Facebook, which was once only known to be used for social gatherings and connecting with friends online, is starting to look like a vast online marketplace. Retailers are scrambling to market to the enormous audience that Facebook attracts daily and turn these users into paying customers. It all began with the Facebook fan pages, which encouraged businesses to create a presence for their brand on the social media site. They can add an unlimited amount of fans on their fan page, and many leading retailers have already successfully created a large following. Just recently Facebook has been connected to e-commerce on an even bigger scale. Many of these businesses which were already well integrated with Facebook are starting to create their own ecommerce apps, allowing them to sell their products to their fans directly through Facebook.

If you own an e-commerce business or are thinking of starting one and you have yet to try Facebook marketing then you better start now. First, you must create a Facebook fan page. It's quick and easy, simply look for the link on their site and complete the requested information. Once you have done that, it is time to really start customizing your page in a creative way that will attract visitors and get them to become fans. Here is a list of features on the fan page and how you can use it to market your business.

Wall - get your fans to write comments in this area, share their thoughts, help make suggestions, ask a question, etc.

Info - write a description of your business, make it clever and remember to speak to your audience in a way that they will like

Notes - share the latest news regarding your ecommerce business, announce promotions, etc.

FBML - create up to 10 customized html display areas that allows you to add anything you want

Photos - post photos of your products and you let your fans to share theirs

Discussions - get the conversation started, let fans give you feedback

Videos - post videos to promote your products and show you fans how to use them, you can also let your fans share their videos

Events - announce special upcoming events or promotions

Reviews - have your fans rate your products or services

Others - install other applications created by third party developers that are meant for use on the fan page

As soon as you have your fanpage set up you can start focusing on how to attract traffic. Your page doesn't have to be perfect, it is one of those things where the more participation you are able to receive, the better the content. So start small and see it grow and develop over time. Once you are able to better understand your fans, you can think more creatively about what to include on your Facebook fanpage. A good idea is to create exclusive coupons just for them. You can also start a fun contest for them as part of a promotional campaign where the winner gets something for free. Try to think of as many creative and fun Facebook marketing ideas to increase the amount of participation on your fan page.

Ads are another great Facebook marketing tactic to get people to take notice of your brand. However Facebook ads are in many ways significantly different from other types of advertisements. The advertisements on Facebook can't focus on direct sales like Google AdWords ads can. The reason is because they each have a completely different type of audience. The group on Facebook are there to hang out whereas the people on Google tend to already know what they want and actively search for it. When trying to reach a Facebook user, you should not push your products on them. You have to first give them a good reason to become a fan and then develop a relationship with them. Once the relationship is there, try finding interactive ways to keep your products and your brand fresh in their mind, and the chances of them becoming a customer is far greater. So apply to become an advertiser on the Facebook network and create banner ads that link back to your Facebook fan page instead of your ecommerce site.

One of the more recent Facebook marketing techniques is direct selling. Since selling directly through Facebook is now all the rage, there is no reason you shouldn't take advantage of it. The big name retailers are just starting to make their fanpages even more interactive by listing their products on there. The ones that have already created a large community are discovering that merging e-commerce with Facebook can be very profitable.