Integrating Facebook Into Your Online Store

Starting as a way to communicate with friends and schoolmates, Facebook has become a multi-use platform, incorporating advertising, political and social debates, marketing, and even sales. Until not so long ago, brands could use Facebook only to promote their products and services. Now brands can also sell products and services via the same social media network.

Why should you integrate Facebook with your online store?

Did you know that there is a specific term for e-commerce using the Facebook social networking platform? It’s true, and it is called F-commerce, which stands for Facebook commerce. The idea is that with so many people already spending time on Facebook each day, you are essentially bringing your store and products to them. This can be much more effective than waiting for them to stumble across your website.

Levi’s is one of the first big names of retail business to have integrated Facebook into their sales techniques, adding a social incentive to the customers’ shopping experience. Other big brands followed Levi’s lead, and as a result, Facebook has been gaining more and more popularity as an online shopping platform. Why?

Greater exposure

First of all, your online shop can get immense exposure on Facebook alone. With over two billion monthly active users, Facebook offers a sea of potential customers. While not all of them will land on your Facebook online store, even a small fraction of the Facebook user base would represent an exponentially higher number of visitors than what a freshly launched e-commerce site could possibly get on its own. Learn more about how to increase your traffic with Facebook.

Better targeting

When creating Facebook accounts, people fill in forms, revealing valuable pieces of information a market would kill for: age, sex, interests, geographical location, etc. Facebook uses this info and enables business owners to tailor their ads to a very narrow population segment. For example, depending on what you’re selling and your services, you may decide to target young professional pet owners in Los Angeles. Or maybe you want to send ads out only to engaged couples in your state because you’re a wedding photographer or caterer.

Through targeted advertising, you will be sure you reach your intended audience at a lower cost in the long-run. You’ll be surprised (and grateful) when you discover how much information Facebook knows about people! By using dynamic advertisements on Facebook, you can ensure that your audience is shown products that are specifically tailored to their individual interests.

Social marketing

Do you know a more powerful recommendation than one from a satisfied customer? Once somebody is happy with products or services, he will want to share it with his friends. What better place for a customer to share his satisfaction than on Facebook? In addition to benefiting from users clicking the “share” button, visitors can also easily tag their friends when they see products they may like. This will increase your exposure, bringing in potential customers that already trust your brand.

There are also a number of different testimonial apps that you can easily add straight to your Facebook business page. Similarly, you can use apps and widgets to feature those Facebook testimonials on your business website. For example, you can do this via the MyReviews app available on Wix or with the Facebook Reviews Pro plugin on WordPress.

Learn more about your audience

As mentioned previously, Facebook knows a lot about people. It knows things like their ages, gender, location, education level, what email platform they use (did they sign up with a Yahoo email address or Gmail?), whether they are expats, their relationship statuses, where they travel, any life events such as marriages, and more. When you have your own Facebook business page with an integrated store, you’ll learn even more about your audience and who you should be targeting. How? The answer is via the “likes” that you receive. These “likes” can provide insight beyond who you originally thought your target audience would be limited. You can then use that information for future advertising campaigns and product development.

How to set up a Facebook store

If you want to build an online store and integrate it within your business’ Facebook Page, you have two options: you can either do it from scratch or use an e-commerce builder software that would do all the work for you. The first method will involve some coding. You will have to create a Facebook app, upload all your products’ information, and connect it to a shopping cart that would process your payments. The second method is rather straightforward and requires no technical knowledge or skills.

Source: Wix.com

Ecwid is one popular e-commerce option that you can easily utilize with many different website builders, such as Wix, WordPress, Site123, and more. On your website builder of choice, search the plugins or apps section to find Ecwid. Then, just follow the on-screen instructions to add it to your site! You can also use Ecwid to sell your products on your Facebook business page. This allows customers the option to shop and purchase straight from Facebook, without needing to open up a browser to go to your website.  You can do this one of two ways. One is to search for and add the Facebook Ecwid app. Next, simply select your Facebook business page from the drop-down menu. The second option starts with logging into the Ecwid website. Then, select Sales Channels, and then select Sell on Facebook to connect to your Facebook page.

Ecwid allows you to create an attractive store for your website and Facebook. Divide your products by searchable categories, such as “shoes” and “accessories.” You can create subcategories within each category. Each product can feature up to twenty images on Facebook. You’ll also be happy to know that Ecwid does not charge any transaction fees. In other words, more money in your pocket!

Conclusion

The social media giant, Facebook, has become a seemingly integral part of our lives. What started out as a way to socially connect with friends and family has now become a place where we search for jobs and housing, get the latest news, and even go shopping. Although they have been around for a while already, Facebook stores still represent a fairly new concept for some. Facebook stores are truly changing the face of online commerce as we speak. If your e-commerce business isn't yet connected to Facebook, you're missing out. Add a Facebook store to your website and Facebook page today!

This article was originally published on August 7, 2015. Its content has since been updated.