Facebook: Long-Term Business Strategies For Sustainability Essay. (70 Characters)

Question:

a) What marketing strategy or strategies has Facebook adopted since it was created? Answer this question by applying one or more of the theoretical approaches discussed in the course.

b) What marketing options can you describe for Facebook if it wishes to remain a successful organisation throughout the next decade? Answer this question based on the circumstances that exist in 2014 and your best forecasts of relevant future industry factors.

Facebook was developed by Mark Zuckerberg in the year 2004. Since its inception it has become the one of the popular social networking website. The company has been successful to gain popularity among mass audience. But the company doesnot have a long term business strategy for its sustainability. The report discusses the long term business strategies by Facebook. The business strategy used by Facebook at present has been discussed.

Facebook is an online social networking website that is less than 10 years old. The company was listed a public company in the year 2012. The share price of Facebook is high since its registration as a public company. But the company does not have a streamlined business strategy so the long term viability of the company uncertain. In this context, the present report analyses the current marketing strategy of Facebook. The report suggests the strategies for Facebook for its long term survival.

Facebook is a social networking website incorporated in the year 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook is used as a platform to stay connected with family, friends. They can easily discover the things going on in the world. Facebook has been used as a platform by the developers to build applications and websites. This has helped to integrate Facebook to reach to a global network of users. In 2014, Facebook acquired virtual mobile gaming application software. Facebook also offers gaming platform to the customers (In.reuters.com, 2015). Initially , the membership of the Facebook was only limited to the students of Havard university. But later on the website was made available to the colleges in the Boston area (Money.cnn.com, 2015).

In 2006, Facebook was opened to everyone who is at least 13 years old and has a valid email address. In 2007 Facebook was used as a platform for the promotional activities of 100,000 business pages to attract the customers. In the same year, 1.6% share of Facebook was purchased by Microsoft with an implied value of $15 billion. The business of Facebook grew tremendously after 2009. It became the largest social networking website in the year 2009. It was considered as a “quiet revolution”. In the year 2013, Face book formed integration with the user interface layer for Android devices which offered a better integration. In the year 2014, Facebook announce to purchase the mobile messaging company Whatsapp for US $19 billion in cash. Advertising is the main source of revenue of the country. The banners published in facebook receives one-fifth of the number of clicks in comparison to the web as a whole. There have been several incidents in which the facebook profile has been hacked. But such case has been well handled authority members (Newsroom.fb.com, 2015).

Current Marketing Strategy of Facebook

Facebook is the number one social media platform (Levy, 2015). It is used as a platform by the users for chatting with the friends, sharing pictures. It is also used as a platform by the organizations for advertising their product. It is one of the preferred sources of traffic and sales and serves as a spot for branding. Facebook did not do much advertising for the inauguration of their business. The profit margin of the company has not increased much despite being the number one social networking platform. It faces tough competition from Twitter and Google Plus. There has been decline in the circulation of papers. The ad provided by the televisison media is not gaining profit. The reason behind this is the launch of social media websites. Amongst the other social media websites Facebook serves as a platform to address to a larger audience. It has been used by several companies to promote their brands. The ecommerce websites use Facebook to promote their sites. Facebook provides brands new ways to target their audiences in a more effective way. Marketing at Facebook is cost effective than other traditional media. But despite of providing a platform for marketing other websites, Facebook has not seen much growth in terms of profitability (Zarrella and Zarrella, 2015).

The marketing strategy applied by Facebook aims at increased the market share of the organization. They are constantly innovating their website to increase their market share. Facebook can be accessed via mobile phone. The messenger by Facebook is faster than the messenger of Twitter. It can send pictures much faster than Twitter.

Facebook suffers from various challenges in their holding their position as the number one social networking website. But it can be said that Facebook is in a much better position than other social networking website as it serves as a platform for sharing pictures along with messaging.

The mobile phone application of Facebook is very popular. It has also launched a messenger for android, IOS and other smart phones. This has enabled facebook to gain larger market share. But the profitability of the company is not increasing at a faster pace.

Positive word of mouth served as an effective marketing tool for Facebook. The comments posted by a user can be reposted. This helps in promoting the product to large number of users. The users form a connection by reposting the messages. The product is promoted to a large number of users as it is repeated amongst a wider audience.

The profitability of Facebook comes from the advertisements. Facebook has a marketing model to strategies of marketing. The marketing strategies applied by facebook includes –

• The potential social networks are used by Facebook to promote its website
• They have a financial plan to meet the marketing requirements.
• They have addressed a target market of people of the age group of more than 13 years.
• Extensive promotional activities have been used by Facebook in the later part for the promotion of the product.

Facebook has to understand the future risks of the business. They have to plan its marketing programs strategically for the long term success of the organization. Facebook Inc. can increase its profit margin by capturing the market of mobile users. The mobile industry is growing rapidly. Facebook will be able to increase the market share by addressing the potential market. This will be a way of earning potential revenue for the organization. Facebook can undertake the following strategies for the long term growth of the organization.

Challenges Faced by Facebook

Increase the connection with the potential clients

Facebook has to increase its connection with the potential customers. This will help Facebook to make a platform for the potential customers. Apart from other social networking sites, Facebook will be able to increase its market share.

Facebook must be a content machine

Facebook has to make relationship with the developer to develop the content of the website. The content of the website must be enriching and educating. This will attract mass audience. Apart from promotional activities, Facebook should publish new, knowledgeable content so that it can gain appreciation from the educated audience. This will be the best strategy for Facebook for the long term sustenance of the organization.

Generation of positive word of mouth

Positive word of mouth will generate more customers for Facebook. The security framework of Facebook has to be enhanced. Facebook enables users to build a relationship of trust. The improvement in the security of the Facebook page will enhance the security of the users.

Increase Fan to fan interaction

Facebook has to create a separate community in which it can encourage its interaction with the fans. This will enable Facebook towards a higher growth of the market. It will ensure long term success of the company. The interaction of the fans with their stars will enhance the brand value of the company. It will ensure long term sustainability of the organization.

Conclusion

The content of Facebook is much more detailed than other social networking websites. Facebook can use it as their strength to increase the popularity of the website. This will help to gain larger share of the market. The content on Facebook has to be knowledgable as well as entertaining. This will attract more users towards the social networking platform. The users will repost the messages. This will make any particular issue viral on Facebook. Facebook must restrict the page that carries information which is inappropriate. Adjustments in the algorithms of Facebook will adjust the content in the website. One of the issues faced by online networking websites while advertising is the leakage of information. The prints and the videos are often leaked earlier than the schedule in which it is premiered. This has created several problems for Facebook earlier. The company will gain the trust of the users by addressing these minor issues. The business model of Facebook has to incorporate the strategic marketing options in for its long term sustenance in the market. The content of the website can be developed by partnership with developers to make the content of the website. The content of Facebook will serve as the main tool to interact with the users. The content of the website of Facebook must be empowering, educating and entertaining. This will be the best strategy for Facebook which will ensure long term sustainability of the organization. Facebook can increase its business by using mobile technology. This will surge the preference of the customers and act as a spillover into the workforce of the business. The company can achieve massive growth by adopting the usage of mobile technology. Mobile technology can be used as platform for providing productive information by Facebook.

References

In.reuters.com, (2015). Company Profile for Facebook Inc.

Levy, S. (2015). How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business.

Money.cnn.com, (2015). FB - Facebook Company Profile - CNNMoney.com.

Newsroom.fb.com, (2015). Company Info | Facebook Newsroom.

Zarrella, D. and Zarrella, A. (2015). The Facebook Marketing Book. pp.1-45.