Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Facebook Sells Your Friends
Facebook has recently been focused on moving into the advertising realm -- but not in the traditional sense. Read the article Faceboook Sells Your Friends. What do you think of the Facebook approach to promotion? Post your response to the blog by the beginning of class on Tuesday, March 22nd.
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Facebook is a very power tool when it comes to social networking and connecting people to other people. Recently it has taken the approach of offering companies the ability to make they're own page for people to become a fan of or even "like". When a user "likes" a page this information will be sent to all the users friends "mini-feed". This is very smart as it is a digital version of word of mouth. People are influenced by other people and their friends. If they see their friend comment on a company or product, then that person will be more likely to engage in information regarding it. Promoting anything on Facebook has become easier than ever compare to before social networking. You can reach a bigger audience since most people check their Facebook every day. With almost a billion users expected to join with in the near future.
ReplyDeleteAdvertisements on Facebook can be targeted to the most specific market possible. This gives even small local businesses the ability to get in touch with there potential consumers at a fairly low price. Until recently getting your information to consumers online was difficult, since the world wide web has many different demographic users associated with it. Based on your interest you compose on Facebook, companies can figure out a more detailed group of buyers to target. There is always groups within groups for people interested in a large interest. I think its fascinating how Facebook is using they're own network to almost sell your interest to a business without illegally doing so.
Facebook is the new thing these days. It started out as a high school and college fade but now growing to adults. This shows that once again times are changing and marketers are finding new ways to advertise there products. With people on facebook an average of 6 hours a week and a new ad at every page you change you are seeing way more ads then you would in a magizine or commericial. Also with facebook having over a half a million users, more people can see that ad for a way cheaper price. Facebook promotion of the ads are even smart by the way they target you on what you like. Over all companies can see a more detailed view of who is liking them. The companies are getting more discribtion of there target buyers and who likes there page. So I think this promotion helps the companies alot more then an ad on tv because they can be more specific on who they are marketing too.
ReplyDeleteI think using Facebook as another tool for advertising is a good idea. Companies would be able to promote their products quickly and effectively to millions of users in a matter of seconds.
ReplyDeleteThe companies that do decide to use Facebook and create a full page should be careful though. With the newest version of Facebook, people are able to link pages to their profiles by filling out the arts and entertainment, interests and activities, etc. sections to their profiles. I know personally that I get a little annoyed when my news feed is filled with annoying posts from these companies.
Just like with the YouTube videos we watched in class, this could also hurt companies just as easily. If a friend you are connected with doesn't have a good experience with a company or product, that's easily a few hundred people that will know about it with a simple status update. Companies should take advantage of this type of advertising, but they should also proceed with caution.
Facebook is still evolving, and finding new ways to generate revenue. The advertising revenue generated by facebook will be huge. With the "like" button and the data-mining it's advertising software does, companies will be able to better target their market segments. This benefit will attract more businesses to the site and stimulate advertising dollars. The article says that the members cannot opt-out of facebooks ad targeting system. This provides facebook and it's advertisers a captive audience which can be targeted based on many or any nuance of the facebook member. It's a financial boon for facebook and the companies that choose to advertise there. Facebook has created a new way to advertise and I believe it will be very successful.
ReplyDeleteFacebook has changed a great amount from the first version of it came out. It started out as just college students and then spanned out to anyone. I believe that people using Facebook as a marketing tool is a great idea. They can pick out who they want to view the ads based on the demographics and even based on what people say on their account. Also, a specific time can be used to show the ad only at night or only on Monday's or however they want to have it set up. I think that is is a great tool becuase it allows companies to customize their ads completely.
ReplyDeleteUsing Facebook for advertising and promotion is a great idea. Facebook is growing more and more every day. It went from being used as a social network for college students to high school students. Now sports teams and companies are able to use it to promote sporting events and new products. For companies spending a good amount of money to put things on facebook is worth it because the publicity of the ad wouldn't cost them anything and it would get spread so much faster than on TV. Facebook gives people to "like" things and leave comments wich shows up on other peoples news feeds so others have the chance to check it out. People are allowed to share videos wich spreads quickly. Also with facebook the ad can reach a variety od target markets. I stronly feel that using facebook as a promotional tool is the smartest idea for many companies.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is a new phenomeonon that has taken over the world, literally. Starting off as a small website, it has turned into the biggest social network site that brings the whole world together. Not only students, but teachers, older people, and younger kids are starting to use the site. Lately I have been noticing that the ads on facebook are becoming more broader, since the demographics on who uses the site is changing.
ReplyDeleteIt would be wise for a company to spend some money on promotion on facebook because this is a site where people get on continuously. If they see an ad, it will stick in their mind and they might buy a product. Due to the wide usage of facebook, a company can target all their necessary markets.
Facebook overall is a site that I use and many other use and my opinion is that more companies should invest into this site and promoting their products.
Facebook has taken a very smart approach to marketing through peer to peer communication. Other companies pay ad space in return for funding the function of Facebook’s website. By allowing Facebook members to tag pictures of photos and “like” places, items, or company pages, many companies get free advertising. Friends see that other friends have “liked” places or company pages, and this often makes someone else curious to checkout the company too. This means that thanks to Facebook companies can get publicity without spending enormous amounts of money on extra advertising or marketing personnel. With so little effort, the time and resources it takes to place ads on Facebook probably pays for itself with how quickly interest in a company spreads once a page is “liked.”
ReplyDeleteAs for the privacy issues associated with Facebook and company’s using personal information for financial gain, I believe it is okay. If people are dumb enough to post personal information on the internet where they know others can see it then, there should be no complaints if companies use their known interests to sell a product to them. From a company stand point, free information and feed back is a very valuable resource. Most of the information posted to Facebook is honest and unbiased. By companies utilizing this free and extremely accurate information, they can create better advertisements and create better product features to cater to consumer needs. Lastly, any company that looks at free personal information on Facebook is doing it to benefit the company, and sales from this strategy will stimulate the economy.
It is human nature to fit in with the crowd and wnat to know what the people you socialize with do. Facebook has played off of bandwagoning to create an amazing marketing strategy. When someone sees that their friend has liked a business, music artists, school, etc. it automatically draws them to look at it. Most of the time the friend likes the same thing that their friends like, which leads some people to a new product or place because their friends exposed them on facebook. I think that companies creating a Facebook page is now the one of the smartest marketng techniques.
ReplyDeleteWhen facebook first came out it was targeted as a social network for college students. But sense then it has expanded out to everyone. Even companies have started building their own facebook page for people to like. I think this is a spectacular idea for companies to promote their products to their customers, because even small companies can promote their products. I feel that more companies should invest into using facebook to promote their products and their companies.
ReplyDeleteAlmost 550 million users worldwide and still counting, makes Facebook the perfect place to promote and advertise a product. I've seen music artist to shaving companies advertising. I myself have been influenced by a friends "like" on a company, So I can totally agree that Facebook sells your friends as the title of the article is. If Facebook is going to keep promoting they should keep it is the way now. It's not popping in your face but is in a good spot for you to see it. Myspace I think failed at it because it was to in your face and that isn't why you were on Myspace. The point of a social networking website is to network with other people the Staff working Facebook knows what they are doing. There at a good rate and I don't see any reason why they should change how they promote.
ReplyDeleteFacebook has been growing immensely over the years reconnecting friends, distant family members and now promoting groups and events going on in not only local communities but nationwide. Why not advertise on Facebook? Facebook is a great way to get the word out. It is amazing how fast media moves through Facebook. Post on Youtube often become popular by people posting videos on their Facebook wall and friends watching and passing it along. Posting advertisements on facebook is also beneficial through the wide range of market segments. This will also be a way to test an advertisement before launching it on national television. Companies will get a preview on how successful their advertisement is and if it appeals to a particular market segment. Even if it is somewhat poor… with facebook, the word will get out.
ReplyDeleteI believe with the way Facebook has grown over the past few years, making advertisements via this website would be a great idea. Facebook started off as just a website where you could just keep up with your friends, but today we use it for marketing strategies, also. People can make pages that you can become a fan of & it's an easy way to promote a new product before it goes through the actual marketing process. The idea to use Facebook to advertise would do a great deal of help to sell products and in my opinion more companies should take part in it.
ReplyDeleteFacebook has created a great way for companies to advertise their product. One of a companies greatest forms of advertisement is when people have friends who like the product. Friends most influence us and we tend to like or try the things our friends like. If a large number of one group clicks on the coca cola ad then facebook will advertise the ad more with the rest of that group and all that group of peoples friends. So facebook can really interconnect a company's product, and with facebook having more traffic than anything esle in the world it is the ideal place to advertise. Facebook can really intertwine a product and having friends influencing friends to like a product and it is the ultimate place to advertise for any company i believe.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is one of the largest mass medium on the planet right now. It currently has approximately 550 million users around the world. Advertisements on Facebook can be seen by millions of people and can be segmented to the smallest target markets. It seems like everybody I know is on Facebook from my little sister who is in Junior High school to my oldest aunt and uncle. Social media in a whole has changed advertising because now instead of having to pay for strictly television or radio space, companies like Nike can post their ads and commercials on Facebook for little or no extra cost to them. Another positive about Facebook is the timeliness and how quickly information can spread among large groups of people. Facebook will become a more important tool down the road for advertisers. Facebook is still trying to find new ways to increase revenue through advertising. You start to see now that companies are paying for ad space on YouTube and Facebook. Facebook is as important to this generation of advertising now as the Television was important in the 1950’s. Facebook is only continue to grow and is a perfect place to advertise in order to reach a large group of people.
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