You’ve probably heard that Facebook selling and Instagram selling can be powerful tools for expanding your product reach — but are you aware of their potential or how to properly leverage them to make the most out of their features?
With Facebook and Instagram now offering businesses opportunities to sell their products directly through the app easily, they have become powerful selling platforms for both big and small business to connect directly with their target audiences, drive leads through their online store, boost visibility for their products, even directly sell products from within the platform and ultimately, earn more revenue.
So, if you’ve hammered something like ‘how to sell on Facebook and Instagram’ into Google and stumbled across this article, you’re in luck.
But the question is also one that needs to be unpacked, covering not only the technical features of this widely used social network that are best-suited to ecommerce, but also the matter of those little tips and tricks that will enable you to extract the greatest potential from it.
So… what’s the good and the bad about Facebook selling?
Well, the (we’d hope obvious) good news about Facebook, is that it’s a long-established platform for selling products and services, brands having been using the network for precisely this since at least the early 2010s. It also helps that the last decade or so has seen consistent growth in Facebook’s base of monthly active users worldwide, sitting at almost 2.5 billion.
So, there should be no shortage of eyeballs to catch sight of your sales content on Facebook. But Facebook can also be a very confusing world from an ecommerce perspective, with such features as Facebook shops, the Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Pages and Facebook advertising to get to grips with.
A key starting point for your brand’s Facebook e-tail activity, though, is likely to be its dedicated Facebook Page. This isn’t the same thing as a personal Facebook profile – it’s a separate, dedicated page for business purposes. It’s easy and quick, though, to set one up.
Choose a category for your Page, give the new Page a name, and then add a profile picture and cover photo. There you have it – you’ll already be well on the way to generating sales revenue through Facebook.
A few tips to help you to make sales on Facebook
Consider the below measures for going beyond the most rudimentary features and perks of Facebook Pages:
1. Add a Shop to your Page.
If you go to the Page you created via the process above, there should be a ‘+ Add Shop Section’ option below the cover photo – or try changing your Page’s template if this option doesn’t appear. This step will enable you to have a shop incorporated directly into your Facebook Page.
2. Create compelling and relevant content.
Simply setting up a Facebook shop, though, and just hoping that potential buyers will come across your Page’s Shop tab and make some purchases, isn’t enough for even vaguely getting worthwhile results from Facebook as an ecommerce channel. What we mean here is that it is a social channel, so you need to get social with the creation of content that will appear in your followers’ Facebook feeds, and that they will actually appreciate. Such content therefore needs to be regular, engaging and useful for your target audiences.
3. Don’t underestimate the power of Facebook advertising.
Facebook’s ads platform seems to divide opinion as far as its true effectiveness for selling is concerned. The immense amount of demographic information that Facebook gathers about its users makes for some pretty stellar targeting capabilities. But on the other hand, organic Facebook marketing through your Page is free, and you might initially find it a bit easier to engage your desired audience that way.
OK, so how does Instagram selling compare?
The extent to which the public associates Instagram with ecommerce has only really ramped up fairly recently, compared to Facebook. Even when people think of Instagram selling, they’re still likely to think of influencer marketing, which absolutely continues to have its place on the platform.
Otherwise, Instagram is steadily becoming a much more intuitive social network for e-tail. It wasn’t so long ago that selling items through Instagram was basically just a case of placing links to your products in your profile bio for Instagram Stories.
Lately, however, a ‘shoppable posts’ shopping feature has emerged. This allows a brand to start selling on Instagram and its followers to buy products directly from their Instagram posts, completing a purchasing journey from discovery to checkout on their Instagram account, while never leaving the Instagram app.
A few tips to help you to make sales on Instagram:
Through Instagram shopping, users can quickly and directly shop for your products through photos and reels.
1. Set up Instagram Shopping
Set up Instagram shopping with an Instagram business account, onboard directly within the app, provide shop details in the Commerce Manager, and then submit for review. Once your Instagram shop is live, you can start creating and posting shoppable posts right away, organically or by creating an Instagram ad! Shoppable posts are regular feed posts, images or Reels with product tags.
To tag your product in a post or Story, simply select the product you want to tag and tap the “Tag Products” option. Then, choose the product from your collection and place the tag on the photo or video. Users can then tap on the tag to see more information about the product and make a purchase.
2. Optimise Your Profile
Your Instagram profile should be complete and optimised to showcase your brand and products. Use a recognisable profile picture, a descriptive bio, and a call-to-action (CTA) button that directs Instagram users to your website or online store.
3. Use High-Quality Visuals
Instagram is a highly visual platform, so it’s important to post great, professional images and videos to showcase your products. Use good lighting and attractive backgrounds, and make sure your pictures are clear and focused.
4. Leverage Influencers
Look for influencers in your niche with significant following and high engagement rates, and collaborate with them to create sponsored content that promotes your products.
5. User-Generated Content (UGC)
UGC is content your customers create and share on their Instagram accounts. This could be photos of your products or reviews of your brand. Sharing UGC on your own Instagram feed not only provides social proof but also a way to create engagement and build a community around your brand. Your followers will be encouraged to share their experiences with your products as well!
6. Using the Right Hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to expand the reach of your Instagram posts and make them more discoverable. Use relevant and popular hashtags that are related to your brand or product. However, use only a few hashtags, as they can look spammy and reduce engagement.