Results for 'facebook store'

Facebook Timeline officially launched today, but won't be much use for ecommerce store owners - yet.  

If you haven't heard of Facebook Timeline, it's essentially a newly designed profile page that puts focus on events from the past and a new jumbo sized image that will compliment your current profile pic.

So, what does Facebook Timeline mean for ecommerce store owners? Well not much really. A Facebook spokesperson said, "we are currently focused on Timeline for individuals and will consider how to make consistent experiences for Pages." That means if your online store has a brand page, you're currently out of luck. So even though my personal Facebook page will be sporting the new fancy layout, our Shopify Facebook account will remain the same. We'll just have to wait to see what Mark Zuckerberg has in store for brand pages.

We have partnered with Facebook to offer all existing and new Shopify merchants $50 in free Facebook Ad Credits - as long as you haven't advertised with Facebook yet. This is in addition to the $100 in Google AdWords credits, and $100 in Amazon Product Ads credits Shopify store owners also receive.

Facebook advertising is a great way to drive quality traffic to your ecommerce store. You can deliver highly targeted ads and sponsored stories to specific interest groups, age groups, genders, cities, and more.

How To Redeem Facebook Ad Credits

To redeem your Facebook Ad Credit, simply look under the Promotions tab in your admin panel:

Click on the 'Generate your $50 Facebook Ads credit' button and your unique promo code will appear. Save your code, then click on the link that says 'using these instructions,' and follow the steps to redeem. Please note, if you're still in your free 30 day trial, you can still redeem your credit, but you need to have picked a Shopify plan. Also, credits are for new Facebook Advertising accounts only.

To make the most of your Facebook Ad Credits, check out these 6 practical tips on how to run a successful Facebook ad campaign.

Facebook advertising is a great opportunity to increase your brand awareness and boost sales for your ecommerce store. We pulled out some general best practices from successful efforts and offer 6 practical suggestions for running a successful Facebook Ad campaign:

1. Define Your Goals

Before you start putting together your Facebook ad campaign, you need to take a moment to layout some goals you want to achieve. Is your goal to drive traffic to your ecommerce store, build awareness, or promote a specific event/contest? The context of your ad campaign needs to be clearly defined. I would suggest using one or all of the goals below as a starting point:

• Conversion

• Engagement

• Awareness
• Audience Growth

Take your time in establishing your goals as this will help maximize the impact of your Facebook Ads. 

2. Pick Your Facebook Ad Type

Ads and sponsored stories are the two main types of sponsored content on Facebook.

Ads: A business creates an ad and pays Facebook to deliver it to the people who are most likely to find it useful. For example, you might see an ad for a local gym if you live nearby, or are a certain age and like running. Here's an example of a Facebook Ad we created with Tim Ferriss to promote our Build-A-Business Competition:

Sponsored Stories: Sponsored Stories are posts from your friends or the Pages you 'Like' that a business, organization, or individual has paid to highlight so there's a better chance you'll see them. Occasionally we sponsor stories to promote this blog. Here's a recent example that promotes our showcase of 18 beautiful Shopify stores made in the United Kingdom:

3. Target Your Audience

Ignoring proper targeting practices is like chucking 10,000 darts at the same time to a dartboard, hoping something hits the bull’s eye. That’s just a bad idea. The ability skillfully target your audience is crucial to running a successful Facebook Ad campaign. Consider these variables: 

• Age
• Country
• Gender
• Precise/Broad Interest
• Connections

Connections are one of the most effective yet least used variables when targeting. Your click-through rate should increase when targeting your own fans, which is what connection targeting allows you to do. Webtrends did a study of 11,000 Facebook campaigns and found that targeting fans has an average of a 7X higher click-through rate and a higher conversion rate. 

4. Pick Creative Images & Text

The images and text you use to get a viewers attention and convince them to click are vitally important. Here are some best practices with regard to both:

Visuals: Facebook allows you one photo per ad with the maximum size being 110 pixels wide by 80 pixels tall. Use original photos with colors that contrast with the blue color scheme of Facebook, such as yellow or red. Using a simple photo editor will go a long way in your efforts to craft your image. Some good free photo editors are: Gimp, Aviary, and IrfanView. Please don’t just buy any generic stock photo, take the time to pick the right picture.

Text: You have 135 characters to make your mark and woo potential customers. Don’t feel pressured to use all those characters; what's most important is the content. Make sure to include a call-to-action that encourages users to click on your ad. Facebook also suggests using your company name in the ad title or somewhere in the body of the ad. Briefly explaining to the user exactly what you expect them to do when they reach your Facebook page is critical to success. 

5. Optimize: Test Multiple Ads

Once you have your ad(s) you can track their results. Facebook enables you to see when people clicked, how many, etc. See what works and what doesn't for your ecommerce store. 

Research shows two thirds of marketers that use Facebook ads, put up one ad, and don't test it against other images, headlines, ad copies, landing pages, or targeting options. Don’t make the same mistake!! I recommend you to try testing out different ads every few weeks or so. Facebook makes this process easy: Once an ad has been created, you have the option to “Create a Similar Ad” and simply swap in a new picture or text.

6. Engage Your New Audience  

Many businesses go through the time and money with facebook ads but never update their Facebook page. It’s like purchasing a larger microphone but never saying anything. You have an audience waiting to be wowed, make sure you do so with captivating content and conversations. 

Never forget the “social” in social media, it’s about humanizing your business and gaining trust with potential consumers. Remember, picking up a lot of new “Likes” is great but if every other metric remains static, you don't have anything. 

Facebook marketing comes down to the product or service you are providing and your overall goal. Large companies such as Redbull, focus on community engagement rather than sales while Starbucks aims to promote awareness for their contests. It’s always a good idea to research companies in your own industry and learn from their successes and failures. 

Success is not guaranteed but if you follow these best practices and add a touch of patience, you’re heading in the right direction.

Want to sell on Facebook? Here's our guide on how Shopify store owners can easily sell on Facebook. 

Zibaba is an app development company that develops an app that lets you put a shop on your Facebook fan page. Their app takes advantage of the Facebook social graph in order to get your Facebook friends and fans talking about your shop and your products, and it also provides a comprehensive set of analytics tools so you can collect extensive marketing data. Zibaba Facebook shops have a group offer feature, which lets your Facebook fans band together and take advantage of group offers, as well as an affiliate network that allows  other shopowners to market your stuff or even your storefront on a revenue-share basis.

Zibaba have a Shopify app called Zibaba Facebook Storefront that lets Shopify shopowners expand their reach into the Facebook market (which as of this writing, was over 730 million people according to Socialbakers). We asked Zibaba about their Shopify app, and their answers appear below.

What does Zibaba Facebook Storefront do?

Zibaba Facebook Storefront gives Shopify customers the opportunity to duplicate their Shopify store and open a store directly from their Facebook Fan Page within seconds.

Shopify customers have the ability to choose from customized backgrounds, upload customized banners for additional branding and utilize all of the additional promotional marketing tools offered by Zibaba.  The additional tools include running Group Offers, Coupons, Fan Only Discounts and joining the Zibaba Social Affiliate Network in order to increase marketing efforts and drive sales.  Additionally, every product within the store utilizes all of the social interactions of Facebook such as 'like', 'ask advice', 'comment' and 'share'.

What are the key features of your app?

Zibaba Facebook Storefront lets you:

• Run Group Offers and Coupons
• Promote the store utilizing the services of professional online marketers as part of the Social Affiliate Network
• Utilize all of the social interactions of Facebook
• Run fan-only discounts
• Interact directly with customers via the brand's Facebook fan page

Screen capture of an example Facebook store based on a Shopify store.

Why should shopowners use this app?

As a shopowner, you'll want to use Zibaba Facebook Storefront because it'll help you in these ways:

• You'll get your products seen by over 700 million users using Facebook
• You'll increase sales using social and viral marketing efforts
• You can reward your customers running Group Offers and Coupons directly from your Facebook Store
• The setup time can take seconds

Where did you get your idea for your app?

The idea for the app came from bringing store fronts to where the largest online mass of surfers gather every day of the week: Facebook!

How long did it take for you to build the app?

The app took only two weeks to build, but six weeks of intensive QA to ensure that the experience for Shopify customers would be smooth and easy.

How can we find you online?

• Web: http://zibaba.com
• Twitter: @zibaba
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/zibabacom
• Blog: http://zibaba.com/blog/

Where can I find out more about the Zibaba Facebook Storefront?

You can find out more about it on the Zibaba Shopify App page in the App Store.

You should also check out the video below, which shows you how you create a Zibaba-powered shop in Facebook based on your Shopify shop:

[ This article also appears in Global Nerdy. ]

Facebook is one of the only places where people would rather be liked than loved. But while liking may build your numbers base, it’s sharing that gets you the love. It doesn't take much to get someone to click the 'like' button but aside from adding some glamour to your metrics and won't get you anywhere. If you produce quality content people want to share - they'll start to love you, and chances are they'll start to buy from you.

Here are five ways to get your fans to share your content:

1. Revamp Your Image & Video Strategy

A picture is worth a thousand words, goes the saying. Online, a picture actually may be all you need to get noticed. Post lots of pictures and videos, and when you do make sure they're unique, and provoke some kind of emotion. Obviously, online store owners should have an album that contains product images and each photo should link to the corresponding product page in your online store. But you should also have a 'behind the scenes' album that gives your Facebook friends a peek behind the curtains of your operation. Also be sure to create an album to house pictures of your customers wearing / using your merchandise. Do a call out on Facebook, Twitter, and your ecommerce blog to get your customers to submit their photo!