What the Facebook!
An all reverberating name, on the tongue of young or old, is Facebook. There is hardly a kid who does not know ‘Farmville’, a girlie who is not addicted to ‘It Girl’or a yuppie, who has not planned a weekend get-away of a dinner in its several threads! Facebook is the way of life for young or old. Ha, if theorems and numbers validate anyone’s prowess, facebook has surely out-numbered China and India. For, if numbers are true, facebook has in totality 500 million members, the count growing even when we are talking! Also, it makes FB the most inhabited next to the two most thickly populates countries. That means, facebook reaches out to a majority of Web users.
A study by an eminent University claims that in America, 13.25 million users use this site; it reaches nine of ten social network users along with 59% of all internet users. Realizing an opportunity by smelling enormous rats here, of all shapes and sizes, the marketers have capitalized on the given stance! Yes, for if you frequent FB, you really do know what it is to “like” anything there. It almost means that you take pride in that product or service, claiming publicly that it does you proud. Putting it all together, it has become a dominant voice and a global force in opinionating any monetary transactions!
It is this wave that has led to Facebook’s staggering growth and success, paving way for the rise of social commerce and therefore, social media optimization. And it is nice to claim, that social media with its current rating, performance and popularity is already pushing e-commerce to descend! For decades, critics have used internet as a mode of discussion and critique for all the brands or products.
Arrival E-Commerce
Sharing of videos, articles, blog-postings and comments led to actual commerce taking place electronically. It became more efficient and rewarding too for corporates, since it reached out a wide and global audience. Since the criticism and applause both, sprung from a trustworthy user’s mouth, it worked wonders for credibility without much investment into Public Relations. Shopping - by its very nature - is a social act and it was only a matter of time it became prevalent throughout the e-commerce world. The face of internet commerce changed so rapidly that people started to lean of online opinions, videos and foreword. And now, it's hard to sell anything online if you don't let your customers’ rate, review and share their collective experiences.
Arrival Facebook
The scenario changed to social media when the Facebook, an online social networking portal placed a ‘like’ button, against all people, products, content brands, and commodities. This became the game-changing move.
For Facebook now had all the information from across the Web and mobile channels about what people like (along with who they are, where they live and who they are connected to). This was a huge deal that every business paid attention to! For not only did people share their opinions on the facebook thread but also built loyalty, shaping trust and character around the brand via the platform. They engaged with and connected to one-another freely, and the tussle became figuring out how to change those opinions into a sale!
Facebook = Shopo-line now!
That is how all the brands slowly entered the bandwagon and started making their facebook presence felt. The popularity that facebook credit coins gained was phenomenal, leading to another wave of social media marketing. Picking from this, a lot of other social networking sites starting creating their own value points!
The Math
Facebook’s around 600 million members, with their own currency system termed as ’Facebook Credits’. It is the default monetary system used on the Facebook platform, where the brands are openly discussed and engaged and most of brands are paying huge premium amounts to sell themselves. Facebook extends itself to every other arena of social presence or digital space like (websites, blogs, smartphones, etc.). People have built a certain level of trust and security in Facebook Credits.
Have you seen the Best Buy Facebook Page? If you look at the navigation, you'll note a tab titled, "Shop + Share." The internet strategy behind this idea is that a consumer need not leave their facebook page to enjoy a Best Buy experience. Best Buy understands this new world of consumer engagement. Now you can buy from Best Buy and even share your experience with your online social network without ever leaving Facebook.
The latest funniest bet of F-Commerce is Pampers from P&G. Last year they have joined the fray by ensuring that parents do not have to leave Facebook even to buy diaper for their kids. The brand choice of Pampers for P&G is interesting as the CPG giant constantly leverages its own data and analytics to develop the most ideal marketing outcomes. This clearly conveys that those who think ‘Facebook is just a bunch of university students trying to hook up and make merry’ are highly wrong and underestimated in their opinion!
Facebook has long crossed those barriers to become a stage where all the eyeballs are, with 600+ million users, 50 percent of these visitors visiting daily creating a huge f-marketing platform! SO you now know where you need to be for more than half the world to know you!!