Social selling is becoming the new normal. Today customers don’t just go to a social media platform to socialize and connect with each other. Instead, they also go ahead to make a purchase. Therefore, platforms like Facebook have come up with features that enable sellers to sell more effectively to their audience. This is known as the Facebook marketplace more popularly. You need a guide to Facebook marketplace if you want to get started on the platform.
Facebook is one of the most effective platforms to sell online. This is because it already has a large base of audience on its platform. People from all over the world come to Facebook to engage with each other and find out things that interest them. This offers an extraordinary opportunity for sellers to make the most of ecommerce.
While setting up a website, it is mandatory for you to do a lot. This means that you have to set up a payment gateway, list products, add offers and make sure that the SEO is good enough. In addition to this, you have to make sure of a smooth checkout experience for your website. This leaves most of the sellers with little or no time to think about their business goals and how to advance them. On the other hand, maintenance of a website is a regular affair. Therefore, if you have one, there is no escaping it.
However, if you sell on Facebook marketplace, you’re free from the burden of managing and maintaining a website. There are close to none hassles and the only thing you need is a guide to Facebook marketplace.
But, don’t worry if you can’t figure out where to get started with Facebook. We’re here to help you in every step of the way. Get your hands on the ultimate guide to Facebook marketplace.
What is Facebook Marketplace?
With social selling becoming a worldwide phenomenon, people are now looking at shopping options on social media platforms. These platforms already have a lot of people coming in from all walks of life, which provides sellers a huge audience to sell to. Therefore, social selling bridges the gap between customers and shoppers and makes the market accessible to both.
Facebook marketplace is one such platform that helps connect small sellers to the buyers who might be interested in buying their products. Therefore, the social media giant determines a customer’s location and then displays the sellers or products available for them in the nearby areas.
As a seller you can sell anything and everything through the Facebook marketplace.
And the best thing is that everything is managed on the platform. You don’t need to provide an additional contact point to your buyer. Whenever they need to get in touch with you, they can do so with the help of the Facebook messenger.
The idea of the Facebook marketplace took shape in 2017, where it was first only made available for Mumbai in India. Soon, it became an all India phenomenon and garnered responses from both sellers and buyers. The option for Facebook marketplace is available in the menu bar of the social media platform. It is right besides the options of News Feed, Groups and Notifications.
A Guide to Facebook Marketplace: Getting Started
A guide to Facebook marketplace has been provided by the social media platform so that sellers can get started with selling. It is one of the easiest places to build your store and get started with selling. Take a look at the steps below to get started with selling on the platform-
Step 1
Log into your Facebook account and head to the menu bar. Here you will find the option to enter the Facebook marketplace. Once you click on it, you will find new options within the marketplace. Some of these options are-
- Sell
- You
- Saved
- Categories and more
Since you are getting started with selling, click on the option ‘Sell’.
Step 2
Once you click on the option ‘Sell’ you will be asked to choose the category of products you want to sell. The following categories are provided by Facebook, which means that you can sell any of these-
- Items
- Vehicles
- Housing for sale or rent
- Jobs
In case if you’re selling any physical product other than vehicles and houses, you can list them in the ‘items’ category.
Step 3
The next task is to add the details of what you’re going to sell. Remember that this is the most important step in selling. Based on this information, your customer will decide whether to make a purchase or not. The opened page asks you to fill in the following information-
- Photos
- Title of the product
- Category
- Location
- Product Description
- Delivery options
Step 4
Once you have entered all the information related to your product, the marketplace will ask you about your audience. In the guide to Facebook marketplace, you will have to select the people you want your product to be available to. For example, you can choose to display your product publicly or to the people added in your Facebook profile. Alternatively, you might have also joined various buy and sell groups on the platform. All these groups will show in this section of setting up the marketplace. You can choose to sell in these groups.
In addition to this, a guide to Facebook marketplace also suggests some popular groups where you can sell your products. It is advised that you join these groups to enhance your selling prospects. Moreover, buy and sell Facebook groups have a lot of people who are interested in buying local products. If you join these groups, you have a great chance to find a wide audience for your business.
Step 5
Once you select the audience and profiles, you have to click on the ‘Post’ button to post the advertisement of your product in the group. Once you hit the button, your product is now visible to your audience and you are ready to sell. Facebook also offers you this fantastic option to add your Whatsapp number to the product ad. This way your customers can get in touch with you on Whatsapp. You can choose to skip this, if you want customers to reach out to you through the Facebook Messenger. You can review the post and also make changes to it.
Step 6
Once your product sells and you no longer have the quantities left in your stock, you can simply mark the product as sold. In the guide to Facebook marketplace, you get all these options where you can edit the options and quantities related to your products.
How to Sell Exceptionally on the Facebook Marketplace?
With easy selling options and convenient access to the marketplace, the competition is huge. There are thousands of sellers providing options to the customers on the platform. This way, you have to adopt strategies to stand out. But don’t worry if you don’t know where to get started. In this guide to Facebook marketplace, we’ll tell you the best tips and tricks. Read on below-
Put High Quality Pictures
Make sure you always put high quality pictures for your products. Remember that when customers buy products online, they are unable to get the real look and feel of the products. And so, they completely rely on the product images and description written by the seller. When you provide high quality images you earn the customer’s trust. They are more likely to buy a product with a good quality image. This way they can see the product more clearly and have trust in your brand.
Leverage the Right Categories
Whenever you are selling a product to the customer, make sure you put it in the right category. In the guide to Facebook marketplace, we suggest that you post your product in the relevant categories to enhance your chances of selling. For example, if you are selling a women’s watch, you can add it to the categories of women’s accessories, women’s clothing and more.
Reply Quickly
Most of the sellers who just start on the marketplace lose their sales because they don’t reply on time. Remember that when you are new to the market, customers will first interact with you before purchasing your products. Therefore, it might be the case that they are looking for an item urgently. It thus becomes your responsibility to reply to them on time. If you miss out on that, you are going to lose a sale.
Make Use of the Best Keywords
Don’t forget to work on the keywords that customers are more likely to search for. When a customer is searching for a product, they will search it using certain keywords on the platform. Make sure you include the popular keywords so that your product comes up in the search results of the customer. You can use any of the keyword research tools available in the market to do this. Make sure you add these keywords in the step 4 of our guide to Facebook marketplace.
Conclusion
Now that you have the guide to Facebook marketplace, you can sell easily on the platform. Make sure to fill in the right information. Many sellers often add incorrect information to the products which creates ambiguity for the customers. Having said that, customers complain after receiving the products.make sure you provide authentic information regarding the products so that your customers can buy again from you. Don’t forget to partner with a reliable shipping provider like Dash101 Logistics. This way you can deliver to 26000+ pin codes across India at the lowest costs starting RS 23/500 gms. Moreover, you also get to ship with 8+ courier partners from a single platform.
