Do you want to use Facebook as a tool to sell your art online? In this post, I will share with you how to sell products on Facebook.
How to Sell Products on Facebook
eBay was launched on September 3, 1995, and changed the way people sold and shopped for products. It was possible to purchase things you would never be able to find in your local shops.
eBay made it possible for crafters to sell their crafts online and make a decent wage.
There have been many changes since 1995.
To put in perspective, in 1995 there were almost 45,000,000 internet users and in 2014 there were almost 3 billion active internet users.
In 1995, artists had a chance to showcase their art to 45,000 people around the world. That is if they all visited eBay.
Today artists have a chance to reach over 1 billion people marketing their art on Facebook.
Would you like to have your art seen by 1 billion people?
It is very unlikely that your art will reach everyone who is on Facebook, but the opportunity to reach a tremendous amount of people is there.
You have a better chance of more people seeing your art on Facebook than if your art was hanging in a museum.
How to Attract Prospective Customers
Artists that succeed in selling art online are the artists who have mastered the art of marketing. They have taken the time to learn all the tools that are available to them and they put in the work.
There is some incredible art that we will never see, just because the artist has not learned how to market their art or are unwilling to try.
Are you the type of artist that wants to sell art or just hopes your art will sell?
If you want to sell your art online, you will need to put in the hard work.
Let’s go over some different tactics you can use to start attracting prospective customers on Facebook.
- Make it easy for people to find your Facebook Page. Post links to your Facebook Page on your artist website, artist blog, other social media networks, newsletters, and email signature.
- Offer coupons or discounts only available to your Facebook followers. This will encourage your followers to share your posts and visit your page more often so they do not miss out on a special deal.
- Engage with your followers and other Pages that relate to your niche. Engaging with your followers only takes a few seconds but is very beneficial for your business. Engaging with other Pages will take a little longer and you might want to consider scheduling some time during the week to do so. You must be social on social media networks if you hope to be noticed.
- Like other Pages as your Business Page. This will help you to build brand awareness. When you comment on a Business Page make sure you comment using your Business Page. Everyone who goes through the comments will see your Business name.
- Hashtags are not only for Twitter. You can use hashtags to make it easier for people to find your posts on Facebook. People can search for specific hashtags in Facebook’s search bar. Hashtags can originate from other services like Instagram and compose posts from the hashtag
- Use Facebook Ads to generate traffic to Your Page or posts. You are still getting your monies worth with Facebook Ads and Facebook has made it easier for businesses to target their customers. You will not be spending money on people who will not be interested in your art. I predict the cost of Facebook Ads to rise as more businesses are taking advantage of Facebook’s low prices.
- Produce shareable content on your Facebook Timeline. Your posts will reach more people when they are shared by your following. When someone enjoys a post that you have created they will share it with their friends. This will help you to build brand awareness.
- Produce content for your audience. You have a better chance of having your followers engage with your posts if you write content that is interesting to them.
Facebook Stores
Now that you have a following, you will want to make it easy for them to purchase your art.
Facebook wants people to stay on Facebook for as long as they can.
Why does Facebook want you to stay on their platform?
Facebook is a business and they are there to make money. The longer people stay on Facebook, the more ads they will see. This is one way Facebook makes their money.
Facebook knows that online sales are increasing year to year. They are taking advantage of this and are now allowing Businesses to build shops on their Business page.
A person can now purchase a product without leaving Facebook. This makes it convenient for people on Facebook and it benefits Facebook because people are not being redirected to a different site.
There are many apps available for you to have a professional looking shop. These apps have made it easy for people who are not familiar with coding to customize a shop that is true to their brand.
You will have the options to add your logo, change the colors and arrange your products until it represents your art website.
Another benefit of building a Facebook shop is that most third-party tools include and install an SSL certificate. SSL certificates provide secure connections from a web server to a browser making it a safe transaction for your customers.
How to Open a Store on Facebook
Opening a store on Facebook is easy to do and will only take a few minutes to have your products available for purchase on your Facebook Page.
The hardest part will be to decide on what third-party service you will want to use.
Here are some of the most popular third-party services artists and businesses are using to create a Facebook store.
Take some time learning what both have to offer to make sure it is the perfect fit for you.
Ecwin
Ecwin has several payment options for you to choose from. You can start your shop for free to see if it something that will work for you.
If you are happy with the software, you can upgrade your account to get more features that will help you to build your art business on Facebook.
Features:
- Free plan available
- Set up shop on multiple social networks, multiple sites, and blogs
- Easy to install
- Responsive. Your shop will look great on any device
- SSL-certificates
- Server configuration and hosting
- Great shopping experience
- Easy checkout
- Language detection
- Smart shipping calculator
- Track inventory
- Manage products
- Sell digital goods
- Several payment options
One benefit you might find very helpful is that Ecwid allows you to sync your products between your website and your Facebook Page.
One common mistake I see artists make when they are selling with different platforms is the inconsistency of pricing. Ecwin makes it easy for you to have consistent prices online as well as an accurate inventory.
StoreYa
StoreYa offers a free plan as Ecwid does. The difference is that StoreYa offers 50 free product SKUs. Ecwid’s free plan only allows you to have 10 free product SKU’s.
One feature you might be interested in is the ability to import products from over 23 store platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify, and Amazon.
You will also have a set of marketing tools that can help you build your audience.
There are many apps available for small business owners to take advantage of Facebook’s audience.
More Storefront Apps
Here are a few more options for you to consider. I recommend spending some time researching what each app offers before you commit to one.
Promote Products with Facebook Cover Photo
Another way you can promote and sell your art on Facebook is by taking advantage of using a clickable Facebook Cover Photo.
As you already know, Facebook makes a lot of changes. In the past, Facebook didn’t allow Business Pages to have clickable Cover Photos.
You can now create a call-to-action on your Cover Photo to entice sales.
To keep up-to-date with Facebook’s Guidelines, visit Facebook Page Guidelines.
I use Canva to create my social media images.
Canva has templates for all the most popular social media networks making it easy for you to keep up with the image dimensions.
All you have to do is click and drop and you will have a beautiful image in minutes.
Cover Image Tips
Keep in mind when you are creating your image that most people are using mobile devices to visit Facebook.
Text on images can be difficult to see on mobile devices so when you are designing the image use easy to read fonts.
Use font colors that stand out and are easy to read. You want to catch your audience’s attention when they visit your Page.
Match the look and feel of your Cover Photo to your artist website, artist blog and other social media networks you are on. You want to be consistent with your brand on all the different platforms you are using to sell your art online.
Share Links in Facebook Posts
The last way I would like to talk about selling on your Facebook is free and what you will want to be focusing on most.
To sell art online, you need to build an audience. To attract people to your art website, art blog and social media sites, you must create a ton of content.
Selling art online is very affordable and in most cases free. But as you know, nothing is free, you will have to work hard to build your audience. They are not going to just stumble on your sites. You have to attract them and you do that by writing content. So, the cost of selling your art online is your time.
If you want to be successful in selling your art on Facebook, you will not want to sell on Facebook.
What does that mean?
People do not go on Facebook to shop. If someone wanted to find something unique to purchase they would visit Pinterest.
People go on Facebook to socialize and be entertained.
Most of your posts should be entertaining stories that relate to your art business.
Yes, you can have a clickable Cover Photo and a nice Store Front landing page to make it easy for someone to purchase from you if they choose to do so.
Your main goal for selling art on Facebook is to think about indirect sales. Take the time to build the trust of your audience. Provide them with content that interests them. Most important respect their time.
How can you make time to write content for Facebook?
That is a great question and I am going to make it easy for you.
First I have to ask you, “Are you consistent with your art blog?”
If you are not blogging on a regular basis, you are missing out on a lot of potential sales.
Your target audience will find you by searchable links you create. Every blog post you publish is a searchable link. The more searchable links you produce, the more opportunities you are creating for people to find you.
Yes, blogging is hard work and takes a lot of planning, but I have made it easy for you. I wrote a 28-day plan that you can use as a blueprint for your business for as long as you have it up and running.
28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists
by Dave Nevue
The content that you write for your blog can be split into sections and published on your Facebook Page. Include a nice image and a link to where the reader can go to read the entire article.
Once you have them on your site you have a better chance to have them visit your art gallery. At this point, they will be more willing to purchase from you because they have left Facebook. They are no longer interested in socializing or seeing what is new with their friends. Their focus is on you and your art.
Keep in mind that a person might have to visit your site many times before they purchase from you. Your job is to create great content that will drive them off your social media networks to your site.
That is how to sell products on Facebook.
Conclusion:
I have gone over all the different ways on how to sell products on Facebook.
There is a lot of information here and you will want to tackle one project at a time.
When you have your social media marketing strategy developed, you will want to assess the progress of your efforts.
Find out what is working best so you can put your energy into those strategies.
Work hard writing content for your art blog. That content will be what you will be using build your Facebook audience and drive them back to your site where you can land a sale.
You might also be interested in:
- Digital Content Marketing – What Artists Need to Know
- 7 Social Media Marketing Benefits for Artists
- Facebook Page Basics How to Build Your Following
- 11 Ways to Build Trust on Social Media for Artists
- Selling Art Like a Pro Best Strategies
Do you want to know all of the tools I use for my websites and blogs?
I have made a list of all the tools I use so it will make it easier for you to get started. Visit Art Marketing Resource.
28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists
Are you ready to start building an online presence?
Download your copy today, or Purchase on Amazon.
The Productive Artist How to Live Your Dreams The right mindset and time management skills are essential for any business. These topics are often not talked about but are key elements for your success. You will learn how to have a winning mindset and time management skills necessary for operating a successful art business. Available at Amazon or Download today.
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