With COVID-19 spreading like wildfire and mobility restrictions in place, consumers flocked to online stores for their shopping needs. In fact, it became imperative for brick-and-mortar to switch to online channels to survive through the pandemic.
Since the trend is to continue, e-Commerce businesses are finding it challenging to keep up and stay competitive. While providing high-quality products and services is the need of the hour, it is just as important to market one’s business to reach the target audience. Speaking of marketing, Facebook is one such platform that bridges the gap between consumers and eCommerce businesses. Moreover, it also enables online retailers to tap into new markets while expanding their customer base.
Platforms such as Etsy and Amazon are already capitalizing on the efficacy of Facebook marketing. Besides enterprises, smaller eCommerce businesses can also benefit from this opportunity. By combining a multifaceted Facebook marketing plan with a worthy product, they can achieve success much quicker than they would do with brick-and-mortar techniques.
Let’s look at some amazing Facebook marketing tips for eCommerce businesses.
Zero-In On Your Target Audience
Before you can go out there and sell products and services, you must first identify the people who want to purchase them. You can start with basic demographics, such as their age, job, location, income level, purchasing power, and buying patterns. You must also be aware of how your product will benefit them. Doing this manually is difficult, even for the most seasoned marketers out there. The good news is that the Facebook Audience Insight tool collects this data. This tool provides you a vivid picture of your targeted audience, their buying preferences, location, Facebook usage patterns, as well as the items they have been purchasing online.
Create a Business Page on Facebook
Making a business page on Facebook is straightforward, and it is free of cost. All you need to do is sign up and choose the type that applies to you. Some of the common business communities on Facebook are as follows.
- Place or local business
- Brand or product
- Cause or community
Next up, you need to add a logo, profile picture, and cover photo. Make sure the logos and the images you add to your page are perfectly in sync with your brand’s theme. Next up, you need to add information about your business. Make sure you add all the useful details to the people who are most likely to purchase your product and services. Furthermore, create a username that customers will use to locate your eCommerce business on social media, let alone Facebook. If need be, you can tweak your Facebook description and add your location so people don’t have to do additional research – it also makes local SEO. With your Facebook ready and set, you can start posting to promote your eCommerce business.
Sell Directly On Facebook
If you want to promote your eCommerce business, you can sell directly on Facebook. All you need to do is add a “shop” to your Facebook business page. By doing so, you will allow your customers to purchase your products and services directly from Facebook. Here is a step-by-step breakdown of selling products on Facebook.
- Click the Shop tab on your Facebook page;
- You will land on the commerce manager’s page titled, Sell on Facebook. This tool allows you to link business accounts;
- You can set preferences regarding shipping, returns, and payouts.
With that out of the way, you can utilize Commerce Manager for Facebook Marketplace and Instagram. Interestingly, you also have the option to use some third-party platforms such as BigCommerce, Shopify, Zentail, Quip, or ChannelAdvisor. If you’re already using a third-party eCommerce platform, you can automatically set up your shop on Facebook. As a result, the products on that third-party platform will appear on your Facebook page.
Your Posts Should Be Visual
You can have the best products and services, but they won’t sell themselves. To troubleshoot this possibility, you need to ensure a highly visual design for your eCommerce platform. To make it more visual, resort to professional photography and videos besides testimonials and articles.
Another amazing feature you can benefit from is Facebook Live posts. With real-time broadcasting, you can engage your customers in a much better way. Make sure to switch images and videos regularly. You can even involve experts and customers in creating content for Facebook.
Videos are far more effective than you think. More than 80% of the traffic comes to your eCommerce platform because of video content. Compared to images, video content on Facebook ensures 135% more engagement on social media.
Once the content is at your disposal, it’s time to determine a proper mix. The 80-20 rule can come in handy in this scenario. 80% of your posts should be aimed at educating and entertaining your customers. In contrast, the remaining 20% should be used to promote your eCommerce business.
Be Consistent With Your Posting Schedule
When you aim to engage customers and expand your market, posting educational and entertaining content is vital. To do it properly, you must stick to a plan so your customers know exactly what to expect and when. One thing that plays a great part in determining your posting schedule is the response you receive from your customers. You can use a social media content calendar to make your job easier. Your posting should be done during peak engagement hours. Most retailers post heavily over the weekends because their customers have more time to view their posts.
If you want to update the content at the best time, Facebook Insights should be the go-to tool in your arsenal. It allows you to find out when to update content, even though the posts might not appear in chronological order.
Announce and Promote
A sales pitch isn’t always necessary. However, there is nothing wrong with showcasing your products and services to your audience. Interestingly, you can increase traffic sales if you are more promotional with your approach. This is extremely important, especially if you are introducing something new in the market.
Make sure to interact with your targeted group and share in-store promotions. Creating and uploading these messages is simple, and only takes a few minutes. The call to action should be engaging, guiding your customers on which actions to take.
One of the primary goals of Facebook for Business is the fact that it allows eCommerce businesses to cultivate healthy and rewarding relationships with their customers. Your job is to provide them with the right value, and if you do, they are more likely to learn more about your product and eventually buy it.
Engage With Your Customers
An eCommerce business’s customers often share content on their Facebook accounts. If you run an eCommerce business, you can take their permission and share their content with your audience. Another way to engage with your audience is by providing free giveaways. Such actions not only create a buzz but also serve as a valuable PR tactic. It would be best to augment your ads based on reviews from your customers.
One question people ask often is whether or not clicks and traffic lead to sales. This is a very subjective debate as far as eCommerce businesses are concerned. It usually depends on the line of business you are in. Furthermore, another factor contributing to conversions is whether or not you have zeroed in on consumers who will benefit from the product you offer.
Use Facebook Ads
One of the easiest ways to seek attention on Facebook is by running ads. All you need to do is create a Facebook account where you pay them to share your content with your targeted audience. When you disrupt Facebook with your ads, it becomes easier to convert leads into buyers. Studies have shown that 96% of marketers look to Facebook as the most effective marketing platform in terms of return on investment. Facebook allows you to impact various aspects of your digital presence, including brand awareness, user engagement, application installation, and online store visits.
To make your life easier, you can set up a Pixel account. Sometimes, you don’t use Facebook ads right away. You can place it on your website, which allows you to remarket your eCommerce business to people that have already visited your website in the past. Pixel allows you to cultivate a targeted custom audience for future advertisements. With Pixel, you will have all the information you need regarding your targeted audience, which will work in your favor whenever you choose to launch an ad campaign on Facebook.
Retarget Your Ads
When you invest money into Facebook ads, you tend to ensure those ads bring in the traffic that will purchase what you offer. If you want your eCommerce business to succeed, it is important to monitor and retarget your Facebook ads. Retargeting allows you to approach an already engaged audience interested in buying your product. It’s likely they have already put the item in their carts but are still unsure whether or not they need to buy it. Retargeting allows you to increase their desire to purchase.
Some ads do not perform the way you want them to perform. This is where you must monitor your ads. Monitoring allows you the time you need to stop for a while and work on ads that aren’t performing. You can use this time to adjust these ads to ensure better results. Facebook’s built-in optimization algorithm can be helpful in this case. It allows you to make changes to your Facebook ad campaign in real-time in case the campaign isn’t meeting your criteria of performance.
Combine Shopify and Facebook
Shopify is one of the most popular and easiest to use eCommerce platforms. Luckily, it provides you with an option to integrate Facebook. With Shopify, you can build a site, ship and track orders, and sell products to your customers. A 14-day free trial allows you to open up an account while integrating it to Facebook to set up a Shopify Facebook Shop.
The consolidated marketing technique includes Facebook ads, referral program offerings, and the option to use affiliates. Another amazing benefit of this combination is that it enables you to control the customer process and the experience. By combining Shopify and Facebook, you can define a specific customer category for your business, which allows you to market to them in the future.
Facebook Benefits for ECommerce Businesses
Facebook is the largest social network globally, and it receives more than 2.45 billion monthly users from across the globe. The best thing about Facebook is that it doesn’t need a big marketing budget. It allows you to share valuable content that enables you to connect with your targeted audience and potential customers. Initially, Facebook, just like any other social media platform, was dominated by the youth. However, according to research carried out by the PEW Research Center, the number of senior people has incased considerably on Facebook, compared to what it was back in 2012. This charming new development has created a very profitable situation for eCommerce businesses worldwide. With the right knowledge of their targeted audience and the latest marketing and research tools, success is just around the corner.
The Final Word
It is very competitive to run an eCommerce business in today’s time. What you truly need is a Facebook marketing campaign. Once you come up with a campaign, you have to augment it with the right outreach tools for Facebook. Next up, you need advertising prowess and a customer-oriented strategy. If you can pull these things off, your eCommerce business will allow you to increase your outreach, retain an engaged audience, and climb the ladder to success. With Facebook marketing, persistence is key. You might fail the first few times. However, if you stay patient, you will surely get hang of your targeted audience and their preferences, buying patterns, as well as the tools at your disposal.