text=When%20you%20tap%20to%20view,to%20payment%20without%20leaving%20Instagram.
• https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/introducing-super-follows
• https://business.instagram.com/shopping
• https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/pinterest-takes-the-best-of-offline-shopping-and-brings-it-online
• https://www.facebook.com/business/shops
• https://www.foxbusiness.com/
• https://www.reuters.com/technology/
• https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/26-predictions-for-social-media-marketing-in-2022/608443/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202021-10-19%20Social%20Media%20Today%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:37448%5D&utm_term=Social%20Media%20Today