How to Effectively Sell on Facebook

So you’ve made the choice to sell your product on Facebook, that’s great! Creating a Facebook Storefront is one of the easiest ways to jump into the e-commerce world with the community you’ve already attracted to your Facebook page.

This is very different from posting your products on Facebook Marketplace (essentially a listing service for offline sales), Facebook Shop or creating a Facebook Storefront allows you to take payments online directly on your Facebook page. With the ability to integrate with many popular e-commerce platforms (Shopify, XCart, Prestashop, WooCommerce), Facebook Shop is a simple way to manage your sales without having to build a seperate site or send your customers to an external link.

So how do you effectively develop a Facebook shop?

First, you have to create your Facebook Storefront. 

Changing your Facebook page can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not comfortable working online. But don’t worry, this is a lot easier than it sounds. Here is a step-by-step process for creating your Facebook Shop.

There are two different ways that you can create a Facebook Shop. you can use Facebook’s native platform to create your store, or you can use an ecommerce website builder to link your products to your page.

Using a Website Builder

  1. It’s usually just the simple click of a button, but requires uploading products and building a website. Though, it may be simpler to use the native store builder in Facebook, it is more beneficial to your business to build an ecommerce website. Not only does it give your business more exposure, but gives your brand a more professional look, tracks inventory, and allows you to accept more payment methods. 
  2. You will need to have photos of your products, product names, inventory levels, SKUs and product weight ready to input in the backend of your store. It’s best to be consistent with product names, pictures and SKUs to better manage your inventory and make your store more aesthetically pleasing. 
  3. No matter what ecommerce website builder you are using, there will be the ability to connect your Facebook and likely Instagram too. Make sure you have a business Facebook page set-up, an Instagram business profile, and then hit the switch. Your ecommerce site will create a shop on both social media sites with all of your inventory and information synced to both. 
  4. You can now use your Facebook Store, Instagram Store, or direct customers to your website to sell products online.

Using Facebook Store

  1. Make sure that you have a Facebook Business page already set-up. 
  2. Next, add a store section to your page. 
  3. Now, you are ready to add your products. Keep in mind you are only able to sell physical products on Facebook and each must be uploaded individually. While you are adding your products, you will be able to fill in the details like sizing and product descriptions. 
  4. Set up your payment options inside Facebook. You can either choose to send customers to checkout on your website, submit their order via Facebook message or complete their purchase through your Facebook Store. Keep in mind that there are some limitations to the payment methods accepted, especially in Canada. 
  5. Set up your shipping options and don’t forget to hit Save when you’re done!

Remember, we are not suggesting you post your products on Marketplace. Spend your time creating a storefront on your page.

How can you make sure your Facebook Store is successful?

Just like running any store, you need to put some effort into the marketing and community building that will allow you to attract customers. Building on your Facebook page is important, but so is having a well thought out digital strategy for creating content and automating your posts.

Provide a sense of community. 

When you’re in your store, it’s likely that your customers feel a little bit like your friends. You probably have some regulars who are always checking out your product inventory, or people who comment on every single one of your posts.

Yes, they love your style! But your main competitive advantage is you! You are the reason that your customers continue to shop at your store and the best influencer available to show off your products. Remember this when you’re deciding what to post on your Facebook page. Keep your page personal, friendly, and embrace the spirit of your brick-and-mortar store online too.

Consider running promotions. 

If you can provide web-only specials to your customers, do so. They will need some encouragement to move to an online platform, so give them one!

Remember, not all promotions need to be related to the price. Moving your business online doesn’t mean you need to drop your prices to a point where it’s no longer worth it for you to put your effort into. Do you have extra inventory of something that hasn’t been moving? Consider offering it with orders over a certain price point. Think about what motivates you to buy and then see how you can incorporate the same offers into your business.

On social media, the best promotions have a deadline and promote a feeling of “FOMO”. This “fear of missing out” motivates customers to make a purchasing decision quickly because they feel as though this deal will evade them otherwise. If you have limited inventory, this is even more beneficial as you could see a stock sellout quickly, making subsequent sales even more popular as customers were unable to capitalize last time. Well designed ads, clear deadlines, and an explanation of the offer is one of the best ways to motivate customers to sell quickly.

Start to cultivate an email marketing list. 

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to make sure that you’re reaching your customers directly. Think about it, an overwhelming amount of people do all of their browsing and online shopping from their mobile device. You could be reaching them directly on their phones with links to your product, even on Facebook.

Each time you take an order, remember their email address and add it to your customer database. It doesn’t matter how small a scale your store is online, fostering your customers through email is one of the best ways to increase sales without stretching your budget.

Don’t focus on price on your Facebook page, focus on storytelling. 

Your customers can clearly see your prices online in the Shop section of your Facebook page, so reserve the main newsfeed for creative ways to tell your product’s story. Tell them about the experience they can have with your product. Do you own a retail business? Show them pictures of people wearing your pieces to events. Still stuck at home? Host an online-only party on Zoom for customers who have bought something from you in the last 4-5 months. They can show off their outfits and socialize while staying safe.

Show them the benefits of buying your products, the happiness that people feel when they experience what your product provides. This is a compelling way to sell products without constantly dropping your prices and devaluing your brand. 

Always ask for feedback. 

Along with using email marketing as a way to drum up business, you can automate emails to go out after sales to ask your customers how their experience was shopping online with you. Did they find everything they were looking for? Was the shop easy to navigate? Did they like the pictures? Were the descriptions accurate? Ask as many questions as you can and listen to the feedback. Make small tweaks where necessary and then ask again.

Never make large changes to your navigation all at once. You want to make little changes to the user experience, but you don’t want repeat shoppers to be lost next time they shop with you online.

If you would like more information about how to implement e-commerce for your brand, contact us directly by email here.


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