Online merchants are always on the lookout for the most profitable ecommerce platforms. With so many different platforms to choose from, it’s easy for a novice online seller to get confused in deciding which one is best for their brand. High visibility and high traffic are imperative to landing sales. Of course, the more people your products are exposed to, the larger the potential customer base is. The key to online selling is drawing people in by getting and keeping their attention. On low traffic platforms this might be easier said than done. That’s why so many people are flocking to social media sites and why selling on Facebook has become a hot new channel for merchants big and small.
Facebook store
Given it’s popularity, Facebook is a potential boon for any type of ecommerce business. Facebook has over 500 million active users. Those users are connected to, roughly, 130 friends and 80 groups or pages each. In terms of exposure for your ecommerce business, you just can’t ask for better odds than those. So what are the avenues of selling online through Facebook and which ones are the best? Let’s take a look at the current available options.
Facebook Ads
These are small ads that appear on the sidebar of the pages of your targeted audience. You can target anyone anywhere using keywords. Algorithms pair up your ad’s keywords to those found on users’ pages and displays them accordingly. The good thing about these ads is that you can target anyone you want to. The downside is you can’t make them click the ad that’s going to take them to your products.
Facebook Virtual Store Apps
These apps are handy and easy to use. The integrate your products onto your Facebook page and display them for sale as they appear on other sites like Ebay, etc. The relative ease of installing, integrating and using these apps make them quite attractive. However, your customers have to allow the app access to their pages and then leave Facebook to complete their purchase, both of which can be huge turnoffs for prospective customers.
Facebook Fan Pages
These pages are a super idea and a must-have for any ecommerce business. They are invaluable tools for raising awareness of your brand, offering promotions and getting your products out there. The downside to this avenue is the constant need to be engaging, updated and fresh. It takes a considerable amount of time to create and maintain a popular Facebook Fan Page and if you don’t have the time and effort to devote to it, it really won’t do you or your brand much good.
Facebook Storefront
Creating an actual store within the Facebook page is the ideal situation for selling your products and services. It’s one stop shopping for your customers without leading them on a wild goose chase of click this, click that or refresh the page to proceed. They can get in and get out fast – which is a very attractive attribute to online shoppers. However, like with the aforementioned methods, there’s always a tradeoff. Going the Facebook storefront route takes away the social media aspect of the process in terms of being able to share, promote and interact – which is the very reason you considered Facebook for your ecommerce platform to begin with, right?
While some of these methods may work for some, they might not be beneficial to you. The key is to experiment with the various ways to sell on Facebook to find out which method is right for your brand in terms of potential profitability, ease of use and practicality. When you find what works, stick with it and cultivate it so that your social marketing campaign and your brand will flourish.
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