Marketers look for easy ways to capitalize on consumers’ willingness to spend on products and services, and mobile technology makes generating conversions even simpler. Google’s “Mobile Search Moments” report found that 28 percent of mobile queries result in conversions (store visits, calls, transactions), and that 55 percent of searchers convert within the hour. If mobile consumers researching offers convert via search, they’re also likely to consider social media marketing promotions, too, right? Not so fast.
Over the course of Facebook’s attempts to enter the social commerce space, the concept of buying directly from Pages has been met with skepticism. People hesitate to mix their work and play, their social and consumer behaviors, online. Still, 56 percent
of social users expect promotions or deals from brands on networks, and the social media giant presses ever onward.. It recently introduced a clever new audience targeting solution aimed at pushing mobile buyers further along the sales cycle without pressuring them to “buy now.”
When users engage with a specific promotion, they can either “Shop Now” or select the “Remind Me” button.
In February 2013, Facebook began testing its Offers feature with a few global retailers to see if the function generates online sales. This month, a few Facebookers have noticed a new option on their mobile devices – a “Remind Me” button that appears in the mobile feed next to select offerings. When users engage with a specific promotion, they can either “Shop Now” or select the “Remind Me” button. The latter will send a follow-up email and Facebook notification at another date. This will give recipients more time to research products and services to ensure they know what they’re getting before they checkout, as well as allow users to access deals on their desktops rather than their mobile devices. Marketers can issue one reminder per offer.
Facebook has a vested interest in improving its mobile capabilities, especially with Americans spending more time on the site via their mobile devices. Social media marketing campaigns that include paid offers might benefit from Facebook’s continuous audience targeting tests, and brands with savvy ad copy will inevitably win more leads. As social advertising becomes standard practice, marketers have to develop balanced approaches that leverage both organic and paid tactics.
