How to Sell Your Products on Facebook

How to Sell Your Products on FacebookSetting up your Facebook store is the easy part, getting social traffic to purchase your products is the tricky part.

According to AmeriCommerce, Facebook accounts for 60% of all social traffic driven to retail sites; however people don’t really log on to Facebook to make purchases. People go on Facebook to connect with others, so the real trick is figuring out how to connect those people with your content and consequently your products.

Did you know that you can sell your e-commerce products directly on Facebook? The world’s largest social media network offers a simple and effective platform for online sales. And with its massive user base of 1.4 billion monthly users, it’s incredibly effective.

To get started, you’ll first need to create a Facebook Page. Unlike personal profiles, Pages are intended specifically for commercial purposes, with the ability for users to “like” them. To create a Facebook Page, simply visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/ and follow the on-screen instructions.

After setting up your Facebook Page, you can sell your e-commerce products by using a compatible app. There are more than a dozen different e-commerce store apps for Facebook that are designed for this purpose. Once installed, they will automatically pull product listings from your e-commerce site, posting them directly on your Facebook Page. This means you’ll only need to update your website anytime a product is added, removed or otherwise changed, as the app automatically mirrors what happens on your site.

One of the most popular e-commerce apps for Facebook is Shopify. You can click on the aforementioned link to learn more, but it supports a fully integrated store on your business’s Facebook page that’s easy to set up and mobile friendly.

BigCommerce is another e-commerce solution for Facebook Pages. It supports direct purchasing, showcase new products, and a customizable banner graphic (among other things). Both BigCommerce and Shopify are “paid” apps, although you can test them by signing up for a free trial.

A big plus you get from Bigcommerce is the apps they offer to let you integrate MailChimp, Constant Contact, SurveyMonkey and other platforms into your store.

But having an e-commerce app is only one step towards selling your e-commerce products on Facebook. Unless you have prospective customers following your Page, it’s not going to translate into sales.

So, how do you attract prospective customers to your newly created Facebook Page?

Here are some tips on how to build a strong following on Facebook:

According to Fast Company, 42% of fans like a page to get a coupon or discount. Offer promotions and special offers, such as a Facebook exclusive product or a one-time use discount code for new likes.

• Post links to your Facebook Page on your website, blog and other social media networks.

• Engage in discussions with other users and Pages.
  
  Make sure that you start liking other pages as your business page as well as posting as your business page.
• Use #hashtags to curate your social media content.

  FB’s hashtags are basically tags used to categorize conversations between users. Facebook also graciously offered these 3 usage tips for the hashtag:

  • Search for a specific hashtag from your search bar.
  • Click on hashtags that originate on other services, such as Instagram.
  • Compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results.
• Use Facebook Ads to buy traffic for your Page.

  With Billions of people on Facebook, you will want to take advantage of custom audiences to make sure that your ad dollars are going to be effective.
  

  With Facebook Custom Audiences, you can advertise to your website visitors or email subscribers. These ads tend to be very effective because you know more about who you’re targeting and can tailor your ad accordingly.

• Identify trending topics and phrases to post about.

  With the new feature, simply named “trending,” users will see a list of trending topics on the ride side of the newsfeed at the top of the page. The topics that are shown will be personalized based on your own network and will include a short description of why the topic is generating so much buzz.

  When users click on the topics that are showing up, they will be shown a list of updates from friends posting about a topic. ~Source Constant Contact
  

• Post images. A study conducted by SocialBaker found images to receive more engagement than any other type of content on Facebook.
• Like other Facebook that are related to your business’s niche/industry.

The key to selling your products effectively on Facebook is to make sure that you have a relevant audience and keep experimenting.

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by Chris London of Pixel Productions Inc. The Everything Design Company