#Krocomm is Ireland’s free e-commerce event happening in Dublin on Tuesday 4^th October at Kro HQ.  There are lots of great speakers, clinics and giveaways.  Book here.

Back at the beginning of the year there was a lot of buzz about f-commerce.  In other words selling directly from a shop on your Facebook page.  It’s true more people are looking to Facebook to start a shop, it’s also true that lots of large brands seem to be embracing it but is it right for your small business?  How else can Facebook help you sell?  These are topics I’ll be discussing at the #krocomm e-commerce conference next week but here’s a sneak preview of my presentation.

Why sell from Facebook?

Facebook is a massive community, research has shown that Facebook fans are loyal customers who are more likely to buy online.  If you can connect with these potential customers you could be building powerful brand advocates who will not only buy from you but also recommend you to friends.

Buying online is all about trust, you are asking someone to hand over their credit card details so it’s important that however you choose to sell, your web presence oozes professionalism and trust.  If you don’t have the budget to create a great e-commerce website straight away Facebook is often a better option.  There are several applications that are simple to add to your Facebook page that make setting up a shop easy.  Two Irish based ones are Owjo and VendorShop and there are lots of other options out there.  However simply adding a shop to Facebook doesn’t ensure trustworthiness.  Make sure your page is designed well, add as much detail in the info page as possible and be easy to contact offline.

Once you’ve set up your shop the same rules apply as with any e-commerce venture.  Customers won’t just come to you, you will need to attract them.  One of the biggest disadvantages of f-commerce that I can see is that people who ‘Like’ your page often just visit once, once they’ve clicked the ‘Like’ button they rely on seeing your updates on their newsfeed.  Having a shop tab as part of your page means that you will need to get them back to your page, you will need to drive them to your shop and entice them to buy when they get there.  This is true of both f-commerce and e-commerce.

So how do you encourage that purchase using social media?  I’m not going to talk about general strategy here and it’s important to remember that these tips will only work as part of a full Facebook or social media campaign.

Offers

I’m not sure if it’s a sign of the times but consumers don’t expect to pay full price for anything anymore.  If you want their attention you are going to have to discount occasionally.  Creating offers exclusively for your Facebook community is a great way to push them over the edge into a purchase.  You can simply add a discount code in your updates or as an image as these are more likely to attract the attention of your fans or you could create a customised page with vouchers.  If you are a bricks and mortar shop give your fans a fun phrase they have to say when they come into your shop, this will create a bit of fun instore too.

Exclusives

Every Christmas a member of my extended family gets an invite to a special shopping night in Brown Thomas, they give her a glass of champagne when she arrives and the shop is less busy so she’s able to shop in peace and is guaranteed a personal service.  She’s a loyal Brown Thomas customer and this experience makes her feel special.  They are ensuring her loyalty for the future.  You can replicate this on Facebook.

Why not offer an exclusive to your fans, if you have a new product or a new range of products give your Facebook  fans the chance to buy 24 hours before the general public.  Not only will this encourage them to buy, it will create a buzz around your launch.

Reviews

We tend to buy from shops that are recommended to us by our friends and I for one know I research a product online before I buy it.  Reviews are therefore an essential part of any e or f-commerce site.  If someone is able to see frank customer reviews next to the product you are selling they are more likely to buy.  Another Irish company LouderVoice makes the process of getting and sharing reviews easy.

Sharing

If you sell something make it easy to share.  What happens when someone buys from you? Do they have the option to share their purchase with their friends on Facebook? On Twitter? The easier you make it to share the further the word will spread about what you are selling.

Examples

When I asked people on Facebook would they buy from a Facebook shop most people hadn’t encountered one.  This is probably one of the biggest barriers you will come against.  There are good examples out there.

Young British Designers have a beautiful shop and I’m informed they only sell on Facebook, there’s no website attached.

Handmade Jewellery store Dink Design are using Owjo to sell from their Facebook page and I think it looks quite attractive and very trustworthy.

Another Irish company Puddleducks have a store powered by Payvment. Again it looks trustworthy and it has those all important ‘share on Facebook’ buttons.

Pampers have a Facebook shop but it differs from the others as links take you away from Facebook and onto their own website.

So what do you think?  Would you buy on Facebook? Have you tried selling there?  What sort of results have you had?  I’d love to hear your experiences so that I can add it to my presentation next week.

This Thursday (27th Jan 2011) at 7pm GMT / 2pm ET, I will be live on the Social Media Ireland’s Facebook page chatting and answering your questions about Selling online using social media.

The hour long session is the second time Social Media Ireland has run such an event, at the beginning of January Krishna De was the guest expert talking about Facebook and there was a massive turn out with lots of information and advice changing hands.  If you want to see what went on scroll back on Social Media Ireland’s Facebook page.

As many of you may know I started my business career selling corporate gifts online and much of my marketing activity was based in social media.  Because of this background I will be focusing this chat specifically on Social Media Marketing for selling online.  So if you are an online or offline retailer and want to know more about how to market your business and promote sales through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc drop in, ask a question or just find out what challenges others face.

To book your seat, RSVP to the event on Facebook and tune in on Thursday to Social Media Ireland’s Facebook page.  I will be collating the most useful stuff into a blog post next week.

Christmas used to be my busy period, in the days before Spiderworking.com I ran a gift hamper company and October – December would usually see me buried up to my elbows in packing straw.  It was my experience selling Christmas gifts online that led me into the soical media business.  Here are my 5 hot top tips to promoting your seasonal business through Facebook.

1. Christmas up your profile image

Changing your profile image for the season will make people think of Christmas every time they see your updates. It also keeps your page looking fresh.  You could add a Santy hat like Hairy Baby (pictured above) a sprig of holly or mistletoe.

2. Be Christmassy – make people smile

What do you love about Christmas?  Tell a story about Christmas relating to your business.  If you sell warm clothing talk about snowballs, if you sell books talk about lazing by the fire after Christmas dinner.

Can your community contribute? Ask them to relate their favourite Christmas moment or poll them on what part of Christmas day is the best; opening presents, dinner or the post lunch stupor?  The more interaction on your page the more it will attract new people in as they see what their friends are doing.

3. Tell your community about the benefits of buying from you

Facebook isn’t about selling but in reality that is what you are there to do.  As long as you are giving relevant content to your community it’s OK to talk about what you sell.  Tell your ‘Likes’ about the benefits of buying from you, tell the story behind your product.  One of the most popular blog posts from Feelgood Organic Hampers was the story of why we chose to package our product the way we did.

Always include a call to action in these posts, tell your readers how to order, give them a discount or bonus code to use on your website when buying.

4.Promote your deadlines

Facebook is a great way to ensure your customers know your deadlines, when is the last order day for Christmas delivery?  If you ship overseas make sure you alert people to their specific delivery deadlines.

5. Let your customers do the selling

Are your customers happy?  If so ask them for a testimonial, ask them to send in photos of themselves with your product and post these on your page.  Again this sharing will attract more people to your page and your product.

We’re offering free one hour consultations to businesses trying to sell online for Christmas.  To book a consultation contact us or give us a call on 01 442 9410. We’ll look forward to talking to you.

Each week we are featuring one of the Work The Web workshops here on our blog.

This weeks featured workshop is ‘E-Commerce & Selling Online’

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop helps participants understand what e-commerce is, the benefits of using the Internet to sell products and services and how to implement e-commerce. This workshop is for both existing online retailers and those who are in the planning stage.

What you will learn:

• What is e-commerce?

• How it works

• How it could benefit you

• What could you sell online and to whom?

• What type of e-commerce is right for you?

• How might e-commerce change your business?

• Setting up e-commerce on your website

• Setting up the facility with your bank

• Security and reliability issues

• What price to charge for products

• Pricing models

• Payment methods

• Fulfillment and distribution

• Purchasing policies

• How to let users select items to purchase (the shopping cart options)

• How to promote your e-commerce facility

• Maintaining the e-commerce facility

• Google analytics and e-commerce

• Case studies

Where & When:

We are running this one day workshop on:

Friday 14th May at Jury’s Inn, Custom House Quay, Dublin 1

and

Thursday 3rd June at The Maudlins House Hotel, Naas, Co. Kildare

A limited number of Early Bird tickets are available for €95

Full price tickets cost €145

Payment Details

If you wish to pay by Visa or Mastercard please simple pay online when booking your tickets. If you wish to pay by Laser or if you prefer to pay by Visa/Mastercard over the phone please call 091 399 939 and tell the receptionist that you wish to pay by credit card. To pay by cheque or EFT please contact Ruairi on 091 399 939 for details.