in a sophisticated manner, as shown in Figure 1-2. For example, clicking a featured item on its Facebook timeline (www.facebook.com/marleylilly/?fref=ts) takes shoppers to Marleylilly’s website at https://marleylilly.com/product/monogrammed-layering-tunic to fill their carts and check out.
Displaying products on social media channels
If you’re looking for a more seamless experience, consider e-commerce tools that display items from your existing online store on your blog or social media pages, and then either link automatically back to your web store to complete the transaction or permit users to purchase directly from the social media page.
E-commerce badges are mini-displays of products; these changeable badges (which appear onscreen as a large button with multiple links) link to an existing web store. If you already have an online store, check your shopping cart or check stand provider (the section of your online store that totals orders and takes payments) to see whether it offers a badge for social media, like the one shown in Figure 1-3.
www.facebook.com/2020ave).
Selling directly on social media
As we all know, every extra click can cost sales. That’s why many businesses choose to sell directly from a social media channel in addition to or instead of linking people to their website, Etsy store, or Amazon store.
Courtesy of Marleylilly
FIGURE 1-2: Product offerings can begin on Facebook (top) and then link to a separate shopping website (bottom).
Courtesy of the owner of The Little Dabbler
FIGURE 1-3: The Etsy mini-badge on the right side of this blog drives traffic to the Etsy shop for The Little Dabbler.
This solution can be a very cost-effective one for some B2C micro-businesses with only a few products, at least until they grow large enough to make a dedicated storefront worth the investment. Selling through a social channel may also make sense for introducing new or trending products or generating interest that would drive prospects to a fully empowered storefront.
Marketers for large companies and those with a B2B audience are a bit cautious. Social media channels are not yet flexible enough to handle large inventories or the long-sales cycle generally needed to complete a high-ticket B2B purchase.
Selling on Facebook
Multiple apps allow shoppers to either complete a purchase directly from your Facebook page or be directed to another website to finish buying. Go to www.facebook.com/business/help/912190892201033 for more information.
Selling on Pinterest
Pinterest requires merchants to have a business account to sell on its platform. (See Book 7, Chapter 1 to learn how to set up a Pinterest business account.) Once you sign up for a business account and claim your website, you get access to Rich Pins. Rich Pins grab current products from an existing online store and place a link back to that product on each Pin you add to Pinterest. These Rich Pins are set apart from search results into a separate category called Shop. When you click a Rich Pin under the Shop category, you’re taken to that Pin, which contains a link back to that specific product on the vendor’s website (see Figure 1-4).
Courtesy of Blue Nile
FIGURE 1-4: The Buy section of the search results page (top). Click on a specific result to see the Pin with a link back to the product page on the vendor’s website (bottom).
Selling on Instagram
You have to have a business account in order to use Instagram Shopping. (See Book 7, Chapter 3 to learn more.) After you have a business account and set up Instagram Shopping in the Settings section, you’ll be able to customize a storefront to sell your products and tag your products in posts and stories, so users can tap on the tags to shop the products and gain access to important data insights about your shop.
You’ll need a company Facebook page in order to connect a product catalog to Instagram. In other words, you need a product source.
The product sources supported are
Facebook Catalog Manager
Shopify
BigCommerce
Magento
WooCommerce
Facebook Shop
Once you select the catalog you want to connect, just follow the specific instructions provided for that platform.
https://flutterwave.com/sd/blog/blog/selling-on-social-media-with-an-online-store-vs-selling-on-social-media-without-one-which-is-best-for-you or http://ecommerce-platforms.com/ecommerce-selling-advice/best-apps-tools-use-selling-social-media.
