When Buzzfeed reported Twitter is disbanding its commerce team that worked on the “Buy Button” feature, I immediately thought, “Well, Twitter isn’t exactly the most shoppable social media platform.”
And I never personally thought it ever was. While social media as a whole is a great way to sell products to consumers, I wouldn’t say Twitter is one of them.
Yes, you can load pictures into your tweets, but are shoppers really thinking, “Let’s go shopping on Twitter?” I highly doubt it.
I commend Twitter for the attempts it made to make its social media platform shoppable, but I just didn’t see it as a viable shopping option. How can retailers entice a shopper to buy a product in 140 characters or less?
Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest are far better alternatives for shopping. Shoppers are greeted with beautiful imagery and in YouTube’s case, great shoppable how-to videos.
Pinterest launched its own buy button option in 2015 and I personally found it to be an easy and seamless shopping experience on its mobile app. The platform has a “Shop” category and a “Buy It” button on various items.
While Instagram doesn’t have a buy button of its own, retailers are enticing shoppers through beautiful imagery on a regular basis. Brands like Alex and Ani, Nordstrom, Origins, West Elm and many others provide imagery on a regular basis as an indirect way to get customers to the site or in the store.
What does this say about shopping on social media as a whole? Is Twitter the beginning of the end? Will other social media sites take a look at their own numbers to see whether it’s profitable to have such a tool?
I think Twitter is perfect for one on one conversation between a brand and its customer, especially when it comes to the overall customer experience.
Contact center representatives can use the platform as another channel to connect with the customers. Marketing can use Twitter to promote products, offers and sales or simply connect with the customer.
Daniela Forte is Multichannel Merchant’s Associate Editor