eStores Make Money On Social Media
How To Create A Store On Facebook
Hi Folks
Recently a few members have asked me whether an Amazon eStore is a worthwhile venture. I had to reply my knowledge of Amazon eStores is limited. I did point them in the direction of other members that could help them a lot more than I could.
However I do know something about Facebook because my two girls use it a lot for their own home businesses.
My two girls like many when first starting up with their FB business only had a small budget to work with. They really didn't have the resources to launch and manage an eCommerce website. For them and a great many other people Social Media Platforms are the next best thing. This is mainly because in a recently survey Facebook easily outranks Pinterest and Twitter for driving traffic.
The following information will concentrate on marketing with Facebook simply because Facebook provides business owners with the opportunity to convert a page into an eStore or Shop (same difference really).
The process of setting up store is fairly simple and straightforward.
First of all you start by creating a page. For this you simply login to your FB account and select ‘Create a Page’ from the top-right drop-down menu.
Then you select the Brand or Product page type. Next you enter some information about your business - Description, Logo and other similar information.
Once you have created your page, select the Add Shop Section link from beneath the cover image. There will be a pop-up to guide you through the process.
Next, you need to set up your payment processing with Stripe or PayPal. At the moment these are the only two options available.
After linking your Stripe or PayPal account, you will be sent back to your Business Page to describe your eStore's products, using 200 characters or less. After that you can start to add products to your eStore via the Shop tab.
You will be provided with a form to enter all the necessary details such as images, descriptions, pricing, shipping info, and other relevant info.
While you might need to invest in advertising with Facebook Ads or sponsored content, as you well know, you have to spend money to make money. This will be very worth your while when you consider the amount of time people spend on Facebook on a monthly basis. And this is only in the US (above graphic). But the good news is that you don’t need a lot of cash to generate most of your sales using Facebook.
Anyone who has other ways they leverage the social network to make sales please share with your fellow members via a comment below.
Have a great day folks and be successful.
Robert Allan
PS
Recent Comments
24
It can't hurt to give a FB store a try Pablo.
Thank you for stopping by.
Enjoy your Saturday.
Robert
No probs nelson and hope you have learned something you can put into practice.
Every little helps and you wont know until you try.
Have a great weekend and be successful.
Robert
Why isn't everyone doing this? Better yet, why isn't this taught in schools or some other major platform. Well, I know why but that's for another day's discussion! Thanks for sharing your information. Debbie
Hi Debbie and thank you for dropping by my blog and for your comment.
I'm sure if we were to look hard enough here would be training or lessons on this aspect of marketing.
Better yet why not have them within WA?
Perhaps your good self could come up with training.
Have a great weekend Debbie and be successful.
Robert
Nice to know. So just having an account with the is not sufficient one must make effort to register specially for the estore to drive traffic.
Hi Linah and thank you for reading my blog.
Hope you are now going to give an FB store a go.
You wont know until you try so why not?
Have a great weekend.
Robert
FB has been a recognized SM leader for some time. Your post is a good example to create your own store and build from scratch!
An inexpensive way if you do the work!
Hi Mike
I didn't do it myself but heard good things about it from my two girls.
It may be not for everyone but as you say its a good way to start from scratch and perhaps make a reasonable income from it.
Have a great weekend.
Robert
We use three places for the same items/store...
(1) Website
(2) Facebook Store
(3) Mobile App
All three work together and are synced live...We can take advantage that each offers to reach more people...
(1) Website: We use a combination of content for organic traffic, tie in our YouTube channel to videos and promotions...
(2) Facebook Store. We have a tool that pulls in the latest from our website products and adds them to the facebook store. On a regular basis we add interesting shares from the niche, add in sales, etc. to capture traffic and get leads and sales...
(3) Mobile App. This syncs with the websites. We can build it to sync with the Facebook store if we wanted. This app can be loaded into the Google Playstore or we can add to the Apple store...
We can use push notifications the mobile apps offer to let the app users know we have a sale coming up, specials, or new posts maybe...
Using advanced push notifications we get a view rate of over 90% so far! That so much beats the email open rate it is unbelievable. Great way to cross promote as well...
We also tie into our Autoresponder for pulling in leads and sending out newsletters via email. This works with all three locations. The open rate is absymal for email these days (I only have to look at my own inboxes to see why - I get too many in!)...
We have other automation tools that allow us to schedule posts, comments, like and shares as far as a year in advance on that page with the store. As of now we are doing everything live, nothing ahead...
We have hired staff to (1) create and post content, (2) add new products to some stores, (3) provide live customer support, (4) run the social marketing program.
The Facebook store is a central point and focus for the overall e-commerce effort, and you can draw in LOTS of free traffic over time. Ours is growing...
Running a store strictly from Facebook is possible and is a cheap way to start. Over time, you can add in the other elements I have mentioned and many more I have not.
Bear in mind that over the next three years mobile sales are going to be 3-4 x what they are now. The largest growth in online sales is coming from this market segment.
Facebook has over a billion users daily, and as you note in your image, people spend MASSIVE amounts of time there. In my mind, between this and the excellent ad platform they offer, you simply cannot ignore them or risk losing out on a lot of business...
Cheers!
Dave : )
Hello Dave an WoW! Thank you very much for your input.
I'm sure other members who come to this blog will take away a lot of info and perhaps be inspired to give a FB Store a real try.
As you say the Mobile and Apps are going to be streets ahead of desktops and even Laptops and Tablets and I don't think it will take 3 to 4 years.
Already you can see a steady increase in marketers using FB as a tool for their online endeavours.
I like your idea of tying in your website, mobile app and YouTube to the store as well as Google Store and Apple.
It does make sense when you consider the income potential this could generate.
I also have to agree about email marketing.
It has its place or should I say it had its place but with Social Media platforms being such a big player worldwide the email will soon be a dinosaur.
Thanks again for you indepth comment and have a great and successful weekend.
Robert
I agree with you friend. But will you recommend I use facebook pay advertising ads to drivevtraffic to my website?
Hi Stephen and thank you for your comment.
I wouldn't use FB Ads until you truly understand how the process works.
Build a store and add products and share with your 'Friends'.
You could also have a link from your website to the FB store.
See what kind of results you get that way and when you feel comfortable about it then you could try an Ad for a short term.
Have a great Friday.
Robert
True Robert, Facebook has gained its reputation and trust though there were times in the past that it had been the place of horrors to anybody because of images and videos for adults are rampant. But this time I think Facebook has made changes in discipline and censorship.
Hi Jimmy and thank you for your comment.
Yes I agree FB has upped its integrity in the past couple of years but you still get people publishing a lot of crap.
Hope you went away with a positive frame of mind about starting your own FB store.
Have a great weekend.
Robert
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Very good info Robert. Thank you. Tom
No probs Tom.
Worth further investigation if you think it might work for you.
Thank you for your comment and have a great Saturday.
Robert