If there’s a topic we’ve missed, let us know, and we will be happy to dive into it.
- How does marketplace work: a focus on online payments and payouts
- How to create a marketplace website with payment solutions designed to build growth
- Ecommerce Platform vs Marketplace: key differences and how to choose the right payment solution
- What is a SaaS platform: meaning, examples, and payment solutions to boost their performance
- The role of advanced APIs in enabling seamless payment flows for MedTech innovators
- Maximising positive impact: the synergy of AI, sustainability, and comprehensive payment solutions
- Deconstructing payment processing
- How to accept payments on social networks?
- What are the best payment gateways for WooCommerce?
- What is the best payment gateway for marketplaces and platforms?
How to accept payments on social networks?
From sharing cute cat videos and unboxing to connecting with friends and family, there are many great benefits to using social media. It’s also a fantastic way for brands to connect with their customers by listing new products, promotions, features, etc. Even better, a concept called social commerce (or social payments) means that many social media networks and messenger channels like Instagram and Facebook can act as payment gateways connecting you to your customers.
If you need information about social networks and social commerce, look no further. Continue reading to discover more about social networks, including:
- What is social commerce?
- What are the benefits of social commerce?
- Payment gateways for Instagram, Facebook, Instagram, and more
- How Facebook Messenger can help you connect with customers
- How to accept payments on TikTok, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and Instagram
- Additional benefits of social commerce on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
What is social commerce?
Social commerce is using social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to market and sell products and services. This type of selling model lets customers complete purchases, usually by bank card, without leaving social media apps such as Facebook and Instagram.
What are the benefits of social commerce?
According to Statista, the average user worldwide spends just over two and a half hours on social media. Fortunately, going shopping on social media is made seamless with social commerce or social payments.
Some other advantages of integrating social commerce on marketplaces like Instagram and Facebook Messenger to accept payments include:
Cost-effective
Using social networks to sell goods and services is cheaper for merchants as there are little to no costs involved when compared to alternatives.
Reduced friction at checkout
Customers can browse, select and pay for goods all in the same place. And normally, after the first purchase, their payment details are stored securely for faster future sales. This makes it easier for customers to pay and for merchants to accept orders moving forwards.
More sales opportunities
Collections and tags make it easier for customers to find your products. An integrated shopping experience puts you in control and lets you accept customers globally.
Access to great features
Connect with your customers through the power of analytics. Take advantage of features such as live shopping, product launches, money-off offers, and gift card promotions.
What’s the difference between social commerce and eCommerce?
eCommerce is a shopping journey that occurs on an eCommerce platform, web store, or branded app. Whereas social commerce is also a shopping journey that takes place on a social platform such as Facebook or Instagram.
With social commerce, brands can sell through their social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram accounts without having their own eCommerce platforms. But, online retailers with a web store or online store can also benefit from accepting leads and directing them directly to their web store to check out on their gateway.
As a one-stop payment platform, Fondy understands the need for businesses and electronic commerce stores to be flexible and accept various payment methods in various currencies. Want to know more about us? Great! Check out our About Fondy page and discover what inspires us and how we can best benefit your business, no matter the size.
Accepting payments on Facebook
Using Facebook as your company’s first foray into social commerce is a common practice among many business owners. page. That’s because most individuals have and are comfortable with the Facebook brand and the Facebook social web platform. And with access to a Facebook Business Account comes the ability to create a Facebook Shop for your goods or services. What’s more, most Facebook Shops can be fully customised or you can accept one from an existing template.
From there, all organic or sponsored visitors to a company’s Facebook Business can access a merchant’s available products and descriptions, including sizes, colours, accepted currencies, and delivery options. Even better, all users can use Facebook Messenger to contact merchants directly regarding any pre-purchase inquiries, such as accepted payment cards. After this, the user can use Facebook Checkout to complete the sale, or the merchant can direct the customer to an online store payment gateway.
With gateways like the Shopify integration, merchants can sync their products to Facebook and create Facebook shoppable posts and Facebook ads. This makes it easy for merchants to sync the branding of their Shopify store to their Facebook Shops. If you’re brand new to social commerce, Facebook allows you to create a test shop within Facebook Shops, where you can experiment with adding new product cards, managing orders, accepting different bank cards, and monitoring user behaviour.
If you already have a Facebook Business Page, you can sign up for a Facebook Commerce Manager Account. After adding a ‘Commerce Manager’ account, you can later access your Facebook Shop.
In the Facebook Commerce Manager section, you can then add your catalogue of products, descriptions, and images. After that, you’ll need to verify several bits of information about your business account and set up your card payment options.
There are two initial options when you’re paying with Facebook, which are ‘checkout with Facebook’ or ‘checkout on another website’. After clicking on‘checkout with Facebook’, you’ll need to fill in some details for eligibility, including your shipping, money payouts, and returns information.
Once you’ve completed all of the steps, click on ‘Publish Shop’. That’s it, you’re now selling on Facebook.
Facebook Shop lets you benefit from the full power of Facebook’s eCommerce and social reach. Facebook Shop makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to give their customers direct access to their goods and services on Facebook and Instagram (ever since the acquisition).
Customers can then find your Facebook Shop link on your Facebook Business Page or via Instagram posts or Instagram stories. Even better, if your customers need a hand whilst shopping, Facebook Shop can help. That’s because they can message you directly through the WhatsApp messenger app, Facebook Messenger, or Instagram Direct for additional support, such as chasing up deliveries, refunding money, and accepting invoices. With Facebook Messenger, you can even send customers unique payment links if they prefer that method of payment.
Payment gateways for Instagram
There’s a saying, “If it wasn’t posted on Instagram, did it ever really happen?” With a reach of nearly 400 million daily users daily, it’s commonly accepted that Instagram is the place to be and to be seen. That’s especially the case for businesses.
According to Instagram, around half of their account holders use the platform to also discover and buy new products. That’s because Instagram is a great platform for brands to reach wider demographics and sell more products. Instagram’s Instagram Shops feature allows users to buy products shown in posts across the social platform. Even better, Instagram Business Accounts can customise their shops for maximum visibility and showcase their products through a virtual storefront-type display. Here, brands can create curated collections and card collages of products and add tags to filter by product description.
Each item in an Instagram Shop catalogue has its own webpage, which usually includes pricing, description, accepted payment methods, delivery options, and any visuals.
There are several ways brands can use Instagram Shops to sell their goods and products.
Below are some of Instagram Shop’s best applications and features:
Instagram shopping tags
Let brands tag their products in their feed posts and Instagram stories on the web.
Instagram ‘Shop’ tab
Allows Instagram users to browse, save, and buy goods endorsed and posted by brands or influencers.
Instagram ads
With this feature, merchants can create Instagram ads with ‘Shop’ tab placements too, which will appear with a sponsored label and let users click through directly to the storefront.
Instagram Shop via direct messenger (DM)
Lets customers purchase from businesses through Instagram DMs. Customers can ask questions, make purchases, accept advice, and later track their orders.
Whether you’re launching a fitness brand, restaurant, or fashion label new to the web, Instagram’s network means there are always eyes and thumbs active on the platform. So it’s hardly surprising that Instagram eventually accepted a payment feature on its platform, allowing users to shop for goods and services directly using the app.
With Instagram’s online shopping posts feature, you can settle up without having to leave the application. Checkout tags will be visible on Instagram posts, Instagram stories, and the Explore content feature. The user can then click on the checkout tag if they like and accept the products in question and proceed to the payment page.
Interestingly, the Instagram payment system also supports donations for personal fundraisers and charities. To add the donation button to Instagram posts and stories, simply tap on ‘Edit Profile’ and then ‘Action Buttons’ and finally ‘Donate’. Once you’ve completed these steps, paste the generated fundraising link into the Instagram post box.
For business owners, you’ll need a couple of things to get started before accepting a payment gateway to Instagram. First of all, you’ll need to sign up for an Instagram Business Account. Follow these steps, and you will find out how you can do it:
- Go to your Instagram profile tab.
- Then on the Instagram menu icon.
- Click on ‘Settings’.
- Tap on the ‘Instagram Business’ section.
- Press ‘Promotion Payments’.
- Finally, on ‘Add Payment Method’.
At this point, you can choose from payment methods such as debit or credit card or PayPal.
As well as a payment gateway, an Instagram Business Account gives you access to extra features like insights and analytics on how your posts and Instagram stories are performing.
Payment tools for social commerce
Payment links are convenient for businesses operating on social networks and channels. The best thing about payment links or URLs is that you only need a matter of seconds to create them in your account and forward them to customers using networks like Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger.
After receiving the payment link, the recipient clicks on it and enters their card payment details online. For extra security, most payment links are usually time-sensitive or only valid until payment.
Even better, with a Fondy account, you have the opportunity to create payment links in your personal account dashboard. From there, you can monitor the receipt of money in real-time, analyse business indicators, generate financial reports, and more.
Payment links are an easy way to accept payments online without customers having to use card machines. They are, for example, handy for sales on social media, and even better, you don’t even need a website. Depending on your merchant provider, you may be able to send a pay button along with an electronic invoice via social media.
How to accept payments on TikTok
Just like using the Facebook and Instagram gateways for social commerce, selling on TikTok requires your brand to have a TikTok account. From there, you can get access to the TikTok Shop. To sign up for the TikTok Shop, you’ll need to complete the registration process, which includes filling out some details about yourself and your business.
Once verified on the TikTok Shop, you can add your profile, a catalogue of products, and shoppable tags to your TikTok videos. Your catalogue of products needs to include:
- Quality images or videos.
- Package weight and dimensions.
- Product price and categories.
- Payment methods.
You can also use QR codes to sell on TikTok. A QR code (or two-dimensional barcode) is a type of matrix barcode used on physical products and, more recently, online to create links or paths to related product web pages. You can create a TikTok QR code using a QR code generator tool or app that allows you to create a unique code for your products, so you can easily share them with your followers.
The downside of selling your goods on platforms like TikTok is the charges and/or commissions they take from merchants. That’s why it’s more cost-effective to use a payment service provider like Fondy instead.
Accepting payments on Twitter
Up until 2017, you could sell your goods on Twitter using a ‘Buy Now’ button. The Twitter eCommerce feature emerged after collaborations with payment processors and vendors such as Fancy and Stripe. Unfortunately, you couldn’t add just any products to Twitter to generate a ‘Buy Now’ button.
You needed to get permission from Twitter directly and arrange a partnership with the platform and your chosen vendor service or payment processor. The ‘Buy Now’ button method worked via a link that was generated whenever the product was tweeted in a post.
Once clicked, the user was redirected to a product page with more details, including shipping information and packaging. From there, you could check out with your credit card or debit card details.
At the time of writing, Twitter is looking for new ways to replace the Twitter Buy Now feature.
In the meantime, you could always post whenever you introduce a new service or product, adding a link in your tweet that sends them to a payment or messenger gateway. Putting a link to your eCommerce store in your bio is always a good idea. That way, your store is immediately accessible whenever someone lands on your profile. You can always use Twitter to promote your products via sales, promotions, new payment methods, and discount links that increase the traffic landing at your virtual door.