Facebook Starter Guide for Small Business eCommerce Infographic

So, Facebook has 1.5 billion monthly users as measured last August by Statistica, but what does that mean for you, a small business owner?

The short answer: if you already have a small business on main street, you really should run an E-Commerce store on Facebook to strengthen your sales and marketing, with both short- and long-term revenue benefit.

The long answer: Best business results realized via a more complete online – offline business integration, whereby your web business dovetails with in-store business practices for a seamlessly aligned customer experience and business management. However, such full integration is not realized overnight and you must start ‘somewhere’.

If a complete integrated business model seems ‘daunting’, starting a simple standalone EC business initiative can be an eye-opener as, online, the potential opportunities, the speed of sales and extend of referral advertising can be a thousand-fold that of any shop on main-street. Sounds enticing?

How does selling on Facebook work?

People who use Facebook, mostly use it to exchange ‘personal’ social messages. However, they increasingly use Facebook as a place for online shopping and researching things they want to buy. Their Facebook friends endorse (‘like’, ‘share’ and ‘comment on’) certain products, they will look into it and buy one also if it suits their criteria.

Besides immediate sales potential, Facebook can also enhance your marketing: from being a billboard, a place for coupon code promotions, a mechanism to create customer loyalty to being a tool to build your brand. Depending on how you use Facebook, it could realize all of these benefits ~ most of them completely free.

Free, except for 1 thing: time. You have to actually do it. And that is easier said than done. Particularly if you are not that web-savvy.

Facebook Starter Guide for Small Business eCommerce

The free Infographic sponsored by Intuit below is helping you to take the practical steps to unlock the secrets of Facebook. It is a useful general overview of how to get started in Facebook.

Notes: I think, overall, it’s a nifty guide that’s beneficial for small business owners. Just to get started!

The real, implementable tips and hints are sourced from Facebook and Forbes. Errata Intuit figures: 60% of the world population is not 1 billion.