Today we are really in the era of Social Commerce, which offers the possibility of selling directly on and through social platforms. Free.
Let’s see how!
What is Facebook Shop?
Facebook Shop is a real online shop, which makes a clear leap forward compared to the traditional Facebook Showcase, until now the only way to sell on social networks without an e-commerce.
To be honest, a not too optimal way, which will be automatically converted into a Shop upon receipt of an email.
Facebook Shop is the fastest and cheapest way for small businesses to create their own customized online store. Here you can enter the catalog of your products and create collections of these based on specific themes that help users find new solutions and be inspired by your proposals.
For each collection – which must include at least two products – you can decide on a name, description and cover image.
With Facebook Shop, users can access your online store directly from Facebook and Instagram, they can view your personalized products, they can request information from you via Messenger, Instagram Direct or WhatsApp Web and they can make payments directly through social platforms (or on your website).
Nothing more totalizing and fast!
Also consider that in the future Facebook will implement the ability to buy video animation service directly during and from the instant messaging flow.
And, again, in some countries the Live Shopping function is already active, which allows you to tag and insert products directly into a live stream on Facebook or Instagram, thus proposing the purchase at a time when people are more receptive and willing to act.
The 4 Advantages Of Facebook Shop
Facebook Shop reserves you 4 important advantages:
- You can get your products noticed on Social Networks, attract people’s attention and lead them to direct and immediate sales on these channels, without having to own an e-commerce and without having to leave the aforementioned platforms;
- The mobile experience guaranteed by the Shops is native. This means that, after creating and publishing your Shop, customers will be able to find it on the Facebook or Instagram apps installed on Apple or Android devices. The viewing experience is immersive and full screen, therefore all-encompassing, and the collections are shown as personalized products.
- Facebook Shop guarantees you a unified presence on Facebook and Instagram. This means that once you have organized and customized your online store, it will be visible and functional in the same way both on your Instagram Business profile and on your Facebook page;
- Facebook Shop is free. No fees or commissions on purchases will be withheld by Facebook.
How To Activate Facebook Shop
Have you already created your Facebook Showcase? In this case you should have received an email or a notification on Facebook to turn your Showcase into a Shop.
Alternatively, log into the Sales Manager and check that you can start the procedure.
If you don’t have a Facebook Showcase yet, the steps you need to follow are these:
Business Manager
If you don’t have a Business Manager you have to create it and link your Facebook page, your Instagram Account and the Advertising Account here (of course you must be the owner or administrator of the profiles).
Sales Manager
Log into Sales Manager and click Get Started. You will access the Create your shop page. Here you will have to choose where you want people to complete the purchase: on your website, directly on Facebook and Instagram, or via Direct Message.
Shop Configuration
Fill in all the required fields. In the section Start configuring your shop, you can select your website. In the Choose your company section you will find a list of Facebook Pages you are an administrator of and you will have to select the one you want to add to the shop.
In the Account Details section you will need to enter and select the company account name.
Visibility Of The Shop
Choose the visibility of your shop. If you have a business Instagram profile and a Facebook Page, you can select both, which is the recommended option.
Adding The Catalog
In the Add a catalog section you need to select an existing product catalog or you can create a new one. How? You can import the products from a file or you can use the Facebook Pixel or you can manually upload them one by one.
You can customize every aspect of your catalog: images, colors, descriptions, Call to Action, URL, price, availability and unique ID.
You can create thematic collections of products and you can preview your catalog before publishing it.
Facebook Shop: The Extra Tip
Once you have created your shop, in the Statistical Data section you will have at your disposal a lot of interesting data to analyze for your marketing strategies: display of the content, broken down by products; click; bounce rate; sessions; sessions per visitor, etc.
In short, if you don’t have an e-commerce, Facebook Shop is the opportunity you can take advantage of to sell directly online in a practical, fast and economical way. Just a fundamental foresight: first plan an adequate sales strategy.
