Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Facebook Marketing
Facebook, which was once only known for social networking and reconnecting with friends online, is beginning to look more and more like a vast online marketplace. Retailers are scrambling to reach the enormous audience that Facebook attracts daily and turn users into paying customers. It started with the Facebook fan pages, which allowed businesses to build a presence for their brand on the social media site. They can add an unlimited amount of fans on their fan page, and many big name retailers have already successfully created a large following. Just recently Facebook has been conected to e-commerce on an even bigger scale. Many of these businesses which were already well established in Facebook are beginning to create their own e-commerce apps, which allows them to directly sell their products to fans through Facebook.
If you own an ecommerce business or are thinking of launching one and you have not tried Facebook marketing yet then you better get started. The first thing you must do is build a Facebook fanpage. It's fast and easy, just look for the link on their website and fill out the information. Once that is done, it is time to really begin customizing your page in a creative way that will attract visitors and get them to become fans. Below is a list of elements on the fan page and how you can use it to promote your business.
Wall - have fans leave comments in this area, share their thoughts, help make suggestions, ask a question, etc.
Info - write a description 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 customized html display areas where you can add anything you can think of
Photos - add photos of your products and you allow your fans to share theirs
Discussions - get the conversation started, have your fans give you feedback
Videos - post videos to promote your products and show you fans how to use them, you can also let your fans share their videos
Events - announce special upcoming events or promotions
Reviews - let fans rate your products or services
Others - install other applications created by third party developers that are meant for use on the fan page
Once you have your fan page set up you can begin focusing on how to attract traffic. Your fan page does not have to be perfect, it's one of those things where the more participation you are able to get, the better the content. The key is to start small and watch it grow and develop over time. Once you are able to better understand your fans, you can think more creatively about what to offer them on your Facebook fanpage. A good idea is to create exclusive coupons just for your fans. You can also develop a fun contest for them as part of a promotional campaign where the winner receives something for free. Try to think of as many creative and fun Facebook marketing ideas to get more participation on your fan page.
Advertisements are another great Facebook marketing technique to get people to become better acquainted with your brand. However Facebook ads are in a lot of ways significantly different from other types of ads. The ads on Facebook can't focus on direct sales like Google AdWords ads can. The reason is because they each have a completely different kind of audience. The people on Facebook are there to hang out whereas the users on Google tend to already know what they want and are actively searching for it. When you are trying to reach a Facebook user, you cannot push your products on them. You must first give them a reason to become a fan and then build a relationship with them. Once the relationship is there, try finding interactive ways to keep your products and brand fresh in their mind, and the chances of them becoming a customer is much better. What you need to do is apply to become an advertiser on the Facebook network and build banner ads that link to your Facebook fanpage instead of your ecommerce website.
One of the more recent Facebook marketing techniques is direct selling. Since selling directly on Facebook is now all the rage, there is no reason you shouldn't take advantage of it. The big name retailers are just beginning to make their fanpages even more interactive by posting their products there. Those that have already built a large community are discovering that merging e-commerce with Facebook is turning out to be very profitable.
How would you like to automatically post your products on your Facebook fanpage? Sell your products directly to people who are clearly interested in what you have to offer. It can easily be done using integrated Facebook marketing, a feature that merges your e-commerce website with Facebook seamlessly.
What you need is a full service all-in-one hosting, design, and marketing software made specifically for e-commerce businesses. One that lets you set up your store in minutes, and provides powerful tools to not only promote your store on Facebook, but also help with SEO, product marketing and mobile commerce. Check out the best possible e-commerce solutions available at http://www.makeanonlinestore.com and try them out yourself absolutely free, no credit card required!
Labels:
business on facebook,
ecommerce facebook,
facebook,
facebook advertising,
facebook business,
facebook commerce,
facebook customer,
facebook fan page,
facebook integration,
facebook marketing