Twitter is tapping into e-commerce with a ‘buy now’ button. So what will this mean for the online travel industry?
The ‘Magic button’ idea which at the moment only appears in limited beta tests will allow users to tweet a particular product and image including a sales pitch and embed a ‘buy now’ button. The ‘buy now’ button will direct users to a sales confirmation page that will also display additional product information and an order form.
It will probably take a while before the ‘magic button’ feature can be used however it is a very interesting concept which clearly highlights the strong link between e-commerce and social media.
Twitter’s magic button for the online travel industry
At the moment the focus for the feature seems to be for physical products however if the magic button will start to tap into tours and flights this could potentially be an absolute gold one for anyone selling holidays.
Will Twitter be the new goldmine for online travel?
Travel brands are already embracing Twitter and regard the social media channel as a powerful marketing tool. Jeff Flores, Head of Travel, Twitter has highlighted some of the best twitter campaigns amongst travel brands including Emirates’ #hellochicago contest and giveaway, Travelocity’s #sharkweek and hotels.com’s #captainobvious, among others.
Emirates’ campaign, to target a new route from between Chicago and Dubai included a strong visual element as well as a call-to-action contest that encouraged people in Chicago to tweet Dubai-related pictures capturing the letters H, E, L, L and O. The Travelocity campaign, on the other hand, engaged users with a fun, interactive game that involved using geo-location functionality to discover how close they were to the nearest shark.
Why use Twitter for your travel brand?
Twitter has becoming increasingly popular amongst all demographics and if users are able to access information in real-time and also given the option to ‘buy a product’ by acting on impulse this could potentially be a goldmine for the travel industry. The magic button will reduce the complexity of booking a holiday and reduce the number of clicks to simplify the process.
KLM has embraced Twitter and start using it as a powerful sales tool by enabling their customers to book or rebook a flight, make a seat reservation or to arrange extra packing directing through through twitter. They also introduced Twitter and Facebook payments. According to the airline they rolled out the social media features due to customer demand.
Twitter has 270 million active users on a global scale and if you can add your selling capacity to one of the most high-trafficed sites in the world you could be in for a lucrative business strategy. There will obviously be products that will be more suitable to the magic button but the new idea around merging e-commerce and social media seems to be here to stay oven consumers demand for fast and painless transactions.