How to market your ecommerce store on Facebook

Facebook is widely regarded as the most popular social media platform on the Web today. Its billions of users interact with the online network on a daily basis, which means there's massive potential to get exposure for your new ecommerce website in this channel. Although you don't want to be overbearing with your efforts, it's important for new business owners to make their brand presence known online, and Facebook is a strong way to do just that.

How can I best engage customers on Facebook?

There's no "secret sauce" in the recipe of successful customer engagement on Facebook. It mostly depends on a case-by-case basis when it comes to client interaction, but generally speaking, companies can do a few things to better their social media presence. For starers, it's important to note that clients aren't on Facebook to get inundated with requests to buy certain products or services. Remember, the primary goal of the ecommerce site is to attract buyers and make the sale - that's not the job of Facebook. Your website should be enticing enough that once the buyer is there, he or she will want to make a purchase. The responsibility of Facebook engagement is to spark the interest of the buyer, or to get them to click through to your website, at the very least.

A great way to start is by posting relevant or interesting content to your Facebook news feed. Depending on the vertical, there are always newsworthy, funny or though-provoking things that new businesses can use to help drive interest in their brand and traffic to their website. For example, a company that focuses on the household pet market could post a link to a page that has a collection of cute dog pictures. Sharing relevant content is a great way to exert your brand name as a dominant voice in the market.

Businesses don't need to be pushing product promotions at all hours of the day on Facebook. In fact, there are ways that companies can sell without using overly promotional language. For example, your new company can post interactive videos or images of the new venture moving into its office, what back-end operations look like, or even employees doing something fun. These are all great ways to give customers a glimpse as to what your business is like, and it gives more of a face to the name of your brand. By sharing engaging and visually stimulating content, a new ecommerce platform can get personal with its customers.

On the other hand, you don't necessarily need to do all of the talking for yourself. Facebook's sharing power can also be leveraged to show how other customers feel about your product or service. Testimonials in the form of status updates, videos or images can be extremely powerful in showing why your business is better than the competition.

Engage the audience

Another great way to interact in a meaningful manner with clientele on Facebook is by asking for their opinions on certain matters. If your business is posting relevant news about the ecommerce industry, for instance, it's well-advised to ask any followers and friends to weigh in on the issue. Once a customer takes the time to respond, a business can reciprocate and show its appreciation. A simple "thank you!" can do the trick, but if the comment warrants a thought-out response, a business owner or social media manager should take the time to respond.

Facebook is often overlooked as a valuable tool for customer service because of its robust sharing capabilities. While that power is important, Facebook's capability as a client care engine is often underused. If an ecommerce platform dedicates time and energy to its account, Facebook can be a great PR tool. In addition to sharing things like customer testimonials, a business can also create platforms for potential clients to engage with one another in a positive and educational manner.

Customers are king

Facebook also serves as a portal to both monitor and respond to customer complaints, so it needs a serious amount of time and dedication to watch over. People that reach out expect a response within a reasonable amount of time, and it's the business's responsibility to comply with those demands. Remember, Facebook is a highly visible public platform, so a misstep could ultimately cause a public relations backfire. However, savvy companies will not only dedicate the right amount of time to monitoring their Facebook account, they'll be able to use it as an engine driving quality customer service and generating new client support. Since online networks are public platforms, formulating a positive image online can drastically impact not only your reputation, but your bottom line as well.