Facebook continues to be the leader when it comes to online sales, and this is in spite of exponential growth in users on other social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. It has to be noted that, in the face of such competition, Facebook still commands maximum sales conversions. However, with retailers all fighting for space and attention on Facebook to grab every potential user, every business, whether small or big, needs to have a concrete strategy in place. Here are six ways to increase your sales:
Ways to increase your eCommerce Sales with Facebook:
1) Using Buyer Personas on your Facebook Ads
CTR or ‘Click Through Rates’ for Facebook ads have been increasing steadily over the last couple of years; however, they’re still nowhere where marketers would like them to be. The main reason is an ‘ad overload’ for users. There are so many advertisements, and even worse, they’re all generic in nature that hardly any stand out. While online retailers try to create ads to attract as many people as possible, in the end, they end up making advertisements that are irrelevant to most users.
To counter that, we suggest using buying personas in your ad. Identifying and creating right buyer personas will make it easier for your ad to connect with people. According to Hubspot, ‘a buyer persona is a semi-fictitious character based on your potential customer after you’ve done research about your current customers.” Ensuring your customers have a name and background makes it easier to meet their needs.
2) Having an incentive for the user to click on your Ad
With so many ads cramming your timeline and side bar, your ad needs to offer the user something different; like an incentive to click the Ad. This can be done by creating an urgency, a click now or lose situation.
Offering promotions and deals – This always works, even with hesitant customers. Research shows that even though trust and brand loyalty are key, promotions and offers have considerable impact on larger households and young adults.
Using urgency – We are all built to procrastinate. Thus, creating urgency is a useful tactic to get a customer to click on your ad. Some techniques to do this are:
- Mention only limited stock available, or even better, explicitly state how many pieces of an item are left. For example, “Only 250 pieces reaming!!”
- Using words or phrases that are sure to catch the customer: Only, Hurry, Limited, Last, Like, Win, Discounts, Offers, etc.
3) Using Quality Images
In order to generate considerable traffic and sales through Facebook, it’s imperative to first create an audience and then engage this audience. It’s now common knowledge that Ads with high quality photos outperform those with inferior photo quality. However, new studies show that those images that are self-explanatory are likely to get a higher engagement.
If you are going to post a photo about your product, why not with some overlaying text that gives more content within context to the user.
4) Creating a lifestyle around your product
Photographing and featuring just your product is not enough, it’s important to create a lifestyle and an aspirational value for your product. For example, if your product is a plate, it’s good idea to create a dining table set up, complete with candle lights. This way, you’re making it easier for your target customer to relate to your photograph instead of just a product.
5) Offering free shopping occasionally
Free shopping is going to cost you; however, with a strategy in place, you can offer customers free shopping as a limited offer. This way, you’re both creating an urgency and an added incentive to customers to buy your product.
What you could do is offer free shopping for orders above a specific amount or for only one day. This would ensure peak sales on that particular day.
6) Creating an audience
With paid ads that Facebook offer, brands can sometimes take building and engaging an audience lightly. However, no matter what size or industry, it is important to have a plan in place to build and engage your audience.
- Share latest happenings in your industry. Facebook is a real time sharing tool, so you can keep your fan and followers updated on the go.
- Upload photos from events.
- Respond to comments as soon as possible.
- Run polls and competitions.
- Publish blog posts on Facebook immediately after you publish the blog.
- Announce giveaways and contests.
Facebook is going to continue to be an important tool for all marketers, and Facebook ads work wonders. Building an effective strategy will be the key to increasing sales through Facebook and Facebook Ads.