How to sell on Facebook and Instagram?

In this article, we discover the basic principles of marketing on Facebook and Instagram. We show you how to use the above social media to sell products and services. We pay attention to the impact of social selling and e‑commerce.

The article was created by specialists in the field of digital marketing at 25wat: Monika Dymon and Katarzyna Gajlewicz. You will learn from it:

• • What is social media marketing?
  • Marketing on Facebook – how to use it in your industry?
  • What activities on Facebook and Instagram support the increase in e‑commerce sales?
  • What to have in mind when creating a social media campaign for acquiring contacts to potential customers?

Before we dig into good practices and proven sales solutions on Facebook and Instagram, we clarify the definition of social media marketing.

What is social media marketing?

This is every brand’s action on social media (i.e., on Facebook and Instagram) to increase recognition, create a positive image, and build a community. The result of these activities is to be more extensive and increase effective sales. We all know that this is what every company cares about in the end.

Marketing on Facebook – how to use it in your industry?

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok… every social platform has an advertising panel. Thanks to it, you can accurately select the recipients you want to reach with the message.
How does it look like on Facebook? Here you have a wide range of options for building a sales funnel – from the activity and reach ads that increase brand awareness to traffic and conversions ads that attract the audience to visit your website and store.
What’s more, using the so-called advanced options of the ad manager, you can use remarketing – reach people who have already had contact with your brand. You can also target new potential recipients, selecting them, for example, based on similarity to your current customers. This has already been described in detail in the article: How to effectively acquire customers via Facebook?

Facebook ad panel is linked to Instagram. So, ad campaigns that you run on Facebook may also run on Instagram.
Necessary: Before choosing a social platform, consider the specifics of your offer. Advertising campaigns are carried out differently for a company that sells products through a website and entirely different for a brand that needs direct contact with its future buyer.

Marketing in social media is hard to imagine without Facebook’s tools

What activities on Facebook and Instagram support the increase in e‑commerce sales?

Last year, the vast majority of the e‑commerce industry recorded a very high increase in sales of their products, which is also confirmed by the e‑commerce report titled “Co (u)gryzie e‑commerce?” created by the Chamber of Electronic Economy (1). This is partly the result of a pandemic, during which we were more willing and safer to buy all possible products online. Marketing in social media was also very influential.

Based on the advertising activities we conduct at 25wat – and we conducted for clients during the pandemic – we distinguish four main aspects influencing social media sales in the e‑commerce industry.

Do you want to sell via Facebook and Instagram profiles? These aspects are the basis:

• • 1. Facebook pixel and Product Catalog. A well-connected and configured Facebook pixel will make it easier for you to run advertising campaigns. It will also allow you to analyze various activities and thus draw conclusions.
    2. Properly selected and matched target group. At 25wat, we create such a group using the description of the ideal buyer – which we will prepare together with the client – based on the profiles of the current recipients.
    3. Reacting to current events in the country and the world. Do you want your brand or product to go viral or RTM? Promote only those that have a chance to stand out as part of current events (social, local, or global). Watch and act – offer discounts, promotions, and bundle sales.
    4. Support foundations, associations and charity campaigns. Recipients are more likely to identify with a company that shows empathy. Therefore, get involved in social actions and initiatives and communicate about them on your profiles. Being active in this field can help you promote your brand.

E‑commerce grows thanks to social media marketing

Acquiring contacts via social media – what to have in mind?

Some industries, such as real estate or solar farms, require contact with a potential customer before making a purchase decision. Does this also apply to your business? If so, consider using a Lead Ads campaign (Facebook and Instagram customer acquisition campaigns). They allow you to get contact details from potentially interested parties, to whom your seller or trader can then present an offer by phone or e‑mail.

When creating a contact acquisition campaign, remember to:

• • • Place the privacy policy on your website with a record about the method of obtaining data through a lead campaign. Thanks to this, you can carry out activities that do not violate the provisions of the GDPR. For example: when creating a campaign, Facebook will ask you to link to the privacy policy for verification purposes. If you do not meet this condition – you won’t be able to launch the campaign.
    • Create a contact form, thanks to which you will get all the necessary data – from the phone and e‑mail address to information that will allow you to screen out random leads at the beginning. For example, if your service or product is directed only to business owners, it is worth including in the form the question: “Do you have your own business?”. However, make sure that there are as few fields as possible so as not to scare the recipient.
    • Explain the next steps to your audience. At the campaign creation stage, you can choose to auto-complete Facebook data. This significantly speeds up filling in the form and reduces the risk of errors when entering data, but it can also be alarming for recipients. It is a good practice to include a short formula in the creative explaining the next steps – from automatic data completion to contact from the consultant after submitting the form.

To sum up, marketing on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram not only allows you to build an effective sales funnel, but above all, it results in the most important – sales itself. (Check out our article: Digital marketing. Why do you need it in your company?)

Do you need support in selling your services or products? Write to us and find out how we can support your company today!

Sources:

Co (u)gryzie e‑commerce? Raport w formie poradnika o wyzwaniach e‑commerce 2021, Izba Gospodarki Elektronicznej, https://eizba.pl/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Co_ugryzie_ecommerce_2021_Raport‑1.pdf