It was bound to happen sooner or later. As bloggers flock to a new form of social media, the monetising companies start to think about how they can help them make money from their followers. On Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, you’ve got the “click to buy” buttons. rewardStyle did it with Instagram, and now ShopStyle are starting to take steps into doing the same with Snapchat,.
ShopStyle has taken five popular bloggers (Hello Fashion‘s Christine Andrew (@hellofashblog), Damsel in Dior‘s Jacey Duprie (@damselindior), Natalie Off Duty‘s Natalie Suarez (@natalieoffduty), Because I’m Addicted‘s Geri Hirsch (@gerihirsch) and Always Judging‘s Courtney Trop (@always_judging)) and worked with them to create a landing page on their site so when the bloggers talk about their outfit on their snaps, they can point the viewer to the special page to buy the outfit (with their affiliate links)
We’ve talked about the recent influx of bloggers on Snapchat, and one of the reasons we love Snapchat is that it’s very casual. Will affiliate linking become widespread? It’s difficult to say, because at the moment, the viewer needs to go to their browser to view the ShopStyle page, so there isn’t anything stopping bloggers doing this with a blogpost instead, using the affiliate networks of their choice. Unless Snapchat brings in clickable snaps, then it’s difficult to see if this will become popular. liketoknow.it is popular with bloggers because it delivers an email to everyone who likes the picture with the relevant links – there isn’t really anything in Snapchat at the moment that could be used in the same way.
What do you think? Is this a good thing where bloggers can show products being used in their everyday life, or should Snapchat be the “behind the scenes”, unmonetised network out there?
