Facebook has been the go-to platform for nearly 3 Billion monthly users in 2023. Known to a lot of us as the beginning of the age of social media, Facebook has now evolved into a formidable marketplace with a vast audience of buyers and sellers alike.
If the question that’s been on your mind is how to sell on Facebook, let me tell you you’re at the right place. With the untapped potential for expanding horizons onto Facebook’s vast network, we have curated a guide to offer actionable steps that merchants can take to begin selling on Facebook.
Let us tell you how to effectively list products, tips on engaging and conversing with potential buyers, and ultimately boost sales with Facebook selling.
Table of Contents
Before You Begin Selling On Facebook
Selling on Facebook requires you to know all the ropes that any merchant would need to master before you properly begin selling.
It is advisable to polish your tone and communication skills for pre or post-purchase questions and inquiries. Always remember that a greatly satisfied customer will always come back and bring more customers.
Another critical point to remember is to ensure that every order placed via Facebook is delivered to the buyer within 3-7 business days. So make sure that the shipping requirements are met by your delivery company.
And lastly, you must check whether your e-commerce platform syncs with the Facebook marketplace.
Here are a list of necessary factors you need to keep in mind:
- You must thoroughly read and comply with their policies.
- You must provide users with unshortened, accurate URLs for your store/website.
- You must be eligible to sell in any of these countries.
- Establish trustworthiness (i.e., you must go through their verification process if required)
- Provide truthful, accurate, and complete information to Facebook.
Violation of any of these practices will result in banning (temporarily or permanently) from Facebook or Instagram.
Understanding Ways To Sell On Facebook
Previously, users were only able to sell products via one-on-one interaction. Ads on Facebook were minimal, but with a boost in the e-commerce sector, Meta developers have hopped on to the trend and curated these three ways to sell on Facebook:
- Facebook Marketplace: On Facebook Marketplace (facebook.com/marketplace), you can create listings for your products (as a merchant), which will be advertised to people browsing the Marketplace. By using a Facebook Product Feed, you can automatically sync and manage your product listings, making it easier to keep your inventory updated and reach a broader audience on the platform.
- Facebook Shop: It is a storefront where your audience can browse all your products in one place.
- Buy and Sell Groups: These are groups where Facebook users come together to list their items for sale and advertise their products.
While each of the three ways has its own benefits, when utilized fully, they can all increase your reach, diversify selling options, and build your brand with integrated social engagement.
In fact, many sellers who advertise or sell their products on Facebook can easily create listings for Instagram as well. Marketing on Instagram can considerably increase your sales and visibility.
Getting Started with Facebook Marketplace
On the Facebook marketplace, you can create listings for your products, which will show up on the marketplace page, on user feeds, and on relevant search queries on or off Facebook.
The platform also has a list best things to sell on Facebook Marketplace, which sellers should know in advance to tap into profitable items.
This is what the marketplace page looks like for all users:
It is only available in certain countries at the moment. Check your availability here.
Steps to access Marketplace and requirements for sellers
Anybody that has an active Facebook account can visit the marketplace page.
To create a listing for your products on the Facebook marketplace, you need to navigate to the marketplace page and on the left side of your screen, locate the ‘Create New Listing’ button.
You will be asked to choose the type of listing you want to create from Item for sale, vehicle for sale or property for sale options. Choose ‘Item for sale’.
Now, you will be taken to this page, where you can fill out the details of your listing. A preview will be generated based on the information you fill out. Ensure that you choose the right condition for your listing.
Conditions you can choose from:
Make changes and add information according to your preferences and click ‘Next’.
This is what your ad preview will look like:
Best practices for listing items
Creating an ad listing for Facebook marketplace is easy. Getting it to show up to the right customer that’s where the difficulty lies. Here are a few practices you can follow to list items on Facebook marketplace:
Product photography: Since the entire premise of your product being sold is highly dependent on how well it is displayed in your product listing, it is considered one of the most important factors that will determine a successful sale.
Ensure that your product is clearly visible, set against a contrasting background, and photographed under the right kind of lighting. Lastly, ensure that it matches the product you actually sell accurately.
Descriptions: If you’ve been a player in the marketing industry for a long time, you already know how important product descriptions are. For those who don’t know, great product descriptions can turn a buyer’s intent into a successful sale.
The maximum character limit for descriptions is 255 characters. Your description is the very beginning of your conversation with the buyer. Make sure it leaves an impact.
Boost your listings: After you create a listing, you can give it a ‘Boost’ by enabling ‘Boost Listing’ for the item. By boosting a particular item, it will get higher visibility and thus will become more likely to be sold to your target audience.
To boost listings, you need to ensure you are in line with Facebook’s advertising policies.
Insights into Marketplace categories
Facebook Marketplace categories can help organize products on the marketplace into different sections. This can increase the efficiency and visibility of a product listing in a particular category.
Categorizing your product litings makes it easier for shoppers to locate products. Some categories are:
- Vehicles
- Properties for Rent
- Classified
- Clothing
- Electronic
- Hobbies
- Pet supplies
- Toys and Games
| Read Also: How to sell handmade items online |
Setting Up a Facebook Shop
Facebook Shop is another option for merchants to showcase all their products in a single place. It is offered for both Facebook and Instagram users.
Customers can visit your shop and browse all your products. Additionally, you can create ‘Shop Ads’ to promote your products across Facebook and Instagram (Meta platforms).
Do note that Facebook Shop is only available in certain countries.
To create a Facebook Shop, you need a ‘Meta Commerce Manager’ account. If you don’t have one already, check out this article to know more about how to create one. Commerce Manager will help you can manage your inventory, sales, and ads all on a single dashboard.
The process of creating a Facebook Shop via Commerce Manager
Here is how you can create a Facebook Shop via Commerce Manager:
- Go to ‘www.facebook.com/business/shops’ and click on Get Started.
- You will be asked to connect the platform you’re currently using (if you are using one) to the Shop you will create.
- Based on the previous response, you will be required to choose the ‘Checkout’ method i.e. you will be given three options. Select your preferred method and click Next.
💡Do note that the ‘Checkout with Facebook or Instagram’ method is only available for US-based retailers and a US-based bank account.
- Now, you are required to create a page where you can put up your products. If you have a preexisting product page, select it otherwise, you can also create a new one.
- Add delivery instructions based on your preference.
- Get a finalized preview of your Facebook Shop!
Customizing your shop
To add products to your Facebook Shop you need to upload your product catalog to Meta Commerce Manager. A product catalog contains all the information about your products that can be accessed by various platforms to use your data to create ads for that particular platform.
You can create a product catalog (also known as a product feed) manually or use an app to generate one for you. If you are a Shopify user, you can use feed management apps like AdNabu. Such apps can provide useful features like AI optimization, bulk editing and keyword suggestions for greater performance.
This step will automatically be skipped if you already have a product catalog on Meta Commerce Manager.
The next step is to customize your Shop based on your brand identity. Establishing a well-rounded brand identity can help define your store clearly in the audience’s minds. They will remember your brand and might even come back to it for future purchases.
You can also create product collections for similar products and feature them on your storefront.
Selling Through Buy and Sell Groups
Buy and Sell groups on Facebook are basically groups where people come together to buy and sell their products. They are different from normal groups as the members of the group can list items for sale, mark them as sold and search for items to buy.
While there are definitely many policies that are placed around buying and selling in these groups to ensure all the Commerce policies of Facebook are followed, these groups can be especially beneficial for merchants who sell customized products or sellers in a very specific niche.
Creating Buy and Sell Groups
Admins curate Facebook buy and sell groups. In other words, if you wish to sell your products, you can create a group with the buy and sell group features. These features include:
- Selling products.
- Showing the buy and sell tab when new members are added.
- Adding Seller badges.
To turn a group from a regular group into a buy and sell group, you need to:
- Go to facebook.com/groups
- Click on ‘Add Features’ on the left. Scroll and find the ‘feature set’ option.
- Here, you can find the ‘Buy and Sell’ feature set. Click on the ➕ sign.
You can create listings for a particular group and share it to other groups easily too. In fact, creating a listing for a Buy and Sell group will also allow you to create a Marketplace listing.
To learn the exact process of creating and posting a listing for your products on the Buy and Sell groups, check this article.
💡Do note that each time an item is sold, it needs to be updated individually on every posting (i.e. in every group).
Settings on the group allow admins to monitor and approve/disapprove every post that goes up on the group. If any post violates the rules, admins can decline the post and let them know which rule their post violates.
You can set up the rules for your group by going to the group and selecting ‘Group rules’ under the admin tab on the left of your screen.
Tips for boosting sales within groups
To increase the probability of people buying your products, you need to ensure that you are in the right group with the right target audience– in other words you need to clearly define your niche.
Ensure that the group name is related to your brand, industry and what you sell, for example, if you own a store that sells toys for children, you can label the group ‘Toys for children by (your brand name)’ and target the right audience in accordance with it.
It is also suggested that you set a recognizable cover picture for the group, followed by a headshot for your own profile. Audiences are more likely to trust your brand if they can associate it with someone behind the curtain instead of a vague profile.
Lastly, it is best if you write a concise, witty, and truthful group description. It is the first thing that people who want to join your group will check. It needs to be impactful, catchy, and, at the same time, convey the intent behind the group.
💡Tip: Always be polite to the members of your group, even during times of conflict. Ensure you welcome new members to the group with a prewritten template and pin helpful files to the top of the group for any additional information they might require about you and your products
Rules for Selling On Facebook
Selling on Facebook has several benefits–from increased visibility to higher engagement with your products. Selling on Facebook can help you build a community that grows with your e-commerce business. However, there are certain rules with which you must comply.
Meta commerce policy prohibits the sale of:
- Digital products or subscriptions.
- Weapons, ammunition or explosives.
- Animals.
- Illegal, prescription or recreational drugs.
- Medical or healthcare products.
- Tobacco products and related paraphernalia.
- Ingestible supplements.
- Adult products and services.
- Real money gambling services.
- Real, virtual or fake currency.
- Misleading, deceptive, or offensive items.
- Recalled products.
You are also required to sell a physical product, something that is tangible. You cannot sell services (like cleaning, etc) or intangible products.
Further, the description of your product should match the image. A violation of these policies will ultimately result in your store getting banned from selling on Facebook.
Strategies For Selling On Facebook
#1 Handling customer inquiries and managing multiple listings effectively.
Facebook selling requires you to engage in one-on-one conversations with customers often. They will reach out to you and ask about the product listings and questions about your brand, too.
It is suggested that you remain polite and professional and convey all answers courteously. It is important to remember that these interactions will lead to increased sales and loyal customers.
#2 Adapting to Facebook’s algorithm changes and ensuring visibility.
Facebook’s algorithm ranks content based on how meaningful, relevant, and informative it is. Facebook now has a ‘feed preference control’ that can be altered by individual users to remove a particular type of content that they do not wish to see.
You must not only avoid spammy, repetitive, unoriginal content but also must ensure that your content does not violate any policies, is concise, and does not try to manipulate the algorithm to generate more clicks for your ads or product listings.
This can particularly hamper the success of your store and cause several other problems for you. To read more about Facebook’s algorithm, check out this article.
#3 Facebook Ads
Ads on Facebook work similarly to ads on other platforms. There are three ways to advertise on Facebook.
You can either boost your existing page post or have this post show up as the ‘sponsored’ post.
Or create an ad that can be advertised on Facebook. These ads can help you reach people who are not in contact with your page/store. You have multiple ad formats to choose from, such as carousel ads, video ads, etc. So, go with the format that suits the most.
Lastly, you can set up automated ads with a daily budget for a particular time.
These ads can increase engagement, boost visibility, and increase your sales.
How to sell on Facebook With Shopify?
Shopify store owners can sell on Facebook with Shopify. It is simple, effective and can bring in monumental sales with increased reach.
Shopify and Facebook offer many options through which you can sync data and create product listings on Facebook, but before that, here are some prerequisites:
1. Facebook Business Page
2. Business Manager Account
3. Facebook Ads Account
You can advertise on Facebook effectively using either the Meta Sales channel on Shopify or a data feed management app. Using a Facebook Pixel like AdNabu’s can ensure that you get accurate and precise event tracking without the risk of duplication of events. It is available for free and can be set up in a few clicks.
You can also use a feed management app like AdNabu‘s to create high performing feeds. Product data can be easily synced onto Facebook using a Data Feed URL that can be generated in a few clicks within the app.
The app ensures that data is compliant with Facebook’s policies and you can even use features like Product Score to gauge the performance of all your product data.
You can explore this topic in depth–we suggest going through this blog.
Conclusion
Selling on Facebook can provide you with ample benefits and help you reach across the world without a lot of hassle. Facebook keeps evolving and updating its algorithm, and thus it is necessary to stay updated with the latest changes.
This blog explains how to sell on Facebook for beginners who might face unknown challenges. We hope it helped you out!
FAQs
- How do I start selling on Facebook?
Selling on Facebook is simple. It can be done in three ways. You can set up a Facebook Shop, create a product listing on Facebook Marketplace or sell your products in a buy and sell group.
- What challenges might I face when selling on Facebook?
Selling on Facebook presents challenges such as tough competition, consistent communication and customer inquiries, building a rapport with potential customers, analyzing and navigating Facebook’s algorithm changes, managing inventory updates on each listing, etc.
- Can I sell with Buy and Sell Groups?
Yes, Buy and Sell groups can be an excellent way to reach specific niches and local communities. You must abide by each group’s rules and manage listings adequately.
- How can I market my products on Facebook Shop?
Facebook Shop offers organic and paid advertising options. To see an all-round impact, you must create engaging posts, offer promotions and discounts, and participate in different trends to increase visibility. Interacting with users and other companies can also heavily influence how your brand is viewed.
- How much does it cost to sell on the Facebook marketplace?
Selling on the Facebook marketplace is free. All you require is to create product listings and ensure they’re adequately updated. You may incur costs if you decide to boost your product listings for increased visibility over a particular period of time.
- How can I enhance my Facebook Shop’s performance?
Facebook Shop’s performance depends upon high engagement with customers, a well-stocked inventory, using ad campaigns to boost product listings, and using strategies that enhance your marketing efforts.
- How does Facebook Marketplace work?
Merchants who wish to sell products on the Facebook marketplace can create product listings. These product listings will show up for relevant queries and target customers. Merchants can boost their listings using the ‘Boost’ feature while creating a listing, this will allow them to increase their listing position for a set budget and duration.
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