There was a great article in Thursday’s New York Times showing how small retailers are benefiting from the use of Facebook to make people both aware of their products but also help sell them as well. Some of the tips small business use to be successful are the same things that help with SEO and Email Marketing as well.

How a small business can be successful

• Offer tips and how to guides
• Show off your product via pictures. People LOVE pictures on Facebook.
• Be social with your customers, answer questions.

What most of the the vendors featured have in common, is not only a strong Facebook presence but they have coupled it with eCommerce. What should be understood from this article, is that while social media is important to get people in the store, the lines are increasingly getting blurred between eCommerce and normal commerce. Retailers big and small need to understand this is simply commerce. You need three things, a shop, a website and a Facebook page.

With open source systems, like Drupal’s Ubercart, and plug and play stores such as Shopify and Volusion, it’s quite easy to set up a robust online stores on your website. Companies like payvement also stores on Facebook. Product fulfillment can either be done by the store or by fulfillment houses like Amazon, so the only thing you need to do is make sure you market them via social media, email or search engine so people know about you and buy from you in the manner they choose, either online, via Facebook or in person.