Question

In: Operations Management

Facebook has the potential to become one of the world's most powerful and profitable online marketers....

Facebook has the potential to become one of the world's most powerful and profitable online marketers. Over time, Facebook has changed its philosophy on advertising. Today, companies can place display or video ads on users' home, profile, or photo pages. The ads are carefully targeted based on user profile data. But advertising is only the tip of the marketing iceberg for Facebook. Other money-making ventures are growing even faster than advertising. Will all of this increased marketing on Facebook alienate loyal Facebook fans? Not if it's done right. Research shows that online users readily accept—even welcome—well-targeted online advertising and marketing. It's too soon to say whether Facebook will eventually challenge the likes of Google in online advertising or whether its ability to sell entertainment to users will ever expand into selling other types of products on a large scale. But its immense, closely knit social network gives Facebook staggering potential. The online giant must be careful to not drive off its legions of loyal users with too much advertising or marketing that is too overt. Also expand upon the new avenues that Facebook is using and its marketing implications.

1.Where does Facebook find its power as an online marketer?

2.Discuss the effectiveness of Facebook to generate revenues through its advertising? (Companies can place display or video ads on users' home, profile, or photo pages. The ads are carefully targeted based on user profile data. But taking advantage of the core characteristics of its site, Facebook offers "engagement ads" designed to blend in with regular user activities. Users can interact with the ads by leaving comments, making recommendations, clicking the "like" button, or following a link to a brand-sponsored page within Facebook.)

3.Many analysts view Facebook as a major model for direct marketing in the digital age.   What do you think and why?

4.What recommendations would you make to the company? What is working and should continue? What is not working and should be modified?

PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTIONS FULLY.

Solutions

Expert Solution

1.Where does Facebook find its power as an online marketer?

There are more than 2.2 billion monthly active users on Facebook. Thus, some of one's potential customers are definitely using it too. The only question is how to reach them effectively.

Facebook advertising offers ecommerce entrepreneurs with extensive targeting options. Notably, one can reach people not just by location (countries, states, cities and even zip codes), gender, and age, but also by interests, behaviors, life events, and many other descriptions.

In addition, one can promote pretty much any content suitable for one's business using Facebook advertising tools: from text posts, photos and albums, to videos, events, offers and, of course, links to one's website.

When one combines an enormous user base, incredible targeting options, and a variety of ad objectives, it becomes clear why Facebook advertising is truly a powerful tool for ecommerce entrepreneurs.

The right audience plays a major part in deciding the success of one's Facebook ads.

  1. It gives the authority figures, thought leaders, or big brands in one's niche?

    This step is quite straightforward, as you have to simply use Google to do some research about the key players in the industry, One can do this by entering the type of industry you are interested in, into the search bar and going through the results one by one. One can find as many names and players in the industry that one can target.

Marketing is the key to success for any business. If you’re already an entrepreneur or planning to launch your startup this year, it’s crucial to have your marketing strategy in place right away.

It’s very important that you set a budget and try one marketing channel at a time to see the ROI and decide whether to keep at it or move on. Facebook advertisements will surpass all other digital marketing channels soon.

Here are the 8 reasons why it makes the most sense for businesses to use the social media giant to advertise their products.

1. Custom-targeted audience

Facebook advertising campaigns are built around (and for) specific audiences. For this reason, the Facebook Custom Audience Tool can work magic. This tool enables marketers to upload lists of contacts such as emails, UIDs, and phone numbers so you can target them with certain ads.

This is perfect for everyone from entrepreneurs with only a few hundred contacts to giant enterprises with hundreds of thousands.

2. Maximum visibility at minimum cost

Advertising on Facebook is comparatively cheaper than on Google. Also, Facebook video views are cheaper than YouTube.

Research shows that consumers spend 90% of time spent on mobile is on apps and Facebook leads the way as the most downloaded platform of the first half of 2016.

3. Early-stage brand awareness

Facebook can work a lot like PR if managed strategically. The Brand Awareness ad objective uses a combination of real-time proxy metrics with both the reach and attention users give to a campaign to provide brands with maximum exposure.

Getting started with this early on is critical so that later campaigns can have a bigger audience. The goal is capture attention across the board to get in front of people most likely to be interested in your brand.

4. Facebook Live

Video is the undisputed champion of customer engagement and sharing. Facebook Live was introduced within the last year and has taken the internet by storm. It allows any user to record live videos and share them with friends.

Businesses can use this to their advantage in several ways.

  • Provide a behind-the-scenes experience to customers.
  • Show sneak previews of new products or updates.
  • Promote events.
  • Answer questions.

People spend 3x longer watching live video than native content. With this in mind, it’s becoming a requirement to include it in Facebook marketing.

5. Chatbots

Ever since Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook’s 10-year roadmap, every business is trying to utilize Facebook Messenger to communicate with their customers. For a good reason: it now has a billion monthly active users.

A while back, Shopify announced they will let their stores sell directly on Facebook messenger. This is a game changer. When more and more businesses start selling on Facebook, user engagement and hours spent on the platform will continue to increase.

With more consumers interacting with brands on Facebook, the use of chatbots will inevitably become a necessity. With chatbots, you will able to create structured messages including images, links, and call to action buttons.

Brands will be able to design bots so that conversation with customers and purchasing can be instantaneous.

6. Quick feedback

In the old days, when businesses wanted to reach out their customer base for feedback on products or services, they would have to do things like direct-mail voting polls or cold call surveys. Luckily, those days are over and brands need to look no further than social media.

Facebook makes it easy for businesses to simply post a question on their status and sit back and watch for the comments.

Time is perhaps the most valuable asset in business. Facebook is great for companies looking to get an impression of their image and product quickly so they can see what works and what doesn’t without hassle.

7. Consumer psychology

One of the biggest advantages of Facebook (or social media in general) is that it gives everyone a voice that will be heard.

In addition to providing the ability to share opinions on products or services, Facebook enables users to endorse businesses within their own community by simply hitting the “Like” button.

Companies can leverage this phenomenon and turn everyday users into brand influencers. 9 in 10 consumers take the words of their peers into account during the buying process. Why not let your customers do the talking for you?

8. Growth

Facebook is improving by the day. In the last four years, the number of users has almost doubled. The future is looking very bright. There will be more users to show your content to and advertising will likely keep getting better and cheaper.

In the last year alone, Facebook has launched a number of new features such as:

  1. Facebook Live Video
  2. Facebook Professional Services
  3. Facebook at Work
  4. Improved Search
  5. Uber/Lyft integration
  6. Facebook Shopping Tab
  7. Instant Articles
  8. Facebook Events
  9. Non-profit crowdfunding
  10. Music Stores

This is a very exciting time for Facebook. Business owners and entrepreneurs should brace themselves and prepare to make these features a significant part of their marketing strategies.

There is no denying that Facebook is here to stay. It’s amazing to think that what started as a simple way to stay in touch with friends has turned into a platform that connects people and brands all across the world.

2. ans -

Facebook Ads are quickly becoming the go-to online advertising avenue for businesses. With unheard of targeting, the ability to socially endorse your advertisements, complete mobile and cross-platform integration and a 35% lower cost-per-conversion than the online average, you can see why.

Facebook Ads can be very effective in increasing social media ROI and gathering leads. You just have to know the steps and have a clear goal in mind.

This guide below shows five simple steps of how effectiveness in revenue is generated through facebook advertisement:

  1. Setting your creative
  2. Targeting your Facebook Ad
  3. Deciding your Facebook Ad budget
  4. Understanding your Ad's performance
  5. A/B testing

Facebook’s Advertising Effectiveness by the Numbers

Given below are some statistics here to highlight Facebook’s effectiveness as an advertising channel:

  • 22% of the world’s population is made up of active Facebook users, including 68% of adults in the United States.
  • 76% of users look for interesting content on Facebook and content consumption on Facebook has increased 57% since 2014.
  • 66% of social media users log on to learn about new products and services.
  • Customers who like a business on Facebook are 79% more likely to make a new purchase than non-fans.
  • A 2015 study found that 52% of consumers were influenced by Facebook when making both online and offline purchases—and rising.
  • Facebook’s hyper-targeted Custom Audiences feature lets you advertise so specifically that advertisers have seen their new customer acquisition costs decline by as much as 73%.
  • When it comes to building awareness, the average cost per thousand impressions (CPM) for Facebook ads is around $7.29 versus upwards of $35 for television commercials.
  • Facebook is also useful in the B2B realm—73% of people say they use Facebook for professional purposes.

All in all, it seems pretty clear that Facebook has a great deal of potential when it comes to delivering an appreciable return on any business’s marketing investment.

3. ans -

Facebook has managed to gather a wide following with more than a billion active users. It revolutionized how people socialized and made the internet the new way friends and family can connect and express their feelings through posting text, images, and videos. Users have become too attached to Facebook and with the advancement in the mobile phone technology, more and more people are accessing this platform using their phones. All this information is important to your business because you need customers and most of your customers are on Facebook. So, does Facebook marketing work?

Well, this depends a lot on your approach. A lot of businesses have abandoned their Facebook accounts because they were not working as they were led to believe by the information they got online. In business, most strategies will work; it all depends on how much time and resources you are willing to dedicate to them. Facebook is not all about posting updates and images, well; it is if you are running a personal account. For a business account, you will need to update calculated information that will not only get the audience interested, but make them want to visit your website or your physical business.

Content Matters

For your Facebook marketing campaign to work effectively, you will need to post content that the audience needs. Do not concentrate too much on selling your products and services and explaining what they are all about. Consumers are not interested in such information, they are interested in things that will improve their lives or solve problems. Take this advantage and give them what they want. This is how they will remain glued to your website and will recommend your Facebook page to their friends. Interesting content will always get likes and shares and this is the first step to going viral and getting more fans.

Images are Important

Plain text, regardless of how interesting it is, can get boring over time. Humans are attracted to images and videos more than they are to text. With that said, brighten up your Facebook page with interesting images. These should not only be about your business, go out of your way to find funny images related to your line of operation. Again, this is what will keep the audience waiting for your next post and directing them where you want will not be a difficult task.

Get Involved

Facebook is a social media platform and you should treat it as such. It is not a one way communication channel like most of the other conventional advertising methods; it is a two-way channel where you should engage as much as possible. Consumers appreciate a business that comes down to their level to discuss important issues about the business, the environments and about anything topic that you have knowledge in. In the process, you will get to understand your audience better and know their needs. This will put you in a better position to serve them and strengthen the bond between your business and your customers. Bottom line, Facebook can be a very effective marketing tool.

4. ans -

Facebook Advertising Pros

  1. Massive Reach

Over 70 million people have a Facebook account, which means that the potential reach is huge. What’s more, unlike some social networks, Facebook is a model of diversity. There are gadget-loving Millennials, Tai Chi-loving seniors, executives, soccer moms, politicians, folks with angry (and all kinds of other) cats, and the list goes on.

2. Plenty of Targeting Options

These days, effective marketing is all about targeting buyer personas and niche audiences, and Facebook is aligned with this approach. Targeting options include (but aren’t limited to) gender, age, location, interests, marital status, hobbies, and even interactions with content (e.g. likes, shares, etc.).

3, Low Minimum Spend

Facebook ads are relatively inexpensive compared to conventional forms of advertising, and some kinds of online marketing. Advertisers can choose to pay for each click, or they can buy a pre-set number of ad impressions. Either way, it’s actually possible to run campaigns with a daily spending limit of just $1 (not that this is really viable for 99% of advertisers, but the fact that it’s possible speaks to Facebook’s affordability).

Improvement needed in facebook_

1. Fix Fake News

to contribute to a better informed society could be to suggest articles that have different points of view from the ones the user just clicked on. This way Facebook would be giving a variety of means for people to get informed. They would be less likely to be blindsided by their own bubble which can happen when only related articles are shown. In the end, as always, it is their choice to know more if they wish.

2. Enhance Sound and Live Videos

Update “Save For Later”

Save for Later is one of the best features Facebook has for people


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