If you are selling products and/or services online and you’re not advertising on Facebook, you are out of your mind! With over a half a billion users and with 50% of those logging on at least once per day, Facebook is a virtual goldmine of highly targeted traffic, everything you need to reach your sales goals. On the other hand, there’s probably a perfectly legitimate reason why you haven’t ventured into social media sales as of yet. You may have read somewhere that selling on Facebook doesn’t work and that people will immediately get turned off when you try to pitch them while they’re chatting with friends or tending to their Farmville farms. While it is true that the average consumer has become much smarter and much more aware of the various online sales tactics used, it’s also true that Facebook is quickly becoming a modern day virtual shopping mall thanks to a number of shopping cart apps designed for the social networking giant.
Whether you’re selling T-shirts, health insurance or flowers, you can sell your products and services on Facebook. It’s not impossible as you may have heard, but that’s not to say that it’s easy. You can make sales on Facebook and other social media sites, you merely have to engage in sales tactics that are a little more subtle than you’re used to.
Facebook E-Commerce Trends
While most Facebook users will become annoyed if you try to pitch them your latest product or service on Facebook, they do expect to be sold to when they ‘Like’ your page. Companies like JC Penny, Best Buy and Procter and Gamble have already shown how effective e-commerce can be on Facebook.
In the case of Proctor and Gamble, the company placed a “Shop Now” tab on their business page, which at that time had 200,000 ‘likes’, and within an hour the company had sold out of 1,000 Cruiser diaper packs that were being offered for $9.99 each.
The Shop Now tab is but one application that can help turn your Facebook business page into a full blown storefront. There have been shopping cart applications in the past, but most of those applications took the customer away from Facebook and straight to your website after clicking the checkout link. The present day applications merge social networking and shopping perfectly so that the customer can shop for and buy what they want, all without leaving the comfort of their Facebook page.
Shopping Cart Apps
Milyoni
Milyoni released the iFanStore a few years ago and so far it’s being used by big names like the NBA and the UFC. This application offers tons of great features for shoppers and plenty of in-store branding, which is just what you want. All of the stores operate within facebook and everything from product selection to payment occurs in the facebook experience. If you have a lot of products to sell, this is the application you’ll want to use.
Payvment
This application is simple to install and use and you will be up and selling products on your Facebook business page in just a few minutes. The best part about Payvment is that it’s completely integrated with Facebook. That means your customers will never leave their page. Even the checkout transaction is handled via popup, which means your customers will feel much more comfortable buying from you.
Ecwid
Like Payvment, Ecwid relies on minimalism and functionality more than it does on flash and looks. The cart is much like the one iFanStore offers, but without all the handy in-store branding. And, just like iFanStore, you must guide the customer off the page in order to buy. The customer is still within Facebook, they’re just inside the Ecwid application.
These are just a few of the applications available. The one you decide on will depend on your budget, your typical sales volume, your inventory and what type of experience you want to offer your customers. All in all, Payvement is your best bet if you’re on a limited budget and you’re only selling a few items.
Once your Facebook business page is ready to go, complete with inventory and the shopping cart to sell those items, you will need to drive traffic to your online storefront if you hope to make any sales. This is where it gets fun.
Socially Selling
You cannot sell on Facebook like you do on your official e-commerce website. People log onto Facebook to see what they’re friends are up to and to see what’s going on in the world. They look at what their friends think of the latest news stories and to voice their own opinions.
That’s where your company comes in. You must be able to sell socially. This takes skill, it takes finesse and it takes downright socializing. Be personable and interactive. Instead of offering your new coat brand, ask your prospects and customers what they would pay for such an item. Ask them to review it. Or, post a news story that shows a celebrity wearing the coat in question during an interview. The idea is to get people interested in what you’re doing. Let them interact with your Facebook online store and they’ll be more likely to buy. Let them share their stories and their view points. Once you get good at this, you will see just how effective brand loyalty can be.
Rewarding Your Prospects and Customers
A better idea to help ramp up sales within your Facebook business page is to reward your Facebook fans with special offers. Make them feel as though they’re part of an exclusive club. Make them thankful that they clicked your “Like” button. And if you reward them enough, they’ll brag to their friends who will want to “Like” your page too.
Just imagine. Jenny likes your page and receives a special 25% discount on your latest item. She tells Sally who wants the same discount. Sally tells her friends and so on. But you don’t just have to reward them with discounts. Fill them in on exclusive inside information like a first-time sneak peek at next season’s inventory or make them the first to know about an upcoming sale. Reward your customers for liking your business page, and they’ll reward you with more sales and brand exposure.
Analyze Your Data
It takes but a few hours per day to engage the people who like your business page, and your sales will be much higher because of it. But don’t forget to keep a close eye on your analytics so that you can determine which of your techniques are having the greatest impact.
But most of all, use your analytics to experiment with your audience. Find out what they most respond to. If something doesn’t work, scrap it and try something else. Eventually you’ll hit your stride and you’ll find the techniques that cause your customers to respond every time.
Selling on Facebook is still rather new. But with so many potential customers and with retailers finding new ways to engage customers without actually selling to them, the future of e-commerce looks very bright indeed. Plus, with various shopping cart applications that make it easier than ever to set up a store on your business page, you should definitely be selling your products and services on Facebook, one of the most popular and highly frequented websites in the world.
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How to Sell Products and Services on Facebook
Whether you’re selling T-shirts, health insurance or flowers, you can sell your products and services on Facebook. It’s not impossible as you may have heard, but that’s not to say that it’s easy. You can make sales on Facebook and other social media sites, you merely have to engage in sales tactics that are a little more subtle than you’re used to.
Facebook E-Commerce Trends
While most Facebook users will become annoyed if you try to pitch them your latest product or service on Facebook, they do expect to be sold to when they ‘Like’ your page. Companies like JC Penny, Best Buy and Procter and Gamble have already shown how effective e-commerce can be on Facebook.
In the case of Proctor and Gamble, the company placed a “Shop Now” tab on their business page, which at that time had 200,000 ‘likes’, and within an hour the company had sold out of 1,000 Cruiser diaper packs that were being offered for $9.99 each.
The Shop Now tab is but one application that can help turn your Facebook business page into a full blown storefront. There have been shopping cart applications in the past, but most of those applications took the customer away from Facebook and straight to your website after clicking the checkout link. The present day applications merge social networking and shopping perfectly so that the customer can shop for and buy what they want, all without leaving the comfort of their Facebook page.
Shopping Cart Apps
Milyoni
Milyoni released the iFanStore a few years ago and so far it’s being used by big names like the NBA and the UFC. This application offers tons of great features for shoppers and plenty of in-store branding, which is just what you want. All of the stores operate within facebook and everything from product selection to payment occurs in the facebook experience. If you have a lot of products to sell, this is the application you’ll want to use.
Payvment
This application is simple to install and use and you will be up and selling products on your Facebook business page in just a few minutes. The best part about Payvment is that it’s completely integrated with Facebook. That means your customers will never leave their page. Even the checkout transaction is handled via popup, which means your customers will feel much more comfortable buying from you.
Ecwid
Like Payvment, Ecwid relies on minimalism and functionality more than it does on flash and looks. The cart is much like the one iFanStore offers, but without all the handy in-store branding. And, just like iFanStore, you must guide the customer off the page in order to buy. The customer is still within Facebook, they’re just inside the Ecwid application.
These are just a few of the applications available. The one you decide on will depend on your budget, your typical sales volume, your inventory and what type of experience you want to offer your customers. All in all, Payvement is your best bet if you’re on a limited budget and you’re only selling a few items.
Once your Facebook business page is ready to go, complete with inventory and the shopping cart to sell those items, you will need to drive traffic to your online storefront if you hope to make any sales. This is where it gets fun.
Socially Selling
You cannot sell on Facebook like you do on your official e-commerce website. People log onto Facebook to see what they’re friends are up to and to see what’s going on in the world. They look at what their friends think of the latest news stories and to voice their own opinions.
That’s where your company comes in. You must be able to sell socially. This takes skill, it takes finesse and it takes downright socializing. Be personable and interactive. Instead of offering your new coat brand, ask your prospects and customers what they would pay for such an item. Ask them to review it. Or, post a news story that shows a celebrity wearing the coat in question during an interview. The idea is to get people interested in what you’re doing. Let them interact with your Facebook online store and they’ll be more likely to buy. Let them share their stories and their view points. Once you get good at this, you will see just how effective brand loyalty can be.
Rewarding Your Prospects and Customers
A better idea to help ramp up sales within your Facebook business page is to reward your Facebook fans with special offers. Make them feel as though they’re part of an exclusive club. Make them thankful that they clicked your “Like” button. And if you reward them enough, they’ll brag to their friends who will want to “Like” your page too.
Just imagine. Jenny likes your page and receives a special 25% discount on your latest item. She tells Sally who wants the same discount. Sally tells her friends and so on. But you don’t just have to reward them with discounts. Fill them in on exclusive inside information like a first-time sneak peek at next season’s inventory or make them the first to know about an upcoming sale. Reward your customers for liking your business page, and they’ll reward you with more sales and brand exposure.
Analyze Your Data
It takes but a few hours per day to engage the people who like your business page, and your sales will be much higher because of it. But don’t forget to keep a close eye on your analytics so that you can determine which of your techniques are having the greatest impact.
But most of all, use your analytics to experiment with your audience. Find out what they most respond to. If something doesn’t work, scrap it and try something else. Eventually you’ll hit your stride and you’ll find the techniques that cause your customers to respond every time.
Selling on Facebook is still rather new. But with so many potential customers and with retailers finding new ways to engage customers without actually selling to them, the future of e-commerce looks very bright indeed. Plus, with various shopping cart applications that make it easier than ever to set up a store on your business page, you should definitely be selling your products and services on Facebook, one of the most popular and highly frequented websites in the world.