VKontakte products: how to arrange a showcase without leaving the social network?

"Products" is a VKontakte service that has become available in communities since September 2015. Today this is a very popular section, but still not all community owners design it in an interesting and tasty way for their clients. Therefore, we decided to conduct a small educational program and tell you what, how, to whom and why you need to do in "Goods" in order to get the result.

By the way, we note that since mid-December 2016, the service has become available to all users, although it is still in beta. If previously only communities could show a product to a client, now anyone who wants to sell it through a social network. In fact, this innovation gave another very important advantage to personal pages for business purposes, compared to public pages.

Now about everything in detail and in order. In the first part of the article, we will consider the opportunities for communities (after all, this is more business-oriented), and in the second, we will talk about a new product - about products in personal profiles.

Products in VKontakte communities

Just in case, I'll show you how goods are processed in communities (screen below).

Clicking on the "Show all products" button will open a full list of products that have been uploaded by the company to the community. As a digression, I note that you should not upload all 500+ titles to VK. Choose, for example, the most basic, popular, top-end, budget options that can be monetized through the social network. Of course, it makes sense to sell an expensive product, but it all depends on the offer, the seller and the buyer.

For example: if you have a real estate agency community, then it is very strange to believe that people will buy an apartment for 3,000,000 rubles. in Group. It is better to use this section more rationally and try to get maximum efficiency out of it. For example, place there consulting services that you can definitely sell within the framework of this format of communication with a client or an offer for renting an apartment.

Another important nuance: if you unload several categories of goods, then it is optimal to group them according to a generalizing criterion, so that in the full list of goods you do not get a prefabricated hodgepodge in which the client gets confused. Okay, if you have 2 directions, what if 10?

I'll tell you about this a little below, but for now take a look at the screen and move on to the settings.

How to create products for your VKontakte community?

"Products" is not a standard section included in the default community. If you decide that you will be building a showcase with products in your community, this section will be necessary. Regardless of the format (group or page), it is enabled in the settings, through the "Community Management" (under the avatar).

For the group

For the page

Apart from some difference in design, the functionality of the settings is the same. Let's go all the way to posting products in the community so that you can easily make a great selection in your public.

Now on the main page of the community, right below the menu description and the pinned post, you have a section "Products". Feel free to click on the button and add your first product.

A special form will open for you, it is on the screen below, now we will go through the fields and consider how to fill them out.

1. The name of the product or service. It should be short and concise (a card for a service can also be made) so that the client, looking at him, immediately understands what is at stake. For example, "Rent of an aqua studio". This is from the photography studio community.
2. Description. Here, tell about your product or service in the most attractive way. So that the potential client wants to part with their money in your favor. In the description, you can also give a link to the product page on the site, just do not forget to put tags in it and shorten it through a link shortener. Tip: develop a universal description format for product cards in VK so that information on different products / services does not "jump". Determine what exactly and in what order to indicate. In our case, this is a description of the interior, equipment that can be used for shooting in this studio, the size of the room, the presence of a dressing room, etc. We recommend that you indicate the most detailed and complete information that answers all the client's questions.
3. Photos. Upload a photo for the product: main and additional (up to 4 pieces). Here we recommend, as is the case with the description, to take unified photos.
4. Category. Everything is simple here: indicate the category to which your product belongs. To do this, select the one you need from the drop-down list.
5. Price. Indicate the price of the item. If you do not have a specific price (we very often hear this from our customers) or it depends on different parameters of the order, complete set, indicate the minimum cost, and add the conditions for the formation of the price in the description. This can also be done in terms of payment and delivery.
6. The item is not available. We put this checkbox on goods that cannot be temporarily purchased in your store.

When the product is created, the settings can always be adjusted. To do this, just under the main photo, select "Edit" and, after completing all the required edits, save the changes.

Or, in the general list of products, click on the pencil in the upper right corner of the corresponding product, the settings of which need to be adjusted.

After completing all the above settings, the product is added. You can use the same principle to upload other goods / services to the community.

Now let's see what collections are, how and why to combine products in them.

For example, we have a community selling bedding in St. Petersburg. The community has a variety of products: pillows, blankets, blankets, etc. There are 16 products.

It seems not so much, but, getting on the page, eyes run up. What is it and why is it all piled up? It's like going into a store, and there all the goods are mixed on the shelves. It will be much more convenient for the client to navigate your assortment if you take care of him and create a kind of catalog.

To do this, simply click on the appropriate Create Collection button in the upper right corner of the product page.

A pop-up window will open a special form with several fields to fill out.

In the first field "Name" we write the general name for the category, in our example it is "Pillows". You can also upload a general image for this category to orient the client. Well, if this is your main activity, put the checkbox "This is the main collection of the community." Then click "Create". And so for each category of goods. By doing this and grouping all the products into collections, you will receive a catalog. Just remember to give titles and upload covers in the same style.

When you make a selection, of course, there will be no products in it. We add them with handles. In the future, for new products, you will simply select the appropriate selection in the settings when creating. For already created products, uploaded before creating a collection, you need to add the corresponding collection. For this, a special field will appear in the editing settings.

If you mark the main collection of the community, then products from it will be displayed on the main page in the order they were added. The last one added to the collection will be the first in the line of products on the home page.

Well, that seems to be all for setting up the goods. As you can see, this is not difficult. Now about how to track performance.

Well, I will finish this part of the article with a very appetizing and pleasantly decorated product card from "Party of Food".

Here is an excellent clear name of the product, three high-quality pictures with additional information on each dish, a description. And also a link to detailed terms of delivery and payment.

Products on personal pages of VKontakte users

Literally on December 16, there were reports that the "Goods" service on VKontakte became available for personal profiles of users of the social network. The service was released from beta on January 25. As the developers promise, in the coming months it will be available in the mobile version and in mobile applications.

So, today each VKontakte member has the opportunity to create his own product, as well as view the products of friends in a single catalog, which can be accessed through the item in the left menu “Products” or by the direct link vk.com/market.

To start an active commercial activity, that is, to add the first product, just go to a single catalog. Now a few words about the catalog, and then I'll move on to creating a product.

So, first of all, you will see exactly the products of your friends and friends of friends.

In the version of the author of the article, friends are selling fresh from the tin, very funny things. Anyway. We are more interested in the functionality and what to do with it. So, we see the products of friends, and above them there is a search bar, you can search for exactly what you need.

By the way, since we are talking in such detail, please note that search results (or products on the page) can be displayed in two versions: a tile or a list. Choose a way of presenting information convenient for you. We also note that according to the search results, you will see 2 sections: user products and community products. Switch between tabs and view info.

Well, that's right, a digression on functionality. Now let's move on to creating our own product.

How to create your own product on VKontakte?

To add your ad about a product, you need to click on the "Submit ad" button in the upper left part of the screen. A window with settings will open, similar to the settings for the "Products" service for communities.

While I was talking, I simultaneously issued a product with our book on setting up Yandex.Metrica. This is how the product announcement on the wall looks like after creation and sharing.

When all the fields are filled in, click "Create Product". The finished product, just like in the community, can be edited after publication. And also mark "Product is not available" (the checkbox appears after creating the product) if it is out of stock.

You can also create a product and immediately add it to your wall right when writing a post. To do this, in the "More" item, select "Product", fill in the appropriate fields and save the info.

Please note that the added product will be in the single catalog for 30 days after the announcement is submitted or from the moment of the last editing. We didn’t keep up with the sale in 30 days, but the sale is still relevant, the product can always be returned back to the catalog. It will be in the "Discontinued" tab. By the way, the system will warn you when 30 days are running out.

Well, everything is ready. Product added. Now anyone can write to you as a seller of a product and get advice, and, of course, buy your product, otherwise why did you add it here.

In such correspondence, you can immediately pay for the selected product through VKontakte transfers, if your buyer is satisfied with the conditions that you offer.

As you can see, everything is quite simple and straightforward. Create your own ads and promote your VK business even from your personal page.

It is important to note that the publication of ads in the "Goods" service of VKontakte is free for users. What other updates await us in this section is not yet known, but today the developers are talking about plans:

1. Provide sellers with additional paid tools to promote ads in the directory.
2. Integrate the service "Products" with the site "Yula" so that ads created in one network are published in another.

Do not forget that conversion is influenced not only by the quality of filling in the "Products" service, but also by the design of the community as a whole. If you already have a community, our specialists will audit it and give recommendations for improvement. And if there is no community, then we will help to create it according to all the rules so that it works for the benefit of business development.

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