Janice Diner from Horizon Studios, a social business design consultancy, has worked with just about every major digital brand. Ahead of her presentation at the 2011 Mobile Marketing Conference in Toronto, she shared some of her thoughts about Facebook Commerce (a.k.a. F-commerce) and its future as a marketing tool.

On Monday, Marketing shared the first part of our Q&A with Diner. Here’s part 2.

What is the benefit for marketers having a solution within Facebook? Isn’t linking out to their own e-commerce site an easier solution?
There are a wide variety of social commerce experiences in play right now and a solid social business strategy can very well dictate the commerce experience a marketer will go for. E-commerce and F-commerce solutions can exist in tandem – it is not one or the other. The most often recommended approach to Facebook marketing would be to keep the customer inside Facebook. That is where the customer is already spending much of their time online and it is where you can potentially get the highest engagement. If I can sell the consumer a product inside Facebook, it is simply a matter of convenience and provides an instant opportunity to share that purchase story with friends. Our friends form our most important circle of influence. 

Influencing the purchase process can happen inside Facebook or outside Facebook with a Facebook Open Graph- enabled e-commerce website.

Should every marketer be on Facebook in 2011, or can some still skip it?
If a brand is not on Facebook (or considering it), they are missing out on 800 million consumers and 350 million that access Facebook via mobile devices. Most recently, Facebook reported that 500 million people visited in a day, plus over 7 million apps and websites have integrated with the platform. On the other hand, Facebook is about engagement with the audience. If you have not worked out a strategy to engage with your audience, the opportunity is missed.

What’s next, and why is it important?
In 2010, Facebook extended its Open Graph, allowing people to “like” pages and third-party websites across the web. At its F8 conference, the company launched Open Graph Beta for third-party applications… The next-generation social shopping experiences inside apps will get more personal, allowing consumers to share more information from any device, anywhere, anytime.

• Janice Diner’s Guide to Facebook Commerce Dominance (Pt. 1)