Watch out, Pinterest. Facebook may be dishing out a little bit of competition. In case you were a little bit off the grid because of the Columbus Day holiday, on Monday the social network began testing a new feature called 'Collections,' which allows marketers to add “Want” or “Collect” buttons to news feed posts about products. According to TechCrunch, these posts save and share products to a “Wishlist” on Facebook users' profiles, and feature a “Buy” button that users can click on to make purchases offsite. Facebook is testing the feature with 7 retail partners -- Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Victoria’s Secret, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics, and Fab.com.
Sounds a little bit like Pinterest, now doesn't it? While Facebook claims the new feature is unrelated to the popular pinning site, we can't help but think that Facebook is trying to nab a piece of the Pinterest pie. In the very least, it's a noteworthy little blow.
How Collections Work
According to Facebook, Collections posts can be discovered in users' news feeds, and "people will be able to engage with these collections and share things they are interested in with their friends."
While only the 7 participating retailers can create a Collections post, 100% of Facebook users are able to interact with the posts. But with Facebook testing out different versions of the new feature, users may notice 1 of the 3 following call-to-action copy variations for the button that gets overlaid on the participating retailers' Collections posts, showing each variation to a third of Facebook users to optimize for engagement:
- "Want": adds the product to a Timeline section of a user's profile called “Wishlist”
- "Collect": adds the item to a Collection called “Products”
- "Like": a special version of the standard "Like" button that also adds the item to “Products”
But here's the catch: While Collections are free for business pages to use, they're only visible to the page's fans. In other words, if I visit Pottery Barn's page and I'm not a fan, I won't see any of Pottery Barn's Collections posts. I have to "Like" the page in order to see these types of posts.
I decided to test these out for myself. You'll notice in the examples below, I'm part of the third of Facebook users who is seeing the second copy variation, "Collect."
Here's what happens when, as a fan, I click "Collect" on one of the items in Pottery Barn's collection:
As you can see, I'm prompted to add it to one of my Collections. I can either add it to one of the few that are pre-populated for me, or create a new Collection. When I add my reason for collecting it and click "Save," the item becomes visible on my Facebook Timeline, as you can see below.
I also have the option of changing my preferences for who can see the post. In the image above, it's visible onto to me, but I can change this so that the post is visible to the public, friends, friends of friends, or members of specific people, lists, or networks I belong to. And if a user clicks on the "Antler Outdoor Pillow" link, they're taken to the individual Pottery Barn post with the price, as seen below:
Marketing Takeaway
Any additional Facebook features meant to help marketers is obviously a win, and it's easy to see how this one will be beneficial to retail and ecommerce marketers, even more so if Facebook decides to make promotion of Collections posts available in its advertising tool.
That being said, the fact that Collections posts are only visible to Facebook fans also makes it critical for business pages using the feature to build up their fan base in order to get users to collect, share, and click through to their product pages.
As for a possible Pinterest downfall? Who knows. From the marketer's perspective, the new Facebook feature may offer a way to appeal to users who don't have the desire to join a new social network like Pinterest but are still interested in curating their interests on a site they already frequent, like Facebook. Sounds like a marketing win to me!
What do you think of Facebook's new Collections? Will you experiment with it for your business page once Facebook rolls it out to all business pages?
Image Credit: pj_vanf
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digital marketing agency india 9:41 AM on October 10, 2012
thanks for nice tips.
Sarah Austin 10:07 AM on October 10, 2012
Interesting post, I thought I'd give it a go. 'Liked' the Pottery Barn but no way whatever image I went to wherever I was on their pages did I get the option to collect anything. I'm UK based, is this somehow only working in the states??
Bethanny Parker 10:30 AM on October 10, 2012
You said only the company's fans can see the items, but can't your friends see that you've added them to your collection? If so, they could decide to "like" the company after seeing their friends' collections, so this feature could help companies expand their fan bases.
Gabriel 10:33 AM on October 10, 2012
Felicidades por el artículo, aquí desde España se ve todas estas nuevas herramientas desde otra perspectiva, no sé el tiempo que tardará Facebook en establecerse para todos los usuarios y cuando lo hará para mi país, pero tengo la intuición de que si son rápidos, seguramente ganen su trozo del pastel. Aquí la mayoría de la población está iniciando su andadura en el SocialMedia, tiene cuenta de Facebook (80%) de Tuenti (<20 años 90%) y Twitter creciendo a pasos agigantados, sin embargo redes como Foursquare, Pinterest o Quora, apenas son conocidas si hablamos de gente que no está familiarizado con el medio. El problema que tenemos aquí con las pequeñas empresas a la hora de poder establecer una estrategía correcta de Social Media es la siguiente? Nos fiamos de las corrientes y las costumbres que vienen de Estados Unidos (Como suele pasar casi siempre, al final aquí también acaban llegando, más pronto que tarde) sin embargo con el tema de SocialMedia, creo que el usuario tipo español es más reacio a los cambios. Espero que esto no se así y que las grandes oportunidades que nos ofrecen las nuevas plataformas, tengan cabida en mi país.
Saludos desde España
Laura 11:53 AM on October 10, 2012
I was able to collect from Smith Optics without liking their page first.
Jonathan Thompson 12:50 PM on October 10, 2012
Thank you for this useful information. I am sending this link to our products manager. To answer your question, I think it is a great way to connect customers to products in the realm of Facebook. I feel that the feature has huge potential to drive sales via Facebook.
Digby Green 1:26 PM on October 10, 2012
If I was Pinterest, I would would see if I had patented the idea.
It may start to get Facebook users more into thinking about products rather than interacting with their friends.
craig fountain 3:11 PM on October 10, 2012
pinterests delay when you initially sign up is their downfall for a marketer. facebook will crush them in that respect
Martie 4:37 PM on October 10, 2012
By delay, do you mean the initial invitation that was required. They have changed the process.I signed up and had an account immediately.
craig fountain 4:45 PM on October 10, 2012
yes - I was referring to the invitation only thing. Thats good they have removed that - it wasn't a very clever idea in the first place.
Christine Brown 7:50 PM on October 10, 2012
Our creative director foresaw this idea and we were only discussing it a number of weeks ago. We're located in Australia and currently cannot see a Collect button?
Nina 11:27 PM on October 10, 2012
It is interesting to see how all these social networks are converging at one single point. Bombarding their users with products from all sides.
We are yet to see what facebook is up to
sonali 1:21 AM on October 11, 2012
Nice Post... But I am not getting "collection button" anywhere on my facebook "http://www.facebook.com/creatiosoft" business page. Can me help me out for this ???
Nazmul Alam 4:50 AM on October 11, 2012
Facebook getting all things complicated. They are starting a new service called "collection" which may start a new e-commerce war and amazon, e-bay will face the music. Regular users may not so very amused by Facebook's new initiative but its a smart move by Mr. Zuckerberg, i must say.
Dave in Houston 11:09 AM on October 11, 2012
Right now this is timid competition from FB. Too limited in that it should PB and others are not inviting users to share things they like that PB does not offer. This could be a good opportunity for users to offer ideas for products PB could sell. That is part of social media, no?
Still this is a start and I am sure it will evolve over time.
Michael Neuendorff 1:23 AM on October 15, 2012
Hmm, had heard something about this, but didn't really understand what was going on. I'm glad I came across this blog post. Thanks for explaining it! I like the idea and think people will like it. Guys with beers and burgers and gals with pillows and perfume.
The only potential downside is more commercialism on Facebook, which I fear will hasten the decline of the network.
lisa 2:46 AM on October 15, 2012
I cant seem to see any of the 'collection' tabs tho i liked e pages..hmm..
cristian tonon 8:02 PM on October 17, 2012
Muy buen articulo gracias por compartir.