The Facebook marketplace is an idea that came to life in the year 2016. The Facebook platform was seen to be a safe haven for socially interactive individuals, therefore, it has unfolded many other increasing benefits such as buying and selling of various products. On daily average, more than 450 million individuals visit different buying and selling groups on Facebook’s to market or buy products
Follow this Link to check out the complete account of the launch of Facebook’s marketplace.
The Facebook marketplace was introduced in order to connect these individuals with each other more effectively. It became a platform where people come to buy and sell to local communities.
Have you ever used Craigslist before? Facebook Marketplace works with almost the same concept; the difference is that you can communicate with people via Messenger. In mid-2018, things started to revolve as Facebook allowed businesses to place adverts in its Marketplace, a plan to move from being just a Craigslist doppelganger to a more hyper-targeted platform, such as Amazon.
Read on to know more about Facebook marketplace.
What Is Facebook Marketplace?
Facebook Marketplace is simply defined as an online shopping channel. It’s a platform for buyers and sellers to interact just like a market in our neighborhood where people come together to buy and sell products and services from each other.
Facebook Marketplace reached more than 70 different nations across the world as of May 2018 with more than 800 million active users selling and buying various products, it, therefore, has gained traction with individuals willing to sell their products/services in a local market.
To visit the Facebook Marketplace, simply tap on the shop icon at the bottom of the Facebook app.
How To Discover New Items To Purchase Around The Country On Facebook Marketplace
As soon as you click on the shop icon, using your location, Marketplace pop-up a list of photo items that people are selling near you. If you are looking for specific items, you can make use of the search bar at the top and filter down your results accordingly. You can find anything that you desire, with the condition that someone should be selling it around your location. The filter options are really fantastic as they allow you to scrutinize your product category and even the budget.
Also, Facebook Marketplace offers an in-built locator tool that detects your location, you can also set the region you’re searching a particular product in. You can even switch to different cities and see if the product is available elsewhere. Once you have found it, you can transfer the payment and get it delivered.
All product uploaded in the Marketplace has a description, name, and price, it would also have at least an image to show buyers exactly what they would be buying. If you are interested in buying from a particular seller, you can simply start a conversation by tapping on the Message Seller option. After negotiating with the seller and you're satisfied with the price, simply tap on the “Make Offer” button.
How Should One Post An Item In Facebook Marketplace?
If you are a seller and you intend to place your product on Facebook Marketplace, it's actually very easy to go about just as it is for those intending to buy from it. Here’s a step by step process to simply sell the product:
- Step # 1: Capture a high-definition photo of the item that you wish to sell and post it on the platform from your camera phone.
- Step # 2: Enter the accurate product name, a detailed description, and the price of the product.
- Step # 3: Now confirm the location where you wish to sell and choose a category for your product.
- Step # 4: Once you are done setting the prerequisites, post the ad in the marketplace.
All products being sold on Facebook Marketplace are placed into categories, this would help for easy filtering. You can choose from a range of categories such as Entertainment, Vehicles, Housing, Hobbies, etc Buyers would simply filter searches based on pricing and locations. You can also save these listings for future references in the marketplace.
Some Real Life Success Stories Making A Fortune Out Of Facebook Marketplace
TurnKey Marketing
Turnkey marketing solution is a good example of success stories when it comes to Facebook Marketplace, this digital agency increased the sales of one of its clients (a car dealer) by 20% after choosing Facebook Marketplace.
It later decreased the cost per action by 50% which increased the average landing page views by 20%.
Turnkey marketing constantly created various streams of advertising campaigns for its customers in order to get potential car purchasers across different steps of the buyer’s journey. They targeted audiences includes those who were new to the platform and those who have in one way or another interacted with the ads before which are all the potential leads which were taken from the customer’s CRM system as well as incoming website visitors that were tracked down by the Facebook pixel (pixels are tools which record the action of site visitors). They ran their campaigns for around 90 days.
Their ads were created using a single image and in carousel forms, they also used discount offers to attract customers, which include low-budget leasing prices and finally used conversion tracking software to measure results.
Sweetums Signature
Sweetums' signature is a family-based business that started generating around 33% more sales annually than usual after listing their decorative decals on the Facebook Marketplace. Danette, the C.E.O of Sweetums Signature, started her business back in 2007 with the sole objective to create affordable quality vinyl stickers and decals to personalize home interiors and water bottles to just about everything.
In order to sell her decals, Danette was looking for a low-cost solution which can easily attract online visitors. Apparently, she was advised to go for Facebook Marketplace where she could post ads for her decals which is absolutely FREE. She shared her entire stock on Facebook Marketplace which reveals her ads to customers in the vicinity and the query response time from her social media support team got 3x faster than the queries generated on the website.
Moreover, to purchase the decal, customers used the Facebook checkout process, and Danette saw the sales margin go up by 33%, as compared to what her decal business made the previous year.
Tropical Breeze Decor
Tropical Breeze Decor is a beach-themed online decor retailer who was hungry to see some potential increase in its annual sales. At the time, the business was selling several apparel and accessories, including home and garden decors, to local customers. The owner, Austin Silla, who started the business back in 2005, was in search of a different way to increase merchandise sales.
In time, Tropical Breeze Decor became incredibly competitive and he realized what he needed to do; find some better ways of growing his business. He was searching for a low-cost customer acquisition method and it just happened to be that the BigCommerce team, the e-commerce platform on which Austin was running his store, presented him the option of publishing ads in the Facebook Marketplace.
Austin was able to increase his sales 3.5x with Marketplace accounting for 87% of his total purchases.
Daily Steals
Daily Steals is an e-commerce platform that offers discounts and promotions for varieties of products and services every day. They are known for customer experience and reliable discount offerings across a number of categories, an example of some are fashion and home-goods.
Daily Steals also, just like its counterparts was seeking new and unique ways of expanding its market and targeting new audiences. To increase sales and reach out to more audience, the platform opted for the deals option on the Facebook Marketplace. The option is accessed by one-third of every visitor coming to the Facebook Marketplace. Facebook created some remarkable Daily Steals promotions and sent them out in its deal feeds. The team also uploaded its complete product catalog and set up a complete Facebook Shop with a checkout for prospects.
Daily Steals started selling PS4 controllers 5x times faster than its previous deals in the market at the
same price.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a game development platforms, which has created an entire video game franchises. Some of the game developed include Assassin’s Creed Series, Far Cry Series, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, & The Division. Being the fourth largest computer gaming industry in the U.S. and Europe, Ubisoft was hunting for active gamers and prompt them to place pre-orders for the upcoming game releases. And nothing served the purpose better than the Facebook Marketplace.
They actually secured some great responses while running direct Facebook marketing campaigns which prompt to run ads on the Facebook Marketplace as well. Ubisoft wanted to find out whether the Marketplace ad placement could lead to a greater intent to purchase. Hence, Ubisoft started running direct Facebook marketing campaigns which showed their relative ads on people’s News Feed, in addition, to a separate Marketplace ad which only showed up in the Marketplace feeds of their audience.
Ubisoft observed an estimated 67% increase in its purchases with a 5.4 point lift in purchase intent. It reached out to more than 3.4 million people throughout the sales process.
How To Become A Deals Partner On The Facebook Marketplace?
While most online sellers using the platform would prefer to just post their ads, the deals program can actually offer them a better chance to get their product sold as fast as possible. After all, nobody would prefer to leave a better option where they get a bit of a discount. For those who want their products to be considered for the deal program, they need to ensure that the prices for the deals are set 15 percent below the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP).
Also, the categories are prioritized as follows:
- Consumer Electronics
- Gift Cards
- Gaming
- Intimates & Hosiery
- Footwear
- Sports and Outdoors
- Beauty Products
- Pieces of jewelry and Watches
- Apparel & Accessories
Facebook has also opened partnership programs for two of the fastest-growing industries; automotive and rentals.
How To Open A Facebook Page Shop?
When you are running a Facebook Marketplace listing, it is actually necessary to also have a Facebook Page Shop on their Facebook business page. if you don't have one, it can become a little difficult for your customer to reach out to you on Facebook. They would either have to contact you directly or on your personal social accounts.
It is necessary to have a shop on your Facebook page because a Facebook page is your storefront. While all business pages can have a shop option on their Facebook Business Marketplace, any business can have a shop but the availability of different features simply depends on the location from where you operate. You can also set the payments on your Facebook Shop so people can check out on your website, through Paypal or with Facebook Checkout.
If you want to set up a shop, you’ll need to add at least one product, reviewed and approved.
In The End…
As you've read, Facebook Marketplace is not just about posting ads to sell your desired products online, you can even get registrations on your desired product with the help of Facebook Marketplace. All you need to do is create an advert that asks people to come over and get registered for your digital product. Of course, you will have to present something valuable enough to them so the offer looks good for customers.
With Facebook Marketplace, you can do that and a whole lot more. It depends on how creative you are. So the next time you plan your social media marketing strategy, ensure that Facebook Marketplace is there on your list. Do you want a robust marketing strategy for your business? Let Branex, a social media marketing agency, help you design the perfect business strategy for you.
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