Tips and Tricks for Selling More on Facebook

Over the years, Facebook has evolved from a simple social site where family, friends and colleagues will constantly update about their lives to a site where you can buy and sell a piece of land, furniture, artwork and just anything that you may need. The use of Facebook and other ecommerce sites have made consumers savvier in their shopping compared to what it was like 10 years ago.

If you buy and sell products and services online, you may be wondering what makes Facebook marketplace different. It has distinct advantages and makes buying and selling on Facebook safe and very easy. Using Facebook gives you the ability to know your consumers habits and use that to your business advantage.  Data collected and analyzed on your consumer habits will help you organize your website with the call-to-action buttons in the right place.

Set your Facebook Business page for Success

Let us begin by briefly discussing the necessary basics of ensuring your Business Page on Facebook is set for success before we start on understanding consumer psychology.

Check out on these critical things to ensure all is well:

• Confirm that the products or service is easy to purchase on the Facebook Page
• If you have virtual stores, ensure they are linked. Let’s say you are using Shopify as your sites ecommerce solution it is synced well with your Facebook store.
• Customer service should be well planned
• Ensure that a customer can contact you easily

Once this is in place, let’s dig deeper and discuss five cognitive tips and tricks for selling more on this platform.

1.      Anchoring Bias through Setting Prices on a High

This technique is used to show up pricing page. The pricing table allows you to put a price range for your services or products. When a table of prices is presented, this for a consumer acts like a comparison shop and the options you offer will seem like a bargain.

To effectively execute this psychological tip, start by identifying the service that sells the best and the price point remember to highlight and center it. Naturally your consumers attention will be drawn to the service and will be mid-priced. Then next to this, place another service with a price point that’s lower and another service that’s more expensive than the best-selling service price. This is how it will simply look like a bargain.

Quickbooks uses this Anchoring bias technique to price its products. If check out their sight you will see how they effortlessly pull this. Therefore, if you choose this pricing technique ensure your Facebook has a page category that is correct. In case you are selling a service, a service tab is available similar to a pricing page and you can even set your levels differently to help your customers choose and pick your recommended services.

On the other hand, if you are in a business that only deals with products and where you have a range of products, then arrange them in such a way that the expensive product is paired with a very attractive picture. This will help your customers see this item first before they start comparison shopping.  

In simple terms, anchoring bias is a tip used for selling more on Facebook by arranging products and services that are comparable and place them around the one you really want to sell.

2.      Discounting: Fear of Missing Out

This is an interesting tip to use. It simply involves you creating discounts on your products. By creating those flashy advertising your discounts is the deal. This has an incredible effect to your Facebook page visitors and target consumers. They will think the deal they are getting is so great while in real sense they may not even be in need of the item(s).

The best way to execute this trick is to wait until you have built a huge fan base with high engagements on your Facebook page. When at this point, go ahead and create those flashy deals. You can creatively use tactics such as;

• Offering a coupon with a code and one that has limited usage time
• Set-up a product with minimal edition
• Offering a deal that is bundled and you will not offer again

Use this tip for selling on Facebook is very easy and strategic if your company does not run frequent sales. It will grab your target consumers attention as you will be discounting your products at time they are expecting.  

3.      Facebook Shares Driven by Emotional Connections

Ever wondered what is the science behind a viral post? The answer is as simple as how you emotionally react to a post. You will more likely share posts that have you extremely emotional. This works for your consumers as well. If they get emotional because of a post, they will share it. By virtue of getting more shares it will definitely translate into sales.

When creating content with the goal of making sales on Facebook, you need to think about the eight emotions that will drive your costumers sharing behavior. These emotions are well discussed in Robert Plutchik’s a psychologist in the wheel of emotion.  They are found in the innermost circle and the emotions are ecstasy, admiration, terror, amazement, grief, loathing, rage and vigilance.

If you are using a link-based way of selling for example using a blog, appeal to your consumers by use of different headlines and attractive photos. You may consider tweaking the headline and post it multiple times. Aim at talking with your audience compared to talking to them using marketing terms.

4.      Stories Sell: Create a Great Story

Have a compelling story behind your company; it is a strategic tip that will come in handy when selling for Facebook. Be it a product or a service. In marketing, storytelling is the newest buzzword. It is interesting how a good story with an emotional connection can increase your sales.

To hack this efficiently and effectively, identify and understand your company’s story. Tell this story in a captivating manner, talk of your failures and wins. By capturing the attention of your consumers from the story can also lead to brand loyalty. This is because they want to be associated with company.

Make use of videos and photos to share your product and services stories. You may want to have stories about your consumers and how your product or service helped them solve their problem. Nike is a classic example of a company using this strategy for selling on Facebook and other platforms. They share their athletes’ stories about their wins and the obstacles they overcome to be the best.

To effectively execute this fete of a good story teller for sales purposes, you need to understand the below components that make a story great.

• Protagonist: Is the hero in the story
• Antagonist: The challenges you will encounter while starting and growing your business.
• Conflict: These are the issues and arguments  that come up between the protagonist and the antagonist
• Resolution: Is the point where the hero has managed his or her challenges and is successful.

5.      Value Time Over Money

This psychological tip involves selling your product and service as an experience compared to just posting the product with its pricing. Taking this route has benefits you will love. You will actually note consumers will be more attracted to a products benefit and the price will be a non-issue.

There is actually some research done by two students from Stanford University in the Graduate School of Business Cassie Mogilner and Jennifer Aaker. It was about time versus money. The research study made a conclusion that “If you can have a consumer begin to think about the moments involved experiencing your product vis a vis thinking about how much they spent on the product, at that point you start enjoying the benefits.’’

When posting your products and services on Facebook it is important to avoid mentioning the prices as much as possible. Instead make the customer believe they are buying some great experience using creative story telling tricks. If you can get to show how your products will be used is a plus compared to just using still photos.

Fill up your Facebook page with a lot of adventurous stories. Use nicely done videos and attractive photos as much as possible. This is a tactic that will positively increase your sales.

To Sum it up

To become a successful marketer on Facebook will entail using some of its features that will help you collect and analyze data to inform your decisions making. Some of the critical decisions you will be making will be on choosing the right tips and tricks to use for selling more as discussed in this article.

As a marketer don’t be afraid to apply these techniques and see what works best for your brand and increase chances of selling on Facebook. It is a platform worth making the best of its features and capabilities to increase your sales.