With the robust growth of hundreds of other different social media platforms and other Shopify advertising methods, many people are opting out of Facebook advertising. This leads us to question, what other ways are there to advertise online businesses like a Shopify store without Facebook?
Most Shopify store owners have been using Facebook to advertise their businesses for a very low fee to no fee at all. But with the development of so many other alternatives, Facebook isn’t the only platform you can use to fuel your online business.
Do you believe that Facebook Ads are taking up too much of your time while failing to produce the desired results? Or do you just want to explore other better or similar options to Facebook for advertising?
In this article, we will look at alternative ways to advertise a Shopify store without Facebook. We will analyze different options for advertising Shopify stores with the same or better qualities. These consist of invaluable advertising platforms for Shopify store owners as well as powerful tools for each stage of the sales funnel, from building brand recognition to turning warm leads into buyers.
Importance of advertising for a Shopify store
Shopify marketing is a tactic for promoting a Shopify store and its products using online marketing channels like email and advertising campaigns.
E-commerce marketers and store owners can expand their businesses in a variety of ways through advertising.
The products you sell, your marketing budget, and your available time will all affect how you promote your Shopify store. However, due to the variety of digital marketing tools and tactics available, there is a choice for everyone.
A successful Shopify marketing plan generates sales, expands the client base, improves consumer loyalty, and raises brand exposure.
Why Facebook may not be the best option for all businesses
Facebook is continuously changing, and user behavior is also shifting. It is not the same thing it was five years ago. The same is true for clients and users.
Social media marketers and managers need to always come up with newer strategies for bringing in new clients and keeping existing ones. They encounter a few difficulties along the way.
Although Facebook is the most popular social media platform used by businesses to advertise their products, it does have some drawbacks.
Facebook advertising has become more effective while also starting to cost more money. It can be challenging to regularly use Facebook advertising for your Shopify store if you have a little marketing budget.
Facebook has so many users that you may reach more people and increase your following all in one place. On the other hand, Facebook advertising is unable to help you reach users who are not on this particular social media platform.
In reality, Facebook advertisements’ organic reach has just dropped below 1% or 2%. That implies readers who have already seen your material are seeing your postings rather than a brand-new audience. Due to this, your platform ads are unsuccessful at generating leads and new customers for your Shopify store.
It’s no longer the most preferred social media platform. The emphasis has shifted away from Facebook to features of other social networks like Snapchat and Instagram. Even while they continue to have the most users, they are no longer the preferred option for the majority.
Alternative advertising methods for Shopify stores
#1. Google Advertising
You can pay Google to be at the top of search results by using Google Ads. There is a 99% likelihood that you are familiar with Google since it is the largest platform for Pay Per Click (PPC) ads. In this case, you are only charged if someone clicks on your advertisement! If no one clicks, you won’t have to spend anything.
You can learn a lot about how to use Google to advertise on Shopify Learn and watch their free course “Google Ads for E-commerce.” If you want to learn more about Google Ads, this course is fantastic. They address a wide range of subjects, including Google Shopping advertisements and Google search results ads.
Note that Shopify Learn is free, so even if you don’t have a business running on the Shopify platform right now, you can still learn from them.
Talking of Google shopping, usually referred to as Product Listing Ads, it is yet another extremely popular choice for those who operate Shopify e-commerce sites.
When someone searches for a product on Google, these advertisements are shown, usually at the top. You can go to the Shopping tab on Google to find Google Shopping as well. These product listings are pay-per-click as well.
Another fantastic option is to master SEO for your Shopify store, especially if you don’t want to pay money to rank highly in Google’s search results. By doing this, you can rank your store in search results for free, but it might take you some time before you reach your desired position.
#2. Instagram Advertising
Even though Instagram is a product of Facebook, it’s still worth taking a look if you’re searching for an alternative to Facebook advertising.
The process for advertising on Instagram is essentially the same as for advertising on Facebook, except that you choose Instagram Feed rather than Facebook Feed.
Even while the advertising component is the same, you’ll see that Instagram has a completely new audience waiting for you.
You can advertise on Instagram by using a boosted Instagram post. In essence, an Instagram post that has been “boosted” is just a post that you post on your Instagram account, and then later, you can “boost” it.
Boosting is equivalent to advertising. While it is simpler, it is also slightly more constrained than Facebook advertising. It’s also excellent for accelerating the momentum of organic posts.
Instagram influencer shoutouts are another way to use Instagram influencers for e-commerce. Essentially, you pay someone to share your Instagram post for a set period of time on their profile.
The influencer will delete your post from their page once that period has passed, but if you would like to continue keeping it on there, you may try to negotiate a bargain.
The price of an influencer shoutout will vary depending on the size of the influencer’s page (the number of followers) and the quality of their engagement rate.
Another option to advertise on Instagram is by having Instagram Story Ads. You may also use Instagram influencers for this. They will post your story video (or image) as their story.
You can use Instagram’s swipe-up feature in your story if they have more than 10,000 followers on their Instagram page.
Naturally, you need to establish an Instagram account for your Shopify store before you can start contacting Instagram influencers or boosting posts.
#3. Snapchat Advertising
Snapchat is probably already familiar to you, but in case it isn’t, this is for you.
Snapchat is one of the most widely used social networking apps for mobile devices. You can send messages, videos, and images that are only accessible for a short while. After that period of time, they vanish and are no longer visible.
Now that you are aware of what Snapchat is, you might be wondering how to use it to promote your Shopify store.
Well, you can use Snap Ads to accomplish that.
Snap Ads are 3–10 second long, vertical, full-screen smartphone video advertisements. Users can swipe up to watch a long video, read an article, install an app, and more while the Snap Ad is playing. Snap Ads pop up between Snap Stories.
#4. YouTube advertising
Another excellent platform for marketing your Shopify store is YouTube. If you want to use YouTube as your advertising platform, you have a few options to consider.
YouTube influencers are one of them.
People pay attention to the businesses and goods influencers advocate in their YouTube videos because they believe what they have to say.
You may always take a look around to see if there are any YouTube influencers in your particular niche.
If you find one in your niche, you can invite them to write a product review. Don’t forget to provide them with a link to the merchandise in your shop.
You can also directly advertise on YouTube.
Undoubtedly, you’ve seen a YouTube advertisement before. You know those advertisements for videos that appear before you can watch the one you want to watch? They are known as pre-roll advertisements.
By using this technique, you might, for instance, place your video advertisement for your hair product in front of a video on hair styling or a review video on the item you’re selling.
You might not be ready to spend any money on Youtube yet but would like to try it out for your Shopify store. Then starting your own YouTube channel and using it to promote your goods is a fantastic place to start.
#5. Pinterest Advertising
Pinterest is excellent for driving traffic to your Shopify store. Just be sure to investigate your target audience and determine if they use Pinterest.
It excels in the following categories:
1. Fashion/beauty
2. Food
3. Autos
4. Home Decor
5. Travel
6. Antiques and collectibles make up a significant sector dominated by Pinterest.
Any product you want to market, however, has a chance of success. Simply conduct a thorough analysis to identify the ideal perspective for your advertising effort. Pinterest also allows for product research.
Do keep in mind that women make up the majority (71%) of Pinterest users.
Another alternative is to try it out for free to see whether Pinterest will work for you if you don’t yet have the money to invest.
By using this method, you may determine whether your target audience is active on Pinterest without having to invest in advertising. Though, you might have to pay for a pin-scheduling service if that’s what you’re interested in.
#6. Reddit Advertising
Reddit Ads is another choice that you might use to advertise your Shopify store successfully without needing Facebook.
Most likely you have heard of Reddit before but if not, it is referred to as the “first page of the internet”. Reddit claims to offer the greatest of the internet all in one location. This might include a stream of breaking news, fun stories, pictures, memes, and videos.
Bear in mind that Reddit users frequently spam Reddit ad posts with the comments feature. You can always choose to turn off comments on your Reddit Ad post.
#7. Twitter Advertising
Twitter Ads are an alternative way to advertise your Shopify store without Facebook.
You are most likely already familiar with Twitter which is another significant social media network. In the fourth quarter of 2018, it had 321 million monthly users on average. Additionally, 53% of Twitter users are more inclined to be the first to purchase new goods.
You can also use Twitter to promote your Shopify store for free.
#8. TikTok Advertising
You can use TikTok to advertise your Shopify store as a Facebook alternative. With TikTok, you will get to reach a different audience from Facebook especially if you have a specialized niche.
Most people are unaware of what a phenomenal powerhouse TikTok is for e-commerce and business. Everyone from every demographic and niche uses TikTok.
It’s one of the top marketing platforms. Here’s a fast hack. Make your own videos and distribute them to influencers if you want to sell something on TikTok. By doing this, you may promote your advertisement widely and avoid having to ask others to produce their own videos.
#9. Email Marketing
Depending on your business objectives, you can design a wide variety of email marketing strategies.
Make a Welcome email series if you want to engage new or potential consumers. Create a customer loyalty program and maintain email contact with your devoted customers if you want to keep your current clients. Create an effective email capture program to persuade potential consumers to give you their email addresses if you want to communicate with them more effectively via email.
Then, you can communicate via email about your products, client feedback, and ongoing sales and discounts.
#10. Display advertising
Display advertising is text-, image-, or video-based online advertisements that nudge customers to visit a landing page and complete a particular action. They are among the most prevalent types of web advertising. You have probably already seen one like when you read an article on a website.
Display ads can frequently be found on blogs, digital newspapers, forums, and online communities. Most display advertisements come in various sizes and styles, but web banner ads are the most prevalent.
Examples of Display Ad platforms include:
Your marketing efforts will be strengthened and sales will rise if you combine display ads with your email marketing promotional approach. By doing this, your Shopify store will appear not just in people’s inboxes but also while they are exploring the internet.
Conclusion
These are the 10 fantastic ways to advertise your Shopify store online without using Facebook Ads.
You can reach your ideal customers with relevant ads, email marketing strategies, and targeting the ideal and huge numbers of audiences. Plus, with the knowledgeable marketing support available on Shopify, you are never alone when it comes to learning how to market your Shopify store.
I hope that this article has shown you that there are many more options than just Facebook to advertise your Shopify store.