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      Live shopping on Facebook

      Facebook has more than three billion monthly active users. Host live shopping events on Facebook to reach a massive audience right where they're already browsing.

      Last updated: January 2024
      Applies to: All Sprii users
      Category: Get started

      💡 Top takeaways

      Read on to learn about the benefits of hosting live shopping events on Facebook and let us show you just how easily you can get started. Also, you learn how to stream your live events to multiple Facebook pages at once and how to host your event on Facebook, Instagram, and your website simultaneously.

       

      Table of contents

      Why you should host live shopping events on Facebook

      Get started with live shopping on Facebook

      Create a Sprii account

      Connect your Facebook page with Sprii

      Activate Facebook messaging

      Test your Facebook setup

      Go live on Facebook with Sprii

      Create a campaign in Sprii

      Create a Facebook event for your live shopping show

      Go live

      Other types of campaigns for Facebook

      Go live on multiple Facebook pages at once

      Go live on Facebook, Instagram, and your website at the same time

      Other relevant reads

      Best practice for Facebook live events

       


      Why you should host live shopping events on Facebook

      Facebook has more than three billion monthly active users. That's one reason why most brands and businesses promote their stores and products on Facebook. In an instant, you can reach a massive audience right where they're already browsing. That's also why it's extremely efficient to host live shopping events on Facebook. You reach your target audience where they are instead of expecting them to come to you.

      Plus, live shopping is a perfect fit for Facebook, since the algorithm favors video content with a lot of engagement such as views, likes, and comments. This means that people who've never even heard of your brand might just stumble upon your live shopping event without you spending money on marketing.

      Get started with live shopping on Facebook

      Create a Sprii account

      If you haven't signed up to Sprii yet, that's your first task.

      Go to app.sprii.io and create a new user by filling out your information and click Next step. Follow the instructions to finish the creation of your account. 

      Connect your Facebook page with Sprii

      Once logged in to app.sprii.io, click on the round profile icon in the top right corner. Go to Settings and go to Accounts. Here, you'll see all Facebook page(s) where you're an admin. Click Connect page to connect it to Sprii. 


      Activate Facebook messaging

      When hosting live shopping events on Facebook with Sprii, it's very important that you allow people to message your page. Why? Because Sprii uses Messenger to communicate with your viewers and in some cases, people have to write a message to your page to finish an order, sign up to live notifications, etc. Activate Messaging in your Facebook settings in order to do live shopping on Facebook.
       
      Step 1
      Go to Facebook. Click on your page icon on the top right corner.

      Step 2

      Click on Settings & privacy and select Settings.

      Step 3

      Click on Privacy in the left side menu.

      Step 4

      Click Edit on Messaging in the bottom. Click On and close it again.
      Live shopping on Facebook (1)
       

      Important to note:

      You have to be an admin to turn on messages from your page.


      Test your Facebook setup

      Before you host your first real live shopping event, it's a good idea to test that the connection between your Facebook page and Sprii is set up correctly and comments are being registered. This is how you test your setup.

      Step 1

      To test the setup, it's necessary to create a new campaign in Sprii. In the campaign, go to Channels in the left-side navigation. Click Add Facebook post in the section Connect to existing posts.

      Important to note:

      The campaign must include at least one product with a buy code.

      Step 2

      In the pop-up window, you'll see a drop-down of the latest posts, starting with the newest post. Select the post you would like to use for testing and click "Add".

      Step 3

      When the post is connected, click the link to that post

      Try commenting on the post as a regular user to see if Sprii reads and reacts to your comment. Then you'll know if the connection is set up correctly. This is also a great way for you to see and understand the customer experience and make adjustments.

      Important to note:

      Commenting from a business page profile doesn't work, so remember to comment from a personal Facebook profile.

       

      Go live on Facebook with Sprii

      To host a live shopping event on Facebook with Sprii, you need to create a campaign in Sprii and create an event on Facebook. It's super simple and we'll guide you step-by-step.

      Create a campaign in Sprii

      To host a live shopping event on Facebook, you need to first create a live campaign in Sprii. This is how you do.

      Step 1

      Go to app.sprii.io and click New campaign and then click Live sale.

      Step 2

      Go through all tabs in the right-hand navigation menu and fill out all the information for this campaign. 

       

      Go to Streaming to choose where you will host your live shopping event. In this case, your Facebook page.

       

      Tip

      With Sprii, you don't have to limit yourself to just hosting your live shopping event on Facebook. You can also host it on Instagram and on your own website - all at the same time. Learn more about streaming to multiple channels at once here.

       

      Create a Facebook event for your live shopping show

      Step 1

      Go to Facebook and make sure you're logged into your company page. On the homepage, click Live video in the top section below the What's on your mind? section.

      Step 2

      Here, you can either go live straight away or you can create a live video event. We recommend that you always create a Facebook event before going live with Sprii. Therefore, click Create event in the section called Create live video event.

      Step 3

      Upload a cover photo that is on brand, attracts your potential customers, and reveals important info about your event. Check out our 10-day Promotion Playbook for concrete tips on how to design your cover photo based on best practices.

      Step 4

      Fill out detailed information about the event - the name of your event, date, time, and a description. Remember to make the event public for all in the Privacy settings. When you're ready, click Next.

      Tip

      To quickly fill in the details for your event, you can use the "Fill in with past event details" option. This will automatically input all the information from a previous event that you select and allow you to make edits.

      Step 5

      If necessary, you can edit the advanced settings. Learn more about what these settings mean in Facebook's guide about live video event settings. 

      Step 6

      Lastly, click Create event. 

      Tip

      Dig into our 10-day Promotion Playbook to learn how to promote your Facebook event to gain more viewers for your live shopping show.

      Go live

      Ready, set, go. To start the live stream, go to Facebook and go to the event. From here, you can start the live video. If you haven't created a Facebook event, you can start the live from the Facebook homepage. Sprii will automatically connect it to your Sprii event.

      Other types of campaigns for Facebook

      Besides from hosting live shopping events on Facebook, Sprii also allows you to sell products via image and video posts and via prerecorded videos. We suggest to use all types of campaigns to make the most of Sprii and your Facebook audience.

      Learn more about image posts that you can easily utilize in between live shows.

      Go live on multiple Facebook pages at once

      If your business operates more than one Facebook page, why not utilize all channels. For instance, a large chain of stores only have to host one show broadcasted to all the stores' individual Facebook pages.

      Important to note

      When crossposting to multiple Facebook pages, all pages must be connected to Sprii.

      Step 1

      Create a campaign in Sprii for each page that you want to stream your live shopping event to. When you've created the first campaign, you can easily copy it to the other pages. In the campaign overview, click the three dots under Action and click Copy.

      Step 2

      To ensure that all orders are handled by the designated "order receiver" campaign, make sure to check the setting "Set current campaign (name) as order receiver for the copy." This way, all orders will be efficiently managed.

      Step 3

      In the advanced settings in your event on Facebook, you can enable crossposting and choose what pages to crosspost your event to. This step is not relevant for Business subscriptions, since this feature is built-in to Sprii. 

      Now, your live shopping show will be shown on the chosen Facebook pages and Sprii will pick up on comments and orders from each page.

      Go live on Facebook, Instagram, and your website at the same time

      If you want to take your events to the next level, we encourage you to utilize all your channels and broadcast your show to Facebook, Instagram, and your own website at the same time. That's what we call working smarter, not harder. 

      You can always host your show on Facebook and Instagram simultaneously by streaming from two smart phones. However, if you've signed up to our Business subscription, you can host your show on Facebook and Instagram from one phone. Plus, you can stream your shoppable video to your own website as well. Pretty amazing, right?

      Want to learn more about this? Check out what's included in our subscriptions or reach out to us.