Facebook for E-commerce Marketing
In this article we discuss how Facebook can be used for e-commerce marketing.
Facebook is one of the best social media networks for e-commerce because it hosts the largest amount of users compared to any other social platform. Facebook has over 1 billion users, that include all kinds of demographics. This means that entrepreneurs, brands and business owners are very likely to reach their target audience. Search engines take social media into consideration when determining search engine rankings, thus the vast Facebook user base also enables website owners to boost their website authority and overall brand awareness.
Facebook can drive traffic to your online store via paid ads or organically through normal posts. This increase in traffic can potentially lead to increase conversions. Another advantage of Facebook is that it acts as a personal customer service tool. It is easier to engage with Facebook users more personally on the platform, whilst at the same time addressing most of their concerns.
Facebook also has one of the most advanced and sophisticated advertising platforms on the internet. Facebook Ads has become a critical part of almost every social media strategy. If you want to your posts seen on Facebook, it’s becoming more and more likely that you’ll have to pay for reach with Facebook Ads.
Industries that succeed on Facebook usually have the following traits:
– Industries with large audiences on Instagram
– Business to Consumer Industries (Fashion, Fitness, Food, Beauty, Home Decor, Travel, Outdoor)
– Business to Business Industries (Technology, Services)
The fundamental keys to Facebook success is to have interesting and informative posts. Photos and videos have to engage with potential customers. Some best practices for posting are:
– Promote your products or services
– Share industry news or useful tips
– Converse and Interact with other users
– Use quality images
– Engage with the audience by responding to comments
– Upload videos to Facebook as opposed to posting YouTube links. This prevents users from leaving the Facebook platform in order to view videos on YouTube.
– Boost the most engaging posts. Boosting a post simply means you can pay to increase your post’s visibility among your own followers and/or a wider audience.
– Use Facebook Insights to determine when the audience is most active. Post or set up a scheduler to post during these time slots.
In addition to posting regularly, a good practice is to promote your store using Facebook Ads. Advertising on Facebook makes it easy to find the right people, capture their attention and get results.
We can target adverts to people based on how and when they engaged, and create an experience that is relevant to where they are in the process of investigating our products. Facebook’s self-serve advert interface is better than any other advertising platform on the market – you don’t have to be a tech whiz to get in there and get things rolling!
The two main objectives of Facebook ads are:
– Increased user engagement
– Drive traffic to your website
Extending your sphere of influence has never been easier. A users can advertise across Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network to improve reach.
Among the advantages of Facebook ads are:
– Find people easily. Audience can be chosen based on demographics, behaviours or contact information.
– Get their attention. Facebook ad formats are attractive, flexible and work on every device and connection speed.
– See the results. The Facebook advert reporting tools show you how your adverts have impacted your business in visual and easy-to-read reports
WHEN TO USE ADS and NOT BOOSTED POSTS
Boosted posts are limited in two important ways: targeting and calls to action. Boosted posts do not allow you to target based on behaviour. Another drawback is that your only available conversion goal is to engage with the post content. This means that you are limited on who you can advertise to and what they can do with your post.
Facebook ads, unlike posts which have been boosted, are not restricted to appear on your Facebook page. Therefore you can create a post or ad, and promote this post or add to a specific group of people.
It is better to set up a Facebook Ads Manager account and running a Facebook ad versus using the boosted post feature, if you wish to promote and sells your products.