Facebook: Marketplace, Catalogue Manager… what’s new on the platform?

In full e-commerce flow, Facebook offers new opportunities to the social network’s e-commerce advertisers with the integration of Dynamics Ads within Facebook Marketplace, and the opening of a new area dedicated to product catalogues from online merchants: the Catalogue Manager. Let’s unravel a few of these new features.

Facebook Marketplace opens up Dynamic Ads

Launched in 2016 and available in 58 countries, Facebook Marketplace gives individuals (Facebook members) the opportunity to buy and sell products in the following categories in just a few clicks: “Home and Garden”, “Real Estate”, “Vehicles” , “Clothing and Accessories”, “Electronics”, etc.

In May 2018, the platform was opened to professionals. Facebook now allows companies to publish Dynamic Ads on Marketplace. Available only in the United States, this feature will surely be available to European advertisers in the coming months.

As a reminder, this ad format that takes the form of a carousel, allows you to present your product catalogue dynamically by automatically diffusing your products depending on the evolution of your catalogue and the purchasing habits of the consumers.

Already accessible from the news feed and the right column of Facebook*, Dynamic Ads are now appearing in Marketplace. This is an opportunity to approach potential buyers and to position yourself in a space where the purchase intention is considerable.

*also visible on Instagram, the Audience and Messenger network.

The Marketplace Dynamic Ads require an up-to-date and well-configured product catalogue. With respect to the data produced, it must be complete and error-free, so that the products are offered to the right buyer. Once seduced by the product, the buyer will be redirected to the product page of the merchant’s e-commerce site.

Note: overly long titles, incorrect prices or broken URLs can lead to negative reviews from buyers or even exclusion from Facebook.

By integrating Dynamic Ads into Marketplace, Facebook offers an additional point of contact for advertisers of the social network. In addition, the arrival of brands and distributors within Marketplace could also clean the space and make it more attractive.

The Dynamic Ads and Collection allow e-merchants to connect their products with the platform’s users. Facebook has just opened its Catalogue Manager for e-commerce advertisers with the aim of offering merchants greater flexibility in the creation and management of their product catalogue.

How do you create and manage your product catalogues on Facebook?

Previously accessible from Facebook Business Manager, product catalogues now have their own space: the Catalogue Manager. Similarly to Google Merchant Center, this interface allows you to access the catalogues linked to your Facebook account and get an overview of all of your items.

To have a presence on the Facebook social network, you must first create your catalogue of products or services (Products, Hotels, Destinations, Flights, Real Estate or Automobiles), into which the articles you want to be put forward will be classified through different advertising formats: Dynamic Ads, Collection and Instagram Shopping.You are then requested to create a data feed (in CSV, TSV or XML format) to update your catalogue. Be sure to fill in the fields required by Facebook according to your offer. If your catalogue contains Products, the columns to be completed will be: the id, the availability, the condition, the title, the description, the URL of the image, the URL to your e-commerce site, the price, the GTIN, the mpn and the brand. For more information, visit the Facebook Help Center.

Once you’ve completed this step, go to the Catalogue Manager space to select the catalogue you want to update. Then click on “Data Sources”, “Add Data Source”, “Use Data Feeds”, “Next”.

Finally, choose how you want to import your data feed. If your product catalogue only changes occasionally, opt for manual mode. Conversely, if you perform regular updates, it will be better to schedule it to be automatic. Remember that Lengow can help you in the creation and the update of these feeds.

With Catalogue Manager, Facebook takes another step forward in e-commerce by simplifying the task of e-merchants with the distribution of their product catalogue on its social network. It also allows them to optimize the management of their data feeds and to take a step back from the actions they have carried out through the Diagnostics functionality, which enables them to query performance and solve errors related to their catalogues.