Transforming Facebook Business Pages Into Online Stores

Facebook Likes don’t necessarily equate to increased earnings, and the company is making new efforts to help small businesses earn money from their Pages.

The social media giant has announced it is upgrading Pages with a tabbed mobile layout that allows them to display storefront “Sections” where users can “Shop” for products or view a list of “Services” that the business offers. Facebook is also making the calls-to-action on business Pages, including “Call Now,” “Send Message” and “Contact Us,” bigger and more prominent beneath the cover image.

Now, the “Shop” section will include Buy buttons powered by Facebook’s partnership with Shopify, allowing users to conveniently check out without leaving the social media network. Additionally, Facebook is conducting tests of Buy buttons that link out to a business’ traditional website.

“The new features for Pages reflect our belief that no matter if you’re a plumbing company, a flower shop, a non-profit or a brand, your Page should house the information people are looking for, help you communicate with your customers and support your unique goals,” Facebook wrote in a blog post.

This announcement marks the biggest changes that Facebook has made to its Pages since 2012, and the new features build on its recent addition of enhanced messaging capabilities for businesses and badges for companies that respond quickly to customer inquiries. With the latest updates, Facebook Pages could become a utility as opposed to simply being a social media presence for businesses.

COO Sheryl Sandberg opened the press event for the updates at Facebook’s second Menlo Park office by saying, “There’s nothing small about small businesses.” She continued by explaining that building a mobile commerce experience is laborious and costly, especially for small businesses. This is the reason why Sandberg spoke about the ability for SMBs to use Facebook to conduct mobile business easily and without any cost.

As opposed to building an entire mobile website or app, Facebook wants companies to rely on their Facebook Pages, which is why it’s starting to build out Sections that are specific to various types of businesses.

So, what’s in it for Facebook?

If the social media giant succeeds with this initiative, it will have small and medium-sized businesses directing mobile traffic to their Pages rather than to their websites. This will not only increase the value of Facebook for users, but it will also act as a gateway to getting businesses to pay for ads to promote their Pages.

“Pages are free,” said Facebook’s product marketing director for Pages, Benji Shomair, when asked about the potential of this strategy. “The more businesses we have on the platform and the more value they’re able to generate from their Facebook Pages…there could be benefits to our business more broadly.” Subsequently, when asked if this means that these tools could boost ad sales, he offered, “Potentially, yeah. I agree.”

Does every auto dealership want to build its own mobile app? Probably not, and with Facebook’s increased functionality, it may no longer be necessary.