19 Jul Recent Facebook Changes and Impact for Shop Owners

Facebook: Do you 😍 or 😡 it?

As a craft business, you may love Facebook because many of your current (and future) customers spend lots of time there. Facebook is free to use and is constantly working to connect users to content they will like. Facebook also gives you the tools to strategize by providing analytics and insights via Meta Business Suite. Meta wants businesses to use Facebook, and it provides a range of functions designed to help owners succeed. 

You may also hate Facebook sometimes. (If you don’t, check with your social media manager– they probably have some strong words about the platform). In particular, post scheduling via Meta Business Suite can be unreliable. 

As Stitchcraft Marketing learned in our soon-to-be-released 2023 Craft Retail Research Study (sign up to get your hands on it first), social media marketing is the most widely used tool by creative business owners. 77% use Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other platforms. 

Ultimately, we’ll all keep paying attention to Facebook, regardless of our feelings about it. To make the most of those efforts, in this post we review a few recent changes to Facebook. We hope these insights will help you make more informed business decisions. 

Layoffs at Meta

In the last nine months, Meta has laid off over 21,000 employees. That’s about 25% of its workforce. Mark Zuckerberg explained that its hiring during the pandemic lockdowns could no longer be sustained at post-pandemic usage rates. Meta’s user experience and newsfeed teams were two of the biggest targets for layoffs.

How do Meta layoffs affect you? 

There are now fewer staffers available for development, maintenance, and support across Facebook, Instagram, and Meta’s other platforms (including the brand-new Threads app– a Twitter competitor that’s enjoying plenty of buzz since its release on July 5, 2023). With fewer hands on deck to keep Facebook running smoothly, we anticipate some performance hiccups and delays in support requests. 

What can you do about it?

Diversify your presence as a communicator and seller online, so you can continue to share your voice and products when disruptions occur. If you don’t currently have the bandwidth to add a social media channel, for example, at least set aside some time to sketch out the steps you’ll take to add a channel if Facebook becomes unresponsive for a period of time.  

Shops Transition to Native Checkout 

Meta is changing to encourage (and eventually require) online purchasing through its embedded Checkout process. These changes started in June 2023, when Meta started requiring all new Shops onboarded in Meta to use Checkout. In other words, no new Shops created in Meta can opt to route purchases to Shopify or other ecommerce platforms. 

Next, by August 10, 2023, new Shops that are onboarded via Shopify will also be required to have Meta’s Checkout enabled. (Businesses can still use various functions of Shopify, but transactions will occur in Checkout.)

If you already have a Facebook Shop that routes to an external ecommerce platform, you have until April 24, 2024, to implement Checkout. This is a requirement; businesses without Checkout enabled will no longer be accessible. 

The Checkout timeline allows enough room to make an implementation plan if retailers start thinking about next steps right now. If you’re using Shopify or a similar ecommerce platform, you’ll need to research your options. Plan ahead on a technical level to make sure integrations are seamless. You’ll also need to bring your long-term, loyal customers along with you for the ride. A frustrating user experience can lead a customer back to the search bar to find a different retailer. Strategic social media messaging can aid in the communication process. 

Transaction Fee Reductions

We’re sure retailers are welcoming this change: Meta has lowered its transaction fees. 

Previously, Shops using Checkout on Facebook or Instagram were subject to a 5% fee per purchase. Effective July 1, 2023, Meta implemented a new fee scale based on the buyer’s payment method. Credit card and Shop Pay purchases are charged a 2.9% fee and PayPal branded payments incur a 3.49% fee. 

This fee change will improve the bottom line for existing Facebook Shops and it’ll make the platform more competitive versus other online marketplaces, so Meta likely anticipates more shops onboarding in the coming months. 

Professional Mode

Facebook’s rollout of Professional Mode is the other major change we’ve seen in recent months. Individuals can opt to convert their accounts to Professional Mode to take advantage of creator tools and build an audience. We wrote about the Pros and Cons of Professional Mode at length in June 2023. If you missed that post, be sure to check it out to learn if it makes sense for you. 

We hope this review of recent changes to Facebook helps you consider how the changes impact your work. Stitchcraft Marketing is a marketing agency of crafting experts. We customize every program to showcase your brand, engage your customer base, and generate sales in a way that is nothing less than magical. If you’d like to work with us, contact us today to get started!