Facebook is testing infomercials within its social media in Thailand, here's how they'll work and how we'll be able to buy the products we see
Facebook is testing a new live video feature designed for merchants. Basically, companies and individuals who use Facebook to sponsor their products or services in the future will be able to upload on the social media a kind of live infomercial.
But that's not all. This first test is just one of many new features that want to lead Facebook to increase the number of purchases within the platform made by its members. For example, the social media is also experimenting with a new purchasing technique. Consumers interested in a product seen on a Facebook Live infomercial will be able to take a screenshot of the framed object they would like to buy and send it, via the Messenger chat application, to sellers to receive more information or to complete the purchase using Facebook's internal online payment system.
Facebook turns into a shopping channel with infomercials
At the moment, Facebook is testing this new feature with a very small number of companies in Thailand. The idea is to turn the companies' live video feeds into real commercial ads. Not only to sponsor new products but also to create tutorials to help consumers get more information about the product being sold. To give examples, a company that sells makeup could create a video on how to best use the products and create perfect make-ups, while a clothing company could make videos on how to match clothes or accessories to always be fashionable.
But that's not all because in Thailand, a country chosen not by chance but because it's one of the communities that uses Facebook payments the most in the world, the social media is also testing live videos for houses for rent to allow people who live at a distance and can't see the apartment in person to get a complete idea of the building and choose whether or not to rent it. In Thailand Facebook is also working with several influencers to create ad hoc pages where they are sponsored and where they talk about different products in order to create interaction and interest on purchases within the social media and thus attract more and more advertisers. A bit 'the same line followed on Instagram with the introduction of purchases in the Stories.