Shopify is the world’s predominant ecommerce platform, allowing you to easily create an online store without the need to hire a team of expert developers. In fact, it virtually eliminates the technical savvy needed by ecommerce platforms of the past.
One of our favorite Shopify attributes is that it’s fully integrated with Facebook. It has several specialized features and applications that were specifically created to enhance their partnership.
Shopify takes the reins and guides even the most novice of ecommerce professionals through their domain purchase, selecting a template for their website, integrating a wide variety of applications and functionalities, and the eventual integration of their store with their Facebook Page and Ads account.
If you already have your own Shopify store and are looking for a way to optimize it for Facebook Promotion, you’re in the right place. This article will explain the functionalities that help the two platforms communicate to ensure you’re taking full advantage of all opportunities to increase the visibility of your products and drive sales.
Article Contents
Requirements – Before Getting Started
Before we begin, we need to make sure you have:
- At least one Shopify store successfully up and running. You’ll need to access the back end of the shop from yourshopname.myshopify.com.
- A Facebook page where you are the administrator. Here we will install the shop-synchronizing functionality that automatically updates the product inventory present in your Shopify store.
- A Business Manager. The Facebook Business Manager will serve as the platform to create a product catalog within your integrated Facebook store. This will come in handy when you start testing dynamic remarketing product campaigns.
Do you have the three requirements listed above? Great, let’s proceed!
How to Create a Shop section on your Facebook Page
In order to create a shop section from your Shopify store, all you need is to log into your Shopify dashboard and add a new sales channel: Facebook.
- Facebook will ask you to connect your account with Shopify. From there you’ll be able to activate the new shop section on your page.
- This functionality will allow people to browse your products on Facebook, directly on your page, on both mobile and desktop.
- You’ll be able to see the shop section in your Page Tabs. All products, descriptions, prices, and info will be synced automatically between Shopify and your Facebook page.
- When people click on a specific product they’ll be taken to your Shopify store to finalize the checkout.
Connecting Shopify with a Facebook Pixel
Now that we’ve successfully integrated your Shopify store and Facebook account, let’s take a look at how you’ll be using Facebook to promote your products.
To take full advantage of your Shopify/Facebook integration, you’ll need to connect your Facebook Pixel to your Shopify store.
The steps are simple:
- Visit the Online Store > Preferences page on the Shopify dashboard
- Insert your Facebook Pixel ID (which you can find in your Facebook Ads Manager > All Tools > Assets > Pixels).
- As soon as you save the settings, the pixel will automatically be installed on the appropriate pages of your Shopify store.
- From this moment Shopify will be communicating directly with Facebook and sending information about all Standard Actions taking place on your store (page and product views, adds to cart, checkout procedures, and purchases).
This information is very important to track as it will help you view the results of your Facebook Promotions and understand how to better optimize each campaign.
For an expert level tutorial on how to make the most of your Facebook Pixel, check out this guide: The Definitive Guide to Facebook Retargeting.
Dynamic Remarketing
The retargeting guide mentioned above will also teach you the ins and outs of something called Dynamic Remarketing, a powerful way to put your Facebook (product) marketing on autopilot.
You’ll learn that in order to launch a dynamic remarketing campaign you’ll need a product catalog. On Shopify this can be created by using an app; one of the best (and it’s free!) is Facebook Product Feed (by Flexify).
- This app will create a product catalog for your store, and update it automatically.
- Once the product catalog is created it will be available via a distinct URL such as— yourshop.myshopify.com/a/feed/facebook.rss
- Log into your ads account manager and navigate to the product catalog section (facebook.com/products). Here you’ll create a product catalog and add a product feed.
- Select a currency and “schedule regular uploads”
- Enter your feed URL
You’ll then be able to create product sets and dynamic ads. For more info and a detailed, step-by-step guide please refer to our super helpful Facebook Retargeting Guide.
Wrapping Up
There you have it!
You’ve successfully integrated your Shopify store and Facebook account. The potential that Facebook advertising opens up to you is massive. You can now reach its 1.8 billion users more effectively, update your store product catalog automatically, and even retarget people who have visited your store with custom ads.
Keep learning how to make the most of Facebook for marketing your Shopify store and you’ll see your ROI and profits increasing at a predictable rate.
