Selling Products on Facebook Business Pages with an Online Store App
Transform your Facebook business page into an e-commerce tool for your business by adding an online store app that lets you promote and sell products directly on Facebook
Many businesses have invested a lot of time into developing a large fan base on Facebook with a business page. Facebook has become a great communication and branding tool to help businesses build a loyal following of customers and prospects.
With the ability to communicate “Facebook only” sales specials, coupons and deals through status updates, business users are already beginning to benefit from increased sales opportunities as a result of a strong Facebook presence.
For companies that offer products for sale online, Facebook sales opportunities can be amplified with a direct plug-in application that adds an online store complete with e-commerce shopping cart functionality embedded on a tab on your Facebook page.
Adding an Online Store App to Sell Products on a Facebook Business Page
You have probably seen some big brands set up stores on their Facebook business page and thought it was only something that big companies with big marketing budgets and IT support teams could implement. In fact, many businesses – large or small – simply take advantage of off-the-shelf apps for adding an online store option to their Facebook page.
Of course the first step is setting up a Facebook business page for your company. Make sure that it is a business page and not a personal page or account. Business pages will give you much more functionality for promoting your business – including adding apps that allow customers to purchase products directly from Facebook.
Next, you will want to identify which ecommerce shopping cart app vendor you want to use for your online store on Facebook. There are several different companies that offer Facebook apps for online stores, but using a company that offers e-commerce functionality for your Facebook page as well as your external website might be the best approach to save time and money. That way you can use one tool to manage products you sell online – via Facebook or your website – for a seamless shopping experience for customers.
Big Commerce is a leading e-commerce online store provider that offers a Facebook application called SocialShop. The SocialShop app comes free with all online store service plan levels and lets you set up a fully functional store on Facebook. With Big Commerce SocialShop you can offer fans a complete browsing and buying experience – including search, checkout and product comparisons - without them needing to leave Facebook. They can also write reviews, manage orders, redeem gift certificates and more.
Some key features of SocialShop2 include:
Complete store functionality embedded on Facebook business page tab
Point-and-click installation for easy set-up of the store app
Customizable display banner to promote products and sales
Real-time product search
Animated product carousels
Product browsing and buying
Complete checkout functionality
Account creation and management
Orders and returns via Facebook
Product ratings and reviews
Product sorting and filtering
Full product merchandising
Included free on all plans
No transaction fees on orders (pay no transaction fees with all Big Commerce plans)
Here’s a quick video that shows how SocialShop works:
According to Big Commerce, over 10,000 businesses are currently using their SocialShop application to sell products online via their Facebook business page. The SocialShop app for Facebook is free when you sign up for any of their e-commerce plans. To get started, you can try Big Commerce FREE for 15 days. After the fully-functional trial period accounts start at only $24.95 a month to manage and maintain an online store that lets you easily sell products with shopping cart functionality on your website, Facebook, eBay, smartphones and more.
Simple and easy to follow instructions for small businesses to get set up to use Pinterest as a brand promotional tool to generate more exposure, viral buzz and web traffic
Get our FREE report: 10 Big Impact Marketing and Productivity Trends for Small Businesses when you sign-up to receive for our monthly e-news on the latest tools, ideas and special discount offers via email
Featured Website Marketing Tool
iBuilt - Website builder/hosting *Free 10 day trial offer
