Use Facebook to Promote Your eCommerce Website

By Adam  |  23 Jun 2015 11:00:00

When networking, or even socialising, one of the most commonly asked questions is "Are you on Facebook?" More and more, Facebook is becoming the internet networking tool and this presents a good opportunity for business people and self-starters. If you've got an eCommerce website, it would be a really good idea to make a Facebook page for it.

One mistake that some people make, when creating a Facebook page for their business, is not creating a business page, but creating a page for it as if it were a human being. This happens if you do not have a Facebook page and you try to sign up for Facebook as your business. What you first need to do is sign up to Facebook as yourself, and then once you have an account you can make a page for your business. If you're not comfortable with having your name on Facebook; don't worry. You can make a Facebook page using a fake name and then just use that account to create the business page (and nobody will be able to see your fake account except you.) The reason that it is important to make a proper business page for your eCommerce website, rather than just giving it a human's page, is simply a matter of professionalism; those who are quite social media savvy will find it odd and unprofessional if your business has a personal page.

Creating a business page is very simple. Once you have a personal page for yourself, you only need to click on "Pages" to the left of the screen and then you will be given the option to create a page for your business. After filling in all of the details, your page is ready to go. It's important that you also upload a display photo and a cover photo; again, just for the sake of professionalism and also so that your page looks more complete. 

The page will have a link to your eCommerce website on it, so anyone who sees your Facebook page and wants to visit your site can easily do so. But the thing is, you now need to get people to see your Facebook page (which is a little ironic, because your Facebook page was made to get people to see your website) and there are a few ways that you can build up the number of 'likes' that you have on the page. If you already had an account on Facebook before and have added friends on it, you can send out mass invitations for them to all 'like' the page. Not all of them will, but it's how you start the ball rolling. You'll probably get your first twenty likes or so from friends and then, after that, you just need to be regularly posting interesting content; if you've got a company blog, share all the blog posts on your Facebook page, share industry news, write funny or interesting anecdotes about things related to the business, share photographs. Your friends will, presumably, 'like' these and then, when they do, the people on their friend list will be able to see it as well, maybe they'll 'like' the page too and then you can branch outward.

But even if you don't have a personal Facebook page or a lot of friends to get the ball rolling, there are still ways to build up those initial 'likes'. For one thing, when people find a website that they like, they tend to look around to see if it has any social media outlets; if they like your website, it makes sense that they'd like a way to keep up to date with it! So be sure that there is a clear link to your Facebook page somewhere on your main eCommerce site. Don't hide it away in a 'Contact' section, put it proudly on the front page, then people will see it, think "Oh, I'll give them a 'like'" and just like that you've formed an ongoing bond with the customer. Emails are also a great way to build up the number of 'likes' on your page; every time you email someone, make sure that you link back to the Facebook page too. It's possible that your customers will be seeing emails from you more often than they see your main website, so it is just as important to include Facebook links in the emails as it is on the home page.

Of course, this doesn't happen overnight. You slowly build up the number of 'likes' over a long period of time, but it is definitely worth it. Imagine somebody stumbles upon your site, gives it a 'like' on Facebook and makes an order. Had they not 'liked' your business on Facebook, they might have completely forgotten about you after that order, but as they did 'like' you they will be seeing you regularly in their social media feeds. It's a great way to raise your brand awareness and to keep you on the horizon for all your customers and prospects.

So, don't delay! Set up a Facebook page to tie in with your Sellr website right away. It could be the thing that helps your business to achieve its full potential.