Facebook rolled out a Buy Now button feature a few years ago, and it’s picking up some momentum. However, relatively few businesses are taking advantage of using it, which is nothing but good news for you! Setting up a Facebook store is easy, too, so there’s really no downside to doing it.
Start with Your Facebook Page
You won’t be able to sell products on Facebook without setting up a Fan Page for your business, so if you don’t yet have one, get one. Naturally, the more followers you have on your page, the more successful your selling efforts will be. So work on that first.
Get Your Store Set Up
Then, you’ll want to set up a Shop on your page. If you use an e-commerce platform like Shopify, you can easily add on their Facebook Store service, which will integrate with your existing sales tools. Now, there are a few options for how you can reach people with your store. Anyone who visits and Likes your Facebook Page can buy from your store simply by clicking on the Store icon at the top of your feed. There are some apps you can use to direct sell on Facebook too.
Beetailer, Connect your existing e-store to Beetailer to sell on Facebook. It offers a wizard will guide you through the process. You can customize the Facebook version of your store through an easy-to-use interface. For example, you can show only a certain subset of your products. It’s free up to 30 products, and when customer want to check out they are directed back to your existing shopping cart. Pro account is $40.00 per month.
SoldSie, If you don’t want to create a separate store try the SoldSie app. It allows you to sell directly through your Facebook messages and posts. You just upload a photo, price and sale description and then schedule your event. At the specified time, the item will appear on your Facebook page as any message. Your follower’s comment to buy, and them SoldSie manages inventory and billing. They fully integrate with Shopify.com
Promoting Your Offerings
Facebook Ads: You can try Facebook Ads, which puts an ad with a “Buy Now” button into the feed (or on the side of it) of exactly the target audience you’re trying to reach. It’s a fairly cost effective way to reach a wider, and specific target audience. The key to suggest is testing 3-5 ads for the first week of your campaign and using the click-thru rates to narrow your campaign to the best two ads. You may find that a modest investment in Facebook ads could really boost sales, as more people than would normally visit your Page see you landing page.
When writing the copy for your ad, make sure it’s descriptive of what you’re trying to convey. If you sell kids’ rainboots, your copy might look like this:
Kids’ Rainboots for a Rainy Day
Chase away the clouds with these brightly colored waterproof rainboots! Available in sizes 5-10. Choose your color and click Buy Now!
It’s clear with the copy that the boots are rainboots, and that they’re for children and not adults. The sizes are specified, so everything someone needs to know in order to decide if they want to buy them is in the ad. There’s also a call to action (“choose your color and click Buy Now”) that urges the viewer to make a move.
Make Your Store Appealing
The same rules apply here as they do on your e-commerce site: make your store appealing with professional and clean images and well-written copy.
Your Photos
You likely already have images of all your products that you use on your website. You can upload these for your Facebook store as well. Just make sure there are no distractions in the background and that your product is well-highlighted and in focus.
Your Copy
Keywords matter here, so be sure to use them in writing your product descriptions. What would people search for to find this product? Use that and similar keywords. Also, be as descriptive as possible. You want to give people as much information as possible to make the decision to buy from your Facebook store.
Final Tips on Selling on Facebook
If you’re unsure whether selling via Facebook is a good idea for your business, run a test with a limited number of products. Make sure to promote the fact that people can buy on your Page on Facebook as well as other social channels and email.
If your Facebook Shop isn’t integrated with your e-commerce inventory system, keep careful track of what you sell there so you don’t double-sell something on Facebook and your website. There’s nothing worse than having to cancel an order because you didn’t keep tabs on your inventory since you were selling in more than one place.
Any avenue that can bring you revenue is worth investigating. See if Facebook can’t boost your sales.