Facebook marketing is the practice of promoting a brand and maintaining its presence on Facebook. Facebook marketing refers to both organic (free) postings/interactions, and paid, or “boosted” posts. Millions of businesses, big and small, connect with people on Facebook.
2.7 billion people use Facebook every month1 to connect with friends and family and to discover things that matter. Find new customers and build lasting relationships with them.
How to use Facebook to your ecommerce advantage
Facebook plays a major role in ecommerce. Despite its younger competitors, Facebook is still the king of social media. It’s the most used social platform with nearly 2.60 billion monthly active users (Facebook, 2020).
In this article you’ll learn about:
- Top 15 usage and ecommerce-related stats about Facebook
- Facebook as a social media channel for ecommerce
- Content strategy & advertising on Facebook to help marketplace sellers turn contacts into customers and sell more online.
Top 15 Facebook usage & ecommerce stats and facts
In terms of using social media for business, depending on the type of your business, some platforms may work better than others. Still, the most popular social networking site is Facebook. It’s followed by YouTube, WhatsApp, WeChat and Instagram.
As Facebook changes and evolves frequently, it’s crucial for online sellers to stay on top of Facebook-related stats & facts like demographics, usage and platform trends.
Top 15 Facebook usage & ecommerce stats and facts:
- 2.60 billion monthly active users.
- 1.73 billion users visit Facebook daily.
- Users of all ages and backgrounds (from Gen Z to older users).
- 65% of Facebook users are under the age of 35 (Statista, 2019).
- Users 65 years and older are the fastest-growing group on Facebook.
- 74% of Facebook users are high-income earners.
- Users spend 58 minutes on average on Facebook each day (Recode, 2018)
- Highest traffic occurs mid-day Wednesday and Thursday.
- Facebook Stories have 300 million active users daily.
- 94% of Facebook Ad revenue is from mobile.
- Users watch 85% of Facebook videos without sound.
- Facebook users are 4x more likely to watch live streams than recorded videos.
- Facebook has over 80 million small businesses around the world using Facebook Pages (Facebook, 2018).
- Facebook connects people to brands and products. 78% of US consumers have discovered retail products to buy via Facebook (Kleiner Perkins, 2018).
- Facebook is the leading social platform, reaching 60.6% of Internet users (Facebook, 2018).
78% of US consumers have discovered retail products to buy via Facebook.
Optimizing your store for Facebook
Facebook is one of the leaders when it comes to sales conversion rates among social networking sites so let your potential buyers use Facebook to buy from you. Add a ‘Shop Now’ button on your Facebook page, if you haven’t already done so.
Use smart calls to action and engaging product descriptions in your Facebook advertisements. Additionally, facilitate the engagement of your buyers (likes, comments, shares) by including social media buttons on your website.
A few facts to help you increase engagement and ecommerce conversions on Facebook:
- Posts with less than 80 characters attract 23% more engagement.
- Use emoticons to increase comments by 33%.
- Use quotes to get 26% more ‘likes’ and 19% more shares.
- Use image-based content to get 40% more interaction.
- Phrase your post as a question: it’s likely to get 100% more comments.
- Your visitors will love discounts, deals and special offers.
- Make your updates a combination of text only, text & image and image/video only updates.
- For ecommerce stores it is essential to simplify the buying process, e.g. by ensuring easy check-out.
Advertising on Facebook
In Q1 2020, Facebook brought in $17.44 billion in ad revenue (Facebook, 2020). Average revenue per user is USD 6.95. In the USA 86% of marketers are using the platform for advertising (Emarketer, 2018).
Interestingly, by the end of 2020, Instagram is projected to have a significant share of Facebook’s overall ad revenue. Due to increased engagement with Stories, compared to Facebook, ad spending on Instagram is 23% higher. There are some good growth opportunities available for advertisers on Stories.
Ecommerce Advertising works. However, with thousands of businesses already advertising on Facebook, it may not be easy to grab the right audience’s attention.
You’re unlikely to be the key player on everyone’s wall, but you can still reach the right audience.
If your content is short, catchy, attractive visually and action-oriented, it may bring you satisfactory conversion rates.
Your Facebook plan & content strategy: 5 steps
Planning your Facebook strategy goes beyond posting regularly and winning likes. It’s more about meaningful engagement that should eventually lead to more sales.
Facebook plan & content strategy: 5 steps
- State your goals in quantities with the help of Facebook analytics, e.g. number of fans, click-through and contact-to-customer conversion rates. Results in numbers will help you to determine the clear direction.
- State your ideal buyer profile and save time by reaching the right audience in terms of their location, age and interests.
- Keep your Facebook activities in line with the rest of your marketing efforts and campaigns: your posts should reflect and be integrated with your overall marketing strategy.
- Create a content calendar that includes ‘what’s and when’s’. You need a consistent publishing flow, even at busiest times. Your content calendar will keep your content strategy on track.
- Create valuable content that is expert, containing information about the industry, your product, offers and company updates. Use your materials, but don’t be afraid to use quality content from other websites too. Valuable content will help you to keep your audience engaged.
Facebook for ecommerce: turn your contacts into customers
Gain pre-transactional contacts
It may be easier and cheaper to make instant profits from immediate sales. It takes a bit more effort to make your customers come back to your shop. Thus, take your time to get to know them, share something valuable with them and nurture your prospects.
Get valuable, loyal customers, not ANY customers
Form quality relationships right from the beginning: get to know your potential customers, their needs and expectations before they become your actual clients.
The moment you learn what they need, provide them with a solution or a tip
Instill trust and loyalty first. It’s likely that when they finally do need your product, they will turn to you first.
Cost is not the whole story
Think of the entire lifetime value of a customer as opposed to the customer acquisition cost.
Many businesses aim at the lowest customer acquisition cost, which seems a good solution short-term. Long-term, however, more investment in the customer at the initial stages is likely to provide you with loyal, returning buyers.
Turn contacts into customers
When you have won pre-transactional contacts, it’s time to turn them into customers.
Conclusion
Facebook users tend to bombard one another with posts, updates and ads: minute by minute, second by second. Make sure your voice is heard in the screaming world of social media.
Your takeaways from this article:
- Optimize your store for Facebook.
- Make sure your posts are engaging and get noticed by the relevant audience.
- Target your Facebook ads carefully.
- Take time to develop your content strategy in line with your marketing objectives.
- Get noticed in the harsh social media reality.
- Turn your contacts into loyal customers that bring true value to your business.
Finally, for advice on how to grow your domestic & international ecommerce sales on marketplaces, Contact Us
