Marketing on Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites - Case Study Example

Marketing on Social Networking Sites: Facebook Case Study Executive summary Facebook is undoubtedly among the most popular social networking sites (SNSs) today. Every hour, thousands of young people ready to interact, exchange information and learn new things are logged onto the social network. To marketers, this presents a fertile ground where they can reach countless young people from different regions. As Li et al (2007) found out, the young people interacting on Facebook are also eager also fall in the early adopters’ category thus meaning they are more adventurous in the purchasing choices. However, marketing to this demographic group is not as easy as it sounds. For starters, the traditional marketing models cannot simply be used on Facebook and other social networking sites. This therefore means that the marketers need to engage the Facebook users with new and innovative marketing strategies. Considering the nature of Facebook, successful marketers would need to develop personal relationships with the users. More to this, instead of the marketing rhetoric used in traditional media to draw attention to a product, a marketer on Facebook would need to ensure that the product marketed has value, and that the promotions can be passed from one friend to another in the social network. Introduction Facebook was initially launched as a social networking site in 2004 by its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg (McCarthy, 2010). Since the site was not subscription-based, the only other way it could generate revenue was through advertisements placed on the site. Having become so popular over the years, advertisers are well aware that Facebook has a wide audience which they (advertisers) can target with their marketing tactics. Since advertising on SNSs was and still is an unfamiliar marketing strategy for marketers as well as the staff at Facebook, the latter has been working to present advertisers with avenues of advertising and hence capturing the attention of their target audiences better. One such endeavour was the introduction of “News Feed”. As Mccarthy (2010) explains, this introduction by Facebook was received with much scepticism by users especially because of privacy concerns. On its part, Facebook addressed the privacy issues and “News Feed” remains a prominent feature in the social networking site. In 2007, Facebook introduced an advertising program dubbed the “Beacon”. Its intention was to use the application to provide Facebook users with a platform where they could interact and share commerce-related information, product reviews and also share their purchase experiences. However, this new addition raised privacy issues among users and even after modifications, it continued attracting lawsuits. Finally, it was withdrawn from the site altogether. Facebook “connect” was a feature that was introduced soon after Beacon was withdrawn and allows users to share third party information on commerce and other undertakings in their social lives. In 2008, Facebook brought more to its marketing platform by introducing the “MarketPlace” section. However, this was later withdrawn (McCarthy, 2010). Issues identified Through the above introduction section, it is apparent that Facebook users have more control over the applications that the site administrators choose to use in the marketing platform. This is in line with findings by Bernoff & Li (2008), who observes that in order for social networks to flourish in the contemporary marketing environment, they need to relinquish some power to their customers. Facebook also seems to have made the wrong choices in applications in the past thus the discontent registered by its users especially in regard to their privacy on the site. The results suggest that Facebook dabbled with its application and was rarely strategic with the choices it made and implemented. To counter this, Bernoff & Li (2008) suggests that “companies need a strategic framework for developing and implementing the right applications’ (p. 38). This is especially necessary considering the increased social participation observed from the SNSs users. Analysis of case issues Having established that Facebook users were practically watching any new application introduced by the networking site developers and analysing the same, Facebook administrators need to anticipate the users’ reaction before launching any marketing application in the future. As identified earlier in this report, Facebook needs the advertising-generated revenue for its daily running. As such, the networking site needs to come up with a strategy of interacting with its users before an application is launched officially on the site. This is possible if the users and the site staff interact on a mutual basis as was the case with Salesforce.com. According to Bernoff and Li (2008), Salesforce.com established an idea exchange platform in 2006 that allowed users to suggest and vote for applications they would like added on the site. As a result, the site was able to increase the number of applications introduced to six in 2007, as opposed to two new applications just one year before. Strategies to solve identified issues In the traditional marketing environment, marketers simply craft marketing strategies and impose the same on potential customers through advertising. This marketing strategy has persisted on SNSs especially in form of online banners. However, Achrol and Kotler (1999) observe that “networks are not tolerant to traditional instruments of authority and control. Hierarchy, power and contracts recede in significance and are supplanted by relational mechanisms of governance” (p. 148). Although the two authors are referring to business networks, their observation applies in social networking sites’ marketing. If this was to be applied in Facebook, it would introduce new marketing ethos that would tap into the site user’s knowledge in order to develop applications that are acceptable to the wider user market. This opinion is shared by Li et al. (2007), who argue that in order for social networking sites to realize the “full value” of marketing on their sites, they should be ready to engage the users in personal relationships. Such relationships would in turn offer the likes of Facebook a chance to provide the user with applications that are not only user-friendly, but also valuable promotion channels with brand elements or information which can be passed from one friend to the other on the social networking platform. The resistance that meets some of the applications launched by Facebook can be toned down if the application is first tested on a sample user-group. According to Brauner (2010), the first place to gauge if an application will be met with resistance is inside the organisation. This means that Facebook can test the reception that an application will get within the organisation staff before officially launching the same in the wider user networking site. By testing applications on its staff, Facebook will get a chance to get feedback and modify on any major concerns raised by the staff members. Recommendations Just as marketers would need to formulate marketing strategies that relate personally to Facebook users on an individual level, so does Facebook need to develop its application. According to Brauner (2010), social networking sites’ intent on generating advertising revenue need to concentrate on building a loyal community or following rather than generating leads or building databases as was the case in traditional marketing. This can only be done through ‘friending” as Li and Bernoff (2008) aptly put it. The friendship concept is not only a concept applicable between people, but Facebook could further use it to build relationships with the users. Pushing applications that have already been rejected by users cannot generate much marketing success. A significant exemplar was the introduction of Facebook “connect” soon after the “Beacon” was withdrawn. Championing the same concept as the “Beacon”, “connect” did not succeed as its developers had envisaged and the Facebook CEO announced its termination in April 2010. This observation is supported by Brauner (2009), who states that “the traditional push marketing is ineffective in the social media world” (p.1). Successful marketing on Facebook and other social networks need to be target-oriented. This means that Facebook and the advertisers have to address a specific target group. Although Facebook was initially meant for use by people between 25 years and 34 years of age, statistics show that not only people below and above the target age group joining the social network, but also corporate institutions are signing up as Facebook members. This therefore means that the “one-size-fits-all” marketing strategy cannot be successful on the site. As Brauner (2009) states, targeting the entire Facebook users would lead to a marketer spreading themselves too thin. To avoid this, Facebook can work out strategies with marketers to target different demographics of users. The fact that Facebook has the user demographics like age, religion, gender and location is an added advantage since it can work with marketers to ensure that specific marketing messages are targeted to specific users. It could also benefit from some market research as suggested by Cooke and Buckley (2008). This research should be about the best way to position itself to the users because without the user’s liking the applications it introduces on the networking site, chances are that the any marketing done on such applications will not be successful. Conclusion With the vast market presented by the millions of users registered with it, Facebook has a unique marketing opportunity yet to be attained by other social networks. Past experiences however testify that with this opportunity come challenges that must be addressed comprehensively for Facebook to benefit from the marketing opportunity presented by its users. Some of the past experiences seem to have been borne from the fact that Facebook did not engage its users before launching applications. This underscores the need for Facebook to interact with the users more in future in order to have fewer marketing application rejections. It is also obvious that Facebook needs to adapt to the requirements placed by users, which can only become apparent if it researches on the likes and dislikes of different users before placing an application on their Facebook pages. References Achrol, R., & Kotler, P. (1999) ‘Marketing in the Network Economy,’ Journal of Marketing, 63 (special issue), 146-163. Bernoff, J. & Li, C. (2008) ‘Harnessing the Power of the oh-so-Social Web,’ MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(3), 36-48. Brauner, L. (2009) Social Media Targeting for people and businesses, Online Social Networking, Viewed 21 June 2010, http://online-social-networking.com/social-media-targeting-for-people-and-businesses Brauner, L. (2010) Top 10 Social Marketing Challenges, Online Social Networking, viewed 21 June 2010, http://online-social-networking.com/top-10-social-marketing-challenges Cooke, M. & Buckley, N. (2002) ‘Web 2.0, Social Networks and future of Market Research,’ International Journal of Market Research, 50(2), 267-292. Li, C. & Bernoff, J. (2008) Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, Harvard Business Press, Watertown, MA. Li, C., et al. (2007) ‘Marketing on Social Networking Sites,’ Forrester Research, viewed 21 June 2010, http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/marketing_on_social_networking_sites/q/id/41662/t/2 McCarthy, C. (2010) ‘Facebook’s Follies: A brief history,’ Cnet news, Viewed 21 June 2010 from http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20004853-36.html Read More