E-commerce: how to create and animate a Facebook community

Getting started in e-commerce • Tips & Tricks to Create & Animate a Facebook Community

animate a Facebook community

A few months ago now, I gave you a lot of tips for selling on Facebook. This week, I wanted to talk to you about how to create and animate a Facebook community when you are an e-commerce site.

For a few years now, you have been aware of the importance of being present on Facebook. If creating a fan page was rather simple, creating the community from this page and having ideas to animate it, it’s more complicated.

For my part, I am convinced that animating a Facebook community is the best way to increase it in terms of the number of fans and commitments with your e-commerce site.

So I wanted to take an interest in how it is possible to run and animate a Facebook community. We will first see the mistakes that should not be made. Then we will see several good practices and how to find ideas to animate a Facebook page.

Also, if you have any feedback or ideas for animating a successful fan page, share it in the comments. All good ideas are good to take.

Mistakes not to make

Before looking at best practices for running a community on Facebook, I think it is important to look at the mistakes that should not be made.

A fan page is not a product catalog!

One of the most common mistakes with e-merchants that I support is that they think of their page as an interactive product catalog. Thus, each week, they publish one or more posts in which they promote (hard to conjugate this verb!) Their best products.

The problem, that by posting products, fans of your Facebook page will get bored of your posts and end up removing the “like” from your page or delete your posts from their news feed.

So if there is a mistake to avoid in animating a Facebook community for an e-commerce site, it is good to mistake your fan page for an interactive catalog and improve your page likes.

Let internet users use the fan page …

Another mistake to avoid in animating a Facebook fan page is preventing people from using your fan page the way they want. If a fan wants to be able to ask questions or display unhappiness right on your fan page wall, let it be and don’t try to hide that.

… But give them the tone!

Letting internet users do it does not mean to make your fan page a real mess (I admit that this word, I did not know it was written like that! ^^). Indeed, let Internet users interact freely with your page, but lead them so that their actions are useful to you.

For example, we will see later in the article how to respond to a negative comment on a Facebook page. Do not try to hide or minimize actions carried out by Internet users: manage them and take advantage of them to convey a positive image of your e-commerce site.

The release of a new event product: don’t overdo it

However, avoid communicating too much around the release of a new one of your flagship products. There is nothing more annoying for an Internet user to see dozens of publications around the release of a product.

This is the mistake by most e-merchants who, their heads in the handlebars, are so proud of their latest product acquisition, that they want the whole world to know about it. Don’t fall for this, your fans will thank you for it.

How to find ideas to animate a Facebook community?

Now that we have seen the mistakes not to make, I suggest you give you several ideas to animate a Facebook community. Each of these animation ideas are specific to an e-commerce site. I also invite you to share the ideas you have implemented and the results they have brought to you.

Involvement, a key success factor

There are several ways to get ideas for Facebook fan page animations. However, I think the factor that will make this idea a success is the energy you will develop to make this idea match your target fan base. The more you want and are involved in the animation of your fan page, the more your actions will stick to the personality of your fans. And the more they will have an impact on your community.

Get inspired by your competitors and major sites

Another solution to find ideas to animate a Facebook page is to go see what your competitors and the big e-commerce sites are doing.

The large e-commerce sites have entire teams dedicated to running social networks and pages. They are generally very active on social networks and are true providers of ideas. Adapt their best animation ideas and use them for your own fan page

The competition game, a standard of community animation

The competition game is surely one of the most used marketing tools to get people talking about their brand. Social networks and especially Facebook have also taken a very important place in the organization of competitions. The question now is how to succeed in a Facebook contest?

Techniques to highlight your products

Of course, I do not forget that animating a Facebook page takes time and that time, an e-merchant does not. It is therefore necessary that each action can advance its business and the animation of social networks must generate sales.

Even if your fan page isn’t an interactive catalog, there are ways to showcase your products and generate interaction with your fans about them. Here are several ideas for promoting products on a Facebook page.

Gamify your communication

A good idea to promote a product on Facebook is to gamify all the communication around it. For example, by asking your fans about the very functionality of the product.

For example, Rued commerce regularly highlights products from its catalog by making its fans guess its usefulness.

Eventise product communication

To promote a product, it is also interesting to seek to eventise the communication around this product.

For example, Art Garden has put forward its Bamboo range by communicating around the planting season. However, I, for one, would have turned the sentence like this “It is soon planting season.” Do you want to add bamboo to your garden? Quickly discover our range of bamboo for planting »

Demonstrate expertise through targeted sharing

Another interesting technique for animating a community on social networks is the sharing of information targeted on the theme of your e-commerce site. Whether on Twitter or Facebook, it is interesting to relay information about your sector of activity in order to position yourself as an expert in this field.

Ask questions to your Internet users

Another technique to promote a product on a fan page without appearing too commercial in the eyes of its fans is to ask questions of Internet users.

Asking questions is to engage the Internet user and encourage them to take an interest in your post. It’s a way to empower the fan to feel involved in the post. It is also a good way to test your fans’ appetite for a product in your catalog (beyond simple sales). Do not hesitate to ask the fans what hinders them in the purchase of a particular product: is it the price? Is it because they don’t know its usefulness? …?

Relay your articles & those of influential sites in your sector

The first source of information to relay on social networks is obviously the articles you write on the blog of your e-commerce site.

These articles, in addition to improving the natural referencing of your e-commerce site, demonstrate your expertise in your industry. If you put in place an interesting content marketing strategy, you will attract attractive Internet users to your industry and therefore potential customers. Social networks and in particular Facebook should allow you to relay these articles.

Best practices for posting a blog article on Facebook

To relay a blog / site article on your page, it is necessary to respect several good practices in order to ensure maximum engagement.

Customize the hook

It is first recommended to personalize the hook of the post. So, don’t just rewrite the title of the article: it is already posted!!

Ask a question to encourage Internet users to give their opinion or reformulate the main idea of ​​the article to make Internet users want to go and find out.

Customize the image

Also personalize the image accompanying the article. Indeed, when you enter a URL for a web page, it is sometimes not the most explicit image that is displayed. To increase the engagement rate of your posts on Facebook, take the time to personalize the image that will accompany the post.

Tips to Increase Facebook Community Engagement

You have understood it and perhaps even suddenly, animating a community on Facebook is not so easy. And it is not enough to organize contests or publish articles to engage your fans.

Running a Facebook community is also …

Dialogue with clients / prospects

Another way to animate a community on Facebook is to engage in dialogue with its fans, even if the communication is initially negative.

Accept customer complaints and use them

If there’s one thing Facebook users understand, it’s that, when they run into an issue with an e-commerce site. The best way to be heard is to post a message directly to the Facebook fan page site in question.

Don’t panic on your side, a negative post from one of your fans. Because it is not always bad for your image or for your business. But can be a good way to improve your image as an expert and serious site. So a negative comment can and most importantly MUST be used by you.

Invite the user to contact you by e-mail

The first step when you receive a negative comment on your wall is to invite the disgruntled fan to contact you by private message.

A disgruntled fan is usually a customer who has encountered a problem with one of your products. It is therefore necessary to understand the problem that the Internet user is encountering.

Ask the user to add a comment on their publication

Once the fan’s dissatisfaction is understood and explained, then ask them to add a comment on their post. Generally, a happy user is very complimentary when a site has taken the time to respond directly and above all quickly. This is the best publicity you can get!

Sometimes, if the problem could not be completely resolved because it came from the user himself. It may happen that the user adds a negative comment. In this case, do not panic. If the problem has been explained to the customer and you have done your utmost to resolve their problem. Then all you have to do is respond to this second negative comment. By explaining the actions that were taken on your end. And briefly explain why the problem did not occur. could not be fully resolved.

Surprise your Facebook fans

Surprise the fans of your page by communicating about an event totally foreign to your theme. The effect will be to your advantage and the engagement of fans of your Facebook page will be felt. 🙂

To do this, you have several solutions:

  • Give a quick opinion on the subject you have chosen
  • Ask your fans a question to get them to respond to the post.
  • Laugh at yourself and show that there is also a human behind the brand of your e-commerce site. For example, you can post an unusual photo on a stage in your life as an e-merchant.

Communicate on important events

Running a community also means knowing how to communicate using the important events that punctuate a calendar year. Use your Facebook fan page to remind Internet users of your presence by communicating around a periodic event, in line with the theme of your activity.

Bring useful information to your fans

Hosting a fan page also means taking the time to inform fans of this page. About the important events that punctuate a year and the life of your site.

Important dates to remember: a communication deemed useful

When there is an event, there are often important dates to know and on which it is interesting to communicate.

For example, for the Christmas period, which is fast approaching. It may be interesting to regularly remind Internet users of the various dates until which it will be possible to order on your site to have an assured delivery before the opening day of the gifts.

Conclusion

Creating, building and animating a community is long term!

One last thing, in-order to create and animate a Facebook community, it takes time. Especially if you want this community to be palatable to your products and your industry.

Invest the time it takes and act with heart and patience. Don’t lose motivation, you must be present on social networks and your efforts will be rewarded over time.

Also do not give in to the sirens that can be the purchase of fans or the mainstream games that will only bring you unnecessary fans for your business.

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