Real estate is no exception. If used correctly, social media can help to start a conversation, share advice, and build long-term relationships with buyers, sellers, and renters.  

In this article, we will share the benefits of using social media for real estate, as well as tips for creating content, and a list of the best social media platforms for real estate.

How to Effectively Use Social Media for Real Estate to Grow Your Business

If you work in real estate, you know how hectic it can be. You must prioritize your time and concentrate on the types of content and the social media platforms that will benefit you and your business the most. We’ve created this guide to help you with this task. Let’s get started!

Why You Need Social Media for Your Real Estate Business

First, let’s find out why real estate businesses need social media. Real estate agents can use social media to reach a large audience. According to recent research, 97% of all homebuyers used the internet to conduct their home search. It would be foolish to miss out on great advertising opportunities by failing to utilize easily accessible social media platforms.

Social media has proven to be one of the most effective ways to interact with potential buyers and build a business online. The main benefits of using social media for real estate include cost-effective reach, targeted ads, brand reinforcement, and instant engagement.

Social Media Tips for Real Estate Businesses

Creating a social media profile for your business isn’t enough. To grow an audience and outperform the competition, you need to follow certain rules. 

• Focus on quality content

You must create high-quality content to gain followers on social media. Make a research on what questions interest people. Check out industry forums, comments under popular real estate posts, videos and articles, or websites like Quora, which gathers common questions on a variety of topics. 

You can mix and match the most basic and frequent questions with the most unusual and sophisticated ones. Always try to write down any useful advice or ideas that come to mind and then include them in your content calendar.

• Provide real value

Present yourself as an expert in your field. Share useful and informative original and curated content, make sure you are solving your followers’ problems, organize Q&A sessions to answer all their questions, and share tips and tricks live. Make it regularly. Provide consistent value in your social media posts.

• Use professional marketing tools

Use professional marketing tools to make your content look more professional. Some social media tools enable users to schedule and post to social media automatically, while others assist in the creation of engaging visuals. Professional marketing tools can also aid with customer surveys and in gathering customers feedback.

• Track your progress

All major social media platforms offer professional-level analytics, allowing you to determine which content your audience responds to the most, as well as the best time and format for sharing it. 

It’s also possible to do A/B testing with the same content. Try posting the same content in a variety of formats, such as text, image, or video, and see which one performs better.

• Use targeted ads

Don’t wait for customers to come to you organically, this will most likely never happen. Posting high-quality engaging content might help you to gain an audience, but the competition is fierce. Therefore, you must keep up with your competitors and use targeted ads.

With targeted ads, you have the opportunity to show your content to the people who are most interested in it. It also gives you the opportunity to spend your marketing budget more efficiently. Targeted ads can also help to raise brands awareness.

Top Social Media Platforms for Real Estate

To help you get the most out of social media, we’ve compiled a list of the best social media platforms to promote your real estate business. 

Facebook

When it comes to selling real estate, Facebook is a powerful tool. This social network needs no introduction. Globally, the platform has 2.85 billion monthly active users. Facebook has a number of useful features, including targeted advertising for local listings, Facebook Messenger for client chats, Facebook Stories for updates, and the ability to share a variety of multimedia formats, including photos, videos, and live videos. You can use the platform to post listing-related updates, schedule appointments, communicate with clients, and manage feedback.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social media platform. It’s ideal for running any serious business, including real estate. You can not only find business owners who are looking for a suitable property, but also people looking for a new place to live. 

By creating a professional-looking business account, you can attract contacts who will then spread the word about you. Leads can be generated through targeted advertisements or sponsored messages.

To get prospects’ attention, share blog posts, industry news and research, quick tips, photo and video listing updates, and company updates.

Instagram

Instagram (IG) is a social media network that allows users to share high-quality visual content. Your success on IG is determined by visual content. High-quality visuals give your page credibility and help customers trust you.

Provide high-resolution images and videos with your listings and updates in the main feed and in IG Stories. Make sure they are eye-catching. The content should display enough of the property to interest the potential client, while hiding some key details to force them to schedule an appointment to see it for themselves.

You can create a business account and put contact CTA buttons with your phone number, email address, or message. You can also run targeted ads.

TikTok

TikTok is a social media platform dedicated to short videos. You can create, share, and discover these videos there. Many people underestimate the power of TikTok. Although the social media platform is relatively new, it is already seen as a major player among platforms that aid in the sale of goods and services.

Realtors can benefit from sharing high-quality, creative videos that show the value of owning a home. You can also share behind-the-scenes footage of your real estate business, property highlights set to popular music, real estate tips, lists of truths and myths, and answers to common questions.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a visual social media platform where users can create and share boards, pins, and shop. The benefits of using Pinterest for business include brand awareness and a greater potential customer base. Thanks to their algorithms, Pinterest posts have the longest lifespan among all social networks.

We’ve put together some board ideas that you can use on your Pinterest profile: real estate community boards, neighborhood information, the best real estate articles, house listings, home renovation projects, and inspiration for interior & exterior design. Be sure to include a description, link, and board when pinning.

Youtube

YouTube is a video-sharing platform where users can watch and upload videos. With 2.29 billion users, it is ranked second-most used social media platform worldwide. Realtors can use YouTube to attract thousands of new leads for their businesses. 

You can gain an advantage in the real estate market by uploading quality informative videos on YouTube. To get started, consider creating videos on property listings, neighborhoods, your company or a specific realtor, client testimonials, videos explaining real estate, and tips.

Twitter

Twitter is a social media platform that allows people to communicate with each other and allows them to share their ideas with a large audience. 

People enjoy reading threads on Twitter, so use the platform to tweet educational content about your industry. You can also share industry news, advice, ideas, and link to real estate offers from your website. Don’t forget to use hashtags in your posts.

Conclusion

Social media is a powerful marketing tool that can help real estate agents establish their brand, gain trust, and attract customers. It’s self-evident that if you don’t use social media to promote your business, you won’t be able to stay afloat.

There is an increasing number of duties every day, so it is worth thinking about how you can help yourself in managing dozens of social platforms, messages across each of them, and user feedback. With PromoRepublic for Real Estate, you’ll be able to gain maximum exposure and expansion with the minimum effort.

Combine the above tips with the PromoRepublic tool to succeed on social media. 

The post Real Estate Social Network And Social Media Marketing [2021] Guide appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

“Social media” is not only about Instagram or Facebook. This term also includes various forums, blogs, news websites, etc. Social media analytics is not just basic statistics but also a process of deep learning and predicting user behavior online.

Social media analytics is about understanding your brand and users, improving your product or service based on user experience, and increasing your competitiveness.

So, if you are reading this article, it means that you are somehow connected with the work on social platforms. But it is often not enough just to place ads on the network. To effectively promote brands and services on the social plane, you need to monitor the effectiveness of your work and respond quickly to changes in the mood of the target audience, their reactions, brand perception, etc. In this regard, we want to share with you modern social analytics tools. Ready? Then let’s go.

What you can achieve with social media analytics:

• You can track a company’s reputation and maintain a positive image. How? For example, if there is a negative comment or mention, you need to respond quickly to build the right dialogue and communication with consumers.
• Social analytics allows you to receive more complete and truthful information about advertising campaigns and actions and the level of involvement of users.
• This is a chance to build a strategy and action plan wisely because statistical data allows you to take into account the target audience’s preferences.
• Social media analytics makes it possible to study consumers by geography, their customer preferences depending on where they live, age, gender, etc.
• It is an easy way to control and adjust pricing, maintain the customer base and integrate new marketing tools.

But for quality work with the analytics of social networks and compiling detailed reports on its basis, you need special software. And today, we’ve compiled a list of the best social media reporting tools for you!

PromoRepublic

PromoRepublic is a tool that can help you create and manage all your content on all major social media platforms. It is a platform that allows you to manage all your social networks from a single window. PromoRepublic is one of the fastest-growing and most promising social media management tools that allows you to generate content using templates and choose the most profitable time to post it. Perhaps one of the best features of PromoRepublic is its library of templates for publications, which contains more than 100,000 visual elements, integrated photo stocks, and an easy-to-use graphic editor.

But the most valuable feature of PromoRepublic, in this case, is that it is a compelling social media reporting and analytics tool. You can use it to get a complete understanding of your performance on social networks. In addition, it allows you to:

• Identify gaps in social media performance across locations.
• Find your social media pages and the ones that need more attention.
• Get detailed reports per page.
• Check the performance of each of your posts.
• Create easy to understand reports for your clients.

Minter

Minter is a statistics and analytics service for brands, businesses, and agencies. It supports social platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

This service will show you:

• The number of subscribers of the account/group.
• Geography and gender of subscribers.
• Number and quality of reactions to posts.
• Dynamics of growth of subscribers.
• For Instagram, this statistics and analytics service also collects and analyzes competitors’ hashtags, which may come in handy in your social media campaign.

Minter enables you to compare your account with your competitors based on the main metrics (number of followers, coverage, likes).

Moreover, as in the case of PromoRepublic, this service suggests the best time to publish, taking into account the time of audience activity on the Internet. This is about analytics, not just statistics.

Onlypult

Onlypult is an automatic social media posting, monitoring, and analytics tool. With its help, you can monitor the effectiveness of your posts in various accounts and, as a result, increase the engagement of your audience. The interface is simple and straightforward, and all the functionality is available in just a few clicks.

This tool supports platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Telegram, WordPress.

Features:

• You can evaluate the development of your account, test and compare the performance of different headlines and combinations, and understand the characteristics of individual posts.
• Tracking the actions of competitors and Influencers, as well as analysis of the latter in order to work together in the future.
• Automate the scheduling and output of posts.
• Hashtag analytics.

Buffer Analyze

Buffer Analyze is a social media analytics and reporting tool. It allows you to share metrics and results with your manager, colleagues, and clients — so everyone involved understands how effectively content is working. Buffer is widely regarded as one of the most successful players in the market.

This social media reporting tool works with Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Features:

• Users can analyze Stories, individual posts, and hashtags.
• Posts can be analyzed whether or not they were posted through Buffer.
• Ability to create a report based on specified metrics and export it to PDF format.
• Analyze the age, gender, and location of your audience and determine your content’s effective timing and frequency.

Sendible

Sendible positions itself as a platform where you get a complete overview of your brand online. The analytics dashboard integrates essential apps like Google Drive and Slack to access all your workflows in one tool.

The platform supports social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp, WeChat.

Features:

• Comprehensive monitoring of your brand and its interactions across all social networks.
• Identify the highest performing traffic-generating social media channels to focus on.
• Sendible’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system provides insight into the composition of your audience, analyzes user feedback, and can create automated responses.
• The ability to choose between templates stored in the system and create your own reports to email to your customers at your convenience.

Awario

Awario gives you the ability to track your growth by analyzing mentions about you, categorized as negative, positive, and neutral. All data is collected and recorded in real-time so that marketers can quickly make appropriate decisions.

This social media reporting tool works with Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, blogs, forums.

Features:

• Creating notifications for your brand and the brands of your major competitors.
• Determining your “specific weight” to understand how much audience attention you’re getting in the industry.
• Analysis of your brand or search keywords in any language and location.
• Daily or weekly analytics summaries are sent to your email.

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo helps you understand what’s trending right now, what users are sharing on social networks, and what topics they’re interested in. This solution is especially useful for Facebook Business because it tracks the dynamics of social network effectiveness.

Buzzsumo supports Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest.

Features:

• Identification of factors that positively influence the effectiveness of your content: post length, post timing and headlines.
• Several audience engagement metrics to optimize your social networking strategy.
• Influencer analytics, with insider knowledge of the industry and relevant audience.
• Ability to use a more comprehensive filter to get the right information.

Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is a data analysis and visualization service with a set of specialized tools and options for creating and working with reports.

Any metrics that you upload to the system from your social networks are available to create reports, and you can do this with connectors. And those you can calculate based on existing data using formulas and calculated fields — here, you are limited only by your imagination and the possibilities of mathematical, logical, and other functions of Google Data Studio.

Features:

• Many data visualization elements are available — tables, summaries, graphs, charts, maps, etc.
• You can connect up to 5 sources such as social networks, analytics, CRM systems and build tables and charts based on the combined data.
• Ability to create interactive dashboards with controls and switching between slices, filters, and time periods.
• Not only the data format of each visualization element but also its appearance — fonts, colors, lines — can be adjusted in detail.
• To avoid wasting time on report design, you can use ready-made themes.
• The structure, appearance, and content of reports are flexibly customizable.

The bottom line

As a rule, the need for social media reporting tools to collect statistics arises in three cases. The first is when working with Instagram, where internal statistics are in principle very narrow and accessible only from mobile gadgets.

The second is when the internal statistics of social networks are sufficient, but much has to be done manually — writing out numbers, updating data, comparing, and analyzing. When this process becomes too labor-intensive and the human factor leads to errors in the data, the search for opportunities to automate processes begins. And this is where services help.

The third is when it is important to visualize the data so that the report recipient can assess the dynamics without even seeing the numbers. It isn’t easy to do this using only the tools of the social networks themselves.

SMM specialists have a choice — they can work with statistical services that specialize in one social network or choose more universal options. When working with social networks, they receive much more data from them via open APIs than a typical SMM specialist would.

We can say that statistical collection services for analytics do not offer anything fundamentally new — but they are a convenient tool that saves time, provides clear graphical indicators, and the ability to download data in various formats.

So you can choose the most convenient social media reporting tool for you and be sure that your analytics will always be comprehensive and reports for clients or bosses — very clear and informative.

The post 8 Best Social Media Data Reporting and Analytics Tools [2021] appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Go to the accounts of real estate agencies — there is often boredom and gloom. The official tone, the bureaucracy, the copying of news… That is why the audience reacts extremely sluggishly to the posts of the big agencies. And the social networks of specific realtors sometimes resemble quotations of the laws, and they also are often boring. We’ll tell you a secret: realtors do not have to behave like that on social media.

You can do it in an engaging, lively, and rewarding way because social networks with millions of users are a significant generator of orders, including for a realtor. In addition, social networks are a great way to promote their services to a younger generation of buyers: millennials are already buying homes and make up 38% of all buyers.

And today we’re going to tell you how you can diversify your content plan with interesting and engaging publications. Meet our top ideas for real estate social media posts!

What kind of social media posts work best for real estate?

What does a realtor need to show when communicating with an audience on a social network? They don’t have a visual portfolio with pictures, like an interior designer or a hairdresser. But when working on a content plan, a realtor can plan and show:

Experience. This is a difficult profession for newcomers; therefore, the path in the profession begins most often with an internship, older friends pass on expertise, technology and share their tips. And already, at this stage, a realtor has a lot to tell.

Opportunities. Someone takes only simple cases: the purchase or sale of real estate for “real” money. And someone collects complex chains, using when buying housing maternity capital, military and social certificates, helps sell/buy the share, etc. The broader the capabilities of a particular specialist the more clients he can get from social networks, telling in posts about his work.

Reviews. This is the alpha and omega; if clients speak well of you, their reviews need to be lifted and carried high like a regimental banner. Reviews should appear as often as possible in a Realtor’s content plan because this is a profession where the level of trust is not very high. There are too many amateurs in the marketplace!

Demand. “If a specialist sits for months without orders, there is clearly something wrong with him,” social network users think, and in some ways, they are right. People at all times buy apartments, get married, get divorced, move out with adult children and move in with elderly parents — which means they buy and sell apartments. A realtor needs to talk in posts about what they’re selling/buying/renting right now.

The point. “Why do we even need a realtor?” is a frequent question from everyday people. Usually, those buying new construction or selling their trouble-free apartment for living money stand for self-sufficiency in real estate transactions. It’s important for a realtor to show situations where you can’t do without the help of a pro and explain why. Be sure to include posts that answer this question in your realtor content plan.

Yourself. People buy from people. It’s crucial that the realtor in their social network account looks not like a faceless unit with a set of functions but as a living person. With all of his or her household trivia, family problems and holidays, hobbies, interests, travel, and plans.

Let’s look at real estate social media posts ideas to attract new clients and increase sales.

Welcome post

The welcome post is a self-presentational text. It is needed to tell why the author maintains his social network profile, how he came to success or other facts about himself. Such a publication will also be useful for a real estate agency or realtor to promote themselves. It makes the author closer to his subscribers, increases trust. And for the brand-customer loyalty.

There is no universal variant of the welcome post. Each author decides for himself what he wants to tell and in what manner. But there are some standard pieces of information that can be written about in a welcome post:

• Name, age, place of residence
• Occupation
• Experience
• Hobbies
• What you will write about in your profile
• Encourage subscribers to tell about themselves in comments

This is an option for a realtor, but the option for a real estate agency will not be much different: tell about your agency and experience, what publications you will post, a call to meet in the comments. You can experiment with this format and add storytelling.

Feedback

Each realtor’s transaction can last for months; the higher the value of feedback from clients — because each of them has gone side by side with the specialist for a long and often tricky stretch of the road of life. Such clients can tell a lot about the professionalism and personal qualities of the realtor. Take screenshots of the reviews, and if the client wrote about you on their page — repost the review. It’s reviews that work best for building a realtor’s reputation and increasing their credibility. You can write anything you want about yourself — but you can’t write reviews from real people and about real work.

Services 

What does a particular realtor or real estate agency charge for? In the posts, you can tell about such services:

• Buying an apartment in a new building — commissioned or under construction.
• Buying/selling an apartment on the secondary market.
• Buying/selling rooms on the secondary market.
• Buying/selling commercial real estate.
• Buying / selling a share in the apartment/house.
• Purchase/sale of countryside real estate.
• Sale of apartments in one city and purchase in another.
• Rent an apartment/house.
• Commercial rentals.
• Legal support of the transaction.

Descriptions of services in the content plan of a real estate agency on Instagram or Facebook are essential because they will help every new visitor of the page understand where they got to and what useful things can be found here.

Answer clients’ questions in publications

An effective way to get real estate social media posts ideas is to identify questions that interest your target market. Services that identify the most trending topics can help you find those questions. The most popular one is Google Trends.

It’s a free tool that generates a list of questions based on your keyword search. For example, if you type in “New Jersey Apartments For Rent,” questions generated from this search might include:

• Is it worth buying an apartment in New Jersey?
• How much does it cost to buy an apartment in New Jersey?

Also, use Google’s “People Also Ask” feature and a Chrome extension called Keywords Everywhere.

You can also make a list of questions that your customers or followers often ask or even create a dedicated FAQ column.

Publish videos

Video, video, video — no serious material about social networks can do without them. And it makes sense: there is more and more of this content, and the audience is consuming more and more of it. Videos are supported on all platforms, and we told you how this format works on the main social networks.

For example, you could create a video of you doing a tour of a new apartment. This will get you closer to your audience and also promote your services. You can also, in video format, answer frequently asked questions from your clients or subscribers. Educational content is very much appreciated on all social networks! 

Don’t forget to upload videos to the platform itself rather than post a link to YouTube to get a better reach. For example, you can do this through PromoRepublic. 

Organize a contest

This is the best way to increase your real estate agency’s visibility and gain a new audience. Regardless of the size of your agency, you always have something to raffle off. But, of course, you need a good idea to make the raffle a success. You can choose a free consultation with a realtor or just a certificate to a restaurant as a prize.

In addition, an important part will be the mechanics of determining the winner: you can arrange a photo or video contest, use a unique hashtag, not just asking people to sign up and leave a comment.

You can also have a quiz in the same way, either on your industry topic or just on related subjects. For example, ask your followers questions about the history of certain neighborhoods in which you work.

Use live streams

Another engaging content format is live streaming. For example, on Facebook, users spend three times as much time watching live streams as they do watching recordings. And Instagram is a great platform for live streaming, as all subscribers are notified when the broadcast begins. 

Not sure what to broadcast about? You can host a Q&A session, announce new services or talk about a new apartment sale. Live broadcast sessions like these are something you should do regularly to stay focused on your subscribers. Check out our top 10 Facebook live session ideas, for example.

Most importantly, don’t forget to publish posts about having a live stream. By the way, you can also save and publish it as a video afterward.

Real estate market review

There is always something going on in the real estate market — either movement or stagnation; falling prices or rising prices; or a “seller’s market” when there are more buyers than apartments for sale or vice versa. Analytical material is often published about the real estate market and can be used to prepare posts. This is a great idea for real estate social media posts. And, of course, it is very desirable to draw on your own experiences and observations. To make this kind of post not so monotonous, you can purposefully narrow the subject. For example:

• What’s going on with the real estate market in New Jersey.
• Overview of the market of one-bedroom apartments — looking for the cheapest offer.
• Oakland — price trends for Q1 2021.
• Overview of the elite housing market. What is for sale and how long.
• New homes in Edgewater, Chicago.
• Manhattan. Where prices are rising and where prices are falling.
• An overview of two-bedroom apartment prices.
• How the price difference between one-bedroom apartments, studios, and private houses has changed over the year.

Failures or strange cases

It’s easy and fun to share successes, but a story about mistakes and failures provokes a much more lively discussion. There are many failures or strange cases in everyone’s life; realtors and real estate agencies are no exception. Examples:

• You were selling an apartment but never managed to sell it.
• The client wanted something strange, and you had to refuse the deal.
• The client changed their mind at the last minute and refused to buy or sell.
• You were offered to sell a bad haunted house with a good commission — you declined.
• You advised something good and useful (for example, buy an apartment a little more expensive, but without the difficulties and complicated documents), but the client did not listen and got problems.
• In the apartment you were selling, there was a safe in the wall with strange contents.

Make a series of posts about entertainment venues

The price or choice of an apartment or house is influenced not only by the location or number of bedrooms but also by developed infrastructure and entertainment venues in their area — restaurants, clubs, cinemas, etc.

Websites like TripAdvisor can help you find reviews of places in your area. You can also search Instagram posts by relevant geotags to read reviews by local bloggers. Add a video plan or short notes to your content to help your potential customers learn more about what’s interesting to find in the area where they’re looking for a place to live.

You can even write reviews for your posts yourself — just visit a local coffee shop or restaurant close to the home you just finished doing a tour of. People love first-hand reviews!

A few things to keep in mind

When creating a content plan for a realtor and maintaining a professional social media account, the most important thing is a systematic approach. Not to disappear from social media for six months, but to talk systematically about your work, the real estate market, and tips to help sell/buy a house…

Accounts whose content is engaging, interesting, helpful, and the author is close to the audience generate a flow of leads.

Keep an eye on your competitors and study their content and presentation style. The accounts of successful realtors can give you dozens of ideas for posts.

Generating content can take up most of your time. Automate your work with a reliable service like PromoRepublic. This tool helps you generate content, set up auto-posting, and choose the most profitable times.

The bottom line

So, you have already realized that SMM is a great way to promote real estate agencies and realtor services on the Internet. And there are a lot of options for how to do it. Experiment with content, use all the ideas or a few of them — the main thing is variety!

We hope you enjoyed our real estate social media posts ideas! Good luck!

The post 10 Best Real Estate Social Media Post Ideas [2021] appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Social channels have a great impact on modern consumers nowadays. They can’t live without their gadgets and the Internet. They know everything, from technical facts, to where it is better to acquire a certain widget.

According to research, on average, people spend 2 hours and 15 minutes per day on social media, and 28% of internet users use social media to research and find products to purchase. That’s why social commerce has a particularly strong value for online shopping and business.

Social Commerce

Using social media as a channel to offer users products to purchase directly from their news feed is the best possible Social Commerce definition. Social e-commerce mixes the functionality and ease of e-commerce with the popularity and huge audience of social networking sites.

PromoRepublic is the World’s First Social Commerce Platform that empowers small businesses with intelligent tech to drive more sales & engagement from social.

Today, enthusiastic shoppers look at different social platforms to buy online products they need and want. Social media websites actively use this trend by adding new direct response advertising buttons like “buy it now” to motivate users to take action, create special advertisements, provide different payment solutions, and many more. By using social commerce, a business can potentially improve their revenue and appeal to a much wider audience. As for customers, by investing in a brand through social media, they often benefit from discounts and exclusive products and information.

The Difference Between Social Media Marketing and Social Commerce

Yes, there is a difference between these two things. SMM is used by brands to drive traffic to their websites or different social media platforms they want. Companies use ads showcasing their products and/or services, include a CTAs (call to action), for people to click-through to the website.

The cost of such ads is usually based on the number of impressions the ad will gain and/or a cost-per-click (CPC, that’s more commonly used in search engine paid ads, like Google). But, this cost is factored into that all important CPA (cost per acquisition), and ultimately takes the consumer out of their social media journey.

Social commerce allows consumers to buy products and services from a brand directly, from within the social commerce platform. This could be via either clicking on a paid ad (like the above), or by clicking on the “Go to the Shop” button on the brand’s social media page.

Basic Examples

Facebook and Instagram are the most vivid and easy-to-use social commerce examples, has improved the mobile shopping experience, and users can buy the goods directly through the platform instead of being redirected to the retailer’s website (F-commerce). Nowadays, when a client buys the product, he/she either types the credit card information on Facebook or chooses to store the information for faster purchases.

Social commerce is a game-changer for smaller brands. It allows them to easily compete in crowded marketplaces and even try their chances with big companies. However, now big retailers are hopping on board too. For example, Walmart plans to start selling their products via influencers directly on TikTok.

Social commerce grown tremendously in 2020. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Social Commerce is projected to reach a revised size of $604.5 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 31.4% over the analysis period 2020-2027.

Why You Should Care About Social Commerce

There are several reasons you should care about it:

• It controls traffic to retail websites. If users don’t make a purchase, the brand made an impression which can be nurtured into a purchase at other digital points.
• It increases brand reach. An impressive number of users log in everyday and actively search for products they’re ready to buy.
• It creates trust among clients. Social media is where people go to share things with friends and, be social. It’s a channel through which users feel comfortable and express themselves. It allows creating a deeper relationship with them by offering the opportunity to buy goods.
• It is a key component in the great experience. Social media is a gateway because if users see something they love in their news feed, social commerce lets them click straight through to the website, ensuring smooth purchase journey.
• It thrives on community. Building a strong brand community on social media increases repeat purchases and drives new customers by creating an experience users want to share in and a brand they want to follow.

Social e-commerce allows brands to reach a highly engaged audience and simplifies the path to purchase for customers at checkout.

How to Start Getting Customers from Social

• Call to action

Creating a special call to action on your social media website leading to a dedicated landing page, captures more customers. For instance: Put a link on one of your posts to a devoted landing page with a special offer or a promotion code.

• Use special hashtags

Hashtags provide easy interaction with users. People follow hashtags they’re interested in; use them to find a wealth of new prospects to follow.

• Make people give you their money

People use social media to relax and entertain. However, if they see a photo of one of your products and decide to buy it, they may not actively try to find it on your website. When you promote your products on social media, make it as easy as possible for people to find the path to buy them.

• Influencers using the products

Current customers vouching for your products can be a great way to turn your social media followers into customers. But what if those endorsements came from authority figures in your industry or media stars? Work with influencers to create posts showcasing themselves using your products. It helps demonstrate the trustworthiness of your goods.

Social e-commerce is a booming market with a whole slew of options. Today, it has become a growing trend since every user is on social networks almost all hours of the day. If you are a retailer and strive to sell your goods, social commerce is the perfect option for you.

The post What Is Social Commerce? The Stats, Examples and Tips You Need for 2021 appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Contents: 

1. Mentor
2. Safety Net
3. Portfolio
4. Business Growth
5. Team
6. Delegation and Automation
7. Automation Design
8. Process Documentation
9. Output

You Need a Mentor

No matter what stage you are at in building a business or an agency, having someone around who’s been there before and can support you along this journey can help you professionally and mentally. Find some expert or at least an experienced practitioner who can lead you on your way and give you some useful advice so you don’t make a mess from the very beginning.

Don’t Leap Without a Safety Net

If you are transitioning into freelancing from a 9 to 5 job, there is a good chance you may find yourself in a pickle, so here are some simple tips to consider for a smoother transition: 

• Set money aside. Don’t get yourself into a situation where you depend entirely on your clients. Besides, your rate may be relatively low at the very beginning, so it’s a good idea to have an emergency fund.
•  Drink up as much knowledge and skills as you can in your current job. That way, when you quit, you will be ready for the change.
• Launch your business as a side hustle first. Just test things out and get ready to go it alone without stress. 

Build a Portfolio 

• Start a blog to test different content marketing strategies and to build authority. 
• Try everything until you find your niche. 
• Your side hustle clients can become your first case study and/or testimonials. This can persuade more clients to hire you. 

Hiring Help to Grow Your Business

The second stage is the transition into a full-time business. Shortly after, you will probably come to an understanding that you can’t do everything by yourself; you may have sick days or want to go on a vacation. Business success is best achieved in a team, and NOT alone.

Hiring help means increasing MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) while you focus on things that you are uniquely good at. 

Build a Team to Scale Your Business

• Virtual assistants – key people to hire at the very beginning of your business: help with administrative tasks, design creation, research, etc. 
• Writers – can support your business with unique content on diverse topics. 
• Editors – they make sure that your content is of high quality. It could be a good idea to create a unified style guide so your writers and editors can stick to it freeing you of constant supervision.
• Account\Project Managers – they can help you with communication with clients and help move your business forward, in general. 

What to Delegate or Automate:

• Time-consuming tasks. For example, SMM. Hire content writer who can create content, a content plan, and take care of your social media profiles. Make sure that your marketing is in constant motion. It’s very easy to neglect your own marketing while you are working on your clients’ marketing.
• Low-value tasks. Sit down and examine what is considered “low-value” for you. It may be managing your writer’s work, checking off everyone’s tasks, and so on. It can be crucial for your business but, at the same time, not your top priority. Specialty\Occasional Services. When specialized knowledge would be needed, for example, bookkeeping or setting up a workflow. 
• Data entry\Transfer. This will help not only save you time but eliminate any chance of human error. 

Taking your business from freelancing to agency requires implementing the best project management tool. And the tool is not as important as how you set it up and use it. Here are some features to consider while choosing a process management tool:

• Task Management – check if you can leave comments or view relatable tasks.
• User Interface – simplicity is key with the least possibility of headaches!
• Chat – check if you need it as an inbuilt or a separate tool.
• Time Tracking – a handy feature when working with a lot of independent contractors.
• Document Management – check if you can easily save, transfer, use, and share your documents. 

How to Design Automation for Scale

What’s the process? It’s a series of steps that can be easily followed and repeated by a qualified user. Process documentation involves written documents with annotated screenshots or screen recordings that walk you through user interfaces. There are many useful apps and services that will help you automate your agency’s working processes. Here are some examples.

Agency process automation tools:

• Process Street
• Zapier

Connected Apps:

• Slack
• Notion
• Clust

Scale Your Agency With Process Documentation 

A very intuitive process can help your business evolve in the future. Once you start, it will build over time. Here are a couple of good examples:

• Style Guide
• Hiring Documentation
• Onboarding Steps\Training

Doubling Output

The Automation process can significantly increase your earnings. It helps you avoid human errors, saves time and effort, and allows you to step away from being the information gatekeeper. Your business will steadily grow, and retainer agreements paid in full before work will create this growth predictability. Forecasting your earnings will give you a better understanding of how to move forward and also anticipate how many new clients or team members you will need. 

The post How to Automate Your Agency and Double the Clients You Serve appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Every agency dreams of having a long-lasting, successful, and fruitful relationship with its clients. Every client wants a solid agency partnership too. So, how to build loyal and long-lasting business relations? 

What should you look out for?

• ⅔ of brands work with three or more digital agencies simultaneously. It means that there is a lot of competition around there and your clients have a lot of choices.
• One of the main problems of new agencies is that they are working with anyone who comes their way, and that’s the reason for poor relationship quality. To choose your client correctly, you need to think of how they make you feel when you communicate. 

First of all, communication is a significant part of the client-agency relationship and it’s important to communicate with clients regularly. Nothing makes a client uneasy more than not hearing anything from their agency. Try to keep your clients in the loop with the status of their projects or campaigns, involve them in the process, let them ask questions, and request changes early on, rather than when you’ve completed most of the work.

Also, be sure to set expectations at the start regarding how clients can contact you and how frequently you’ll talk. It can involve weekly calls, emails within a set time, or sending monthly reports. Clients must understand what level of contact to expect and what you’ll need from them to keep things moving forward.

Good clients:

• Good communication, you are excited to work together.
• Have all of the resources needed to help you.
• Have an understanding of marketing “not always needed.”
• You’ve had success with similar clients before.

Bad clients:

• Have burned through multiple agencies.
• Don’t respect time or boundaries. 
• Always calling the shots.
• Paying little, expecting everything in return.

You have to be crystal clear about who you want to work with and what you stand for s an agency.

Remember that both parties play a crucial role in a successful relationship and the best partnerships have complete transparency on both sides. 

Tell your client all about things like your agency’s approach and compensation arrangement while clients should be candid about their objectives and budgets. Some topics may be challenging but discussing them ahead of time ensures both parties are on the same page and prevents misunderstandings from happening later down the road.

When it comes to communication, honesty is the best policy for all times. For example, don’t be afraid to tell a client if you think that something doesn’t align with their overall vision, or if it’s challenging to execute. It’s better to let them know everything during planning than telling them further into the process. The same goes for clients, they should feel comfortable expressing disappointment or happiness with a project result. Keep the lines of communication open.

How to create and maintain successful relationships?

You need to set yourself up for success from the very beginning. Successful cases are only 50% of good agency-client relationships. The other half is the client’s comfort in communicating and working with you.

To make everything right from the very beginning, the thing about this:

• What’s your client onboarding experience?
• Is it clear and well-defined?
• Is it automated?
• How could you improve it?

To make things even more smooth you can create a so-called expectations agreement. It’s a document with information about what an agency can expect from its client and what the client can expect from working with an agency. 

Also:

• Invest time, money, and energy into your backend systems and tools.
• Aim to create a systemized and repeatable workflow.

If you are running a Social Media Marketing Agency, it could also be a great time to consider using a tool such as PromoRepublic to support your Workflow. 

Then, of course, you need to deliver excellent service as you promised…

Keep on top of how your clients are feeling and how your agency is performing with NPS scoring.

The post How to Establish Successful Client and Agency Relationships appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

How to Identify the Right and Wrong Clients for Your Agency

Agency owners made many mistakes at the very beginning of their career because they want to work with anyone who showed interest and trying to catch any chances to grow business and make money. But in the future it can be a really big problem as they understand how important the right client is and how much impact it can get on your business. For example, if you are working with a lot of clients and your team hates working with them, it creates a very toxic atmosphere. Here is a simple checklist you can use to identify the good and the bad clients.

Good clients:

• Good communicators – you’re excited to work together.
• Have all of the resources needed to help you.
• Have an understanding of marketing (not always needed).
• You’ve had success with similar clients before.

Bad clients:

• Have burned through multiple agencies.
• Don’t respect time or boundaries.
• Constantly calling the shots.
• Paying little, expecting EVERYTHING in return.

Bad clients can really burn your team out. You spend a lot of time just trying to fix the relations, and that’s a big red flag. Another thing is the format of communication. For example, bad clients often use only email to talk about anything, and it takes a lot of time, even with minor issues. Moreover, sometimes you need to teach clients how to communicate better to get better results for both of you. Good clients can talk to you on a video call and discuss everything you need in 15 minutes.

How to Build Your Agency Positioning

Start with a niche focus, identify product-market fit and then start offering additional services after. Starting with a niche will really help you out and speed up the path to revenue. It’s a lot easier to add some clients when you know precisely what you are doing on the market and what clients you want to work with.

A Simple Lead Generation Tactic That Nobody Is Talking About

If lead generation is a problem to you and is something that stops you from progress, here is a tip. There are agencies that don’t do any lead generation, no emails, no calls, nothing like this. Sometimes it can cost you a lot of resources but will bring you nothing. But if you do your job well, people will know about you and will come by themselves. And when there be enough leads for your team, you will start to choose the best of them and now when you know the criteria you can even get picky. Check our webinar where you will find how this tactic can triple your agency in 12 months.

A little spoiler: Your Own Podcast. A great example is the SaaS Marketing Show launched at the end of March 2020 both on audio and video. Having gained early traction, it’s well on the way to becoming the #1 SaaS Marketing podcast in the world, thanks to high-quality guests and valuable content. The show’s audience mostly consists of SaaS marketers, founders, and CEOs. It’s a weekly interview show with episodes being 25-35 minutes long. Guest criteria is a senior marketer at a SaaS company of $1 million ARR+ who must deep-dive into a marketing activity that has worked well for them, along with numbers.

We hope these tips will help you find the best clients for your Agency and grow. To get some more detailed information from experienced practitioners on how to grow your agency check out Agency&Freelancer Academy.

The post User Acquisition for Digital Agencies: How to Find New Clients appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Undoubtedly, this situation affects digital marketing agencies as well. But don’t worry — the chances of agencies not being needed tomorrow are slim to none! Nevertheless, it’s harder for those who want to open their own digital marketing agency than ever to choose a niche. How can you be sure that another pandemic won’t cause your industry to any longer be profitable in a month? That’s why today, in this article, we decided to cover the topic of how to choose a niche and what the pros and cons are. So read on!

Reasons why you should choose a niche

Some of you may have wondered at this point — why pick a niche at all rather than working with everyone? There are a number of reasons for that. First of all, of course, it will be much easier for you to set up processes and find clients there. In addition, it is obvious that there are so many digital agencies these days, and it is impossible to take the leading position among all of them at once. But it is pretty possible to become a leader in a particular industry!

Other less obvious advantages also include:

• Roadmap. If you’re working with everyone in all niches, it’s very easy to stop understanding what you’re even doing and where your agency is going. You’ll have a more challenging time convincing clients why it’s more profitable to work with you than your competitors because you won’t have enough clear examples. Having a niche will allow you to look for specific pain points of potential clients and make your services more personalized.
• Understanding your competitors. Choosing a specific niche allows you to start really analyzing and understanding your competitors, as well as their services, advantages, and disadvantages. It will be easier for you to convince clients why your approach is unique and more profitable.
• You will be able to anticipate external risks and possible impacts. Having a niche allows you to adapt quickly to them and position yourself better.
• Having a niche gives you growth opportunities. You can better understand your target audience, your objectives, and your services. Thus, you get the chance to develop faster and more steadily while having a high ROI.

So it’s pretty obvious that choosing a niche is a very profitable and correct decision. Now let’s figure out how to choose it.

How to choose a niche

The short answer to this question is to do very meticulous research. 

In truth, however, there are simply no shortcuts in this case. Therefore, it is worth going consistently, using the following five points. 

1. Brainstorm

Start by brainstorming with a couple of trusted people you want to work with who have enough experience and knowledge. The goal of this process is to bring in new ideas. But these people will also help you conduct your research. 

First of all, determine what your strengths and weaknesses are. Then make a list of niches that you could quickly enter, given your strengths. Are you good at running PPC campaigns? Do you have a successful track record in SMM? All of this will be a plus for you!

2. Get to know your competitors 

At the end of the previous step, you already have a list of niches that suit your skills. And this has both pros and cons. The cons are that, most likely, almost all the niches you selected are already too “crowded,” and there is stiff competition. Pros are that further research will go much faster since your competitors have already conducted all possible market research. So fill your boots!

Start analyzing each selected niche and research your competitors. Compare the company’s size, staff, rates, social media, and how they position themselves in the mass media.

Carefully analyze the information you receive. A large staff and more than one office of your competitor’s agency may mean that it is indeed profitable. Audiences on social media can tell you if there is interest in this niche and how great it is. If your competitors have many good reviews, then we have bad news for you — the competition will be really tough. 

With this kind of analysis, you can cross off niches that are “overcrowded” or unsuitable for you. This will leave you with a few options for niches where you have a real chance of success.

3. Conduct an industry research

Now we’re going to contradict the previous point a bit: you shouldn’t completely trust your competitors — they may not be the best indicators of the situation in a given niche. 

It could be anything. Maybe they bought subscribers and likes from special agencies. Maybe the reviews were left by employees or the management themselves — with fake accounts. That’s why it’s a perfect time to analyze the industry at this point. Essentially, you take the information you’ve already found and check it against more reliable sources. 

Don’t forget to analyze the findings. Will you be able to keep up in a niche like this? Do you have enough budget? Will you be able to stay trendy? Discuss your findings with the group of trusted people mentioned above. At this point, your list of niches will shrink again.

4. Get to know your potential client 

“Creating avatar” is not only about James Cameron’s creative process but also about analyzing your potential client. You have to understand your market segment and its content — the people you have to deal with. So before you choose a niche, it’s worth getting to know them. This is where the avatar of your ideal client comes in handy. It’s important to remember: we’re not talking about your target audience here, but about an individual — your ideal client. And when you speak to your audience, it is in them that your words resonate in the first place. 

5. Conduct a survey among small businesses

There’s not much left to do! By now, you have undoubtedly identified the niches that will be most profitable and successful for you. You also know in person not only your competitors but also your potential customers. Now it’s just a matter of getting the feedback that will confirm or refute your decision.

Whether you succeed or your niche breaks you depends on the quality of your research, your skills, and, of course, your luck. So you have to be sure that your services are relevant, in demand, and that someone will want to buy them at all. Based on your customer avatar research, make a list of 12-15 questions for your target audience. Their purpose is to validate your niche choice. If you are going to open a digital marketing agency for social media marketing for accountants, your questions, for example, might look like this:

• Have you heard about the benefits of having a corporate social media profile?
• Have you ever considered creating one?
• Would you like to get a new influx of customers through, for example, Facebook?

Post your questions on social media or send them out to former clients. Even cold calls will work. Your goal is to get as many responses as possible from people who fit the title of your ideal customer. 

Analyze the responses. If you see that people want these services and can afford them, you’ve come to the finish line. Your niche has been found.

Pros and cons of choosing a niche

Of course, by this point, it is clear that finding your niche has many advantages. But there are also disadvantages. Let’s define them.

Pros

• Fast and confident launching in the market. After choosing a niche, you already have a marketing strategy, you know your client and their needs, and networking and attracting new clients only gets easier.
• Easier selling. When you work in one niche, it’s much easier to confirm and improve your reputation. It’s also easier for you to generate leads and prove to them why you’re their best option. 
• Targeted marketing and high conversions. You can create more personalized content for different target audiences by addressing your customers’ pain points directly.

Cons

• Smaller market capitalization. Choosing a niche means a much smaller number of potential clients, as well as the risks of oversaturation of this market.
• The need for more in-depth expertise. If you have not had experience in a particular niche, you will have to earn it very quickly. 
• Fewer leads. Choosing a niche means that even if you are doing well now and the conversion is going great, you may soon reach its limit.

We have listed all the main pros and cons and covered the main steps. Now it’s up to you. You can look for your niche or work for several industries at once. The main thing is to do quality research! If you want some more detailed instructions and help from experienced practitioners, check out our webinar on this topic. 

The post How to Choose a Niche for Your Agency. Pros and Cons appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

There are holidays devoted to these undeniably smart animals in many countries. In most parts of the world, Cat Day is celebrated on August 8. But for some countries, this date is different. So, in Russia, it is celebrated on March 1, in Poland — February 17, in Japan — February 22, and in the U.S., they are honored on October 29.

The purpose of this holiday is not only to honor our pets but also to raise awareness about the problem of homeless cats.

Cats were and are one of the most popular pets in the world, second only to dogs. In 2018, 370 million people owned a cat compared to 470 million dog owners. Meanwhile, in Europe, the cat was the most popular animal in the same year: 75 million cat owners vs. 65 million dog owners.

So it makes sense that today, we will dedicate this article to these beautiful animals. So, these are the top 15 Instagram post ideas for International Cat Day!

Idea #1. Post a cat (it’s that simple)

The easiest way to celebrate International Cat Day is to post a cute cat photo and write a greeting. You can also make a slightly more informative post, write about the holiday’s purpose, give some statistics, and other useful information. Users will really appreciate it! And don’t forget about the hashtags!

Source: https://www.instagram.com/todayscatss/

Idea #2. Make a support post

Write about local shelters or volunteer organizations that help homeless cats. Encourage your followers to help them. Or you can even donate a few percent of your revenue for that day to one of these organizations. This will greatly increase your audience’s trust and build your image as a socially responsible company.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/_animalheroes_/

Idea #3. Organize a giveaway 

Have a joint giveaway with a cat supplies manufacturer or retailer. Such publications are a proven way to bring you a new audience and increase activity in your account. Invite Instagram users to subscribe to you and your partner, share the post in Stories, or tag friends in the comments. You can also invite them to be creative: have followers write an original International Cat Day greeting and choose a winner based on the number of likes.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/arriemae_inspires/

Idea #4. Post about top 10 famous cats

Collect the top 10 most famous cats. These can be both cats who have become famous for something throughout history or just the most popular cats from Internet memes. Don’t forget to share a bit about each of them — Instagram users love this kind of stuff!

Source: https://www.instagram.com/le.chatnoir.mystique/

Idea #5. Spread the word about the health of cats, nutritious food for them, or a little bit about their upbringing

There is an incredible amount of information on the Internet today about raising or feeding cats, how to take care of them, and what to look out for. And often, it is very easy to get lost in this flood of articles, notes, and blogs. Help your users and collect for them the most relevant and verified information on how to take better care of their pets.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/alex_the_cat_nurse_/

Idea #6. Organize a cat party

Invite employees to bring their own kitties and have a real party for them! Prepare treats, fun costumes, and decorations. You can even get a professional photographer to capture the party for all your followers!

Source: https://www.instagram.com/chiichiirella/

Idea #7. Tell about your volunteer work

Share with your subscribers how your company helps homeless cats or local shelters. Prepare a photo report. Maybe there’s a kitty near your office that you love to feed — your audience will appreciate the gesture!

Source: https://www.instagram.com/togerd/

Idea #8. Let your audience post for you

Invite your followers to post funny pictures of their cats. Collect the most original ones in your account or Stories! You can even reward the most creative users with a promo code or a discount on your products.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/barkingstore/

Idea #9. Collect the top of the funniest cat videos

The Internet is primarily a place to watch cat videos. Remind your followers of this by compiling the top 10 funniest cat videos ever!

Source: https://www.instagram.com/loveyoustepan/

Idea #10. Conduct an interview with the cat

If a cat lives in your company or an employee’s cat has become your office mascot, “interview” it. For example, you can tell about its “working” day in the office or at home.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/cattownoak/

Idea #11. Make a selection of recipes that your followers can make for their cats

Instagram is full of a variety of recipes. But how often do you see recipes for cats? A hearty soup, tuna treats, flavorful fish? Your followers’ cats will absolutely love it! But be careful and do not touch the subject of cats’ diets — a specialist should only do it!

Source: https://www.instagram.com/felightuk/

Idea #12. Have a live stream with a veterinarian or other cat specialist

A Q&A session is always a winning option. Ask your audience to help you put together a list of questions they would like to ask a well-known expert. This could be a veterinarian, a volunteer from a local shelter, or other experts who deal with cats.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/chewy/

Idea #13. Tell about how your employees celebrated International Cat Day

Find out which of your employees have cats. Ask them to share pictures of how they celebrated this holiday with their pets. An ideal way to do this is also to accompany pictures with little stories about what they did and how their cats reacted.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/eatdrinkcat/

Idea #14. Put together a post of the most hilarious medieval cat paintings

Have you ever seen cats drawn in the Middle Ages? One can’t help but laugh because they are hilarious! Impress your audience on International Cat Day with a selection of the funniest medieval cat drawings, and your followers won’t forget you!

Source: https://www.boredpanda.com/ugly-medieval-cats-art/

Idea #15. Ask your in-house designers to make cute and funny cards

Cards with original illustrations for all kinds of holidays are very popular on the Internet. Have your design team make a selection of your corporate postcards with cats that can be published on Instagram. The themes can be very different — moments from the life of cats, cats who work in the office, etc. Show your creativity!

Source: https://www.instagram.com/pinkcatcartoon/

So, these were the top 15 creative Instagram post ideas for International Cat Day! Choose and act. It’ll have a good impact on your social media presence!

The post Top 15 Creative Instagram Post Ideas for International Cat Day appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

• Benefits of Opening a Facebook Store
• How to Sell on Facebook Business Page
• How to Create a Facebook Shop in 9 Easy Steps
• How to Promote a Facebook Shop

Benefits of Opening a Facebook Store

Before jumping to the actual steps, let’s first answer a question as to what a Facebook store is and why you should use one. Facebook Store is a specific online page with the roll-out of your products through which you can reach a broader customer base and allow them to make a purchase. It is also referred to as a Facebook Shop, so don’t get confused, as it’s literally the same thing.

Opening a Facebook shop, you’ll need a graphic design tool to create pictures for your products. Try PromoRepublic, and it will surprise you with the combination of content creation and social media management features.

Creating a shop on Facebook has many advantages for self-starters. You don’t need the actual website to sell goods. But if you have one, Facebook helps you generate more traffic and grow your customer base. The typical way to use a Facebook shop is to link to the website where the buyer will finish the purchase, but some retailers allow you to buy directly from Facebook.

The key point is that Facebook’s Shop tab is free for all users, and you can set it up in less than 15 minutes. Moreover, once you have a Facebook shop set up, you’ll be able to start tagging any of your products featured in your images. This ensures that everyone who views your posts will become aware of the products you have available.

How to Sell on Facebook Business Page

Selling products through Facebook business pages is easy and fast. Generally, there are two ways to do it: 

1. A primary way is to create a Facebook Store with product listings and connect payments directly to the platform’s cart. It means your users won’t need to go outside of Facebook to buy a product, and you won’t need to use external platforms. 
2. Or, you can use an e-commerce website, like Shopify, and create a web store there. Thus, you’ll be able to link the products on Shopify to your Facebook Store page. 

How to Create a Facebook Shop

Creating a Facebook shop isn’t the most difficult task. On the contrary, it’s pretty easy. All you need is:

• A Facebook account
• A Facebook business page

Apart from the two requirements, your Facebook page must also adhere to the following: 

• Sell physical items – this means there’s no way to sell digital or downloadable products from your Facebook Shop page
• Agree with Facebook’s Merchant Terms
• Link to a valid bank account (US-based stores)
• Have a tax identification number (US-based stores)

1. Add a Shop section to your page

To add a Shop section to your Facebook business page, go to your Facebook business page > Settings > Templates and tabs > Add a Tab > Shop (Click “Add Tab”). Once you’ve added the tab, click “Settings” (of the tab) and ensure the tab is turned on.

2. Agree to Facebook’s Merchant Terms and Policies

Facebook’s Merchant Terms and Policies will appear after you click the Add Shop Section button. Don’t forget to read them carefully before agreeing. They might include useful information about what you’re allowed to sell on Facebook and how you should solve any problems that appear with return and refund policies, for example. 

3. Select Checkout Method

Once you agree to the terms and policies, you can select the type of checkout you prefer. In other words, choose your payment method when opening a Facebook shop. Generally, there are two checkout methods on Facebook – Message to Buy and Check Out on Another Website. Message to Buy means that a buyer will be able to purchase the product by sending you a message. The other option allows you to send people to other e-commerce websites, from where they will complete their purchases.

Choosing the second method means that you’ll have to add a URL to Shopify, or another e-commerce website when adding a product and filling in the underlying form. 

4. Choose the Currency for Your Shop and Hit Save

Have you decided on the payment method? It’s time to choose a currency that will appear on the product description after you add it completely. 

IMPORTANT: If you chose the wrong currency or want to change the checkout method, you need to delete your shop and create it up again. All the goods and services added to the shop will be deleted too. To delete your shop, click on the Shop Tab and find gear icon in the right up corner and choose Delete.

5. Describe What You’re Going to Sell

Congratulations! Now you can fill in some general information about the products you’re selling and add them to the shop. A little box will appear, where you can describe what you’re going to sell, in 200 characters.

6. Start Adding Products to Your Shop

After you’ve added a little description of what you’re going to sell, you can add your first product. This is doable only from your computer and you can only sell physical products, according to Facebook guidelines. The box you’ll see will look like this (in case you’ve chosen Message to Buy as your checkout method). You’ll see completely intuitive and user-oriented on-screen instructions. The form requires adding a photo, name, price, description, and visibility of your product. Also, there are some other toggles you can play with. 

But here are some rules and best practices to complete your Facebook online store. You won’t be able to publish a product without adding at least one photo. Please note that customers will be happy to see more than one. The best dimension for a photo would be a square image of 1024 x 1024 pixels, according to Facebook’s recommended photo guidelines. You can set the right size and create your product picture in PromoRepublic’s Editor: 

It’s also possible to add a video of your product. 

Let’s see what you can do next. 

1. Clearly, put down the name of your product.
2. Fill in the price. You can mention only one price, but if you decide to choose “This product is on sale,” you can change it. This way, your clients will see how much they save.
3. Describe your product or tell about its advantages in short sentences, preferably with bullet points. Avoid company-specific information. Don’t use URLs or emojis, both will be broken in the description. According to Facebook, the descriptions cannot contain phone numbers, email addresses, long titles, excessive punctuation, all letters capitalized or in lowercase, book or movie spoilers, or external links.
4. In Edit Options, you can add options describing the size and color of your product.
5. There, you can also choose your shipping information and policy.
6. After you click the Save button, Facebook begins to Process your product. It may take up to 24 hours to review if it complies with Facebook policies. 
7. Share the product on your page. When you have created a product, you can publish an announcement telling people what’s new in your shop. If you add many products, it’s better not to share them on the page all at once. You will be able to do this later.

7. Add Collections 

If you want to sell many products of different types, Facebook allows you to create collections with them. Categorized collections make navigation easier for buyers and improve the shopping experience. This feature becomes visible when you’ve already added some products. The next thing you’ll have to is to create create a name for your collection, add products, and choose “Feature this Collection” to make it stand out in your shop. Nordgreen, a Danish brand of watches, for example, has collections of women’s and men’s watches separated on their Facebook online store. Check it out: 

8. Change the CTA Button

Facebook does a lot of things automatically and setting your CTA is no exception. It creates your call to action button on the right corner under your background image that leads to the shop on your page. Famous brands like Tiffany & Co. use a simple message in their CTAs: Shop Now. However, when you’ve set up a store on Facebook, you can easily change the CTA button and even link your website to it. It’s up to you! 

9. Promote your Shop

You are fabulous. Your shop is ready. Now it’s time to get people to know about your shop and products.

How to Promote a Facebook Shop

Adding your shop to a Facebook page isn’t enough. Don’t forget to tell the world about it to streamline purchases. In general, there are three possible ways to spread the word about your intention to sell goods or services. You can share the entire shop, separate products, and even collections. 

To share your shop on Facebook, choose “Share your shop” on the right top corner, add some text, and voila! If you run several pages or groups and think other followers will be interested in your goods – choose different pages and post on them as well. This post’s link will be active. Your clients will be redirected either to your Facebook shop, or real one when they tap on a visual. Every time when you have special offers, new arrivals, or sales – share your shop with clients. Here’s an example: 

You can also share a specific product, but to do it, you’ll need to tag it in your post. Select the last item under the text box and type your product’s name or ID. It’s as simple as that!

Don’t forget that collections are also shareable in the Facebook shop section. They’ll appear nicely in the form of a Carrousel when shared. 

It’s all set. If you want to create a better shopping experience by letting fans and followers purchase directly on your page, you will need to use third-party applications to integrate payment methods. If you are located in the US, you can do this on your own, but you will need to update your goods on your own, as well. 

The post How to Create and Set Up a Facebook Shop: 9 Easy Steps appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.