Merrissa Butz
Due: 12/6/10
Final Paper
MGMT221
Whether a company is just starting up or continuing to grow, they are always looking for
new ways to market their products. Over the past few years social media has becoming the new
and inexpensive way to market companies and products to generate revenue and create buzz.
One site in particular has come out as the front runner to market on and that site is Facebook.
Facebook offers various ways to promote products such as fan pages, ads on the sides of pages,
and applications.
Marketing a product on a fan page is one of the quickest, easiest, and most inexpensive
ways to get your brand recognized. To create a fan page is very simple for a company to do.
According to Facebook.com by clicking on create an official page, it will give you the option to
create for a brand, product, and organization, a local business, or artist brand or public figure.
Then the company types in the page name and adds what they want to market on the page. With
this page a company can send out invites to “like” their page, and invite friends to as well. By
doing this companies will be creating a viral effect reaching millions of people, promoting their
products, getting the consumers involved to receive feedback on products, and have a page that
is free to advertise on. For example on Facebook.com for Victoria Secret they are offering links
to their official site to receive exclusive offers for a chance to win a $500 shopping spree,
promoting their fashion show that aired 11/30/10, offering a link for a chance to win the
exclusive Pink collection from the fashion show, and just promoting new styles, merchandise,
and really getting the consumer involved. Their official fan page has 7,306,393 people who
“like” it, visit it, and participate in feedback. This not only benefits the consumer, but the
(FOWLER, 2010) (Meredith, 2010) (Dolcourt, 2010) (FOWLER G. A., 2010)company receives
an increase in business. With this free marketing space they are having the consumers become
brand loyal with their incentives, and making them feel involved in the creative process. The
company intern is getting personal feedback for what customers want, and what they think about
the new products. Also, with this information they can not only improve their products, but their
sales will sky rocket because they know the consumer wants to buy it and they will feel as if they
helped create it.
Another idea for companies to use with Facebook advertising is the Ads on the site of the
page. With all the clicks, comments, and pictures people have, Facebook uses the information
that users enter into their profiles to target ads to them, but doesn't share user-specific data with
advertisers (Fowler, Steel Par 17). This type of advertising on Facebook is not free however with
most social media sites charging an average of around $15, Facebook is only charging around
$2 to $8 for every a thousand views, depending on targeting options and where it appears on the
site (Fowler, Steel Par 4).
(Fowler, Steel, Par 3) (Chart)
This chart show that Facebook is dominating the popularity of marketing display ads in the U.S
and it seems that it will only continue to grow as the years continue. According to AOL CEO
Tim Armstrong a flood of Facebook ad inventory has implications for rivals, potentially
pressuring online ad pricing from other major Web companies and has name them a competitor
capturing a higher share of spending from advertisers (Fowler, Steel, Par 18). Also According to
Information Week, Facebook produced 297 billion online display ad impressions last quarter,
dominating an industry that delivered almost 1.3 trillion display ads in the period this year
(Diana Par 1). While it is still being determined how much revenue for companies is generated
through using Facebook advertising, most companies will see an improvement in sales,
consumer brand loyalty, and gain more feedback to improve their products or services.
The newest type of marketing to sweep through Facebook is called Mobile Deals Service.
According to the Wall Street Journal article, Facebook Unveils Mobile Deals Service ,the latest
marketing promotional tool allows suppliers to promote deals to the consumers by using this app
that allows the consumer to “check in”(Fowler, Morrison Par 2). There are four different
advantages to using this application the individual, loyalty, friend, and charity. The Individual
user gets a deal offered to a mobile Facebook user (Meredith, par 5). The Loyalty user
accumulates check-ins or purchases that can be redeemed on Facebook, which has developed a
user interface that shows virtual punch marks on a card (Meredith, par 5). A Friend user has a
deal designed to include mobile users and their friends, an example of this is, a restaurant could
offer a free appetizer to a Facebook mobile user who came in with three friends, checked-in, took
a photo and tagged the three friends and then showed the photo to the server to qualify for the
free item (Meredith, par 5). Lastly, a Charity user, for a deal that offers a contribution to a
specified charity when mobile users check-in at the location (Meredith, par 5). An example of
how great the charity aspect is as well, CBS News reported that another addition the 24 Hour
Fitness chain plans to donate $1 to Kaboom, a charity that builds playgrounds every time
someone “checks in”( Dolcourt, Par 6). This type of four user system creates a sense of
connection between the company and the user which creates brand loyalty. With most Americans
that use Facebook, especially the younger generations, commenting, posting, and looking up
things through their Facebook app on their cellphone instead of an actual computer this increases
the amount of people it is reaching. With this access allowing a consumer to be wherever they
want to be and still log in and receive great offers it is a goldmine to companies. This tool is
increasing the publicity for the companies as well as driving in business. With this app many
people will stop in somewhere they have never been because of the offer or they will go back to
a place they have visited before because they enjoy the food or service and they think why go
there if I was already needing or wanting this on top of receiving a discount.
A few of the companies that have been released to be appearing on this app are GAP Inc,
which will be offering free blue jeans to the first 10,000 customers who check in to their stores,
Starbucks, McDonald's, Macy's and Harrah's(Fowler, Morrison Par 5). With this list still growing
and the amazing deals such as getting a free pair of blue jeans from a well recognized store such
as GAP, consumers are going to be lining up to get this app and check into every place they can.
Many people would also believe that Facebook would be charging the companies and consumers
for their promotions and app fee. However they will be offering this for free to both sides, Chief
Executive Mark Zuckerberg explains, "For us, it is the ability to offer a great product to the
people who use it," (Fowler, Morrison Par 6). With is being free now companies and consumers
are jumping at the chance for free publicity as well as the chance to receive free discounts for
just writing on Facebook where the consumer is. Another thing people are speculating is
whether with the app being free will Facebook develop its own phone to create more business,
and Mr. Zuckerberg said that Facebook is not interested in building a phone of its own,
company's goal "is to make it so that no matter what platform you are building for, your apps can
be social,” (Fowler, Morrison, Par 11). This is great business move more Facebook because they
are allow people to be comfortable with their own media and receive deals for free which allows
creates their brand loyalty with the user.
Another thing people are wondering is just how many users is this Facebook app really
reaching and will be worth it for Facebook to offer this service. According to CBS News
Facebook would not comment on how many users have tried the places app, but It would only
say that it's in the ``millions and millions.'' Of its 500 million users worldwide, 200 million use
its mobile application, with places only available in the U.S. (Dolcourt, Par 10) Also, previously
this app could only be found on people with Apple Inc.’s the IPhone though users of Android
and other phones could use Facebook through a mobile site for touch-screen phones (Dolcourt
Par 11). Now Facebook has broadened its spectrum and released that they are teaming up with
Google Inc.’s Android system to add the places application as well.
Facebook has turned into a billion dollar company with the power to show that any type
of advertising is possible. From using a simple fan page, an ad banner, or moving even deeper
into the technology world, mobile apps, Facebook is ahead of the curve and thriving in the
marketing world. They impact the way that I search for the new trends, new products, deals on
items and services, as well as being interactive with my favorite companies. Facebook in my
opinion allows me to be social and ahead of the curve with deals, and I will always look there
first for the hot deals. Not only to me but to the rest of the world they are the top social media
site, and now are the top online advertising site to be competitive with.
Work Cited
Diana, A. (2010, November 9). Facebook Dominates Online Advertising. Retrieved November
25, 2010, from Information Week, SMB:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=228
200510
Dolcourt, J. (2010, November 3). Facebook: Single Sign-On for Mobile Apps, Services.
Retrieved November 20, 2010, from CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301501465_162-20021680-501465.html
FOWLER, G. A. (2010, November 3). Facebook Unviels Mobile Deals Service. Retrieved
November 20, 2010, from The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704506404575592684120334378.html?
KEYWORDS=Facebook+Advertising
FOWLER, G. A. (2010, November 11). Valueing Facebook's Ads. Retrieved November 20,
2010, from The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703665904575600482851430358.html?
KEYWORDS=Facebook+Advertising
Meredith, L. (2010, November 3). Facebook Introduces Location-Based "Deals" Services.
Retrieved November 25, 2010, from TechNewsDaily:
http://www.technewsdaily.com/facebook-holiday-shopping-deals-1563/
Victoria Secret. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2010, from Facebook.com:
http://www.facebook.com/jjeane#!/vspink
Merrissa Butz
Marketing with Facebook
MGMT 221-Final Paper
Due- 12/6/10