Study Shows 99% of Online Retailers Will Be on Facebook – Then What?

eMarketer just released a study that found 99% of online retailers plan to have a Facebook Fan Page within the next year. 99%! Out of every 100 online stores, only one of them will not be on Facebook. Pretty amazing stuff. The study goes on to report that 91% of e-stores will be sending out status updates on Twitter by 2011.

Mashable first covered the study and added that many online retailers are hoping to utilize social media as a way to control branding. Clearly one of the biggest advantages for online retailers, social media offers the unique opportunity to proactively support customers and craft an overall brand environment. Proactive Customer Service, further building a positive sentiment about a brand, can also be accomplished on Facebook.

Some online retailers fear that their social media presences, instead of their websites, will become the more popular home of the brand. Why would an online retailer want people to visit their Facebook Fan Page instead of their online store where money can be made? From my post yesterday (8 Ways a Professional Athlete Can Utilize Social Media), I noted that pushing your fans to your website (or in this case, e-commerse store) is a great way of generating new traffic.

For example, an online retailer selling t-shirts just launched a brand new t-shirt design. They feature it on the homepage of their website and also make a new update on Facebook showing off the latest design. With the Facebook Update, the t-shirt retailer adds a link to the product page for the new t-shirt. That link is now hitting the mini-feeds of the store’s entire Facebook Fan Base. While a store’s Facebook Fans may not visit the store each day, they are sure to visit Facebook at least once a day – ensuring that they’ll see the store’s new product and have the option of clicking the link back to the store.

Moreover, online retailers can just as easily push products via Facebook by offering exclusive “Facebook-Only” deals. This technique, often implemented with an exclusive coupon code, is fully trackable and can measure specific ROI.

I fully expect eMarketer’s poll to come true within the next year. I can’t imagine a brand that wouldn’t benefit from this type of social media implementation. Whether you’re selling t-shirts, computer products, or energy drinks, a Facebook Fan Page is a great marketing tool to have at your disposal.