subject: Ecommerce Facebook Marketing Campaign [print this page] Facebook, which was once only known for social gatherings and connecting with friends on the web, is beginning to look like a vast online marketplace. Retailers are scrambling to reach the enormous audience that Facebook attracts daily and turn these users into paying customers. It all began with the Facebook fanpages, which allowed businesses to build a presence for their brand on the social networking website. They can add an unlimited amount of fans on their fanpage, and many leading retailers have already successfully created a big following. Just recently Facebook has been connected to e-commerce on an even bigger scale. Many of these businesses which were already well established in Facebook are starting to create their own e-commerce applications, which allows them to sell their products to their fans directly through Facebook.
If you own an ecommerce business or are thinking of launching one and you have yet to try Facebook marketing then you better start now. First, you must create a Facebook fan page. It's fast and easy, simply look for the link on the site and complete the requested information. Once you have done that, it is time to really begin customizing the page in a unique way that will attract visitors and get them to become fans. Below is a list of elements on the fanpage and how you can use it to market your business.
Wall - get your fans to leave comments in this area, share their thoughts, help make suggestions, ask a question, etc.
Info - write a summary of your business, make it clever and remember to speak to your audience in a way that they will like
Notes - share the latest news on your ecommerce business, announce promotions, etc.
FBML - create up to 10 customizable html display areas that allows you to add anything you want
Photos - add photos of your products and you let your fans to share theirs
Discussions - start a conversation, let fans give you feedback
Videos - add videos to promote your products and show you fans how to use them, you can also allow your fans to share their videos
Events - announce special upcoming events or promotions
Reviews - let fans rate your products or services
Others - add other apps created by third party developers that are meant for use on the fan page
As soon as you have your fan page set up you can begin focusing on how to achieve more traffic. Your fanpage does not have to be perfect, it's one of those things where the more interaction you are able to receive, the better the content. The key is to start small and watch it grow and develop over time. Once you begin to reach the pulse of your fans, you can think more creatively about what to include on your Facebook fanpage. A good idea is to create exclusive coupons just for them. You can also develop a fun contest for your fans as a promotional tool where the winner receives something for free. You should think of as many creative and fun Facebook marketing ideas to increase the amount of interaction on your fan page.
Advertisements are another great Facebook marketing tactic to get people to take notice of your brand. However Facebook ads are in a lot of ways very different from other types of ads. The ads on Facebook cannot focus on direct sales like Google AdWords ads can. The reason for this is that they each have an entirely different type of audience. The group on Facebook are there to socialize whereas the people on Google tend to already know what they want and actively search for it. When you are trying to reach a Facebook user, you can't push your products on them. You have to first give them a good reason to become a fan and then build a relationship with them. As soon as the relationship is there, you can find interactive ways to keep your products and brand fresh in their mind, and the chances of them becoming a customer is far greater. What you need to do is apply to become an advertiser on the Facebook network and build banner ads that link to your Facebook fan page instead of your e-commerce website.
One of the more recent Facebook marketing techniques is direct selling. Since selling directly on Facebook is now possible, there is no reason you shouldn't take advantage of it. The big name retailers are just starting to make their fan pages even more interactive by posting their products on there. The ones that have already built a large community are discovering that merging ecommerce with Facebook can be very profitable.
