How to Sell On Facebook: The Definite Guide (2024)

Are you looking to tap into the power of Facebook to grow your business?

Look no further! In this comprehensive guide, we'll show you step-by-step how to effectively sell on Facebook in 2024.

From creating your Facebook Ads to setting up your Facebook Shop, we've got you covered.

So, let's get started!

Why should you sell on Facebook?

But first, why should you sell on Facebook?

One of the main reasons is because of the reach! 2.93 billion people use Facebook, of which over 200 million are entrepreneurs.

Facebook is a social giant for generating leads and traffic.

Here are some other reasons why you should sell on Facebook:

• It’s a free platform with versatile opportunities.
• Adding numerous products in categories helps customers find your products in search results.
• Connecting the Facebook Shop with other ecommerce websites for better engagement.
• Easily getting discovered by local customers.
• Promoting Facebook business pages organically.
• Tracking statistical data & evaluating marketing strategies.
• Adjusting costs like advertising campaigns and shipping.

6 Great methods you can use to sell products on Facebook

Here are the six methods through which you can sell products on Facebook: 

1. Facebook Ads 
2. Facebook Shops 
3. Facebook Marketplace 
4. Facebook Buy & Sell groups
5. Facebook Messenger 
6. Go live 

Let’s check them out in detail:

1. Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads are an excellent way to promote your business because they help you reach the right customers and increase sales.

Its primary goals are to gather new leads and remarket to prior audiences. 

Create your Meta Business Suite account

First, create your Meta Business Suite account.

Quick fact: Meta Business Suite is the home of each Facebook business tool, including Facebook Ad Manager, Commerce Manager, Catalog Manager, and other tools to run your ads and do other managerial tasks.

Here’s how you can create your Meta Business Suite account. 

• Go to business.facebook.com and hit the create account button. 

• Fill in your business name, your name, email, and other details.
• Choose 'Ads' on the left of the menu bar. This is the central location for your business advertising, from which you can access all business-related pages. 

• Follow their steps to create your ad.

Install the Meta Pixel

The Meta Pixel is a tracking link between your website and Facebook Ads.

You can set up ad campaigns without it. But with this code, you can track all the movements, get crisp and clear specifications about the audience, and see which type of content gets the highest conversions.

Otherwise, it might be difficult to identify your audience.

Installing the Meta Pixel code on your website or ecommerce store is very simple. To start, copy your 16-digit pixel ID from your Meta Business Suite and paste it into the Meta Pixel field.

After installing it, you’ll see your statistics in the Meta Business Suite, including the number of viewers, buyers, etc.

For more information about the Meta Pixel, check out our other article here!

Create your Facebook ad campaign

Here’s how you can create it: 

• Go to the ads section within your Meta Business Suite Account and hit the ad button.
• Choose your goal among six categories. Choose the one that best fits your brand’s needs and what you want to achieve from Facebook advertising. 

Promote your ad campaign

While creating an ad, you'll be given the option to select your campaign objectives to promote, such as: 

• Your targeted audiences are divided into two categories: retargeting previous audiences and finding new ones.
• Your desired budget. 
• The placement of your ads on Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram.

After deciding your campaign objectives, it's time to promote your Facebook Ads. Here are the steps: 

• Go to the audience section within the Meta Business Suite; you can use the custom audience option while retargeting.
• Choose locations, genders, ages, and languages, and provide more variations to specify the audience. 
• Select create your audience. 

• Adjust the time you want to run an ad campaign or even set a defined date.
• Enter your budget limit manually. Or, you can use Facebook's campaign budget optimization (CBO) to set it automatically.

• Now, select the placements of your ads to appear between the Facebook feed, Instagram feed, and Messenger ads. 
• Once everything looks perfect, hit the 'Promote now' button. 

Hold on to Facebook's review; once it is accepted, the ad will publish.

After launching a campaign on Facebook, you need to check in at least once per day.

Tip: For more information on how Facebook Ads work, check out our complete beginner's guide here!

2. Facebook Shops

Facebook Shops is a complete shopping solution that includes marketing, sales promotions, and customer service. You can create both Facebook and Instagram stores with it.

So, how do you get started with Facebook Shops? Let's dive in:

Agree to merchant terms and policies

Before setting up a Facebook shop, go through the seller agreement terms and policies to check if you can agree with Facebook's terms and policies.

Set up an account with Facebook Commerce Manager

Utilizing the Commerce Manager allows you to manage product catalogs, view selling performance, and more. 

Also, you can integrate your shop with an ecommerce platform like Shopify to sell your products through the Facebook and Instagram stores. 

Before verifying your account, the only prerequisites for US residents are a US bank account and a federal tax identification number.

Non-US residents require some official documentation including a bank statement, Tax ID, passport and the list goes on.

Here's how to set up your commerce manager:

• Go to Facebook commerce manager, select one of them, and hit next.
• Choose a partner platform. Adding an ecommerce platform gives you the option to expand your business swiftly, but it’s not mandatory. If you want, select one of them and complete all the fields and add a sales channel.

If not, choose the default option and press 'Next.' 

• Choose the checkout method. There are three checkout methods already in the queue. 

1. If you have a website, select the first one. 
2. The second option is only available in the US. 
3. The third is checking on messenger; it can be a better option for non-website and non-US citizens. 

• After completing this and adding product catalogs, click 'Next' and go to the sales channel; if you already have a business page, then select it. If you don’t there’s an option to create a new one. 

• Add shipping details/Add delivery destinations, and fill out all the information.

• After finishing all the steps, preview and then finish the setup. 

Wait 30 seconds to preview. Congrats! You opened a Facebook Shop!

Add products to a Facebook catalog

With this feature, you can showcase your products and encourage customers to buy your products, resulting in increasing click-through rates and conversions.

There are additional methods for adding products to your Facebook catalog, including:

• Method 1: Once you set up a Commerce Manager account and link it with your Facebook page, you can start adding product catalogs.
  
  Then, configure the settings, fill out the required information, and press the 'Get Started' button:

• Method 2: Product Data Feed contains the product information, so you don’t need to manually upload the products. Whether using a product details spreadsheet file or API to keep your inventory information up-to-date automatically.
• Method 3: You can use Meta Pixel. Once installed, it automatically adds products to the catalog or product details from your website.
• Method 4: Import products into a Facebook catalog and sync them to Facebook if you host your products on a partner platform, such as Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce.

Manage your orders

Managing orders efficiently is the key to running your business smoothly:

• Make sure to sync your order system with your inventory.
• Ensure not to arise any issues with timely delivery
• Respond to customers within two workdays.
• Provide accurate information throughout the order cycle.

Configure your payment details

Create a safe and smooth transaction medium. For that, you add payment information to your Facebook page from the Meta Business Manager.

Then, you can add a debit card, PayPal, or MetaPay as your payment gateway.

3. Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is a peer-to-peer marketplace developed to allow users to sell new and extra items and merchant sales.

Set up your Facebook marketplace account

If you don't have a Facebook account yet, then the first step is creating one.

Good to know: With Facebook Marketplace, listing costs are zero, but they take 5% off the final sale price.

Publish Marketplace listing

• While logging in to Facebook, click Marketplace on the left sidebar and press the 'Create new listing button.'

• Select 'Item for Sale.'

• Press on add photos and upload your products. You can add some information, select the pricing amount, and then click next.

• Choose the delivery method, if you feel it is necessary.
• Click on 'Publish' to post the local product listing.

Access sales channel

If you want to use the Facebook Marketplace as a sales channel for your Facebook shop, follow the steps below:

Product listings will be accepted and start to show up within 24 hours.

Tip: For more information on how the Facebook Marketplace work, check out our complete beginner's guide here!

4. Facebook Buy and Sell groups

Facebook buy and sell groups are a popular platform for C2C transactions.

These groups tend to be local. Therefore, it is ideal for local buyers or sellers looking to sell off or buy new or used stuff.

Facebook pages' average organic reach is something around 5%, but a group’s reach can be much higher. Facebook prioritizes group posts more than page posts in a user's newsfeed.

Find and join niche groups

If you want to sell through such buy and sell groups, go to the Facebook search bar and look up your niche. Then:

• Go to Facebook groups.
• Type Buy and Sell on the categories bar.
• Find a list of buy and sell groups.
• Check the requirements, rules, and regulations.
• Join there.

Check the group requirements

Facebook Groups can be both public and private. Visible groups are the best type for most businesses.

While joining, make sure to do your math on how you can sell your products, what requirements to follow, how you should post, etc.

Post a description with product photos

Posting an appropriate description of selling products is necessary. You must hit the consumers' pain points through your posted photos and descriptions.

How do you sell products through Facebook groups?

Here’s how to list and sell products on different buy and sell groups:

• After joining, you need to create a Marketplace listing. Click sell something at the top of the group page.
• Select products for sale from the options.
• Enter required product information, image, description, and location. Hit Next.
• You'll be given the option to add your listing to Marketplace; if selected, it will appear in other buy and sell groups as well as Facebook users' feeds.
• Click the post to publish it.

5. Facebook Messenger

Nowadays, Facebook Messenger is not just a messaging app; it has changed its track toward customer service.

Every month, 20 billion messages are shared between customers and businesses.

An online store with Facebook Messenger live chat provides a chance for direct and honest conversations with customers.

Build your chatbot

Compared to email and phone support, Messenger live chat allows you to be responsive and stay connected with customers 24/7 with the assistance of a chatbot.

Chatbots can answer customer questions, track packages, make product recommendations, and even close sales any time of the day without our presence. Pretty cool, right?

So, here are the other options for how you can activate a Facebook Messenger chatbot on your website.

• If you have a website, you can hire a developer to install messenger bots on it, or you can use the Facebook Messenger Bot plug-in for ecommerce platforms. 
• Use some tools for building Messenger bot apps, including Heyday, Chatfuel, MobileMonkey, Recart, etc.

Related article: Interested in learning more about the best chatbots for your store? Check out this article here!

6. Go live

Study shows that Facebook live streams get three times more watch time than regular videos and gather six times more engagement.

How to go live?

• Go to your profile, business page, group, or event from where you will start streaming.
• Hit the status box 'What's on your mind' if you are on your profile, or create a post if you are on a page.
• Go to the post options and hit the live video option.

• To add a description, click on the tap to add a description option.
• Use any options from the bottom row to configure settings before and during the stream.
• Hit start live video.

Showing your products to shoppers

While you are up for showing your products to online shoppers, make sure your live streaming contents engage customers.

It means everything about what you say, show, how you pique their interest, etc.

Here are a few things that you can try:

• Try Q&As or AMAs (ask me anything) to attract more viewers who have curiosity about your products.
• Show product demos or tutorials; this will help build trust among potential buyers.
• Promotional discounts and new product launches are pretty convincing for buyers.
• Host contests and special offers can boost your sales.

Publicize your live shopping

Publicizing the shopping sessions to the audience is a vital task. Make sure to notify them before going live.

The more your audience knows about your event, the more engagement increases.

Here's what you can do:

• Frequently update live shopping session posts on your Facebook page.
• Share your live sessions with various groups and social media sites.
• To reach more audience, opt for paid promotion activities on social media.

What happened to the Live Shopping feature on Facebook?

According to a statement from Meta, there won't be any more live shopping scheduled events after October 1; instead, Facebook Live will be used to stream events.

In 2018, this live shopping feature emerged for content creators and brands to connect with buyers and viewers.

You might be wondering why Facebook is following in TikTok's footsteps. It’s because, nowadays, consumers prefer short video reels.

Meta's article clearly states that sellers should experiment with reels and reel ads on Facebook and Instagram if they want to reach and engage more viewers through video:

FAQs about selling on Facebook

Before closing this article, let's go over a few frequently asked questions about selling on Facebook:

Summary

Before we go to the final verdict, we've created a quick summary of this article for you, so you can easily remember it:

• Running campaigns through Meta Business Suite is effective for increased engagement and conversions.
• Having a Facebook Commerce Manager account with a product catalog helps gain more visibility and interaction with the shoppers.
• When you log into your Facebook ID, you automatically access Facebook Marketplace.
• A Facebook Buy and Sell group can boost your organic sales, help you build trust through user-generated content and reviews, and even allow you to share your marketplace listing with the group.
• Engaging with the audience helps increase organic leads. So, have direct conversations by responding to comments, reactions, and live messages or build messenger chatbots.
• While going live, add eye-catchy captions for displaying your products to the customers.

Conclusion

In the 21st century, entrepreneurs of all levels are adding social media networks to their marketing strategies.

Keeping pace with ecommerce platforms, business on Facebook is running in full swing.

We hope our information will help you start selling on Facebook. Start one by one and utilize all six methods to find out which gets the best results.

We wish you all the best for your business!

Want to learn more about ecommerce?

Ready to move your online store to the next level? Check out the articles below:

• How to Sell On Redbubble: The Definitive Guide 2024
• How to Sell Products Online Without Inventory (4 Methods)
• 6 Ecommerce Business Model Types: Explained and Compared