Don’t think twice – if you’re selling online, you should be selling on social media as well, and take advantage of all the online world has to offer your business.

Selling on Facebook and Instagram allows you to boost your online presence, tap into a larger audience, and expand your customer base exponentially.

Facebook marketplace vs Facebook shop

To avoid confusion, you should know that there are two ways you can sell on Facebook. The one is the Facebook Marketplace and the other is Facebook Shop. But what’s the difference?

Facebook Marketplace is basically like any other online classifieds platform where users can list products with the prices for interested buyers to view and purchase.

Facebook Shop, on the other hand, lets you list and sell products via your own Facebook Page, so if you’re a business looking to sell your products, Facebook Shop would most likely be what you’re looking for.

How do you sell on Facebook Shop?

Facebook offers business owners access to a feature called Commerce Manager which lets you add inventory, manage orders, and check your account health. What’s great about Commerce Manager is that it allows you to sell on not just Facebook, but Instagram as well.

To do this, you’ll need to:

1. Set up a Commerce Account for your business.
2. You’ll also need to provide financial information when setting up to comply with applicable tax laws for any sales you make.
3. You’ll then upload your products to a catalog so customers can view them.
4. Once that’s all set up, you’re ready to sell

How much does it cost to sell on Facebook?

Facebook’s Commerce Manager charges a selling fee for every sale you make through the platform. That selling fee is set at 5% per shipment, and for shipments of USD 8.00 or less – there’s a flat fee of USD 0.40. The rest is all yours.

How do you start selling on Instagram?

If you’re using Shopify or BigCommerce, you can easily set up shop on Instagram, but first, you’ll need to set up a Facebook Shop with your product catalog, then simply connect your online shop to the Instagram Account. There’s just the little question of eligibility.

You’ll only be eligible to create Instagram shoppable posts if:

1. You’re located in one of nine designated countries (United States, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, or Australia).
2. You’re the latest version of the Instagram app on either iOS or Android. 
3. Your Instagram account has been converted to a business profile.
4. You’re an admin on a Page or Business Manager account.
5. You sell eligible physical products (no services allowed, sorry).

If Shopping on Instagram is not available in your country, don’t worry! You can still sell on Instagram using Instagram selling tools, here are 3 types of Instagram selling tools you can use:

1. With apps created by third-party companies like Like2Buy by Curalate and Have2HaveIt, you can build a shoppable storefront using these apps which allow you to put a storefront link in your bio which will take your users to a shoppable page that has the same design as your Instagram feed.

2. You can also sell through comments using comment selling app such as Soldsy, for example, which allows you to turn your images into shoppable Instagram posts. Your users will shop products directly by commenting “sold” along with other information such as size or colour.

3. Selling using hashtags is another option you may want to consider. Apps such as Inselly or Boost allow you to add individual hashtags to product descriptions to flag them as shoppable.

When selling on Instagram, it’s important to remember to use your images and stories to constantly remind users that your profile is shoppable, because they simply won’t know unless you tell them.

Distil digital helps you sell on Facebook & Instagram

We at Distil Digital know how tedious setup processes can be, so whichever social media platform you’re planning on using, we’ve got you covered.

We’ll handle all the setting up, allowing you the freedom to go on with other more important areas of your business. Contact us today and start selling on social media!