With the entry of Procter & Gamble on Facebook to sell Pampers and 28 other of its other top brands, businesses can no longer ignore using social media sites to sell. P&G Facebook shoppers receive free shipping on orders of more than $25; those who are members of Amazon Prime (Amazon.com’s loyalty program) receive free two-day shipping.

Some other e-retailers, such as 800-Flowers.com and Avon, already use fan pages on Facebook to sell their products. But now that the giant P&G has launched its Facebook store on its Pampers Fan Page (called PampersWebStore), the era of f-commerce (“f” for Facebook) has truly begun.

Currently, many businesses already use Facebook to offer coupons, hold contests, or run other activities designed to get fans into their stores. Now, Facebook is the store! With the holiday season creeping up, businesses that do not as yet have an e-commerce presence on Facebook may want to get started to tap into the 500 million fans on this site.

One of the key decisions for some businesses, particularly small ones, will be whether Facebook supplements or surplants other online selling venues for them. With the media attention that P&G generated through the launch of its Facebook store and the fact that Pampers is still on supermarket shelves, it is clear that companies can use their Facebook stores as a successful selling venue, but merely a component of their marketing plan.

Businesses that want to get into f-commerce can build their stores from scratch or use sites that can help them do this. Some resources to help businesses create Facebook stores include Alvenda and Payvent.

Certainly, this dramatic change in the use of social media sites should spur companies to re-visit their marketing plans and re-think their strategies for the future.