We have created a parallel existence. It sounds crazy, but honestly, think about it. We have an alternate universe of our classical depiction of physical movie theatre, that being the digital progression to viewing services like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and others. We have an alternate universe to our classical definition of shopping, where it used to mean going to a store, seeing and feeling items in person, it now means perusing inventory on an online database with Amazon or any . Even our traditional means of information collection, word of mouth, discussion with people, educational text, potentially going for long periods of time without obtaining the information we desire to find, has been replaced by the instantaneous ability to learn new information, thanks for search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Everything has become digital to some degree.
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With all of these digital alternatives that have come to fruition, it is only sensible that a platform on which we uphold basic social functions be created. Facebook has been a major spearhead in the redirect to the digital for personal and relational use. As our social lives adjust to the digital adaptations around us, commerce and furthermore e-commerce, forms of interpersonal interaction for professional advancement, are only expected to follow suit. Due to the magnitude of Facebook’s impact on our lives, it becomes evident very quickly that to not get on board the social media train could be dire for one’s business.
Even with Facebook’s fairly recent inception, having been birthed in February of 2004, it has managed to make a rather large bang in the digital revolution. It could even be argued that Facebook maybe was even one of the large boulders responsible for the massive subsequent ripples in this online pond. Upon conclusion of 2016, Facebook reported to have 1.23 billion active users on a daily basis (Facebook Newsroom). Considering the relatively small number of people that could witness our physical outreach means on a daily basis, this social medium is a goldmine of potential viewers for anything that anyone could possibly have to share online. This goldmine is being taken advantage of for e-commerce to a passable degree, with 60 million businesses utilizing a facebook page (Venture Beat) and a rate of 85.8% usage among businesses of 100 or more employees (EMarketer), however, to companies on the rise, a minute 41% of small businesses report using a Facebook as part of their e-commerce business model (EMarketer). Due to the established popularity of social media such as Facebook among personal circles and its growing use for businesses, the use of these platforms is not only extremely important, but extremely advantageous to business, or more, small businesses.
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Making the leap towards adopting a Facebook page for your business, in no time flat, will become evident that it is less of a leap and more of a slight hop, at absolute most. Furthermore, that slight hop will seem far less significant of an effort upon seeing all of the good it could do for marketing your business with ease…oh and with no money…because it offers a free marketing option for your business (Fit Small Business). By creating a Facebook page for your business, you equip yourself with the ability to frequently post regarding promotions and sales, bring attention to your business, and give insights on products and services regularly to keep potential followers in the loop all for free of charge. While there is the option to market your business for free through posting from your Facebook page, advertising can also be achieved in a similar fashion to pay-per-click advertising, where you can bid on visibility opportunities for your page and your business. Ultimately, whether you are a small business owner in need of low-cost marketing opportunities or an established and financially-well-to-do company with the means to spend money on advertising, Facebook offers both avenues for your business’s progress.
As you market your brand effectively, more and more people will adhere to your business. The goods and services that you offer will be put through the ringers with people that had seen your marketed products. Assuming you accept only the best for your customers, chances are your attention to quality will leave consumers pleased, so keep up the good work and care! However, there is always the possibility that someone that has utilized your product or experienced your services that were either not entirely satisfied or have inquiries regarding your products. Facebook can handle this business need as well. While most of your loyalty among customers can be gained from the effectiveness of your products, your interaction with customers and ability to quickly and professionally address customer qualms is not to be overlooked. As one may have assumed, the primary driver of brand loyalty is quality of products, 88% of consumers as studies have concluded, however, second to that is customer service, coming in at a relatively close 72% of consumer response (EConsultancy). Tackling customer needs is apparently important, however, many consumers would agree that the traditional methods of customer service through call centers and email contact can sometimes seem futile. Again, Facebook exits the telephone booth with its cape and suit to save the day. More and more consumers have been using social media like Facebook for servicing, actually 67% (JD Power), more than two-thirds of folks, have converted to this new method of addressing their consumer qualms with ease.
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Considering the aforementioned uses of Facebook in the e-commerce model, you already have two of your major bases covered, that being marketing, promotion, and advertisement of your outstanding products all in conjunction with your capability to easily service any customer needs through open-forum style colloquy as opposed to the old-fashioned hoop-jumping styles of customer service. These features of Facebook on their own are already bound to confirm the usefulness of this feature in your online business presence. However, there is still one fairly apparent aspect of this social media platform that bears the majority of its utility: its social appeal, its shareability. In the recent blog by Rave Retailer covering the implementation of customer reviews on our websites and other links, it was mentioned that people will trust or want to adhere to a brand more when they see reviews on that brand, and that is with respect to insights of strangers, likely. Imagine how much more people will want to follow your brand when hearing good response from people with whom they are close. Ultimately, 90% of customers develop trust in a brand based on close recommendations and connections (TCA Push N Pull). For this reason, push for opportunities to get shares, as that will increase views of your brand and overall increased trust and loyalty.
Loyalty. That is the overarching goal of having social media integrated into your online business model. And in the case of Facebook as a way of achieving customer loyalty, it all comes down to those likes, those beautiful, approving thumbs-ups! Once a Facebook user has seen your promotions, used your products, found your service outstanding, and has ended up liking your page and sharing it with others to like, they become an ambassador of your brand wanting to share the gospel with everyone they know. People liking your Facebook page works in a dual-pronged fashion, the ambassadorship being one of those prongs. The second is that as a business owner, you can receive insight into who is actively using your products, as 78% of a brand’s Facebook fans are found to be current users of the brand’s products (Marketing Land). By keeping up with the number of likes, shares, or other forms of attention your Facebook page receives, you can devise a good indication as to your reach and active consumer numbers. This is the ultimate culmination of your business with the aid of social media marketing through Facebook, a lot of growth can be achieved for your business. It all starts with making the jump towards adopting a Facebook business page.
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Through making the small time and energy investment of submitting to social media and letting its strong waves sweep you to success, you will find your ROI to be monumental relative to that initial effort to establish a page for your business. Through marketing, advertising, interaction between business and customer, and ultimately customer to potential customer, your business has multiple avenues for growth all in one platform. Find out more about integrating this powerful agent into your e-commerce model with Rave Retailer and start letting the power of our digital alternative universe gift your business with some real-world business progress!