I bet you didn’t know that social media referral traffic to online shops has increased by more than 100%? Or, that 70% of consumers search for products they are looking to buy on Facebook and Instagram? [Source: Blazon] These two statistics alone are compelling evidence that social media is fast becoming a very important channel for e-commerce.
Why Use Social Media To Sell?
We all know that businesses are relying more and more on social media to educate audiences about their products, but recent platform updates and innovations have meant that e-commerce retailers can now sell directly through these channels.
The purchase customer journey is much faster when using the platform’s features to sell. For example, instead of using a call to action in your Instagram post for a consumer to ‘tap the link in our bio’ to shop, they can simply tap the shopping tag on the image and then follow the prompts to continue shopping. Streamlining this experience and keeping the entire process on Instagram removes previous pain point experienced by the consumer and more importantly, improves the experience they have with your brand.
How To Sell On Social Media
In order to sell your products on Instagram and Facebook, you need to have the following up and running:
Ecommerce website
Social media account(s) - ensure these are set up as business accounts
Catalogue loaded onto Facebook
Step 1: Australia is a supported market for Instagram Shopping so that’s the first step complete!
Step 2: Next, ensure your Instagram account is a business account NOT a profile.
Step 3: Connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page. If you have only been using Instagram for your business you will need to create a Facebook page for your business in order to be able to use the Shopping feature.
Step 4: Upload your product catalogue to Facebook. You can do this manually using Facebook Business Manager or you can use the /E-Commerce Platform Manager/ which is an integration that connects to a Facebook certified e-commerce platform partner, for example, Shopify.
Step 5: Your account will be reviewed once you have submitted your catalogue. This may take a couple of days but you can check the status under the Shopping tab in Settings.
Step 6: Once approved you can turn on the Shopping features within your settings, just make sure you choose the right product catalogue if you have more than one.
Step 7: Start tagging your products!
Optimising The Shopping Experience
Now that you’re ready to start selling on social, you want to make the most out of every opportunity.
Experiment with tagging products in your feed posts and stories to see where your audience is taking action most. If you’d love to highlight a new or specific collection, test a carousel post where you can showcase up to 20 products.
TIP: Be sure to customise the colour of the product sticker when posting to your stories.
Try not to tag products in every single post as you should aim for a balance between shoppable and just regular Instagram posts. This will prevent you from coming across as always just wanting the hard sell instead of educating and nurturing your audience towards the purchase. A great way to do this is by planning your content which you can learn more about by reading our blog It’s Time To Invest In Content Planning & Scheduling.
One of the things I love most about this feature is that you can see the product pictured in a feed post as inspiration (i.e. styled the way it can be worn) then tap through to the product and see it in more detail without a styled background distracting you.
What are you waiting for? Start turning your followers into shoppers!
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