Online Business and Facebook

We are moving towards a world of online entrepreneurs. Whatever business you do, you may have to work out to make an online presence. If you analyze the prospects of any business whether online or offline, it is evident that more and more people are turning towards or trying to do some business online. The nonavailability of suitable jobs and the recession accounts for a percentage of people worldwide looking for doing online business. Some people turn to online business because they are not flexible enough to do a regular 10 to 5 jobs due to other commitments.

Whatever the situation there are only a selected few who have succeeded as online entrepreneurs. Many people think of starting online businesses but they never implement them in practical life. You can never assume that you are not going to be successful in doing online business unless you try that out practically.

This article aims at providing you with an idea of how to start an online business using the social media platform, Facebook
If you continue reading this article till the end, you may feel like giving online business a try.

Step1: Choose a product:

The first thing you have to decide is what you are going to sell. It may be anything of your choice such as clothes, jewelry, watches, cakes, chocolates, etc. If you are gifted in making anything creative of your own, for example, handicrafts or handmade jewelry, you can have a unique brand of your own.

Step2: Register your business:

Register your business with the concerned authorities in the area where you are residing. The formalities of registering a business will vary from country to country. Do research on this and make sure your business is registered according to the terms and conditions in order to avoid any legal issues later.

Step3: Open Facebook business page:

First, you have to decide on a name for your Facebook business page. It is better to choose a short name as it makes people remember it more easily and this may make it easy to establish a name as the brand name of your business. If you are unsure of how to create a business page on Facebook, please follow the simple steps given below.

a) Login to your Facebook page using your username and password.

b) Select the option to ‘Create Page’ from the menu at the right side on top of the home page.

c) When you click on the option ‘Create page’, there are six classifications available as follows.

1. Local Business of Place 2.The company, Organisation, or Institution.3. Brand or Product4. Artist, Band or Public Figure.5. Entertainment.6. Cause or Community.

Here you have to choose your classification. If you are selling any products, choose the option ‘Brand or Product.’

d) After selecting one of the six options, you have to choose your category from the drop-down menu. Here you have the option to give your Brand or Product name.

Please note that the category and name cannot be changed once you create it. The only option available is to delete it and recreate it. So make sure you have decided on the right name of your choice before creating the page.

e) Once you select a category and brand name and click ‘Get Started,’ you will have four options available.

Enter all those details here or you may opt to skip a few for completing them at a later stage.

f) Once you are done with the above steps you have your brand’s Facebook business page nearly ready. Now you have the option to use the ‘Admin Panel’ for administering your activities on your page. There is an ‘Edit Page’ option at the top right side of your page which can be used for making any further changes. If you would like to create a Facebook Page now, please use the link below to start.

www.facebook.com/pages/create

Step 4: Fill your Facebook page with quality content about your business.

Now you can fill your business page with pictures and posts appropriate to your product to gain the attention of customers. It is advisable to make the page as attractive as possible.

The picture given above is from a Facebook page where the entrepreneur is selling kids’ wear.
Also, make sure to enclose a note advising the customers on how to order the product. The best option available is to affix code numbers on your product. The customer can quote the code number while ordering a product by messaging through the page inbox. Once you get the order, the invoice can be sent to the customer. After confirming that the payment has been debited to your account, the product can be despatched to the customer. Another option available is to utilize the cash-on-delivery method provided by many courier services.

Step 5: Analyse your market.

In the initial stages of your business, most of your customers may be from your circle of friends and relatives. Hoarding large quantities of consumables at this stage is not a good idea since you are not sure which kind of product the customer prefers. After a few months of starting a business, you may see more and more people start liking your products and making positive comments on your page. There may be an increase in the number of customers if they like the product. This is the right time when you can analyze your market and get an idea about the kind of choice customers to prefer. After analyzing the market, you can start thinking of increasing your stock to cater to the specific demands of the customers.

Step 6: Implement a more effective marketing strategy.

Once it is seen that the business is progressing well, it is a good idea to opt for more marketing options available on social media. You may opt to make payments for advertisements on Facebook to increase your customer base.

Step 7: Once you reach a stage where you feel that your business needs a much bigger platform rather than continuing with social media, focus yourself on creating a website or website for your business.

In order to get a feel of what I have written, I suggest you go through the Facebook page of a successful business running on Facebook with the brand name Rosette.

For anyone planning to start an online business, the contents on this Facebook page may serve as a guide for implementing your own business ideas. Your comments on this post are most welcome so that I can be able to come up with more ideas for the forthcoming posts.

Your comments on this post are most welcome so that I can be able to come up with more ideas for the forthcoming posts.

Image Source: Pixabay

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