Facebook Commerce Manager: How Businesses Can Manage and Optimize Sales

In case you didn’t know, Facebook Commerce Manager is a platform for managing your online product catalog and sales on Facebook and Instagram.

Anyone can use Commerce Manager to create and manage a catalog, containing all the items you want to promote on our platforms. Whether you have a small shop or work with an eCommerce partner to manage your inventory, Commerce Manager can help you be a more efficient and effective seller.

You don’t need a store to use Commerce Manager. However, if you sell physical products, you can choose to open a shop on Facebook, Instagram, or both. This creates a merchant account for you and unlocks additional tools in Commerce Manager.

The Benefits of Using Facebook Commerce Manager

Social media platforms can be difficult to navigate unless you know what you are doing. Commerce Manager helps businesses manage all aspects of selling on Facebook and Instagram in one place.

Using Commerce Manager offers many benefits, including the ability for businesses to upload and manage their inventory, allowing them to track sales and thus payment history.

Secure payment

Commerce Manager allows customers to pay securely on the site and thus makes the customer’s journey safe and uninterrupted, on a trusted platform. Facebook will help businesses increase exposure and sales through valuable customer information and advice on how to best expand.

Collaborate with colleagues

Depending on the size of your business, there may be multiple team members who need to coordinate with Commerce Manager. For example, your existing sales team, both online and offline, and your marketing department.

Sales management

Whether you’re already selling online, via your website or third-party sites, or just offline, it’s essential for now that your entire sales team understands your Facebook business.

Collaboration within the company, online and offline, is essential. Facebook may also share valuable information about customer demographics that may support sales through other channels.

Marketing management

Just because Facebook is generally seen as a marketing platform for businesses doesn’t necessarily mean that Commerce Manager will be run by Social Media Manager.

Regardless of who is involved with the eCommerce side of the business, the marketing department needs to know how to raise awareness and promote their Facebook or Instagram store.

The customer service team

As mentioned above, it may be necessary to align multiple team members with the activity of the Commerce Manager even if they are not actively working on the platform.

Customer service managers need to be aware of all aspects of the business, both online and offline, to ensure consistency across all channels.

E-commerce integration

If you currently manage your digital sales through a third-party eCommerce platform, it’s worth checking if they integrate with Facebook Commerce Manager. The most common platform Facebook already works with is Shopify, but there are many more, and if yours isn’t on the initial list, Facebook is open to development with other partners.

By connecting your eCommerce platform to Facebook Catalog Manager, you can set up an automated feed on Facebook and therefore only have to manage one platform at a time.

Facebook Business Manager

Facebook Business Manager embeds many other tools within Facebook, such as Facebook pages, advertising accounts, and tracking pixels. Before delving into the Commerce Manager configuration, we recommend that you first set up a Business Manager account and link your Commerce Manager, as it will help you manage your catalog more efficiently.

Facebook Business Manager also allows companies to add multiple user roles within the company, all with different levels of access, depending on their responsibilities.

Who Is Eligible for Facebook Commerce Manager?

To sell on Facebook retail space as a business, your Facebook account and your Page or Instagram professional account must meet the following requirements:

1. Comply with their policies

Your Facebook account and Page must comply with the Facebook Terms of Service, Business Terms, and Community Standards, and your Instagram business account must comply with the Instagram Terms of Use and Community Guidelines.

2. Represents your business and domain

Your Facebook page or professional Instagram account must contain product listings available for direct purchase from your website or Checkout on Facebook or Instagram. If you direct shoppers from Facebook’s merchant surfaces to a website in any supported market, you must provide Facebook with the only fully qualified domain through which you sell. Your Facebook Page or Instagram work account must represent the store or website associated with the domain provided.

3. Being in a compatible market

Your Facebook Page or Instagram work account must be in one of our supported markets to use this functionality.  Payment on Facebook and Instagram is currently only supported in the United States.

4. Demonstrate reliability

Your Facebook account and your professional Instagram page or account must have demonstrated reliability, through an authentic and established presence.

5. Provide factual information and adhere to Facebook’s best practices

Product information displayed must not contain misleading information on pricing and availability. Your refund and return policies should be displayed and easily accessible on your website or Facebook or Instagram.

How to Setup Facebook Commerce Manager?

Businesses come in all shapes and sizes. We suggest that you speak to your internal teams before joining Commerce Manager to make sure you have the following details:

• A federal tax identification number – this needs to match your legal name
• A state tax registration number for each state in which you do business
• Information about your bank account for receiving payments (currently only in the US)
• Your physical business address and email address
• The category that best describes your business, the type, and name of your business
• The name of a company representative and your SSN and DOB
• Your different shipping options as well as return policy, and customer service email

Once that is sorted, you can start with your setup. Go to Commerce Manager to set up your merchant account, link your sales channels, add inventory, and select merchant payments and preferences. You’ll also use Commerce Manager to manage your orders, mark items as shipped, and manage returns and refunds.

Step 1: Click on Commerce Manager

You will need to select a business account or create a new one.

Step 2: Connect to a sales channel

You can connect to Facebook and Instagram and configure using the relevant platform. Or you can integrate using a platform partner.

Step 3: Link your business account and catalog

Select the account you want to sell from. Make sure you link an Instagram creator or business account or Facebook Page that you own. You will also need to upload your inventory to Commerce Manager by linking a catalog.

Step 4: Set your preferences

You will need to add important information such as your company information, return policy, and shipping terms. You will also need to provide financial and tax information to receive payment for sales.

Step 5: Manage orders and returns

On the Orders tab, you can download your order history, track items shipped, and mark items as shipped. If you need to cancel an order or manage a return, you can do so based on an Order ID or using the search function at the top of the page.

Step 6: Get paid for orders

After completing a customer order, you can mark items as shipped and get paid. In the Payments tab, you can manage payments, create financial reports, and download the necessary tax forms.

The Different Ways Businesses Can Use Facebook Commerce

Even with the emergence of new social media platforms, Facebook is still the most popular social network. That’s why it’s important that your business is on Facebook, and you use it to connect with your audience.

Here’s how Commerce Manager can help you connect with your audience:

1. Interact with your audience

On Facebook, you can initiate direct conversations with your target audience through comments, reactions, and even messages. By interacting with your audience, you will increase brand awareness and help tell your brand story.

2. Listen to your audience

Now, when on social media, it’s important not to use the tool just to speak to your audience without listening when they respond. To truly leverage Facebook for marketing, you need to use social media listening tools and keep track of what people are saying. You can track mentions of your business and follow hashtags, so you always know what’s trending and what’s happening to your customers.

3. Develop a giveaway strategy

A great way to use Facebook for marketing purposes is to organize contests and giveaways. Consider things like:

• What kind of things are you going to give away?
• How will your audience participate?

4. Promote your events

Of course, if you’re hosting online events, it’s important to market them. Facebook is a great place to do this because you can create an event and invite your followers.

5. Use Facebook Ads

Facebook may be more popular with businesses for its advanced advertising tool. If you are running ads online, Facebook is one of the best places to do it.

Commerce Manager Was Created to Help You Succeed

When it comes to boosting online sales, Commerce Manager ticks all the boxes. It’s easy to use, integrates with multiple platforms and centralizes it all in one convenient place. What more could you need?

Sabrina Sedicot is an experienced marketer, who works for Appnova, a creative web design agency in London. She works on projects across UX/ UI design, Luxury eCommerce, creative and brand designing Content Production. She’s inspired by all forms of digital storytelling and is interested in creating tailored solutions that can deliver experiences to build brands.