Facebook has become an important tool for businesses to promote their brands and products. E-commerce businesses can also take advantage of Facebook to increase their online sales by creatively directing fans to their websites. A combination of both long- and short-term strategies should be used to boost revenue.
Short-Term Facebook Fan Page Strategies
These strategies can help an e-commerce business gain short boosts of revenue by generating excitement and interest for its products or services. A short-term Facebook fan page strategy should be promoted in such a way that it can go viral easily and quickly.
Develop a game. Facebook fans respond well to games, especially when the outcome of the game results in actual prizes, such as coupons. One game that is gaining in popularity is simply giving fans a random coupon code for a discount at check-out, such as 10% to 60% off their total purchase. The key to this is to not let the customer know which percentage they will have off so that they must find out at the check-out. This game will drive more customers to the website, encourage them to add items to their shopping cart, and increase the likelihood they will make a purchase.
Offer a sweepstake. While sweepstakes can seem very typical, you can add your own spin to it to generate a higher probability of gaining sales. For example, Zappos offered their Facebook fans a chance to win $500 voucher for their online store, but they could only enter the sweepstakes after going to the Zappos website to create a shopping list of what they would buy if they won. This sweepstakes was not only successful in gaining an enormous boost in traffic to their website, but also encouraged many customers to buy items from their list when they did not win the sweepstakes.
Long-Term Facebook Fan Page Strategies
In order to consistently send traffic from a Facebook fan page to a website, the business should prioritize methods to engage its fans. Offer potential customers a direct line of communication with the business and provide engaging content so that they will keep coming back.
Ask fans questions. Engage fans in a discussion through the fan page discussion board. Customers will enjoy being able to talk candidly about products or services, while it provides the business with an opportunity to give answers to questions that are causing some people to hesitate before making a purchase. Fans reading the discussion boards are also more likely to visit the product pages on the website to be able to contribute to the conversation or see what the fuss is about.
Post interesting content. Keep the Facebook fan page fresh with interesting news, updates or stories that keep your fans coming back. The more fans return, the more likely they will eventually visit the e-commerce website or have it in mind when wanting to make a purchase.
