Facebook’s brand new (unpaid) selling tool

Facebook just unveiled a brand new tool to increase sales from organic (unpaid) posts, and this quiet update could make a dramatic impact on how fans find, and buy, the products they see in their feeds. The update allows brands to tag their products in the photos and videos they post, which link directly to the brand’s website.

Here’s what it looks like:

“Tag a product” option appears when you’re posting

How posts appear in the user’s feed. “Tap for details” and “Products shown” are brand new features

Standard Lightbox view (enlarged photo) now calls out tagged products

Lightbox view after clicking on “Product Shown”

Strategically, I question if these tagged organic posts will look too much like ads, driving fans to scroll past them, thus leading to less engagement and fewer impressions. I’m betting that the increase in sales will override any negative impact on engagement, but luckily we’re at a point that we don’t have to bet or guess. As with every new social tactic NORTH tests, we’ll be analyzing the data closely to ensure our clients are using what’s working best right now.

But until that data comes in I’ll be taking bets (or at least guesses). How do you think fans will react? Will we see positive reactions from fans eager to click through to buy a specific product? Or will they scroll right past these tagged posts?

Follow Stanley Brand on Facebook to see examples starting at 4:00 today, and NORTH on Medium for all the latest in digital strategic thinking.

Addendum:
This feature is currently available only to pages that have uploaded a product catalog or created a shop section for their Facebook page. Learn how to create a product catalog here.