Marketers now use social media expertly to “engage” audiences? But, whilst such schemes are good top-of-funnel branding mechanisms, what about sealing the deal with an actual purchase?

Chirpify is a start-up hoping to close that circle, by letting consumers buy or otherwise express interest in products using just hashtags in social media they already frequent.

“We’re letting people use social to #buy, #enter or #reserve or express an interest in that content or product,” Chirpify chief revenue officer Kevin Tate tells Beet.TV at the Mindshare Client Huddle at the Consumer Electronics Show.

“Social has become this participation layer … and hashtags are the glue for that conversation. the ability to bring a conversion opportunity to that conversation is what brands get excited about. We’ve worked with 20 to 30 big brands over the last six to nine months.”

Other uses of Chirpify have been to #donate money to charity. Use cases involve TV advertisers but also a range of other brands, Tate says. Although conversion is as simple as tweeting, buyers must be registered with Chirpify and have a payment method plugged in.