Is Facebook Marketing Effective - Research Paper Example

?Is Facebook Marketing Effective? Methodology Methodology plays an important part in making a research successful. In case of selection of an inappropriate methodology, there can be hazardous results for the student as the whole research can end in nothing at all. There are a number of methodologies for conducting a research such as qualitative methodology, quantitative methodology, case studies and so on. The methodology that I have opted for this research is qualitative methodology, as I will involve the available literature for answering the question of my research that is “Is Facebook marketing effective?”. Qualitative methodology involves literature review in which, the reviewer can make use of available information to analyze his topic and find answers to questions raised in a study. Literature review is quite beneficial as the student gets a chance to collect useful information pertaining a topic of his own interest and can reuse this information for finding solution to the problems in his study. For this study, literature review is much more suitable. Literature Review Internet is an attractive medium for different kinds of businesses operative in today’s world. A rapid increase can be seen in e-commerce and internet marketing activities all over the globe. People of all ages show interest in the usage of this network as they can connect with the whole world. Social networking websites can be categorised as the most likable platform for all the users of internet. Among many other social networking websites, Facebook is one. Businesses and e-businesses all over the world give significance to Facebook as a social networking site suitable for advertising purposes. A large number of internet users make use of Facebook for their routine communication with their mates and the interest of businesses and e-businesses in Facebook point towards the fact that market is aware of the importance of Facebook to reach its customers. Marketing or advertising on Facebook is quite essential in today’s scenario when the businesses can find a large number of potential customers there (Arntz, 2009). While using Facebook, we can notice a number of advertisements on the site, which advertise different categories of services and products. We can find banner ads, side bar ads, separate advertising pages, Facebook profiles of companies and so on and all these category of marketing comes under the category of eMarketing. According to Liptak (2009), these ads usually take the users of Facebook on their clicking the ad to the descriptive page of the advertisement showing contact description and other important data about the advertised product or service. Not only the ads take the users to the internal pages of Facebook but to other websites keeping descriptive information about company, products and services. E-commerce websites, content based websites and other websites delivering information display various banner ads and side bar ads for the promotion of products and services of companies whether they are online firms or offline firms as these are the most common categories of internet advertising. According to Ducoffe (1996), e-commerce websites can be described as websites that can be seen on internet for international customers, they are designed for broad range of customers and people can access them for the provision of services and products. The e-commerce websites provide the ordered or purchased products and services at the homes of consumers. Therefore, it can be said that for e-commerce websites, which are themselves based on internet processing, can make use of internet advertisements for their business promotion. Ducoffe (1996) explains that e-commerce websites have eased the process of shopping. These websites not only bring to light their marketing campaigns on their own websites but also on other websites. Content-based websites also display various categories of internet ads in the form of banner ads and side bar ads. These websites are designed for information deliverance purposes and are able to gather some financial security with the support of advertising on their information pages. According to Anuar (1999), content-based websites are accessed on daily basis by thousands of users all over the world due to which, they are the spot of much potential customers. This fact has been noticed by various firms due to which, they make use of these kinds of websites. The users of these websites can gain information in the form of videos, written information, images, music and so on. Social networking websites have also become an attractive spot for the marketing companies for the promotion of products and services. Social networking websites are designed for communication purposes and also work as a source of entertainment for the users. People get registered there for free and can share a number of things such as images, videos, music and so on (Liptak, 2009). These websites also display various marketing ads of different companies, which are internet based as well as offline companies. Banner ads, side bar ads and other kinds of advertising strategies are employed on the social networking websites for promotion of various businesses. When people started using internet, the first forms of advertisements offered on internet were the banner ads. For obtaining much financial assistance or stability, Facebook, which works as a social networking website employs banner ads. Facebook authorities permit different companies to give their banner ads on Facebook profiles for some income. As Facebook is a well-known social networking website used by thousands of people on daily basis, so businesses operative all over the world considering it a place for attracting potential customers try to give their marketing ads related to their provision of services and products on the website. While surfing, people can find banner ads at the top of a web page. On Facebook, the banner ads are present and can be noticed at the top of the page, between the lines and images or at the bottom of the page. Companies regard banner ads quite profitable for the promotion of their products and services. Facebook is a famous website due to which, companies prefer to use Facebook for the placement of their ads. A banner ad, highlighted with red outline According to Oh (2000), the companies ask for the placement of banner ads for two requirements, which are direct sales and branding. A customer is swayed to buy a product or service at once when he visits a direct sales banner ad. As far as branding banner ad is concerned, it is usually for bringing in a new product or service; however, it is also used sometimes to retain the image of a brand or product that is already in market. Oh (2000) also explains that some advertisers feel that banner ads can easily be avoided because of their small size, which cannot be regarded as wholly true as the placement of a banner ad does not allow it to get avoided at all. Facebook makes use of banner ads to a large extent and this can be seen in the above mentioned image. When banner ads were created on internet, the businesses thought that there would be no other form of internet ads on websites but sidebar ads are much more influential and attention gaining then banner ads. They are somewhat identical to banner ads but their placement is vertical and not horizontal. Sidebar ads can be seen on the sides of web pages placed vertically. The businesses regard sidebar ad as more effective as it takes more place and cannot be avoided as Oh (2000) claims for banner ads. While scrolling the page, the ad will move up and down and will not be concealed from eyes. Sidebar ads are expensive as compared to banner ads because of their additional features (Ellsworth, 1995). Sidebar ads on Facebook Like the two categories of banner ads, sidebar ads are more persuasive for the customers and companies also show greater interest in them. They can be employed for direct sales as well as branding. According to Oh (2000), sidebar ads are much more clicked than banner ads due to which, their effectiveness is proved in terms of their persuasiveness. On Facebook, we can find banner ads as well as sidebar ads but the effectiveness of sidebar ads is considered more due to which, they are placed more comparatively. Two Sidebar ads on Left and Right side along with wallpaper ads in the mid While using Facebook, we can see innovation and experimentation with banner ads and sidebar ads. The experimentation is related to length and width of sidebar ads and banner ads and is done for attracting more consumers. Initially banner ads were created only for top placement of the page. However, while using Facebook, we can see that banner ads in the middle of the page and between the lines of a page, so this is all experimentation for gaining more user attention. Facebook uses more sidebar ads as compared to banner ads and the reason is much efficacy of the sidebar ads, which is accepted by companies interested in giving ads. Sidebar ads are on right and left sides and do not irritate the users of Facebook and are also catchy and persuasive due to which, they are much more liked and used. A Sidebar ad by Google at Facebook While using Facebook, we can find advertisements that are linked to external websites and after clicking these ads, the users of Facebook are dragged out of the website to the company website, which has detailed information about its products and services (Liptak, 2009). The companies, which have internet based business and those that feel that they should be accessed globally usually develop their own websites that can be accessed by Facebook users with the help of links created between Facebook advertisement and external website (Liptak, 2009). Ad allowing User feedback on Facebook The users of Facebook are accommodated to leave their feedbacks for advertisements given at Facebook at their own will. The above shown image can be checked in the lieu of required feedback. The users of Facebook can indicate about different displayed ads whether they like them or not. By analyzing the feedbacks given by the users of Facebook, advertising on Facebook can be made better as Facebook can improve its advertisements with the support of users’ feedback and suggestions. User involvement is entertained on Facebook due to which, people continue showing interest in different advertisements displayed on Facebook. After clicking on diversified advertisements, the users reach link pages that show detailed version of the advertisement. A separate page showing many advertisements by different entities After clicking an ad, the users can also be taken to pages that contain a detailed version of all the ads that are related to one another. When the users view one ad, they are asked whether they are interested to view all the ads and after clicking view all ads, the page containing all ads can be accessed. An example of this kind of advertisement can be seen as above where we can find different ads by different companies interlinked with one another. Company Profile along with a sidebar ad Liptak (2009) informs that companies working offline or online can make different company profiles like common Facebook users to keep in contact with potential customers or as an advertising strategy. While handling a Facebook profile page, the marketing companies can give information about various products or services along with necessary details on the company’s profile. There can be made accountable people for handling the Facebook profiles. The company’s new and old offerings can be displayed on the Facebook account. There can be updates about the company, its products and services so that people on Facebook can use the company’s profile to gain information about the offerings of the company. The profile can also display the address and other contacting details of the company to enable the customers to contact the company in case of any product or service that is required (Liptak, 2009). The advertising department of the company can make associations with potential customers with the help of company’s profiles and with the communication process, the user of Facebook can be further linked to the company’s network. According to Liptak (2009), communication is essential for running a successful advertising campaign and Facebook gives the opportunity to keep in touch with various potential customers. Sidebar ads at the right side of the page Users of Facebook can use a number of applications on Facebook offered by Facebook. Users who use multiple applications for entertainment purposes on Facebook can notice a number of sidebar ads at the corners of the page showing products ready to be sold out (Liptak, 2009). A Facebook application with the name of Flixster can be noticed as given above as an evidence of applications used at Facebook. At this page, the users are facilitated to leave comments about various movies while they can also involve their friends in the commenting procedure. While leaving comments, various advertisements can be seen as above. The example of advertisements shows that the ads are sidebar ads indicating towards efficacy of sidebar ads on Facebook. Results Overall, it is clarified that Facebook as a social networking medium displays advertisements that are linked to external websites or web pages whether inside Facebook or outside Facebook. The linked pages present the detailed information about the advertisement along with company’s information. It is not essential that Facebook ads linked to external web pages are only given by companies that are online companies but also by companies that work offline on national or international basis. Liptak (2009) informs that Facebook is regarded as an attractive place by advertisers due to which, they show interest in the placement of ads on Facebook and Facebook is so attention gaining because thousands of people make use of Facebook on routine basis. Facebook is a resourceful website influencing customers and sellers both, as it is a social networking website connecting people together for marketing purposes. Investment on advertisements is done on Facebook because of its influential in nature for potential customers and companies. According to Arntz (2009), successful advertising of services and items is only possible if the communication between consumer and seller retains, as without communication, no success is possible. Users of Facebook have allowance to communicate with one another by the support of their created profiles. Advertisers can also create their own profiles for gaining attention of potential customers. People can check company’s profiles for gaining knowledge about the products and services of the companies as the customers can contact companies through their company’s profiles (Arntz, 2009). Facebook being a social media can be used as a place for interaction and communication and advertisements can be best communicated here. The businesses working offline and online are fully aware that advertisement on internet is much more fruitful as a wide number of population all over the world access internet for various purposes such as communication, sharing videos, images and other files, information gathering and much more (Liptak, 2009). Consumers nowadays also show interest in online shopping because it is an easier method to shop at home without any fatigue. The consumers can also gain awareness about products and services before buying them in actuality. According to Liptak (2009), the social networking websites just as Facebook work as a facilitation for their users to gain information about the products and services that they require for their own needs. The offerings along with price range can be accessed electronically and then decide of buying them. Arntz (2009) informs that social networking websites work as an attraction for people who want o get involved in social setup. Social media is the voice of today and the businesses operative today are well aware about the increasing reputation of the websites. Facebook is one of them and has become an attraction for people using the website for a number of purposes. Businesses found Facebook advertising effective due to which, they show maximum interest towards it. Malkin (2007) inform that Facebook is categorized as one of the most accessed social networking website by newspaper media and online media. The fame of Facebook in relation to its usage is indicative of the fact that for internet users, Facebook works as the best place for advertising campaigns conducted by companies showing interest in Facebook advertising. No one can deny the fact that because of increasing reputation of Facebook, the future of Facebook is quite dazzling and Facebook users will multiply with the passage of time (Arntz, 2009). Internet advertising is quite successful at Facebook and is regarded effective by the businesses working online and offline. According to Liptak (2009), the traffic rate of Facebook usage points towards the reputation of the website and increases day by day. References Anuar, Khairil. Internet Invasion. The Edge, November 8, 1999. Arntz, Josh. Social Media Surging Through County Businesses. (2009). Accessed on 9th September 2009 from http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090909/MTCN0108/309090010/1291/Social+media+surging+through+county+businesses Ducoffe, Robert H. Advertising Value and Advertising on the Web. Journal of Advertising Research, September 1996: 21-32. Ellsworth, J.H. and M, Ellsworth V. Marketing on the Internet: Multimedia Strategies for the World Wide Web. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1995. Liptak, Dan. Get More Web Traffic and Attract Customers the Social Networking Way. Ezinearticles.com, 2009. Accessed on 8th September 2009 from http://ezinearticles.com/?Get-More-Web-Traffic-and-Attract-Customers-the-Social-Networking-Way&id=2662265 Malkin, Bonnie. "Facebook is UK's biggest networking site". The Daily Telegraph, 2007. Accessed on 10th September 2009 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/25/nface125.xml Oh, Erro1. E-Commerce: The New Wave. Malaysian Business, Apri1 1, 2000: 32-35. Read More