How To´s

Most people don’t go on Facebook to buy things - we log in to find out what our friends, family and greater network of contacts are up to, to send messages, find events, scroll through memes, and… ok, fine - to distract ourselves from work. Facebook has our attention for more minutes of the day than we’d like to admit. Often a quick dip into our news feed leads us through a wormhole of activity and entertainment, from one click to the next.

This is why it is such a potent medium for advertising. Targeted Facebook ads generate interest, which translates into sales. For e-commerce store owners, it’s a great platform to put your product out there. Even though users generally aren’t looking to buy something when they log in to Facebook, as a store owner you can connect by showing them something that could add value to their lives. Take advantage of this platform to reconnect with previous customers and build rapport with new customers. Selling through Facebook is a remarkably easy and effective way to boost sales.

In case you need more reasons to follow our advice, one third of the earth’s population - that’s around 2.2 billion people - are active Facebook users (an active user is one who has logged in during the past month). Tap into this vast network by selling your products on a Facebook Store (also known as Facebook Shop).

There are two ways to sell on Facebook:

1. The more basic option is to create a Facebook Store on the Facebook platform. There you can list products and receive payments.
2. Set up an online store using an e-commerce website builder and link it automatically to your Facebook Store. This is simpler than it might sound, so don’t be intimidated!

The second option is advantageous because Facebook Stores have limited e-commerce features and functions, while website builders are highly specialized. To get an idea, Facebook has fewer payment options, stores are restricted to selling physical products, the image quality is lower and some features are for the US only.

How does a Facebook Store work?

You can use a customizable app in Facebook Pages to post products and engage customers directly. It’s quite inexpensive to promote your little corner of the Facebook universe to a massive audience - and customers don’t have to leave Facebook to browse your page. Use a Facebook Store to boost sales, offer promotions and reward fans who recommend and share your products.

Use an e-commerce website builder to sell on Facebook

Website builders are the most practical, easiest and often most affordable ways to set up an e-commerce shop. They have more specialized features and functions than those offered by Facebook, and many can connect your product listings directly to a Facebook Store. So once you’ve launched your website, set up a Facebook Business page and link it to your store.

When you make a sale on Facebook, it will register in your website’s inventory. You can choose to either let Facebook host the checkout process (so customers never have to leave the site) or direct them to checkout on your website, where you have the possibility of offering them more payment options. Plus, any modifications or updates that you make to products on your e-commerce store will be seamlessly transferred to your Facebook Store.

Considering that Facebook users spend an average of 20 minutes online each day - an experience that many of us can surely identify with - we highly recommend taking advantage of this giant pool of potential customers by setting up a Facebook Shop.