Facebook, Ecommerce

Facebook & E-Commerce

April 9, 2010 in eCommerce, Social Media by Robb

Facebook is now the size of a country, who would’ve “thunk” it a few years ago. Just as the appearance of a new nation would be expected to have some impact on the global economy, so has Facebook, but not quite the impact everyone initially expected.

Facebook as an E-commerce Platform

There was an early expectation, but it never panned out. There were a few dozen e-commerce applications for Facebook in years past, and most are now extinct except for a select few. There are several large retailers with Facebook Stores (selling virtual gifts as well as real ones), but it’s never really caught hold with the consumer. Facebook just hasn’t become a hub for buying and selling goods.

One of the problems is that people at Facebook are hanging out, not actually shopping. I don’t need to tell you that you visit an ecommerce website to buy stuff not to “kabitz”. You’ve probably searched for an item, arrived at the website somehow and are ready to buy or just getting some pre-purchase background information.

Facebook Online Advertising

As you may know, Facebook offers Pay Per Click ads. As with any PPC medium, success here depends on how well you target your location, demographic and fine-tune your ads / landing pages. Since the ads served up to Facebook visitors are triggered by user?s location and demographic, Facebook ads have the advantage of being super, laser-targeted. I know a few affiliate marketers who make $100s of thousands each month with carefully sculpted Facebook campaigns. They?ve even stopped advertising in Adwords because Facebook is a much more efficient advertising vehicle for their products and services.

On the other hand, you’re still facing the leisurely attitude that goes with Facebook, so conversions may be lower than in other places online, but your impression stats should be incredible and your CPC amazing. Testing and fine-tuning will ensure that you?re getting the ROI you require. We typically shoot for an efficiency ratio of 3 to 1.

Facebook for Social Media Marketing

This is probably the easiest option for Facebook marketing newbies. It’s easy and free to set up a Facebook page for your business, and the Fan and Friend system helps you get the word-of-mouth benefits. Drive Facebook visitors to your e-commerce website, and you get the best of both worlds. There are also some ways to leverage Facebook pages for SEO benefits too, but we’ll keep that for another discussion.

Getting started is super easy:

• Set up a Facebook business page.
• Add plenty of keyword-rich content, plus ads and offers to lure visitors to your website.
• Use “Share” buttons to encourage visitors to spread the word.

Step it up by taking advantage of the full functionality of the system:

• Offer something just for Facebook fans – a gift with order at your website is a common and effective choice. Becoming a fan is such a small commitment that many people will opt in for a small, or even a virtual gift. Fans get your feeds, and their friends can see what you have to say, too.
• Create content. There are so many options here that you can easily end up with lots of things for visitors to check out – and the casual hanging around of Facebook encourages people to spend time on your page. Start Discussions, upload photos and videos, create Notes pages with authoritative information or import your blog feed into a Notes page, encourage Reviews, and use the Events section to promote your business with webinars, virtual meet-ups and special offers.
• Use Facebook Insights to track activity at your page. Since this gives you demographics, it can be a good adjunct to your website’s analytics. Use analytics to track the number of visitors you receive at your website from Facebook, and to track their conversion rate.
• Add a Facebook button to your website to get some two-way traffic going.

Don’t forget that Facebook is social media, though.  It’s a great way to engage customers, add a human face to your company, and spread the word about what you have to offer. However, people on Facebook can shut out anything that begins to feel intrusive – and for many Facebooks users, anything that comes across as too commercial crosses that line. Stay interesting, useful, and entertaining for best results.