Marketing Analysis on Facebook - Assignment Example

?PART A: Environmental Analysis for Facebook (PEST, Porter’s 5 Forces, Competitor Analysis, Market Analysis 1 Political Economic Social and Technological Environmental Analysis - PEST Political Environment Facebook operates in a marketplace those transverse physical and geographic borders. The pervasive nature of the Internet ensures that a vast audience is available for social networking sites and other online business models. However, the very same pervasiveness of the Internet makes it difficult for the organizations like Facebook to keep track of all the diverse rules and regulations related to cyber laws, individual freedom and social networking that are imposed by different countries. While the social networking sites are predominantly driven by individual actions as people are more or less free to use the platforms as they like. However, in some countries, the political environment is closed and the governments do not want people to interact freely on the social networking sites (Cashmore, 2010). There are clashes between the ideals of personal freedom and liberty of speech and local political and legal restrictions. China makes an excellent example for this issue, where the government monitors Internet activity of its citizens and also does not hesitate in hacking the social networking accounts or personal search data (Harwood, 2009). While this is an extreme case, the difference in political ideologies across different countries does impact on the profitability and growth of the online organizations, and especially the online social networking organizations like Facebook (Keatin, 2012). In addition, the cyber security laws and cyber privacy laws are different across different countries which make an organization Facebook vulnerable to legal or social problems (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2012). While the Facebook model is basically based on the Western concepts of personal freedom and absolute privacy, different regions of the world do not conform to these ideals. As can be seen from the latest statistics, Facebook’s more than half members are now from countries in Asia and Latin America. However, the problems related to legal and political interference are not restricted to the politically closed countries or countries with non-democratically elected governments. There are several instances where European countries like Germany and France have objected to the use of the personal data by Facebook to target advertisements (Simpson, 2012) to the customers as a violation of their countries laws. While competitors like search engines like Google too face similar political legal issues, the concerns are magnified for social networking sites (Harwood, 2009). This is because, the account holders on the social networking sites are not really looking for buying or selling something as their primary objective (which may be the case with a large number of users on search engines), and keeping in touch with friends and acquaintances is all that they desire. The invasion of privacy in the case of social networking sites is more acutely felt than it is on the search Engines, and hence the political and legal ramifications are more intense (Cashmore, 2010). Economic Environment The business models of online organizations, be it the search engines or the social networking sites, differ from the brick and mortar businesses and this implies that the revenues and growth models in the Internet sector too is different (Cashmore, 2010).The social networking models are largely dependent on their large loyal customer bases to attract advertisers. Another way of remaining competitive is to increase the spend of the individual users. However, the increase in sales or revenues is often offset by the large cost inlays that are needed for the massive scale of operations (Keatin, 2012). The costs are associated largely with capacity building and obtaining more applications to attract more spend per user. So, while the social networking model has the potential to scale up quickly and generate large revenues, its total profitability is inhibited by the direct costs of operations and scaling for technology. In addition, because the social networking model is so simple and because there are few barriers to entry for new competitors, existing players have to further expend costs in order to come up with innovative features and services (Simpson, 2012). There is always a substantial probability that the users will get bored with the current level of services and benefits they get on their social networking site or that some other competitor will develop a more attractive feature that lures away the customer base (Keatin, 2012). It can therefore be said that the social networking models operate in a dynamic economic environment and have to find a balance in scalability and costs so as to be profitable. Social Environment Social environment for a social networking site would largely relate to the consumer social behaviour online. As seen from several surveys, people tend to use social networking sites for keeping updated about their friends and acquaintances and for making new friends. However, this basic benefit is augmented by sites like Facebook that provide additional applications with which that the users can do much more like upload photos, play games, shop, link to sites selling latest applications etc. However, the revenue model of social networking sites (that are basically free for the account holders) is to use targeted advertisings. The targeted advertising is undertaken by accessing the personal demographic as well as the social networking information of the account users (Keatin, 2012). This seems to be in conflict with what the account users bargained for – as social networking even if online, is perceived largely as a private affair (Sinisalo , 2007). Users’ getting targeted by ads that uncannily reflect their own conversations with friends or which seem to have followed their online behaviour, if often seen as an invasion of privacy, and at times considered to be creepy (Simpson, 2012). Unlike the Search Engines that provide users with targeted ads based on their explicit search keywords and which are more acceptable, social networking site’s model of advertising has a higher potential of annoying users and even scaring them in leaving the sites. Social networking sites therefore have to face the dilemma of maintaining a balance between users’ privacy and their revenues. Technological Environment The technological environment of the social networking market is highly dynamic and competitive. This is because innovation in technology is the norm rather than an exception, and organizations in the market have to continuously upgrade themselves to keep up with competition. There are everyday new sites cropping up that provide social networking with innovative features. In addition, the existing competitors continuously have to invest in technology to compete with new forms of competition – for example the mobile social networking platforms are now being integrated into the online version (Charlesworth, 2009). So, there is a continuous need to adopt new technologies, and often to also lead technological development in order to be able to provide additional services (Swisher, 2008). This of course is addition to the basic need for technological upgrades to scale up the services for the growing number of account users. 1.2 Porter's 5 Forces Analysis Threat of Existing Competitors The existing competition in the market is intense with the major competitor being Google and a large number of other competitors like MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn etc. Threat of Substitutes and New Entrants There is a large possibility of new entrants entering the market with better and mobile operated social networking platforms that can reduce the attractiveness of Facebook. However, since the Industry is still in a growth stage and there are as yet untapped foreign markets, the threat of competitors, and new entrants or even substitutes is mitigated to some extent. Bargaining Power of Customers (Account Holders and Advertisers) The account holders have a substantial choice to switch over from Facebook to other more innovative platforms. This can change if Facebook is able to provide a larger variety of services that make the users dependent on Facebook for much of their online activities, and hence create a barrier for switching. At the moment, there is less switching cost which also enhances the threat of new entrants, competitors and substitutes. The Advertisers have substantial power as the choices available to them are varied – for example, they can use Google and yahoo advertising that is well established and supported by analytical tools. Bargaining Power of Suppliers (Apps providers, network security, hardware etc.) The suppliers are mostly small businesses or new start-ups that have little bargaining power Vis a Vis Facebook. 1.3 Competitive Analysis on Facebook's Competitors Google is the largest competitor of Facebook and is far ahead of it in terms of its advertising revenues and ad-spend. The reason for this is the accurate analytics and performance evaluation tools that can account for each penny of advertiser’s spend with the stated returns (site visits or purchases). Moreover, Google invests in developing products that are indispensable, like the generic search engine, the android OS, Gmail, office documents and a multitude of cloud computing apps – all of which make Google ubiquitous and increase switching costs for customers. Google also invests in acquisition of add on services that complement its core services and YouTube is an excellent example of Google’s foray into video sharing market. Also, Google + provides a similar social networking platform like Facebook (Charlesworth, 2009). 1.4 Customer Market Analysis According to statistics, there is a distinct difference in the socio-demographic profile of Facebook users across different continents. One major trend that is observed is that in developed nations, the average age of users’ ranges between 18 and 44 and an equal number of men and women are found to have accounts on the site. On the other hand, among the developing countries of Asia and Africa, it is the younger generation, between the ages of 18 and 24 and mostly male population that comprises the customer base (Socialbakers, 2012). This is an interesting highlight about the customer profile and also reflects on the consumer’s economic and social profile. For example, in the case of the developed nations, there is greater Internet penetration and older adults are found to use the Net for their social as well as professional requirements. In the developing nations, the Internet is still largely a means of entertainment and the younger population comes out to the largest consumer of services like those of social networking sites. The lack of female account holders in developing and economically less developed nations is a reflection of the lack of economic or social empowerment of women in those societies. However, what it means for the Facebook is that it is able to furnish detailed information on the demographic, social, lifestyle, economic and purchasing power of its users to the advertisers. PART B: Company Analysis for Facebook (Resource and Competencies, Value Chain, Cultural Web Analysis) 2.1 Resources and Competencies of Facebook The resources and competencies of an organization are found to make a difference of 70-80% in its profits (Swisher, 2008). This is especially true in the case of a market that is dynamic, changing and has intensive competition (Sinisalo, 2007). In the light of the above environmental analysis of macro factors and the Porters’ 5 Forces analysis of the industry specific micro factors, it is concluded that the external environment of Facebook is exceptionally competitive and dynamic. As such, it becomes imperative that the company focus on its core resources and capabilities to obtain a competitive advantage. Some of the core competencies that Facebook possesses are: -Understanding the social networks between people Facebook has ensured that the account users are real people and since it has been tracking people’s social networking data, it is able to obtain an accurate picture of how online relationships function. Facebook has perfected the best algorithms for understanding the user behaviour using a wholistic data set of user’s behaviour over the past decade or so. It is based on its understanding of the complex and in group dynamics of user behaviour that it can recommend more suitable apps to its users, and more targeted advertising for its advertisers. This competency is unique, as other sites like Google have data from a user operating in isolation (for example, users searching for information) or users’ emailing behaviour (which again does not predict social relationships accurately as people send emails for a variety of purposes). -Online Identity Facebook is the most preferred log-in for a substantial number of other sites, thus making Facebook indispensable in the longer run for the users. Data show that 46% of all web log-ins were through Facebook and only 18% were through Google (Cashmore, 2010). This is one step toward making Facebook ubiquitous for social networking and an assortment of other online activities, on the lines of Microsoft for operating systems and applications and Google for online search. -Ability to Furnish Reliable, Real and Accurate Information on User Behaviour Facebook has been used by analysts to come up with aggregate data on likes and dislikes of specific groups of people. It’s a vast cornucopia of information enables users to be segregated in diverse groups using diverse permutations and combinations of their ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’. This information is not only useful for the advertisers, but also for newspapers and media that want statistics on socio-demographic profile for different groups of people. For example, in the case of the US Presidential elections, Facebook was used repeatedly by analysis to provide predictions of voter’s behaviours (Sinisalo, 2007). In addition, the data captured by Facebook reflects actual real user behaviour, and hence it is used for making decisions related to both work and personal relationships (Harwood, 2009). The above competencies are based on the appropriate utilization of its core resource which is Technology, and to some extent Financial Resources. The technology used by Facebook is the core reason that enables it to present a model of social networking that allows the users to do a large number of activities and thus reveal their personal preferences and data. The finances available to Facebook, though substantial owing to its rapid growth are not utilized fully to obtain more applications especially in the mobile and the video genre. Also, human resource capabilities appear to be restrictive especially with the sole right and say of the company being in the hands of a single person. 2.2 Facebook Value Chain and Delivery of Value Proposition Facebook creates value for the account users and the advertisers in the following manner: 1. Account users : Value = Benefits of Social Networking and Content access – Loss of privacy and confidentiality of personal data Benefits - they get to socially network and make contacts, access apps, and play games Costs – they have to furnish their personal data and pictures and usage behaviour for Facebook to use as it likes. Facebook can deliver greater value by increasing the benefits – by using more apps, more services, more content, and more Internet identity through partner log-ins; and by decreasing costs related to loss of privacy for the customers. For doing the former (enhancing more services and facilities) Facebook’s resources and competencies in terms of technology and finances are sufficient. What is needed is a greater market orientation based on user requirements. For the latter, there doesn’t seem to be any current concern within Facebook about the privacy or the legal ethical issues. It nevertheless does have the technological capabilities and the organizational culture that can help in revising its model of operations and providing greater privacy for the users. There is a substantial chance that Facebook may lose its value for the account users over the longer run. 2, For Advertisers: Value = Benefits of targeted ad returns (in terms of increased visits or sales for their products) – costs of advertising Facebook provides the benefits of furnishing over 9million audience for the advertisers to choose from, and also shares with them their socio-demographic, or geographic profile to enable them to better target their ads. But, it lacks in the analytical tools that can give a real time picture of the performance of adverts to the advertisers (Sinisalo, 2007). There is a lack of clarity on how the success of ads is assessed, and how returns from the costs invested in Facebook advertising are calculated (Charlesworth, 2009). This is largely because the way Facebook calculates its ‘active users’ as those who log in once in a month. The ‘active users’, in reality may not be that active on the site to warrant a huge ad spent on them. The case of GM stopping its paid advertising campaign on Facebook is a reflection of this growing disconcertedness with the real measurable returns with Facebook ads (Simpson, 2012) 2.3 Cultural Web Analysis The cultural web of any organization (as determined from a variety of factors like organizational paradigm, organizational structure, power structure, control systems, routines and rituals and symbols and stories) gives a cornucopia of information on its strengths and capabilities and its weaknesses and problem areas. In the case of Facebook, the following cultural web dimensions are observed: 1. Paradigm According to Mark Zuckerberg, “Facebook makes money to build better services for the people, and not, to sell services to make money”. This reflects the inherent paradigm of the company as envisioned by the founders. However, this paradigm may not go well with other board members and stockholders who want rapid market appreciation of their shares and who are concerned simply with selling the services to create wealth for them. 2. Power Structure As the controlling power still rests in the hands of the founders, who have a vision beyond the simple ‘making of money’, it can be presumed that Facebook will continue to invest in projects and technologies, that are more directed at account user’s benefit, rather than to advertiser’s benefits. It is possible that such a strategy may prevent Facebook from making the most strategically sound decisions for its market value and growth. However, once again, keeping the focus on the account users (who are the backbone for Facebook), it is expected that multiplier benefits will ultimately result in terms of better spend per customer and better suited advertising models. 3. Organizational Structure and Control Systems Organizational structure at Facebook is flat, with less hierarchy and more decentralization. This created a culture of innovation and creativity that can help in building Facebook rapidly. However, with the more recent recruitment of high flying executives, especially those who had worked for Google, lead to a massive change of organizational structure and control systems. While earlier, the systems were relaxed and creativity and contribution were largely judged by their conformity to what pleased Mark Zuckerberg, now, there are much stringer and standardized control systems in the company (Swisher, 2008). This reflects on the slow transition of Facebook from a chaotic start-up to a professionally managed organization moving toward an IPO. 4. Routines and Rituals Facebook routines and rituals largely associate to the way work outcomes are approached. So instead of taking ages to debate on the workability of products or services, Facebook has the routine of quickly coming up with new products, putting them on trial, getting feedback and making changes to upgrade. This helps Facebook achieve faster product turnarounds and capitalization of services. 5. Stories and Symbols Facebook being a small-group managed organization initially, has a substantial lore and stories related to the founders’ perseverance and insights. These stories and symbolic references act as a source of inspiration for the employees across the company. PART C: Challenges (and Opportunities) Faced By Facebook The above exhaustive analysis of the macro environment, the micro environment, the competitor analysis and customer analysis has highlighted the several points that are challenging the growth of Facebook, and which can lead to a growth slump in the coming years. The basic challenges for Facebook are discussed below: How to keep the customer base growing? The current statistics show that the Internet penetration as percentage of world population is still not 100%. This is especially true in the regions like Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, where Internet Penetration ranges between 42%to only 15% of the population (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2012). So, there is a vast opportunity to capture the millions of users across the world as the Internet penetration increases over the years. However, as seen in the industry analysis and the competitor analysis, the threat from the existing as well as new competitors is substantial in the social networking market. A basic challenge for Facebook is therefore to ensure that more people continue to join it, and the existing users remain loyal. How to increase spend per customer? The market analysis shows that people are using the Internet for more and more of their personal (networking, shopping, getting information and gaming) and professional (using office applications, sharing and collaborating) needs. It can be expected that it will be an ideal and preferable option for people to have a one point log in or one point access to their vast net presence and activities. As such, there is a vast opportunity for Facebook to ensure that helps user spend more time and money on the site. However, the challenge is how to do it in a cost effective manner. How to improve Profit Margins? As seen from the review of Facebook model and the market dynamics, a large portion of the earnings and cash is needed to be invested back in the operations, research and development an acquisitions of new services by Facebook. This considerably lowers the profit margins. How to Remain Viable over the Long Term? This is a crucial question that Facebook needs to address as over a period of time the site may lose its ‘cool’ image, or people may get bored with the format of interaction, or competitors will come up with innovative and ubiquitous features. How to address User Privacy Concerns and Ethical and Legal Issues This is one of the main causes of concern for Facebook as across the globe it is facing some legal and ethical issues that question its user data storing and data using practices. There are concerns from individual users about violation of privacy as advertising becomes too intrusive and too targeted for comfort on Facebook, which is a platform people have generally identified as for relaxing or being with friends. PART D: Strategies for Facebook (Proposed Solutions using Facebook Competencies, Resources, Value Chain and Cultural Web Analysis) The above challenges can be addressed by the following solutions which are then analysed using the SFA (Suitability, Feasibility and Acceptance) Framework. Strategy 1: To Aim for Net Ubiquity Aim to build Facebook as a Platform from which users can access a gamut of services (for example, applications and platforms related to their work, social networking, shopping, information searching, video and gaming, and other entertainment needs). Suitability This is suitable strategy as it ensures several desirable outcomes a. It will Ensure Customer Loyalty People getting one point access to all their important services and will lead to people getting locked in with Facebook as the costs of leaving it would be substantial when users are dependent on it for all their online activities. This is what was done by Microsoft with its operating system and office applications, and this is what Google has managed to do in the search genre. b. It will enhance Customer Spend People doing more on Facebook will lead to people spending more time and money on using the services. In addition, people spending more time on Facebook doing a variety of activities related to office and personal life, means Facebook gathers more comprehensive information on their behaviour. This again increases the value of advertising on Facebook and leads to attracting more advertisers and perhaps higher cost ads. c. It will shake away smaller and upcoming competitors The availability of access to a variety of useful and indispensable services for users means that the competitors will not find it easy to lure away Facebook users to their sites that may not have such scale of services. New upcoming social networking sites, that are easy to set up and also to manage, will find it difficult to remain in competition when placed against a service provider like Facebook that not only offers superior networking, but also a substantial amount of additional services. Feasibility The above strategy is feasible as Facebook has core competence in Technology and quick product developments. It is already reflected in the initiative of Instagram, which though not an immediate success and revenue generator, is still viewed as a long term investment. It also has sufficient funding to enable it to buy technologies and apps from third parties if needed. However, there is a cultural issue related to the power dynamics within Facebook that may make it difficult to change the focus of Facebook. As known, the founder Mark Zuckerberg contains a majority share and seems to be intent on keeping the company focused on its core social networking service. Acceptance There is a medium chance of acceptance for this strategy owing to internal cultural dynamics of Facebook. This is because there is an inherent and persistent focus on the personal vision of Facebook founders, which may often clash with what is best for the future growth and survivability of the company. So, one way to work around this is to introduce more accountability of the board and the founder member toward share-holders and to develop objective metrics for measuring performance. At the moment, Facebook measures its performance by, “number of active users” which it calculates as people who have logged in (direct on Facebook or using Facebook Log in for other sites) in a one month period. Instead of this metrics, a more realistic assessment of performance can be obtained by using the Balanced Score Card Method. A balanced score card will enable the company to measure its performance on the following indices: Financial – the revenues generated from ads and the sale of apps Customer Satisfaction- in terms of feedback obtained from customers Internal Business Processes - a program for assessing the performance related to new product innovations and product turnaround times. Learning and Growth – an assessment that takes into consideration the total organizational skill development and learning curve over a specified period. Strategy 2: To Aim for Better User Privacy and Data Segregation Model Aim to build a model of social networking that allows the users to block content related to their activities from becoming automatically visible to all their friends. Giving users greater freedom to ensure who sees what activities they do on Facebook or on sites using Facebook as log in. Suitability a. Increase Satisfaction It can be expected that the annoyance factor may easily creep into Facebook as a more and more friendship networks are established a more than required number of people may disturb an account user with requests and suggestions etc. Also, it is awkward to have your family or bosses know about all your online activities. So, it can be a relief to users if there is a provision for segregating the information that is shared. Also, user satisfaction and privacy would increase if people can keep their usage private from certain ‘friends and block their content from being viewed by specific people. Moreover, advertising can be made to be less intrusive by making it possible for users to prevent Facebook itself from assessing certain aspects of their activities. This is expected to add more user satisfaction and users viewing Facebook as a safe place. b. Conformance to Ethical and legal issues Ensuring individual privacy is also expected to enhance penetration of Facebook across the globe even in countries where there are concerns of it violating ethical or legal policies. This can give Facebook an ethical image and add to its brand value. Feasibility Again, Facebook has the resources and capabilities to make technological innovations and provide the level of service that can help in setting up the technological infrastructure needed for the above strategy. It also has a culture of innovation and bringing in product innovation, which gain provide it with the capability of making modifications. What lacks is again the non-market focused attitude and vision of the board. So, while the strategy is feasible to implement, it may have a lower acceptance. Acceptability As in the case of the previous strategy, acceptability of this strategy too may be difficult owing to lack of understanding of the seriousness of the issue related to privacy of the users. The Facebook model works till now as advertising on Facebook is as yet only in a nascent stage; and as advertising increases so will the discomfort level of the account users. Again, there is a need to make ‘performance’ more wholistic and include indices like ‘customer satisfaction’ along with just the ‘total number of customers’ on Facebook. Strategy 3: To Increase Profit Margins Aim to outsource product development, partner with app developers and use cloud computing as a means of cutting costs to enhance Profit Margins. Suitability Another challenge, as seen is mostly the case for online firms in their growth stage, is to maintain or increase their profit margins. The scalability of the operations requires massive investments, so does the intense competition that keeps developing novel applications and services juxtaposed against Facebook. Facebook currently invests in internal development of products and applications which require costly R&D expenses as well as time and other resources. Instead of focusing on product innovation, Facebook needs to acquire scale capabilities through cloud service providers and through outsourcing or buy-ins. Feasibility and Acceptability A cost benefit analysis using actual investment outlays for in house and outsourced product developments is needed to ascertain the economic feasibility of the strategy, which is not possible until internal data on Facebook is obtained. However, this strategy appears to be feasible especially in the light of the fact that Google has been adopting it by partnering and buying ready made products to add to its game-plan. The Acceptability of the strategy may again be low as it would require a departure from the core focus of Facebook which is to develop services for users and provide them with a platform for social networking. Strategy 4: Analytical Tools for Ad Impact Develop an accurate, expansive and comprehensive tool that can enable the advertisers to track their investment returns in real time. Suitability There is a growing concern about Facebook advertisers about the utility of the ads as there is no clarity to identify the user outcomes related to advertisements. Google provides comprehensive analytical support as well as do it yourself tools that give advertisers complete understanding of the effectiveness of their ads and helps them link their spent dollars with desired results. This feature is only available at a rudimentary level at Facebook, and by developing it to a professionally acceptable level; Facebook can become more attractive to advertisers. Feasibility and Acceptability It is possible for Facebook to develop such a tool as its core competency lies in product development and innovation and it has a culture that is geared toward encouraging creativity and innovativeness. The acceptability of this strategy is expected to be high as it directly linked to a metric of performance measurement that is used at Facebook already – ad revenues. References Harwood, J. 2009. ‘Facebook causes one in five divorces, says law firm’. The First Post (Online). 22 December. Available at: http://www.theweek.co.uk/technology/17671/facebook-causes-one-five-divorces-says-law-firm [Accessed on 30 November 2012] Cashmore, P. 2010. ‘How Facebook eclipsed Google in 2010’. CNN Tech.(Online) 10 December. Available at: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-30/tech/facebook.beats.google.cashmore_1_google-buzz-social-layer-gmail-users?_s=PM:TECH [Accessed on 30 November 2012] Charlesworth, A. (2009). Internet marketing: a practical approach. 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