These days, almost every company has a Facebook page. And while Facebook can be a great place to announce events, sales, and daily specials, is it really the best platform to use when it comes to actually selling your products?
Generally, it’s a good idea to go where the market is. If you know your base is using Facebook — and 540 million people are, so it’s pretty likely—you might consider starting a Facebook shop. Here are some tips to keep in mind if you do.
1) Take advantage of social shopping. Facebook offers the opportunity for fans to “like,” “share,” and comment on your products, so be sure to turn on these features in your online storefront. This will encourage shoppers to send their favorite product listings to their friends, and a discussion about a particular item that takes off could boost sales significantly. You can also send out private product announcements and special promotions to all of your fans using Facebook’s new “Send” button.
2) Build a secure online shopping environment. If you sell products through Facebook, you want to make sure your customers feel comfortable with the transaction. Ensure that you’re using a secure and trusted e-commerce vendor, and let your customers complete the entire transaction through Facebook without having to bounce over to your business’ website.
3) Differentiate your Facebook shop from your website shop. Give customers a reason to check out your Facebook shop by offering special “Fan-only” promotions or occasional product giveaways. Even though you may feel like you have more control over your consumers when they visit your site directly, hooking them on your Facebook shop gives them more incentive to share your product listings with their friends, so focus on making it an attractive shopping option.
4) Take a lesson from brands that have been there. Before setting up an e-commerce shop on Facebook, pay attention to other brands’ Facebook shops and take note of what they’re doing wrong or right so that you have a good idea of what to incorporate into your own version. Companies like Victoria’s Secret, TOMS Shoes, and 1-800 FLOWERS have strong Facebook storefronts — check out Mashable’s article to learn more about what they’re doing.
Have you created a Facebook e-commerce page? What advice would you share with fellow business owners? Also check out Inc., which has more information about how to go about setting up a Facebook shop.
[...] asks should you run an E-commerce store on Facebook? I’ll give you one guess as to their [...]
[...] davidwalsh.name, blog.hubspot.com, mashable.com, blog.intuit.com Category: Facebook, Social Media for Business, Twitter February 10th, 2012 No comments yet [...]
[...] media to your Halloween event or special holiday-themed discount offers. Post notices on your Facebook pages. Tweet about the upcoming event (or holiday discounts). Send an email blast to your mailing [...]
[...] Spread the word through Facebook. Share information about the work of St. Jude by sending a virtual card to all your Facebook fans. [...]
[...] you may have with people you’re emailing by tapping into social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. It aims to help you develop a better rapport with those you are messaging, so that [...]
[...] an approximation of how much money you lost when you took that personal phone call or checked your Facebook account instead of working on a client [...]
[...] investigate competitors’ social media presence: Twitter feeds, Facebook postings, Google+ pages, YouTube offerings, and so on. What kind of content are they putting out [...]
[...] you use Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or other websites to stay in touch with your customers? If so, it’s more important [...]
[...] a prospect who’s a teenage girl spend time reading Yelp reviews, or does she post a question on Facebook? Does a 40-year-old male purchase a $1500 watch independently, or does he consult his wife before [...]
[...] Lubrano, a marketing professor at Fisher College, adds: “Use Facebook to post pictures of your move as it happens. Keep your customer engaged in the process and let them [...]
[...] hand-written note is often overlooked in today’s age of email, Facebook, Twitter, and every other social media platform,” says Hillary Berman, founder of Popcorn & [...]
[...] one of the provocative questions Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg asks in her best-selling book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to [...]
[...] everybody’s just chatting, sharing, and re-purposing information on Facebook, what’s always going to stand out above the crowd is that original perspective. I would rather [...]