If you use Shopify as your ecommerce platform, consider setting up a Shopify Facebook store so that your customers can buy your products without ever leaving the Facebook platform. They can also share your products with their friends and followers with just the click of a button.
If you haven’t set up your Shopify site yet, then read our guide on how to set up a Shopify store. If you are on the Shopify Lite plan (or plan on getting one), then connect your Shopify store to Facebook and add products after.
To set up a Shopify Facebook store, follow these steps:
1. Make Sure Your Facebook Account Is Set Up Properly
- Have a Facebook business page. If you haven’t created one yet, then read our guide on how to set up a Facebook business page.
- Create a Facebook Business Manager account. It is a tool Facebook provides to help you manage your Facebook page and ad campaigns.
- Check if your Facebook page is linked to your Business Manager account.
- Add an Ad account in your Business Manager.
- Make sure you have admin permissions to the Facebook business page and Business Manager.
All of these will take only a few minutes to set up. Don’t take too long on each one. You can go into detail once you have finished connecting your Shopify store to Facebook.
2. Connect Your Shopify Store to Your Facebook Account
In Shopify, a Facebook store is called a Facebook Shop, and it is considered a sales channel. Sales channels include your Shopify storefront, eBay, Amazon, Instagram, and buy buttons you can add to your blog or website.
From your Shopify dashboard, navigate to “Sales Channels” on the left-side menu. Click on the plus icon, and a pop-up window will show your available sales channels, including Facebook.
Click Facebook from the list of sales channels. Select Add Channel.
Click on Next to allow you to get started in setting up your Facebook Shop.
3. Set Up Your Facebook Shop
Once you choose to add a Facebook sales channel, the next step would be to set up your Facebook Shop. This will have six easy steps.
You will see three features once you connect Facebook to your Shopify store: Sell your products on Facebook, Set up Instagram Shopping, and Facebook Marketing on Shopify. Choose Sell your products on Facebook and click Start Setup.
Connect Your Personal Facebook Account
Connect your personal Facebook account first to access the Facebook Pages you manage.
From there, choose the Facebook Page you want to be associated with your store. Click Connect Account.
Connect Your Business Manager Account
Make sure you have admin access to the Business Manager you will be connecting to.
Verify Your Domain Name
The domains listed in your Shopify account will show up in this step. You don’t have to confirm it right away but for faster approval, it is recommended you do.
If you plan to have your own online store, we recommend you use a domain name to identify your business instead of the free website URL associated with your Shopify account. Don’t have a domain yet? Read our guide on how to choose a domain name for your business.
Enable Data Sharing (Optional)
You also have the option to enable Conversions API for more reliable data sharing. In your Data Sharing Settings, select Maximum to send data via Conversions API, in addition to the Facebook pixel and Advanced Matching.
The Data Sharing setting in your Facebook channel allows you to choose how customer data and browsing behavior is collected in your online store through data sharing tools (like Facebook pixel).
Data sharing is a choice. While the collected data improves marketing campaigns and sales, not everyone wants their data shared. It’s important to inform your customers how you share data, what type of data is shared, and how much data you want to share. Make sure that your privacy policy is up-to-date so that you can provide this information to your customers.
Create or Connect Your Facebook Commerce Account
This step lets you create a catalog so that you can arrange products into collections and customize your Facebook Shop. You won’t be setting up products inside your Facebook Shop catalog—your product listing from Shopify will automatically sync once connected and approved by Facebook.
Click on Create new. Facebook will automatically create a catalog collection for your products.
This is what you will see when your catalog has been created.
Review and Agree to Facebook’s Terms & Conditions
The last step would be to review Facebook’s terms. Once done, click on Finish Setup.
After connecting your business Facebook account, Facebook will review your store to ensure it meets its guidelines. These guidelines include using a currency supported by Facebook and making sure you’re not selling anything prohibited, such as adult content or firearms.
It can take up to 48 hours for Facebook to review your store, and you will receive a notification from Facebook via email if you’re approved or denied. You will also see when Facebook finishes the review process when signed into your Shopify store.
4. Set Up Your Products
After you have finished setting up your Facebook shop, you can start setting up products or choosing which products in your Shopify store you would like to make available once your Facebook Shop is approved.
To add a product to your Shopify store, follow these steps:
- From the Shopify dashboard, go to Products and then All Products
- On the All Products page, click on Add Product
- Here, you’ll enter a title for your product, a description, images, pricing, and shipping
- Under Sales Channels and Apps, select Facebook if you want to include the product listing in your Facebook Shop.
- Click Save Product
As you add products to your store, keep in mind that you can always change the product details later. You may find that your pricing needs adjusting, or maybe you’ve got additional distribution centers throughout the country and can lower the shipping costs.
Once you have connected Facebook as a sales channel, you can see it as an option when you add or edit products in your Shopify dashboard.
Once Facebook approves your Shopify store, your products can sync with your Facebook Shop immediately. Any product updates in Shopify you will be making will usually take 15 minutes to reflect in your Facebook Shop moving forward.
5. Optimize Your Shopify Facebook Store
After you have set up your Shopify Facebook store, the next step would be to figure out how to market it. Marketing a Shopify Facebook store isn’t all that different from marketing any other business. You still need to know who your desired audience is, where they spend time online, and what motivates them.
Popular marketing strategies include running Facebook ads, offering a referral program, and using affiliates, which gives a percentage of every referred sale to the affiliate. Even if you don’t get a sale from them or a customer sharing your store with their followers, that’s still free advertising.
Use any combination of these tactics to market your Facebook Shopify Store:
- Ads: Run ad campaigns in places such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google. You don’t need a huge ad budget for this—sometimes even $5 per day can yield good results.
- Referrals: Many Shopify store owners have success offering a percentage or flat dollar amount off an order if a customer refers three people.
- Shipping: Offer free shipping for sharing a social media post about the product or store, which will attract more visitors to your shop.
- Guides: If you’re an apparel store, provide a style guide in exchange for email addresses. This builds up your own list of people to market to.
- Customers: Encourage your current customers to tag you in their posts featuring your products to earn a feature on your business’s page.
- Giveaways: Both Facebook and Instagram make it easy for giveaways to go viral. You’ll ask giveaway entrants to tag their friends and like your posts.
Bottom Line
If you own a Shopify store, then consider connecting it to your Facebook page. A Shopify Facebook store is a great way for businesses to get started selling their products online. When you combine the immense marketing potential of social media with the scalable features Shopify provides, you get the best of both worlds.
Another of the biggest benefits of having a Shopify Facebook store is controlling the customer process and experience. With other platforms such as Amazon and eBay, the company maintains the relationship. And by selling on Shopify, you have control over the customer experience and you get their contact information, like email addresses.
Additionally, Facebook users don’t even have to leave the platform to make a purchase from your store. These users can also share a product from your Shopify Facebook store right from the Facebook platform on their news feed, in a Facebook group, or even in a private message.
Connecting both platforms is easily done as Shopify is an accredited Facebook partner platform. Plus, with Shopify’s free trial, it’s possible to start making money before having to even pay for an account.
Start your 14-day free trial before choosing a plan—no credit card required.
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