Shopify is a fantastic eCommerce platform that allows you to create a superb and stylish online store with minimum technical knowledge. It is largely a WYSIWYG tool which means you don’t need coding knowledge. Combine this with the variety of templates and store customization and it’s easy to see why it’s so popular.
One brilliant feature of Shopify that is gaining traction is the ability to create native shops on popular social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. By doing this you can expand the functionality of your social media profiles but also reach new customers and we explain how you can do this below.
Why Try and Sell on Facebook and Instagram?
- Before we jump into the technical details, let’s first discuss the benefit of selling directly on Facebook and Instagram. These are two of the most popular social media platforms and they are used daily by millions of people. That kind of potential traffic and reach cannot be ignored. Some of the other benefits are listed below:
- – Facebook and Instagram are incredibly popular
- – It can help your overall SEO strategies
- – The platforms and native stores are free to use
- – Shopify allows for easy integration and shop management
- As you can see, these benefits are just difficult to ignore and if you already have a Facebook and Instagram profile for your business, there really isn’t any reason NOT to integrate Shopify! If you are not confident in your technical skills, then you can always use a Shopify SEO agency who will be able to take care of everything and get your native stores set up in no time.
- The only caveat is that you must be sure you can meet the potential increase in demand for your products or services. Don’t jump into this if you will fall behind and start having unfulfilled orders!
Native Stores – An Essential Shopify Extension
The best way to integrate your Shopify store with Facebook and Instagram is to use their native stores. Both platforms have developed these stores as a way for businesses to directly sell their products or services without customers leaving the social media site or app.
It’s incredibly clever but effective too – just think of how many people use social media daily. For example, with Facebook, you can add a “shop” section to your profile, and this will link directly with your Shopify store.
It is relatively easy to set up and any time you update your Shopify store, the changes will automatically sync and update on your Facebook store.
Instagram has a similar feature in the Instagram Shopping App, and this essentially allows you to integrate your Shopify store and products into your Instagram feed from product displays through to the final checkout process.
Shopify has many useful features for synchronization too so that it doesn’t become too messy and disorganized to try and maintain three different stores. As mentioned, product information is updated automatically on your social media stores when you make changes on your master Shopify store.
Also, inventory management can be synched across the platforms so you can always keep track of your stock regardless of where your products are being sold.
To add and manage these social media stores you must use the channels feature Shopify has. You will have a separate sales channel for Facebook and Instagram and you can make independent changes for each. Additionally, there is a host of monitoring and analytical tools so you can check the performance of your social media stores.
Simple Shop Promotion via Social Media Posts
While native stores are fantastic, don’t dismiss the importance of simple shop promotion too. A basic way to promote your Shopify store and to get more traffic is to include links to it and your array of products via your Facebook and Instagram posts.
The key here and where many people fall short is to make the posts interesting and not simply centred on promotion. If you just post a product image and a link to the relevant Shopify page this probably won’t be very effective.
Instead, tell a story, make a joke, or use current affairs to produce posts that are interesting and useful to the customers, but also have a promotional element. If promotion is only an aspect of your posts but you give actual value to your customers then this should help get more traffic to your Shopify store
Appeal to a Wider Market and Use Shopify’s Social Media Selling Tools
If your on-site SEO is up to scratch your Shopify eCommerce store should be ranked highly on Google and you should get plenty of views and sales. But isn’t it wise to have a backup plan and to market your products or services on as many platforms as possible? The native store options for Facebook and Instagram allow you to do this and are a must-have feature for Shopify store owners.
