Be Social and Sell

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I am a complete Facebook addict. If I haven’t checked my news feed by breakfast, I must be sick or have misplaced my smartphone (another addiction for another blog post).

True, Facebook provides me with some information that I really don’t need—like learning that my friend had oatmeal for breakfast—but it also helps me connect with family and friends, even when I don’t have time for weekly phone calls or get-togethers.

I know I’m not the only one who can brandish the “life is busy” flag. I have a feeling many of you are big Facebookers, too, or you know someone who is. And with so many Facebookers out there, it seems natural that some sellers mix Facebook with their sales to give items a some added exposure. Did you know you can do that with Auctiva’s Sell it Social feature?

I have many Facebook friends who dabble in online sales, but I sometimes forget about their online stores or listings. I usually don’t know when they’ve posted something new to eBay, even though I look at eBay frequently. Many of my Facebook friends are busy multitaskers, who don’t often have time to post their eBay treasures on Facebook for everyone to see. Sound familiar?

Luckily, with Auctiva’s Sell it Social, you can automatically post up to one of your eBay listings a day to your Facebook Wall. This tool is free with your Auctiva account and takes just a couple of clicks to set up. What’s great about it is that you can set it up once, and then let it do its thing, so it’s not one more thing on your plate. This tool is just one more way Auctiva can help increase your sales and market your products to a wider audience.

Remember to be mindful

Auctiva will feature up to one item at random each day to post on your Facebook Wall, but you get to determine the frequency. If once a day is too often for you, you can set it to post once a week or any other interval in between. You can also decide the time of day to post your items, so you can target those juicy high-traffic times on Facebook.

But keep in mind the 80/20 rule mentioned in a recent article on TheOnlineSeller.com. The authors recommend, “80 percent of what you post [on Facebook] should be about giving information to your customers and having a conversation about your products. Only 20 percent should be about sales.”

I agree that if you aren’t posting tips or information about your business or products to promote interactions with visitors often, using the Sell it Social tool to post items every day will be overkill, and followers may choose to hide your posts.

I recommend looking at how often you utilize your Facebook account, then scheduling your Sell it Social posts accordingly.

With Sell it Social, you get to determine what type of item you’d like Auctiva to feature on Facebook. Maybe you want to automatically feature your newest listing, or maybe the item that is ending the soonest needs a little Facebook attention? You can also choose to feature the items you have with free shipping, or those that have the most bids or are the most watched. Again, you simply check a box and then let the tool promote you automatically.

How do you feel about posting your listings on Facebook? Do you think it’s better to only feature items on a business Facebook page, or do you think it’s fine to share your items with Facebook friends and family?  Have you linked up with Auctiva’s Sell it Social tool yet? Did you notice an increase in your sales or bids?  Let us know.

And while you’re at it, be sure to Like Auctiva on Facebook.