Writing on the wall for firms thriving on Facebook sales
September 7, 2011 by admin
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Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Dartmouth’s Centre for Marketing Research says 71 per cent of the fastest growing companies in the US in 2011 revealed the use of Facebook as a consumer interaction tool. Photo/AFP
Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook is a huge success. It is not uncommon to hear people ask: Are you on Facebook?
Hundreds of millions are registered on the site where they share insights, photos, gossip…. It is a key platform for reaching the market thanks to many factors, including high speed and affordability.
According to Entrepreneur.com, no business can ignore the massive potential Facebook offers to sales and marketing success.
Dartmouth’s Centre for Marketing Research says 71 per cent of the fastest growing companies in the US in 2011 revealed the use of Facebook as a consumer interaction tool.
While the use of social media in business is growing across the world, entrepreneurs and the corporate giants could be running on weak policies likely to put off more critical markets.
Esther Kagiri, the managing director of market monitoring firm Globetrack International, says Facebook “creates a personal connection with their customers” but overdone promotional materials weaken the engagement.
An efficient, well-thought-out social media policy, Ms Kagiri says, should seek to engage “easily and smoothly with Facebookers.”
The content should challenge people and get them to see a certain brand as fun to associate with, she says.
“There are many companies which are putting people off by executing the wrong kind of Facebook policy,” she says.
One example, she told the Business Daily, is a “barrage of promotional content on people’s walls.”
A strategic company policy need not only centre on the selling of products, she said.
Some companies have turned their walls to places where they get access to specific reviews on customer trends and complaints.
In other words, it can be used as a feedback board, but not to force sales.
Firms ought to make good use of the networks offering more benefits compared to the traditional TV and print media.
She said: “Facebook is cheap, convenient and less disruptive to use. For businesses, being on Facebook is a matter of success and survival.”
The whole concept of social media, Ms Kagiri said, is to get people while they are at their most relaxed, having fun with friends.
Succeeding in passing the right content to such a person means the story will be shared with zeal. “It is the emotive moments that build brands.”
She explains: “When people are emotionally engaged, that is usually the best moment for brands to really make their mark. That is why bonds created on Facebook are so effective.”
While most adverts are viewed as distractions on most media, they are interesting advice on Facebook, she says.
“This has everything to do with the amount of time people spend on Facebook, which is significant.”
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$1.6 billion in first half: Facebook revenues low?
September 7, 2011 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
Facebook’s revenue in the first half of 2011 reached $1.6 billion, according to an unnamed source with knowledge of the financials, Reuters reports. The same source says net income in the first half of 2011 approached $500 million.
We contacted the company but, still private, Facebook does not disclose financial results.
The numbers are interesting nonetheless because, to date, we have largely relied on third-party estimates of ad revenues for Facebook and other private social sites. Notably, this source has Facebook’s revenues pegged much lower than those recently forecasted by eMarketer.
In June, the Internet marketing researcher said Facebook’s display revenues–in the U.S. alone–would grow an estimated 80.9 percent to $2.19 billion. It was the same number eMarketer had reported back in January, when the group published a report predicting Facebook’s global ad revenue would reach $4.05 billion.
That’s not even counting revenues collected from virtual goods, a huge moneymaker for Facebook, which collects 30 percent of every sale.
And yet, if we assume (perhaps unfairly) that Facebook’s revenue will not grow more in the second half of 2011, then total global revenue for the entire year will be around $3.2 billion, far below just the $4.05 billion in ad revenues predicted by eMarketer. Either the social network has a lot of room to expand over the next few months or eMarketer’s numbers are way, way off.
No matter which way you look at it, however, it’s clear that Facebook is now a dominant force in ad selling on the Web. Another Web researcher, comScore, said over the summer that the social network now makes up the most display ad impressions in the U.S., accounting for nearly a third of the entire market. With over 750 million members, it’s no wonder why.
It’s that kind of influence that has pushed the company’s valuation to around $80 billion on the secondary markets. Although, a major sale of Facebook stock last month gave the company a $66.5 billion valuation–still high, but not so dramatically.
Facebook has not yet indicated specific plans to go public, though analysts have said to expect the move either late this year or by the spring of 2012.