As the largest social network, Facebook continues to be an attractive online marketing hub for many businesses. There are 40 million small business Facebook pages alone.
Organizations of all sizes have come to appreciate Facebook as a marketing tool for the ease of use, rich features, and consistent innovation. Those new to Facebook should be impressed by these numbers:
- 1.8 billion active Facebook users.
- 1.2 billion people use Facebook apps each day.
- Facebook Messenger has more than one billion active users.
- Of the social networks, Facebook refers the most traffic to websites.
- The average user now spends about 50 minutes per day on Facebook.
- 38.6% of the world’s population uses Facebook.
- 500,000 new users are added on Facebook every day (6 new profiles per second).
Those are some pretty intriguing statistics for business brands. The sheer number of daily Facebook users should entice marketing executives and business leaders to at least give Facebook Marketing a try.
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Facebook’s Big Plan
In 2016, Facebook revealed their five and ten year plan to the world. For the first time, the public could see, without a doubt, that Facebook is playing the long game. Their current vision takes them to 2026.
Facebook’s mission: “To give everyone the power to share anything with anyone.” They have chosen to do that through a “Family Of Apps”:
- WhatsApp - Serving one-to-one
- Messenger - Serving small groups
- Facebook - Catering to friends
- Groups - Geared toward gathering people together that share common interests
- Instagram - The world
The family of apps allows for a global market with plenty of room for innovation. At the time of publish, there is even a team working on the Facebook plane!
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While other social networks are doing great work and serving important purposes, Facebook has remained a clear social platform leader. Consistent evolution, and ease of use keeps users coming back for more.
Their leadership has prioritized mobile accessibility - A high percentage access Facebook exclusively on their mobile device. Which means, Facebook is always with them — By purse or pocket.
Additionally, the consistent release of new features continues to appeal to businesses. If you consider where the social network started and what Facebook is today, the difference is amazing! Mark Zuckerberg has championed online innovation, and continues to lead, providing an ample ground to businesses of all sizes for marketing purposes.
Here are just a few examples of why businesses just like yours are choosing Facebook for marketing:
Facebook Pages
The hub for brand and cause marketing on Facebook. They’ve done massive work to offer an online marketing toolbox customizable to any organization. Community, review capture, and the new Services and Shops sections converge into social assets, and just scratch the surface of possibility.
Facebook Groups
While people spend so much time on Facebook, Groups offer a gathering place for people of similar interest. The features and functions have evolved nicely for groups as well - The For Sale Groups let members exchange money and items. This may have inspired Facebook to implement payment features within their messenger.
Messenger
A private conversation application all on it’s own for mobile and desktop. Once the communication path between two people, it grew to facilitate small friend groups. Now, you can share conversation, photos, gifs, stickers, files and even exchange money. Which is why you see a Messenger feature on Facebook Pages as well, where there are even more customizable features for brands.
Live Video
Facebook has made huge investment in their live video feature! In turn, personal and business brands have as well. Live video gets 4-7 times more engagement than other Facebook posts - Some have recorded up to 10 times engagement! At time of publish the feature is still rolling out to users across the globe. However, all Pages and Groups have had this feature beginning in 2016. Two-person and multiple-person live video functions will be released in the near future, as well as scheduling a live broadcast.
Workplace (Facebook For Work)
Since the beginning of social networking, companies have blocked Facebook from workers’ computer availability, and HR manuals include social media policies frowning upon use of Facebook during work hours. Realizing this, Facebook developed a specific platform for companies to collaborate on Facebook to get work done. This can include key personnel, contractors, and it is geared toward productivity. New for 2016, Workplace brings a hint of LinkedIn, as it is meant to be professional. At time of publish, they are still rolling this out to applicants on the waiting list.
Facebook Advertising
This isn’t your grandmother’s traditional advertising! Facebook Advertising is literally Advertising 2.0. Facebook threw away the idea of creating copy, placing it on a page, sending it out, and hoping people would see or hear it. No-no! Facebook ads can be tracked for effectiveness. You know how many people see the ads and interact with them. Plus, ads targeting is done through information Facebook users provide to the platform themselves, so it is highly accurate. Facebook is very rich with data! While costs have risen with time, a very effective ad campaign can be done on a frugal budget. Fact: Facebook Ads are, perhaps, the best value for your advertising dollar.
The Big Blue Reality
For users, Facebook’s sweet spot is the news feed. For marketers, the appeal is, undoubtedly, the marketing toolbox that keeps getting better and better.
Facebook is mainly user-friendly and popular among most demographics. So, it used to be marketers reveled in the opportunity to make clever posts for their fans that produced good engagement, and nurtured relationships with hopeful customers. The “build it and they will come” scenario.
As Facebook grew and evolved, so did the required knowledge to navigate the big blue platform for successful social marketing. And that continues to be the case. It is no longer just about the number of posts made on a Facebook Page. Facebook marketers must have a solid understanding of the platform, the tools, and how to reach users in a way that produces response.
In short, a company or organization can either assign a budget for an in-house executive or outsourced agency to manage their Facebook marketing, or they will invest in time for staff to learn the required skills to achieve successful Facebook marketing results.
For smart business decision-makers, Simplilearn is a common sense solution offering digital marketing education including the topics of Facebook Marketing and Advertising.
