Is Dropshipping Without Facebook Ads Possible?

Since the entry of the Covid-19 pandemic, e-commerce has grown substantially. Many people have embraced this way of doing business on their computers and from the comfort of their abodes. Dropshipping is one form of e-commerce business model that several business people have embraced in their quest to do business. This business model is a darling to many because it has low risks when doing business, and one uses very little capital or none to begin doing business.

Business people here, also known as merchants, act as intermediaries between manufacturers or wholesalers. They stock and display products from suppliers of their choice at a retail price and allow the clients to make orders. After placing an order of the product of their choice, the customers pay for it. The supplier immediately starts to process and fulfills the order. As much as the seller does not make deliveries, they are responsible for any concern or anomaly that will arise when fulfilling the order. Even the package that will reach the customers will bear the seller's details and not that of the supplier. 

Since any eCommerce business like dropshipping works well when marketing is good, many advisors have claimed that dropshipping will never succeed if one does not use the Facebook ads to improve their online presence and win customers. Undeniably, Facebook ads seem to be the primary and successful marketing tools that many merchants have embraced. But, there are several ads or platforms that these merchants can use to command a massive following on their sites. This article will explore various alternative ads and places that a seller can use to market their businesses. 

What are the pros and cons of using Facebook Ads?

With millions of businesses running, Facebook connects these businesses with potential customers. Below are the pros and cons of using Facebook to advertise your business. 

Advantages of Facebook Ads 

Facebook Ads are vital in reaching targeted demographics hence boosting your product visibility and brand engagements the moment you run an ad. Consider the advantages below of business marketing through Facebook ads.

• Using Facebook Ads will enhance brand awareness and development by exposing your business to a potential audience globally. 

• While displaying your products,      ideas, and posts through the ads, you will increase the traffic to your website. 

• Through Facebook ads, your business will get leads as you will meet the interest of your audience,  which in return will generate these leads. 

• Facebook ads will give you insights into your business. When you assess the people an ad has reached and their comments, you will conceive various ways to enhance your business strategy. 

• Facebook ads enable you to communicate with your audience in real-time through messages and get to know what they want. 

• Expanding your business across other Facebook platforms will be easier, hence increased social media networking. The Facebook subsidiaries include drops, Facebook Shops,      Instagram Shopping, and Page Shop. 

• Chances of increasing seller-customer engagements increase million times with Facebook ads: this allows you to build and scale up your Facebook audience through ad targeting. 

Disadvantages of Facebook Ads

Running a Facebook Ads marketing strategy is not a walk in the park. It requires close monitoring, elaborate content marketing strategy, potential customer targeting, etc. Below are the disadvantages of using Facebook Ads. 

• Successful efforts of creating and running suitable Facebook ads need high capital investments. 

• For engaging ads that will fit your business needs and reach potential clients, you must develop specific marketing skills. 

• Though Facebook Ads increase seller-customer engagement, the engagement may turn detrimental when the customers decide to give you negative reviews in public. The seller should respond immediately whenever a negative review comes to avoid its effects. 

• People must log in to their Facebook accounts to see your ad.

• Facebook is no longer the most preferred social media platform. People use other alternative fascinating sites like Instagram, Snapchat, and others. 

6 Ways to Advertise Your Dropshipping Store without Facebook Ads

1.     Instagram Advertising

Though Instagram is from Facebook, they are different platforms when it comes to marketing and advertising. Instagram is among the easiest ways to advertise that is friendly even to beginners. It is also easy to build your brand through Instagram. However, one needs to consider the following factors when they choose Instagram for advertising. 

• Consistency is critical when using Instagram for advertising. One should be consistent in posting content to get more engagements. The posts should come three times a day: in the morning, midday, and at night. You should not post more than three times a day to avoid a lack of content in the future. The posts can be in the form of images or videos. 

• Ensure that you post viral content at all times. Make the content that fits your business, then use      Hashtags to make it viral. Your content should transform your Instagram page into an explore page that creates new engagements and prospects in your brand. 

• To acquire viral content is easy. One can download the "Downloader for Instagram" chrome extension and add it to their browser. After the installation, one will go to Instagram to download the content, which is plenty on the explorer page. All the content will relate to the pages you like and follow; hence, you should follow your competitors and pages of your niche to receive quality content. If there is no content on the explorer page, then search for suitable hashtags for content. Use more videos since they will prompt many people to leave comments and likes to make your content remain on the explorer page for a long. 

• Work on your products by getting high-quality pictures. Posting excellent images on your Instagram feeds makes your products valuable. Remember to leave the product link whenever you post. 

• For every viral picture and video, one should tag themselves to enable people to get similar products on your page. 

• Engage your clients back; it is valuable.

Instagram advertising can take the following forms

• Boosted Instagram posts

• Instagram advertising through Facebook

• Instagram story Ads

• Instagram influence shootouts

• Having an Instagram business page. 

2.     Google Ads

Google ads are, by default, the nearest place that you will visit once you drop Facebook ads. However, Google Ads is different from Facebook since it is not a social network and relies on the use of Keywords. A 'Google Shopping' campaign on Google ads works best for dropshippers since it sells multiple products. Otherwise, Google also allows campaigns through Google search, YouTube, and Google Display, suitable for single products. 

3.     Pinterest

Pinterest is a silent goldmine when it comes to advertising a dropshipping eCommerce store. The site predominantly contains women users of a young age who have a good purchasing power on the internet than men. One needs to understand those demographics to make big sales. So, sellers should display products that appeal to that audience to make a kill. Contrary to that, they may flop. Major categories of products that sell well on Pinterest include Fashion, Beauty, Auto, Food, Home Décor, Antiques, Collectibles, and Travel. 

4.     YouTube

YouTube can be another fascinating platform to advertise your dropshipping store. Though its options are limited, below are the ways of advertising through YouTube. 

• Use of the YouTube influencers. Since people love what influencers say, getting one to market your products is very crucial. Find a YouTube influencer in your product niche and remind them to link their work to your store. 

• Create the YouTube Ads. The use of YouTube ads happens directly on the YouTube platform. If you do not know these ads, they are the videos ads that pop up while watching something on YouTube. To use YouTube for advertising your dropshipping store, start with creating a YouTube channel free. 

5.     Tiktok Ads

Tiktok is among the newest online platforms that are quickly gaining ground globally. It is an application that the youth use to create short videos of about 15 to 60 seconds. If your target audience consists of young people, this is the best platform to advertise your dropshipping store. You need to be so creative in your advertising to catch the attention of the young people; otherwise, if the advert is "boring," they will ignore it. 

6.     Microsoft Advertising

This option was formally called Bing Ads. It is almost similar to Google ads; actually, it is a version of Google Ads on Microsoft. Google Ads and Microsoft advertising have identical characteristics, whereby you can easily export your Google Ad campaign content to Microsoft without much hassle. Microsoft Advertising does searches and shopping campaigns on Yahoo and Bing search engines. 

About Doba

Before advertising your products on any platform, one should begin by opening a dropshipping store with Doba. Doba is an eCommerce dropshipping platform whose mission is to empower all suppliers and sellers by connecting them to do business. This leading dropshipping site allows retailers to sell products at affordable prices to gain customers. Though the goods appear cheap, the quality of these products is too high and will satisfy your customer needs. Start dropshipping today by opening a Doba free account now. Click here for a 30-day free trial Doba Account.