Facebook groups for buying and selling goods. How to sell on Facebook: three successful examples

How to create a store on Facebook and why you need it if your business has a beautiful website.

Facebook - great tool to increase sales. It works better than similar platforms for product promotion ( Google Adwords, Pinterest, Instagram). All thanks to the “Shop” section. With its help, entrepreneurs demonstrate products and communicate with customers directly on the brand’s business page on Facebook, without redirecting them to the online store. Fewer clicks - more sales.

Integrate your store with Facebook
Lucky for you are those who have an online store on Shopify or another platform that automatically exports photos, prices and product descriptions to Facebook. A couple of minutes - and your showcase on the social network is ready. If there is no integration with Facebook, you will have to do everything manually. One way or another, you need to create a “Shop” section: according to Nielsen, users devote 84% of the time spent on gadgets to five mobile applications, and Facebook leads the list. Probably, the social network is the future of online sales.
Write attractive titles and product descriptions
When users search for products on Facebook, they only see the title and description. Write a strong text that the best way will present the product.
Build a community around your brand
Don't forget that Facebook comes first social channel, which provides comfort for buyers and allows the seller to look modern. Publish non-promotional content on your business page that fans of your brand will want to share with friends. At least 80% of your posts should have nothing to do with promoting products. Your goal is to benefit people and attract more subscribers.
Optimize your mailing list
The more subscribers, the more difficult it is to convey information to everyone - Facebook does not show posts to everyone. Conduct e-mail newsletters and activity on social networks as one project: tell about new offers and publications on Facebook in letters. This way you will get more likes and comments. And the more attention to the publication, the better the organic reach of the audience.
Offer discounts
Use the “Create offer” option. These offers will appear on your page and followers' feeds just like regular posts, but with a "Take Offer" button. For example, you can publish discount codes for purchases in an online store, and the button will redirect users to the site.
Conduct targeted advertising campaigns
To sell more products, try creating custom target audiences using Facebook Ads Manager. This will help you reach people who have never heard of you but are likely to be interested in what you have to offer.

If you take the time fine tuning target audience, the likelihood of a sale will increase. You can show ads:
Share your best products
You can create collections of products in your Facebook store, but shoppers probably won't want to browse through everything. From time to time, publish posts about individual products. Please pay attention Special attention your bestsellers: perhaps they will get the greatest response among your target audience.

Experiment and test different methods attracting buyers. There is no single tactic that will work for all companies. And even one brand has the most effective methods constantly vary.

And please don't bother your subscribers. They signed up because they like your brand and products, but that doesn't mean they'll stick with it. annoying advertising. And if someone unsubscribes because of spam, they are unlikely to come back.

Reviewers' opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Inc.com editorial staff.

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In early 2015, a person approached me to help promote handmade knitted clothing.

A fan page had already been created, there were 1000+ fans on it, money was spent on advertising, but there were no sales.

This case seemed interesting to me and I offered to help for free, since the person was from the Donetsk region, and at that time I was going through a period of good deeds.

What was the state of the fan page?

The first thing we started with was the design. It was worthless, not presentable, not selling. See for yourself:

And the posts on the fan page were like this (also not presenting products the way market leaders do, especially on Facebook):

What did I suggest?

0. To start asked to describe potential client, list all the products that are knitted, name the most popular ones, list your advantages and send me all the photos of the products that are available.

1. Have a professional photo shoot. The offer was rejected due to lack of money.

2. I decided to do the design for the fan page myself so as not to waste time. In 5 minutes I selected a background on the Internet and created a cover with a collage and a list of services. (I did the design for about 30 minutes, almost on my knees, and since I don’t know how to do it cool, your criticism is accepted and approved in advance :) This is the cover that appeared during the advertisement:

3. Fill out the “information” of the fan page with specific selling texts with phones, other contacts and make sure that the texts are sincere. Because before me there weren’t really texts in “information”.

4. The customer and I chose a photo the product they wanted to sell first. Since there were no professional photos, I simply made a frame with the same background as on the cover, and added a logo with the name of the fan page at the bottom. The customer himself wrote the text for publication, and the advertisement was launched immediately (it was just a working day).

The screenshot above shows the results of the first advertising campaign.

The ad ran in the News Feed on computers for 4 days. About $5 was spent on advertising every day.

Targeting has been changed as follows:

— indicated the interests corresponding to the product (jacket, sweater, fashion, etc.),
— we chose women 25-45 years old, all over Ukraine (we tested only Kyiv, the results were worse),
— languages: Russian, Ukrainian,
— iPhone owners, Samsung,
— rate for optimized impressions,
— advertising was included only on weekdays from 8:00 to 23:00.

Here are screenshots of correspondence with two satisfied clients:

The approach to promoting these knitted products fully justified itself and in the future the customer independently attracted new clients from Facebook, copying this tactic.

If you also want to attract customers yourself and get sales from using Facebook, if you can’t do this now, then take part in my training “Successfully promoting a business on Facebook in 30 days”, which starts on June 29, Monday. There you will learn exactly this.

Facebook is a wonderful platform for heated political debates, reading current news, chatting with friends, liking cute photos and cats. In addition to all these activities, Facebook - good opportunity to sell your things. Sales here are slightly different from sales in Shafa and VKontakte. Today we’ll talk about how sales on Facebook work, how to find the right places to sell, and how to sell successfully.

Facebook groups - how it works

Unlike the ones used by brands and stores, there are groups for private sales advertisements. The main difference between groups and pages is that all participants can post to it. Initially, groups were invented for thematic communication based on interests, but enterprising Facebook regulars quickly adapted this functionality to sell everything under the sun.

Interested people gather in groups, and with the right approach to business, selling off everything you need and earning a couple of thousand hryvnia will not be difficult.

Facebook functionality for sales announcements

The popularity of sales groups on Facebook is evidenced by the fact that already at the beginning of 2015 social network I started testing a separate type of posts for such groups. In the sales group, the standard “Publish” button was replaced by the “Sell” button. Additional fields have appeared in the publication: title (up to 100 characters), price, description and, of course, photographs. You won't be able to publish your ad without filling out the name and price. The title stands out in the publication in bold, and the price will be placed on a separate line

The advantages of publishing advertisements through such a form are not immediately obvious. The form disciplines sellers and makes life easier for potential buyers. It’s immediately clear what’s here. It has become easier to find your ads, edit them and remove them when the item is sold.

Advantages and disadvantages of selling on Facebook

Sales in FB groups have their own specifics, which have both positive and negative sides. Let's look at this specificity.

Advantages

Familiar interface

You do not need to go through a separate registration, wait for confirmation letters, or delve into how the platform works. Posting ads and communicating with customers is not much different from writing statuses or communicating with friends.

Quick placement

There are many active sales groups, both local and all-Ukrainian. And they do not always consist of the same people. Thanks to the ease of publishing, you can immediately post your item to several relevant active groups.

Buyers don't have to look for you

The ad appears in the general news feed, you don’t have to wait until a potential buyer goes to a special website looking for a dress or sweater. You know how it happens with girls, it seems like you weren’t going to buy anything, but you caught your eye on a cute photo, and now you’re already negotiating a sale.

Lack of anonymity

When purchasing, you can go to the user’s profile and see what’s on their page. If the account is “not fake,” then buyers will clearly have more trust in it than in the seller hiding behind a nickname.

Quick Feedback

By looking at FB groups you can immediately understand what is selling well and what is not selling well. You can go to any active group and view the feed to understand how to create your ads.

If your item is beautiful and at the right price, within a couple of minutes you will have a line of people wanting to buy it. In groups you need to navigate and make a decision quickly, otherwise it will be very difficult to find an advertisement in an hour or two.

To avoid losing your listings, interested buyers will comment and like your listings, thereby increasing their visibility to others. And likes and comments from potential competitors stimulate faster decision-making, because a good thing can “fly away” right from under your nose.

Flaws

Short ad lifespan

If no one is interested in your ad, it will give way to other, more popular ads. There is practically no chance that someone will find him in a day. You can update your ad by writing to it. new comment. The rules of most groups prohibit doing this too often.

Can't find anything suitable

On Facebook there is no way to filter ads by type of item and size, as you can do in Shafe. If a buyer misses your size 46 dress, it is unlikely that he will ever find it again. It's just luck that they'll see you necessary people at the time of publication.

Mysterious mechanism for displaying posts in the feed

But no one can guarantee you this either. Facebook, unlike VKontakte, will not automatically show all posts from the group to all participants, so there is no guarantee that you will be seen even by those who are online at the time of publication.

Buyers act impulsively

The advantage described in paragraph 5 may become a disadvantage. In an effort not to miss profitable proposition, buyers may book things quickly and thoughtlessly, and then abandon their intentions. This is not very pleasant and takes up extra time on useless communications.

Misunderstandings with the queue

Lots of unstructured comments private messages. If you put up a mega-interesting lot, it will be hard not to get confused about “who was behind whom.” And if you posted an ad in several groups, then it is generally unclear which buyer is from where. These things will have to be monitored closely.

Missing private messages

If you are not mutual friends with the buyer, your personal messages to each other may fall into the mysterious “Correspondence Requests” box, where novice users do not always think to look.

No reviews or blacklists

Unlike Shafa, you cannot leave reviews or check the reputation of the seller. You will not be able to accumulate positive “karma”, which will increase customer confidence in you.

How to find active sales groups

If you are planning to sell something on Facebook, there is no point in limiting yourself to just one group. The announcement can and should be posted in local groups, in large active groups for everything, to sales groups in your city and to thematic groups.

How to find such groups? You can use Facebook recommendations. In the side column, select the “Groups” tab and view “Recommended”, “Local Groups” and the groups your friends are members of. Or enter a query into the search bar - for example, “flea market Dnepropetrovsk”. Next, select the “More results by request” option, and on the page that opens, select the result type – “Groups”.

How to search and not lose ads

Despite the fact that Facebook is constantly improving something in its mechanisms, search in it does not work well. IN popular groups ah, with the large number of daily new advertisements, it is almost impossible to find something. Moreover, the most frequently asked question in any group (and I have a good dozen of them in my subscriptions): “I can’t find my ads.” What to do?

Use #hashtags

Hashtags on Facebook are not very popular yet, but they still work. In the group rules, administrators usually give recommendations - which hashtags are mandatory and which are desirable. Using hashtags, you can search for current announcements from participants.

It makes sense to tag all your ads with some unique hashtag (for example, #anichkaprodaetplatie2016). If you have a lot of ads, it is better not to neglect this rule.

Use search

Each group header has a search bar that allows you to search for posts within the group's posts. The search works by individual words and by names of participants. It doesn't work perfectly either, but overall it works well. He will definitely show you at least a dozen of the latest advertisements for the request “dress”.

Save publications

If you click the small triangular pointer on the right top corner any publication, you can find the “Save publication” option. Everything that you save in this way on Facebook can be found in a separate “Saved” tab of your profile ( side column main page, “Favorites” section).

Use activity log

If you liked or commented on something interesting, but forgot where and didn’t save the link to a specific post, the action log will come in handy. You can find it in your profile settings. In the activity log you can view all your activities on Facebook - likes, comments, posts, videos watched. It’s convenient that content can be sorted by type – likes feed separately, comments separately, activities in groups separately.

How to sell on Facebook

There are rules for successful sales on Facebook. Most of them are common to any platform for selling things, but there are still a few features that are relevant only for Facebook.

Read the group rules

Each group has its own rules established by its creators and administrators. Be sure to read them carefully. In some groups you can place everything, in some only certain types of things - for example, only new women's clothing, only children's clothing, or only shoes. If you do not follow the rules, your ad will be deleted and you may be excluded from the group.

Over time, each group establishes its own unspoken traditions, which may not be directly stated in the rules, but which make sense to follow for successful sales. For example, in some groups it is customary to write “reservation” to express a specific intention to buy an item. Whoever wrote first is first in line.

Take beautiful photos

On Facebook, your ad will share the feed with cats, beautiful photos, links to interesting materials. To attract attention, it must be eye-catching and as clear as possible.

Remember that a photo will look beautiful in your feed if its width is greater than its height. And if there are several photos, then Facebook will collect the first four into a collage. The user will see the rest only if he starts scrolling through them in your ad.

Clear description

The first few lines of the description should contain maximum information useful to the future buyer. The system will hide everything that is not included in these lines. The rest will be seen only by those who are interested enough to expand your publication. Therefore, it is better to put all lyrical and romantic details there.

Otherwise, the rules for selling things are the same as everywhere else - clear descriptions, do not hide the presence of defects, respond politely and quickly to buyers, follow safety rules to protect yourself from scammers.

Active groups for the sale of women's clothing

Here are just a few popular groups where you can sell and buy women's clothing.

Fact: A Facebook store can increase your sales.

It is suitable for both selling goods and selling services:

If you have a store/online store, then you can post products on Facebook and promote them using the methods described in the article
If you sell services/consultations, then you can promote your free goods, collecting subscribers for subsequent sales, and sell your main services

Sounds good? Do you know what's really cool?

It's free, and you can do it in literally 10-15 minutes!

In this article, I will show you how to create an online store on Facebook, how to set it up and design it, and also tell you how to avoid mistakes when adding it.

You will also learn 4 ways to sell goods and services through a store without a budget.

Let's begin!

More...

What is a Facebook store and why create one?

On Facebook you can create personal page, group and business page of your company.

Shop- this is one of the tabs of the business page, by creating which you can add and sell goods, products and services. Naturally, this feature is free.

You may think that it is only suitable for offline/online stores to sell their products.

But that's not true...

If you provide services, sell consultations or teach online, then you can publish links to your free materials and get subscribers for free.

Let me note right away that sales will depend on the activity of your followers on Facebook and the quality of the materials you publish.

So how do you add a store?

How to make a store on Facebook

Step 1. Create a business page

You definitely need it. Without it, you will not be able to add a store.

Step #2. Add a "Shop" tab to your business page

By default, your business page should have a "Shop" tab in the left menu.

But if you don't have one, it's okay.

To add it, on the business page, click on the “Settings” tab and go to the “Edit Page” section.

On Facebook, you can choose from 8 business page design templates:

Purchases
Company
Venues
Non-profit organization
Politicians
Services
Restaurants and cafes
Standard

These templates differ only in the menu items that will be available on the page.

It doesn't matter which one you choose, since you can turn the menu items themselves on or off at your discretion.

By default, you have the Standard template selected.

To make the "Store" tab appear, you can either select the "Purchases" template, or enable this tab separately.

To enable it without changing the template, scroll down the page and click on the "add tab" button.

In the window that appears, click the “add tab” button opposite “Store”.

After this, the “Shop” section will appear in the left menu on the business page.

Step #3. Create a store on your business page

Now click on the "Store" tab on the page.

Immediately after this, a window will appear where you need to agree to the terms of trading on Facebook.

Check the box and click "Continue".

In the new window, select the ordering method, that is, how customers will make purchases.

There are 2 options available here:

1. Write to the seller

In this case, the product cards will have a button that, when clicked, will open a chat with the page administrator. This option is suitable for those who do not have a website.

2. Placing an order on another site

When a button is clicked on a product card, the person will be redirected to the product card on your website.

Choose which option is convenient for you and click on the “Continue” button.

Now you need to select the currency of your store.

How do I change my store currency and checkout method on Facebook?

If you have chosen the wrong currency or want to change the ordering method, then to do this you need to delete the store and create it again.

This will remove all added products.

To delete a store, go to the "Store" tab and click on the gear in the upper right corner.

In the menu that appears, select "Delete" and confirm this action.

After deleting, you can immediately create new shop, select the currency and ordering method.

Congratulations!

You have just created a store. Now it needs to be configured.

How to set up a store on Facebook

After creating the store, you need to fill it out: add a description, products, categories. Let's see how to do this.

#1. How to add a description

Go to the store, click on “describe what the store sells” and add a description.

You have 200 characters to tell about the store.

What is better to write?

Below I have made a description template that you can use.

Sample: [Result or Pain] + [Your proposal: how to get results/avoid pain] + [Store benefits] + [Call to action]

Example: Cosmetics store for adult women

Description: Do you want to look young despite your age? Try our eco-cosmetics made from natural ingredients. Delivery within Moscow is free. Check out our catalogue.

#2. How to add a product to your Facebook store

On the store page, click on the "Add products" button.

Depending on the ordering method you chose when creating your store, the process of adding a product will be slightly different:

if you chose "write to the seller", then you you can't insert a link to your site
if you chose "registration on another site", then you you can add link

Let's see how to fill out a product card using the example of the “write to seller” checkout option.

Image requirements

Format jpg, png
It should be square
Resolution 1024 x 1024 and higher [possible from 600*600]

2. Product name

Everything is simple here: write the name of your product.

3. Price

By default, you can specify one price, but if you click on the “This product is participating in a promotion” switch, you can specify a promotional price.

In this case, the product will be displayed with full and promotional prices.

4. Product Description

This is where you describe the benefits of your product.

6. Product availability

Choose whether you have the product or not.

7. Adding product options

If your product has, for example, several colors or sizes, you can add these options and set a separate price for each of them.

To do this, click on “edit options”, then on “add option” and select the attribute by which you will add options:

Size
Material
Length
Style
Width
Aroma
Model
Format
Platform
Release

After filling out all the fields, click on “save” to create the product.

When you click on a product, its card opens:

How to add a URL link to a product?

How to remove a product from the store

Go to the "Publishing Tools" section on your business page and click on the "Products" section.

Check the box for the product you want to delete and select delete from the “actions” menu.

#3. How to add a product collection

If you have a large number of goods different types, you can combine them into collections (selections/categories) for the convenience of customers.

Each collection will represent certain type goods, for example: women's clothing, men's clothing, children's clothing, etc.

To do this, click on the "add collection" button in the store.

For example, I created a “Beds” collection, where I added 3 beds:

You can also select a selection (collection) by checking the “select this collection” checkbox.

What does it mean?

Products from the selected collection will be:

Displayed at the top of the store
Have a larger image than other products
Will appear at the top of your business page feed

Here's what it looks like in the store:

You can select only one collection.

How to delete a product collection

Go to the "Publishing Tools" section on your business page and click on the "Collections" section.

Select the checkbox for the collection you want to delete and select Delete from the Actions menu.

When you delete a collection, the products that were added to it will not be deleted. Essentially, you will only delete a section in the store.

#4. How to add a button to a business page for a Store

The button is displayed on the business page on the right right under the cover.

To add it, click on "add button".

In the list that appears, click on the “make a purchase or donation” section and select “To the store.”

If you want people to click on a button to go to the "Shop" section on your business page, then select "Shopping on your page"
If you want people to be directed to your main site when they click, select "Shopping on your site" and add a link to the site.

You now have a stocked Facebook store!

Let's see the best way to promote your products.

4 free ways how to sell products through a store

To get people to buy your products or download them free products, you need to promote them, first of all, in the feed of your business page.

There are 4 free ways you can do this:

Share store
Share products
Share collections
Add products to posts

Let's take a closer look at each method.

It's easy to do.

A publication will appear in the news feed, in the center of which there will be a “Go to Store” button, which will take people directly to your store.

How often should this be done?

When you launch promotions, sales, or replenish your assortment, I recommend sharing your store and writing in your message the reason why you are doing this.

If you have an online store, then you should periodically share your products, especially if you have sales or new arrivals.

There are two ways to do this.

Method #1.

Go to the business page, select “product, offer” and click on the item “Invite people to view the product.”

Method #2.

How to use this for sales?

On Facebook, you can attach products to any post, and by clicking on them, people will be taken to product cards.

For example, you can post an article about how to choose a bed so that your spine does not hurt, and add several beds to the publication.

If a person finds the post useful and has the same problem (back pain), then there is a chance that after reading the article he will look at the added beds and make an order!

To add a product when posting, click on the “tag product” button below and select the products you want to add.

At the bottom of the publication there are products, by clicking on which the user will be taken to the product card.

Conclusion

Now you know how to make an online store on Facebook.

With it, you can increase sales of your products/services, as well as increase your subscriber base by placing free/low-cost products in your store.

If you haven’t created a store while reading the article, then do it right now. After all, it will literally take 10-15 minutes!

It's your turn

Did you manage to create a store? What products are you going to promote: free/paid informational or physical? Have you come up with new ideas for promoting services through your store?

Write your answers in the comments below the article!

P.S. I read every comment and answer every question.