Managing a dropshipping e-commerce store is like a dream come true, since you don’t need to worry about stocking up, warehousing, and shipping. The only thing you’d need to work on continuously is marketing the products.
Today, with more than two billion people actively browsing, reading, posting statuses, and commenting on Facebook and Instagram, one of the best ways to promote a dropshipping online retailer is by capitalizing their captive audiences.
There are many benefits of social media marketing, including better communication and brand loyalty, more traffic, and others. Among all these benefits, one of the most important is: Social media ads do convert to sales.
Of course, there are other ways to promote an e-commerce store, but we’ll focus on Facebook and Instagram ads for now due to their specific benefits for dropshipping stores.
Why Facebook and Instagram Ads Are the Best for a Dropshipping Retailer
While the dropshipping business model is beneficial to the entrepreneur in many ways, there is one drawback: Many people are selling identical products. Since almost every dropshipping store sources products in China and sells them online, the only difference is the retail prices.
Some stores sell a particular product for $15, for instance, but others may sell it for $12.50. The dropshipping industry is very competitive, as it goes without saying. The good thing is, customers don’t always compare prices, especially when it comes to impulse buying.
Facebook and Instagram ads target impulse buyers, who are scrolling down the feeds and friends’ latest posts and photos to see what’s new. When social media users are so involved in their friends’ feeds, often, they’re in the “flow state of mind.” Thus, seamless ads would continue this positive experience, as it appears organic.
This “organic” shopping experience is what makes Facebook and Instagram ads much more powerful than pay-per-click SEO ads. Because in the latter, shoppers must already have some idea of what to search for, thus they might compare prices and read reviews.
In short, dropshipping retailers should focus on ads catering to impulse buying activities.
How to Create Facebook and Instagram Ads That Convert
Facebook ads allow advertisers to target various targeting options, based on:
– location (countries, states, cities, ZIP codes)
– gender
– age
– interests
– life events
– hobbies
– others
The formats of the ads are also flexible. They can be anything from text posts, photos, videos, events, offers, links to your site, and others.
Thus, combining both user demographics with flexible ad formats, which can be scheduled at the most appropriate times, Facebook ads can be a very powerful tool for e-commerce. A comprehensive Facebook ads guide explains how to approach these ads before, during, and after the campaign launching.
As of September 2017, there are 800 million Instagram users, among which 173 million are active daily users. This provides e-commerce businesses a huge opportunity to capture audiences with strong visual modality.
In a nutshell, Instagram ads are powerful because most people are visual and images communicate emotions and styles very well. Thus, for products with strong impulse buying elements, Instagram ads have the convincing power needed.
Now that Instagram is a part of Facebook, the audience targeting is done through the latter. Thus, target selections can be done just like Facebook ads, which are based on various preferences, tastes, interests, and behaviors. Naturally, Facebook provides comprehensive step-by-step tutorials on creating Instagram ads to help new advertisers.
Instagram ads also provide detailed analytics, so advertisers can see how well their ads perform and how they can improve non-performing ones. Just make sure that your Instagram ads blend in with attractive images that members share on their feeds. This way, your ads don’t seem to be intrusive so that the engagement rate can be high.
Takeaways
Dropshipping business models come with one drawback: Many stores sell the same products at different prices. This requires a specific advertisement strategy: target impulse buyers. Thus, the best way to reach shoppers of various demographics is through Facebook and Instagram ads, considering both networks comprise of more than two billion users worldwide.
