Have you seen a hidden update Facebook has made to pages?
You now have the option to select a Template for your Facebook page. The Template options include Standard, Shopping, Venues, Gaming, Politicians, Professional Services, and Restaurants and Cafes.
The Template comes programmed with default buttons and tabs designed to help your Facebook page perform better. It will automatically arrange the tabs on your page according to what Facebook feels is most important for your type of business or brand. It will also create a button for your business like Call Now, Shop Now, Book Our Services, Get In Touch With Us, Watch Video, or Learn More. The button you choose is an excellent way to call out to a viewer to perform an action of your choice.
Facebook Adds Shopping Section
Another huge update Facebook has made is adding a shopping feature straight from your Facebook page. If you select the Shopping template you have the option to set up a store in your Facebook page. You can add products to your store very similar to a shopping cart on a website. You can add a title, images, videos, description and price for your products. You can also select an inventory quantity for each product individually. For every product you can add and create variants which Facebook describes as:
Variants are the different styles—such as sizes, colors or materials—that a product comes in.
On your Facebook shop, you can create shipping options with prices and create default shipping options for future products. Under the advanced options setting you can create default shop taxes for your page and create custom taxes for each product.
Viewers will only see the shop section on your Facebook page once you have added at least one product and that product has been reviewed and approved by Facebook. Once Facebook approves your product, it becomes live and can be purchased by a shopper on your page!
Adding a product to your Facebook shop does not share it to your Facebook timeline. A good practice for selling products on Facebook is to regularly share the items in your shop to your Facebook page so they are added to people’s News Feeds. This continues to keep your products in front of customer’s eyes online and it is completely FREE!
When you share a product to your Facebook page timeline, make sure to add content to the post. Don’t just share the product. Let customers know why you are sharing! For example, are you currently running a sale or promotion on the item? Are you highlighting Christmas items or products that make great Christmas gifts? Encourage customers to purchase with a thoughtful Facebook share letting them know why they should purchase the item.
Don’t forget you can also advertise your products. Once you share the product to your Facebook timeline you can boost the post to get it in front of more potential customers.
Advertising on Facebook can produce great results at little cost!
Payments in your Facebook shop can be taken through both Paypal and Stripe. When you set up your Facebook Shop section you will be prompted to either create a Stripe or Paypal account or login to your existing account on one of these payment processors. Once you have marked an order as shipped, Paypal or Stripe will deposit the money in your account. Both of these payment processors charge 2.9% of the price and 30 cents for every successful charge.
At any time you can edit the setup of your Facebook shop by selecting the Shop tab, then the drop-down arrow beside the key and choosing Manage Shop. Under the shop section, you will see a menu with the options of Products, Collections, Pending Orders, Completed Orders, Shop Settings, and View Shop. Under shop settings, you can change your business contact information, payment processor, tax rate, and shipping options. You can also access this section by selecting Publishing Tools from the top menu bar of a Facebook page for which your profile is an admin.
Collections are similar to product categories on a website.
You can create collections for different products. Your shop will come with a Featured Products collection. When a user visits your shop page, Featured Products is the default first product collection shown on the page. For example, a retail store could create collections for shirts, shoes, hats, and different product categories. Collections make it easier for a customer to find a certain product they are searching for and see other similar products.
Facebook does have guidelines you should follow when adding a product to your shopping section. Read about those here.
**The new shop feature is rolling out gradually and may not be available to you yet. You cannot sell services or digital products through the shop, only physical products.**
Stingray Branding of Charleston, SC will keep you updated as Facebook continues to roll out this incredible new feature that will hopefully increase your product sales and create more brand recognition for your company.
