Facebook Has Improved Digital Marketing, Essay Example

Facebook is an American social media platform that offers social networking services to friends, families, and businesses with headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Mark Zuckerberg founded it in February 2004 and has since grown to be one of the top four technology companies in the US with over 2.38 billion active subscribers as at the first quarter of 2019. A report by Digital Information World shows that Facebook owns 85% of the world’s internet subscribers, excluding China (Digital Information World 2018, p. 1).

Since Facebook continues to be the top social media site in the world, individuals and business corporates are capitalising on its influence for marketing through promotions and providing information to customers (Sakas et al. 2015, p. 591). According to Sakas et al. (2015, p. 591), people find Facebook and other social media platforms more useful than traditional media as a means of marketing since they facilitate online discussions between customers and sellers thereby improving their relationship. The clients are also capable to sharing their experiences online enabling aspiring buyers make informed choices regarding their purchases. As a result, Facebook does not only benefit businesses but also clients who make informed choices concerning what to order due to the views they share. In general, Facebook makes digital marketing easier by reducing the geographical distance between buyers and seller while also cutting communication costs (Sakas et al. 2015, p. 592). Moreover, businesses can contact a large number of customers in one platform hence improvement in client engagement.

How Businesses use Facebook to Improve Digital Marketing

Promoted Posts

Facebook set a flat rate amount that acts as the fee for advertising posts from business pages. The promotion aims to enable such posts to reach the maximum number of clients as possible (Klassen et al. 2018, p. 103). As a result, the advert will attract many views, which increases purchasing prospects from Facebook users. While many people argue that users should automatically view services and products that businesses and individuals advertise on their Facebook pages, sponsored posts reach out to even those who are not followers of the pages (Klassen et al. 2018, p. 104). The continuous flow of posts on subscribers’ newsfeed may also not allow fans to notice advertisements from unsponsored posts. However, when business owners arrange with Facebook to promote their commercials, there is a guarantee that the update will feature on the newsfeed as per the agreement (Klassen et al. 2018, p. 109). Sponsored posts inform potential customers about the existence of a product or service, which in turn persuades them to buy increasing sale and revenues for businesses and individuals.

Sponsored Stories

Here, the Facebook advertisement strategy shows users’ connection to corporates with Facebook pages through Facebook likes. The company’s role is to inform friends of those whose friends have already interacted with the company through ‘likes’ that they also need to form a similar connection (Alarcon et al. 2018, p. 108). The strategy assumes that subscribers believe that their friends might have had good experiences with the company and would like to try their products and services too. Facebook implemented this system in a way that if someone likes a company’s page, the post will appear at a strategic point in the newsfeed to attract many views (Alarcon et al. 2018, p. 109). They are usually available to position on the right alignment of communication devices like mobile phones. Another way to implement this is whereby Facebook informs subscribers about the availability of mobile applications like WhatsApp, games, and mobile lending applications. Facebook will alert people in their newsfeed that their followers or friends have installed a particular app and try to persuade them to follow suit. According to (Alarcon et al. 2018, p. 111), Facebook reports that the Click-Through-Rates of Sponsored stories is 46% higher and 20% lower for Cost per Click   compared to other Facebook advertisement methods.

Classic Ads Advertisements

They are also called Marketplace Ads, which are advertisement platforms that Facebook provide on either side of the newsfeed (Klassen et al. 2018, p. 104). They usually contain an attractive headline with an image, a link to click which directs users to an application or a company’s website that Facebook is advertising.  It aims to increase likes for a particular business’ page that advertises its products and services (Klassen et al. 2018, p. 103). It can also be beneficial to firms because once subscribers like your page; the business page will appear on their news page advertising the company and its brand (Klassen et al. 2018, p. 104). As a result, they become potential customers and may increase sales and revenue in the long run. The significant advantage of Classic Ads Advertisements is that Facebook can use it to help businesses to gather statistical data on their clients. For instance, companies can analyse clients’ demographic trends, including location, education, hobbies, and age the help them develop market strategies.

Facebook Contests

One way to improve brand awareness is by using online contests involving promotions and sweepstakes. Here, Facebook will only act as a host for the competition whereas businesses source better applications to facilitate the game while directing their followers to the app using their Facebook pages (Alarcon et al. 2018, p. 107). Some of the third party tools are available free of charge while others charge some fee. Examples of free tools are Shortstack and Pagemodo but require that the number of likes on the page must be below 2000 (Alarcon et al. 2018, p. 110). Facebook contents are very useful in online marketing, and their returns are higher since clients feel that the company values them and may want to repay their appreciation through purchases.

Maximum utilization of a Facebook page

For businesses to realize optimum results, they must ensure that they dedicate Facebook pages to nothing else but continuous advertising and developing brand identity (Sakas et al. 2015, p. 590). Firms can do surveys to understand the contents that their followers prefer. They must share images of products, procedures of services offered, video links, and even fun to attract more customers (Sakas et al. 2015, p. 595). However, businesses must be cautious not to include offensive posts which can equally lead to clients’ backlash. Companies should only concentrate on an advertisement that builds the image of their brands but avoid political, religious, and social discriminatory posts when conducting Facebook marketing.

Cultures surrounding Facebook and their importance

Facebook, being a social media tool, can influence the behavior of its subscribers in one way or the other. The practice that people adopt as a result of interaction with happenings in their surrounding defines culture in this context (Ohiagu & Okorie 2014, p. 93). In essence, Facebook culture defines universal values, social practices, beliefs, assumptions, and regulations that apply to a particular group of individuals. According to (Ohiagu & Okorie 2014, p. 94), there can be a college student culture, street culture, among others. Thus, Facebook has been able to create certain cultures, as this essay will outline.

Facebook is a significant driver in the political environment and has created a political culture amongst its subscribers. Facebook enables political players to connect with their supporters while also allowing their supporters to air their views (Dommett & Temple 2018, p. 189). Dommett & Temple (2018, p. 189) recognize Facebook as an emerging campaign tool, as was the case during the 2017 elections in the United Kingdom. According to (Dommet & Temple 2018, p. 201), areas, where Facebook has influenced political activities, include the EU referendum in 2016 and 2015 General Elections, where the Conservatives streamlined their advertisements through Facebook. Similarly, reports indicated that the Electoral Commission spent 1.2 million pounds on Facebook use (Dommet & Temple 2018, p. 192). In fact, after the 2015 General Election in the UK, Conservative Party strategists demonstrated through interviews that Facebook prove to be the best digital campaign tool they used. The findings in the UK political environment show that Facebook indeed creates a political culture among its users. The benefit of such a scenario is that voters get a chance to contribute to the political campaigns through online questions and expect to get real-time feedback.

Business culture is also a product of Facebook use because businesses create links with consumers through sharing information about their products and services. Facebook also encourages interactions between businesses and their clients, thereby building business communities. Moreover, it is through Facebook that organizations create advertisement pages with buyers hence facilitate the creation of a close business relationship between buyers and suppliers of goods and services. The importance of business culture that Facebook creates is that buyers get the opportunity to choose the products and services they desire. At the same time, firms increase their sales and revenues due to the increased number of customers.

Conflicts and Tensions that surround Facebook

Facebook, being one of the social media platforms, has been an avenue for fraud and various illegal activities since its inception. The types of fraudulent activities familiar with Facebook include transactions in illicit goods and services (Irshad & Soomro 2018, p. 49). Some illicit products which Facebook users trade on include guns, hard drugs, poisons, and alcoholic drinks. For instance, a student admitted having bought a gun on Facebook after an arrest in Kentucky for possessing a firearm within the school compound (Irshad & Soomro 2018, p. 52). Uploading inappropriate or disturbing pictures on Facebook is another form of prohibited activity that Facebook users commit. The emergence of smartphones enables criminals to easily upload their crimes on Facebook as a scaremongering tactic against the public (Irshad & Soomro 2018, p. 43). People have also uploaded pornographic videos on Facebook, which can lead to erosion of cultures among societies. Other ways in which people misuse Facebook platform include cyber-bullying and online threats, identity theft, theft through hacking of Facebook accounts, spying on businesses and individuals (stalking) and providing misleading information (Irshad & Soomro 2018, p. 44). While Facebook is integral to businesses and individual users, fraudulent activities that it brings equally overshadow the gains in the social media inventions.

Facebook has become a refuge for people with low self-esteem, which further limits their ability to learn how to interact with people (Bergagna & Tartaglia 2018, p. 830). They state that people with low self-esteem spend unlimited time on Facebook and link this phenomenon to arguments in the social compensation theory. The theory states that people who find difficulty in verbal communication with others spend a lot of time on Facebook to compensate for their inability to freely interact with their surrounding environment (Bergagna & Tartaglia 2018, p. 837). The articles further reveal that Facebook subscribers tend to display a satisfactory life different from the realities they face (Bergagna & Tartaglia 2018, p. 831). When this happens, other users who feel that they are leading unsatisfactory lives can encounter stress and depression, and in extreme circumstances cause suicides. Such events all arise due to social comparisons in which Facebook users engage.

Why it is essential to learn about cultures, conflicts, and tensions on Facebook

Knowledge about Facebook cultures like political culture and business culture enables people to learn about the opportunities available in such areas. As a result, users are can devise ways in which to make maximum use of such opportunities for their gains. For instance, in a political environment, Facebook users with political ambitions can learn how to channel their policies and manifestos to gain more support. In business culture, users get to know about best marketing strategies that guarantee maximum sales and revenue. Entrepreneurs also learn about the emerging advertisement trends that customers prefer and can also give them competitive advantages over their rivals.

Understanding the conflicts and tensions surrounding Facebook is a lesson to users about the trends that malicious people use to defraud them. For instance, knowledge about how fraudsters use Facebook to steal their private information is a warning to subscribers that they should not disclose all their private information on Facebook. In conclusion, such knowledge helps people to put in place the fraud mitigation measures in case of cyber-attacks.

References

Alarcon, C., Sepulveda, A., Valenzuela-Fernandez, L. and Gil-Lafuente, J., 2018. Systematic Mapping on Social Media and its Relation to Business. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 24(2), pp. 104-113.

Bergagna, E. & Tartaglia, S., 2018. Self-Esteem, Social Comparison, and Facebook Use. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 14(4), pp. 831-845.

Dommett, K. & Temple, L., 2018. Digital Campaigning: The Rise of Facebook and Satellite Campaigns. Parliamentary Affairs, 71(1), pp. 189-202.

Global Web Index, 2018. Digital Information World. [Online] Retrieved From: https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2019/01/most-popular-global-social-networks-apps-infographic.html [Accessed 18 May 2019].

Irshad, S. & Soomro, T., 2018. Identity Theft and Social Media. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 18(1), pp. 43-55.

Klassen, K. et al., 2018. What People “Like”: Analysis of Social Media Strategies Used by Food Industry Brands, Lifestyle Brands, and Health Promotion Organizations on Facebook and Instagram. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(6), pp. 102-113.

Ohiagu, O. & Okorie, V., 2014. Social Media: Shaping and Transmitting Popular Culture. Covenant Journal of Communication, 2(1), pp. 93-108.

Sakas, D., Dimitrios, N. and Kavoura, A., 2015. The Development of Facebook’s Competitive Advantage for Brand Awareness. Procedia Economic and Finance, 24(5), pp. 589-597.