By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

After learning how to market themselves through tweets and status updates, some small companies are taking the next step: selling directly to consumers via social-networking sites.

Merchants on Facebook and MySpace are adding e-commerce stores to their fan pages, hoping users will scan lists of for-sale items and services—such as floral bouquets, hand-crafted jewelry and spa treatments—and click a button to add them to online shopping carts. (MySpace is owned by News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.)

The e-commerce trend, also being adopted by large companies such as Hallmark Cards Inc. and Brooks Brothers Inc., so far appears limited to Facebook and MySpace, where applications for selling directly to consumers started cropping up in 2008. Other popular social-networking sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, don’t offer a direct-sale platform.

Early adopters say they’ve so far seen only modest results, and generally not until after they’ve established a loyal-fan following.

Scott Burnett last month added an e-commerce option to the Facebook page of Guitar Syndicate Inc., a retail business he co-owns in Kansas City, Mo. Items such as guitars, harmonicas and microphones are listed for sale via an application from CoreCommerce, an e-commerce company in Franklin, Tenn. Consumers who add items to a shopping cart are then taken to the company’s website to make a payment. “It’s another doorway to find our products,” he says.

Guitar Syndicate, which was founded last year, has seen its overall online sales grow by 17% since its Facebook store was added in mid-April, according to Mr. Burnett. But he says he isn’t clear how many sales can be attributed to buyers who started their transactions on Facebook.

Mr. Burnett further notes that Guitar Syndicate has invested $5,000 since January to grow its Facebook fan base by giving away that much worth of prizes though a contest it’s promoting on the site. The company now has about 4,400 Facebook fans.

For e-commerce via social media to work, “You’ve got to spend money on advertising to make people aware that [your fan page] exists,” says Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Lubin School of Business at Pace University in New York.

Businesses without a significant number of Facebook or MySpace fans may have difficulty swaying buyers, he adds. A fan page that isn’t heavily trafficked could create the impression that it isn’t popular, he says. “And nobody likes to shop at places where no one else shops.”

Another potential downside is that disgruntled buyers could also quickly blast their dissatisfaction to their network of friends, adds Michael Trusov, an assistant marketing professor at Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He says a buyer’s network is right at his fingertips when he feels most annoyed with his experience with a company.

Mr. Trusov says companies “would need to make sure the customer service level is much higher” than that on a website or in a physical store.

Entrepreneurs looking to tap into the trend should also expect to pay a fee for applications that provide shopping carts. For instance, the CoreCommerce application that Mr. Burnett uses charges a fee starting at $24.99 a month, based on the number of products a company wants to list for sale. About 1,150 businesses, mostly small enterprises, are using it, says Matt DeLong, chief executive officer.

Other applications allow multiple social-media users to chip in and collectively buy items, and some let shoppers make payments to merchants without leaving the social-media sites. Many are compatible with both Facebook and MySpace. Neither site charges merchants fees for hosting the stores or a commission on sales, however Facebook recently announced it will take a 30% cut of sales of credits for certain virtual goods.

Whether consumers will embrace shopping on social-media sites remains to be seen. Facebook, approaching 500 million users, recently came under fire over its privacy policies. Some shoppers may feel uncomfortable entering their credit-card information on the site, while others may be wary of making a purchase that could be broadcast on users’ news feeds or profiles.

Houston retailer Sun & Ski Sports added an e-commerce store to its Facebook fan page in 2008 using an application from Volusion Inc., a Simi Valley, Calif., software provider. But Sun & Ski has so far only sold 50 products this way, accounting for barely 1% of the company’s overall online sales, says Scott Blair, director of e-commerce. “It’s not a major source of revenue,” he says. “It’s part of our overall strategy with social media.”

Peddling certain products or services on a social-media platform may be challenging for businesses, says Yogesh V. Joshi, an assistant professor of marketing at Robert H. Smith School of Business. “You might not want to buy toothpaste on Facebook, but you might want to buy a Coach bag,” he says.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

According to Seth Godin, Linchpins are those indispensable geniuses who stand out from the crowd by taking on the essential jobs that would otherwise languish in a pit of neglect under the limpid banner of “but that’s not my job.” In his latest book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, Mr. Godin informs us that just showing up is no longer enough. We must be remarkable in order to succeed.

We don’t have to have some cosmic endowment, extreme talent, or off-the-charts intelligence to be Linchpins. The formula is straightforward. It can be applied by all. In order to be a Linchpin, make the choice to:

• Be remarkable and generous
• Create art
• Make Judgment calls
• Connect people and ideas

Just saying this to people is a lot like holding a plant by its stem dangling the roots in midair and yelling “Grow!” Fertile soil, plenty of water and some sunshine would certainly increase the plant’s odds of complying with the command. In addition to the courage and desire to make good things happen, Godin tells us that Linchpins need a fertile environment fortified with freedom, responsibility and respect.

If these elements are not indigenous to your current work ecosystem, then to be a Linchpin you will need to influence the power structure to grant you these ingredients and trust you to flourish in the environment in which you have been unleashed.

Enter the Liars

Wedged between Purple Cow and Linchpin, Mr. Godin wrote a book entitled All Marketers Are Liars. The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World. In this tome, he states, “I believe marketing is the most powerful force available to people who want to make change.” Linchpins want to affect change so they must therefore learn to be good marketers. And if all marketers are liars, then all Linchpins should be liars too.

Actually, what Mr. Godin teaches us is that it’s not really the marketers who are liars. It is the consumers. Good marketers tell stories that resonate with a particular group’s worldview. This group of buyers then tell themselves a lie—that they NEED the product or service. The story the marketers tell becomes the lie upon which the buyer happily bases his purchase.

Linchpins must tell a compelling story that makes their buyers want to believe they NEED the Linchpin. Here are a few pearls of wisdom from the mind of Godin about how to craft the story of indispensability:

World Views and Local Lingo

Every person perceives a situation through the filter of their world view. This world view cannot be changed. Instead, a strong marketer frames their story to fit the world view of a particular audience. A Linchpin needs to use this advice to set herself up to be heard. Instead of wasting energy trying to change the worldviews of the powers that be in your organization, frame your story within the context of already held values and beliefs. Get the attention of the people who matter by acknowledging their biases and telling your tale in their lingo.

Facts Fail

The facts will fail you. Feelings will help your story fly. All decisions are made by people and people make decisions based on emotion. Tell the story of how your indispensability makes their world that much more secure or the organization that much more successful. Once people have decided to adopt and retell your story, reward them with the facts. Charts, graphs, and statistics are the gift of evidence your supporters will need to confirm they’ve made a wise choice to back you.

Intent is Obvious

Be authentic. Although marketers are liars, they are not really liars. The story marketers tell must still be authentic. A Linchpin is indispensable because she does what she says she’s going to do. There is no way to mask your true intent. Taking on an extra assignment to impress your boss and then turning your back on the responsibility when you think no one is looking is not art it’s selfish opportunism. Tell a story that earns you the right to step up and stand out because taking the risk is the right thing to do for the organization. If your reward lies so far around the bend that you can’t see it from the starting line, then chances are you’re running the race for all the right reasons.

The Truth

Seth Godin points out that in today’s world of abundance, we need little but want much. That’s why the marketer and consumer are co-conspirators in the lie. The story reverses reality so that we believe what we want is actually something we really need. For the truly remarkable Linchpin, the story isn’t a lie. The organization in which they work really does need their passion, genius, art, and ideas. Companies thrive when groups of Linchpins are free to reach their full potential.

Link to original post.

By Seth Godin

In the developing world, there’s often a sharp dividing line between the elites and everyone else. The elites have money and/or an advanced education. It’s not unusual to go to the poorest places on earth and find a small cadre of people who aren’t poor at all. Sometimes, this is an unearned position, one that’s inherited or acquired in ways that take advantage of others. Regardless, you can’t just announce you’re an elite and become one.

In more and more societies, though (including my country and probably yours [and I'm including virtually the entire planet here, except perhaps North Korea] ), I’d argue that there’s a different dividing line. This is the line between people who are actively engaged in new ideas, actively seeking out change, actively engaging–and people who accept what’s given and slog along. It starts in school, of course, and then the difference accelerates as we get older. Some people make the effort to encounter new challenges or to grapple with things they disagree with. They seek out new people and new opportunities and relish the discomfort that comes from being challenged to grow (and challenging others to do the same).

Perhaps I’m flattering myself (and you) but I think almost everyone who reads blogs like this one is part of the elites. It’s not because of birth or financial standing, it’s because of a choice, the decision to be aware and engaged, to challenge a status quo of your choice.

The number of self-selected elites is skyrocketing. Part of this is a function of our ability to make a living without working 14 hours a day in a sweatshop, but part of it is the ease with which it’s possible to find and connect with other elites.

The challenge of our time may be to build organizations and platforms that  engage and coordinate the elites, wherever they are. After all, this is where change and productivity come from.

Once you identify this as your mission, you save a lot of time and frustration in your outreach. If someone doesn’t choose to be part of the elites, it’s unclear to me that you can persuade them to change their mind. On the other hand, the cycle of discovery and engagement and shipping the elites have started is going to accelerate over time, and you have all the tools necessary to be part of it–to lead it, in fact.

We encourage all local businesses to send employees to help. And we thank and commend those who are already engaged.