Facebook is the largest social networking platform in the world. It has come a long way since its inception inside a Harvard dorm room. It is now a gigantic platform where many businesses thrive.

2.5 billion users globally. Yeah, billion. That is a huge number! And so, any kind of business can find their potential customers through Facebook. This is the reason why businesses all over the world choose to sell on Facebook

It offers a ton of features for big and small businesses. Even if you have just a single item to sell, you can do it on Facebook. It is one of the best places to build an engaged community around your brand, which eventually brings you more revenue.

You must be familiar with seeing or even using Facebook organic posts, ads, groups, and Facebook Marketplace for selling your products. But Facebook offers more for helping you sell your product, the Facebook Store. 

On a similar note, if you require any professional help with social media marketing, and if you want to discuss the best marketing strategies for your brand, feel free to connect with us. We have a team of social media experts to assist you.

In this article, we’re going to focus on helping you sell your products using Facebook Store. So let’s get started and learn how to sell on Facebook in 2020.

Facebook Marketplace & Facebook Store

Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Store are both places to sell, agreed. But they are different because nobody can actually buy and sell items on the Facebook marketplace. Marketplace acts as a third party space to showcase/list products so that a buyer can get in touch with the owner to arrange payment or negotiate the price. 

For example, consider you’re selling a used motorcycle by posting its picture taken from your own garage. Facebook Marketplace doesn’t have features like a payment processor, shopping cart, or tax calculator. So, as a business owner, you would have to dedicate additional time and effort into discussions about payment methods with your potential buyers. It works well only for businesses dealing with few products.

Facebook Shop/Store is almost like an online store. It supports money transactions if you are in the US. For the rest of the world, it has a provision to redirect people to an external website, which supports shopping features. You can link the CTA button on your business page to your eCommerce store. It supports most CMS platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Zentail, ChannelAdvisor, ShipStation, CommerceHub, etc.

Prerequisites 

• Facebook guidelines specify that you can only sell physical products. This means that businesses that sell digital products like eBooks or services like social media management can’t use it. Facebook needs to approve your product before it goes live on the Facebook store.
• Have a business plan beforehand, you need to have a clear understanding of products you are going to sell starting from their names, minute details, pricing, and more. You need to plan the budget considering the fact that Facebook charges a 5% selling fee for each transaction.
• Prepare a 150 character description of your business and your products. Also, write content for your  “About Us”, which is actually a significant aspect for any business. Not to mention, clear images of your products with a white background ideally (you can take some pictures or shoot videos of your products in real-life situations) from different angles should be kept in handy. 
• Create a Facebook page for your business. Accept and review Facebook’s Merchant Terms and link to a valid bank account. 

How to add the Store on Facebook?

You’ve already created the page, now it’s time to add the Store. Check out our article on tips to create a killer Facebook business page. On the right side below the cover picture of the Facebook page that you just created, there will be a tab (button) to “Add Shop Section”. Change your page’s template if this tab isn’t visible to you.

Next, agree to Facebook’s Seller’s Terms and Policies. While setting up the store, you’ll be required to confirm the currency you use. 

You can choose the checkout method, where you can either redirect customers to your eCommerce website or let people send a message to contact you for purchase. As mentioned before, if you are a USA based business owner, you get to choose from a third option wherein a checkout right inside Facebook is possible.

Submit your business address and business email, and upload all the product details like titles, photos, description, price, category, shipping methods, etc. For this, go to the “Shop” tab, and click on “Add Product”. You may even add products to the collections. After adding the images and details, click on Edit Options to add options such as size and colour for your product. Finally, save these after choosing delivery options,  return policy, and product category. Facebook reviews this within 24 hours. 

Ways to Sell Using Facebook Store

There are two ways of selling using a Facebook store. One is just to create a store using the Facebook traditional platform. The other one is to integrate the Facebook store with an online store created using an eCommerce platform.

Both methods will successfully help you sell your products. But, if you have an eCommerce store, you’ll have the freedom to sell on multiple platforms rather than just limiting your sale within a Facebook store.

Integrating Facebook Store and eCommerce Website

The very first requirement is to create an eCommerce website and list your products. Most eCommerce platform providers have apps to connect the Facebook store with an eCommerce website. For example, Shopify has its free Facebook Channel app. Once the app is set up, Facebook automatically adds a Store section on your Facebook page.  

The store tab under your page automatically adds your products to Facebook. Now, you can manage your products, track sales, and process orders in Shopify. And all the changes will be displayed in your Facebook Store making it convenient to manage. This improves the customer experience as well since they can make purchases without leaving Facebook.

Integrate Using Ecwid

Every eCommerce platform provider already offers apps to link with the Facebook store. Well, Ecwid is an amazing eCommerce widget that allows you to sync your online store with the Facebook store. It is a free widget, with features wider than what Facebook has to offer.

It integrates with carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx, and more for automatic tax and shipping cost calculation. The buyer doesn’t have to leave Facebook since it offers 40+ payment options, all PCI DSS compliant. 

Also, it doesn’t solely support your online store connected to Facebook, but also to WordPress, or Weebly, or Wix or anything else. Ecwid shows the same products, prices, and descriptions on all the storefronts. It is a space where you can upload the products directly and it will synchronize the listings everywhere.

Market your Facebook Store

• Produce Engaging Content: To make your Facebook store work, you need to build a real community of followers, by posting engaging content, and strategically promoting your products between the non-selling posts. By strategically, because the number of promotional content shouldn’t exceed the number of entertaining and relevant content. For this, maintain a schedule, and a list of creative posts ideas for your business. Maintain a good relationship with the public, and respond promptly to their comments.
• Facebook Giveaways: Certain businesses ask people to share or tag their brand posts on that individual’s timeline. But the Facebook team clearly doesn’t appreciate such practices. Do not encourage contests that involve people in anything other than liking or commenting on your business page. You can excite the people through product giveaways. 
• Encourage User-Generated Content: You don’t have to ask people to share your content, instead, you can ask them to create one for you! They can come up with testimonials, product reviews on your fan page, videos, or images. This can impact their friends to notice your page and eventually turn out to be your customer. Come up with fun contests such as Selfie Contest, Vote For Your Favourite Product, Caption This to Win [Prize]!, Vote on which [Product/Service] We Should Put on Sale, Tell Us How You Would Use [Product] to Win it!, Take a Photo of Yourself Using [Product] or  Doing [Activity] and more.

Conclusion

Facebook already offers a lot of channels through which businesses can reach their potential customers. You can start a business page, use the messenger, and strategically build your brand with an organic audience. Expand your marketing initiatives via Facebook ads. Use Facebook groups having people interested in what you have got to offer or maybe create a group to bring in a sense of inclusiveness in people’s minds. 

Other than these, Facebook Marketplace can be used, but it is suitable only for small scale buying or selling. 

If you plan to run a business for the long term, it is always better to use a Facebook Store linked with your eCommerce website. You can always use organic posts, groups, etc to promote your product in the Facebook store. 

The prime requirement from your part is to plan how you’d handle the customer service, the hours you’ll be available to answer questions, your privacy policy, shipping rates, delivery, and return policy. 

Facebook is a great platform for meeting your potential customer and selling your products. So ensure that you are making the most out of it.

Still, confused? Do not worry, our team of social media experts would be happy to help you out.