Facebook Marketplace
Facebook may not have launched with commerce at the forefront, but the creators have added tools to make sales easier. One of those tools is the Facebook Marketplace (see Figure 17.1).
Figure 17.1: The Facebook Marketplace.
The Facebook Marketplace is more similar to eBay or Craigslist than a commercial site like Amazon.com. Items are organized by type, such as car or home.
When someone logs in to Facebook and visits the Marketplace, items are shown based on the user’s location. Facebook also prioritizes items that are posted by friends and friends of friends.
Any Facebook user can also upload his or her own items to sell. You include the following information:
• Item/service being listed
• Price
• Location
• Category
• Photo(s)
• Description
Facebook also uses a website called oodle (see Figure 17.2) for more professional sales. For a price, oodle will help you do the following things:
• Determine your ROI
• Advertise quickly on Facebook as well as other social networks
• Communicate more easily with Facebook customers
Figure 17.2: Facebook’s advertising service oodle.
The twist? Depending on your sales category, oodle will cost you oodles of money. As of summer 2011, car-related sales on Facebook oodle ran up to $499 per month.
oodle is worth looking into if you’d rather spend money than time. Otherwise, you may be better off putting your resources toward your Facebook marketing strategy.