Reviewing third-party products for selling through social media
The following sections discuss some of the many third-party tools and products available for selling products through social media as an alternative to linking to a storefront on your website, or to selling directly using the sometimes limited solutions provided by the social media platform. Instead, most of these solutions link from social media to an independent storefront. Consider these items as examples of the range of products available. You should research and evaluate products to meet your own needs.
MAKING A ROYAL LIVING FROM SOCIAL SALES
Living Royal, whose website appears in the next figure, proudly describes itself as a “funky printed sock company.” Started in 2010, the company makes all its socks at its Wheeling, IL, headquarters.
Courtesy of Living Royal
According to its president, Michael Elyash, “We knew the only way to be successful selling online was to have a large social media following. We started with Facebook, then went to Twitter, Pinterest, and lastly Instagram.” Initially, social media was the only source of traffic for the newfound company.
The firm tested just about all social media channels to see which ones would best achieve various marketing goals, from online sales, retail customer acquisition, social following, and email collection to wholesale customer acquisition and branding.
The company found, for example, that at the time “Facebook was great at getting people to buy product,” citing Facebook’s capability to tightly target an audience. However, “Pinterest and Instagram were great for spreading awareness about our brand [but] were not as good at converting visitors into customers.”
To manage its social media activities, Living Royal took advantage of an Instagram visual-posting program from Later. “We typically posted once a day in the late afternoon,” Elyash explained. “A team of [four] people focused on social [media] from photography to social outreach,” with the goal of making the company’s social presence as good as possible. To back up their results, the team relied on Google Analytics and Shopify. To get out the word, the team placed social media icons on every web page and pushed engagement through various contests and giveaways. They now have a “Shop our Insta” link on their main website where customers can shop the products they see on Instagram, as well as a “Shop Now” button on their Facebook Page that links directly back to their website.
Courtesy of Living Royal
It wasn’t always easy, Elyash noted. “Getting the attention of our audience at first was a real challenge. Finding out which style of imagery to get the right conversions also was a big issue for us. [But] if you test anything enough, you will find the right, winning combination.”
Following is a list of Living Royal’s web presence:
www.livingroyal.com/pages/shop-insta
WooCommerce
WooCommerce (https://woocommerce.com) is a multi-faceted e-commerce platform that works with Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. You can connect to a Facebook store to drive traffic to your website, or create Facebook and Instagram ads for your products within the platform. With their Instagram Shopping integration, you can upload your catalog to Instagram and create shoppable posts and stories. The Pinterest integration lets you list your product catalog on Pinterest and adds products automatically to your Pinterest boards. Prices for these integrations are free for the Facebook option and $79 each for the Instagram and Pinterest options.
StoreYa
StoreYa (www.storeya.com) is a suite of marketing and advertising apps to help businesses increase sales, leads, and social media presence. The apps are user-friendly, require no coding experience, and work with all major e-commerce platforms. One of their most popular apps is their Facebook shop.
Ecwid
Ecwid (www.ecwid.com) is a complete e-commerce solution for websites, blogs, Facebook, Tumblr, and more. Facebook shoppers complete the entire process, including checkout, on Facebook. Additional social media integration to share purchases and recommend products is available for “virtually anywhere you have an online presence” including Facebook, Instagram, Google Shopping, and Amazon.
Because the contents of your web store are mirrored on several sites, it’s easy to update your product catalog simultaneously at all sites and manage all online locations from one dashboard. Prices range from free for just an online store with up to ten products to $99 per month for unlimited products. All paid packages include a free Facebook store.
Shopify
Shopify (www.shopify.com) is a full-featured store builder that lets social media platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram users browse your catalog and purchase products directly from each of these social media channels. Monthly web-based plans range from a $29 starter package to $299 for unlimited storage.
Other resources for selling on social media
