Facebook recently surpassed the 400 million active user mark on the eve of its 6th birthday. With such a huge number of users it wont be a surprise to know that more than 50% of the users, who buy goods online are now on Facebook. Furthermore, amongst the shoppers who participate in social media, 81% use Facebook.
With such a wealth of online shoppers using Facebook every day, one would be compelled to think that Facebook would be the number one choice for online retailers to market their goods and services. However, a recent study by ForeSee Results, show that only 25% of the top 100 online retailers have a formal facebook presence, where as another 25% have less than 10,000 fans on Facebook.
According to Kevin Ertell, vice president of retail strategy at ForeSee, this is an gross mistake, since most of the users who interact with retailers on Social media do so to either learn about special offers (49%) or get product details (45%).
With such bleak figures, there exists examples of some extremely social media savvy retailers. Starbucks, amongst others, has used timely and localized deals, such as “Become a fan to get a free coffee at your local Starbucks”, to aggressively promote its fan page on Facebook. As of today, Starbucks fanpage on Facebook has more than 5.7 million fans and is ranked amongst the top ten fanpages on Facebook.
The study recommends brands to “Get a Facebook Page!”, and ensure that the page is monitored and continuously updated with relevant deals and information.
Facebook on its part, should also try to better promote its offerings to brands. There is a serious need for a dedicated marketing team at Facebook that should target brands and advertisers to have a professional presence on Facebook.
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I agree - it is vital for these companies to get a Facebook fanpage. They are missing out on being able to send their message out to the over 400 million active users of Facebook, who could all potentially be fans of their page.
A serious need for a dedicated marketing team is correct. However, I feel that Facebook needs stronger analytic tools to really make their Pages worthwhile for many brands.
A Cingular logo? That brand doesn’t exist any more.
For the uninitiated, or the social networking crippled, it is difficult to figure out how to create the proper presence. I have a personal page, and I have a page for my photography. Figuring out how to link them, get fans, etc is hard and Facebook Help might as well be on Mars.
I’d do more if I could figure out HOW!
Why is there an image of Cingular’s logo?? OF COURSE they aren’t on facebook because they DON’T EXIST! AT&T is on facebook, though.
Dick - Sometimes in these situations, it’s just best to hire a consultant to help out. We’re all experts in different fields. In your case, you’re a photographer, not a Social Media-ist
Advertising rule #1: Advertise where the people are. Remember when TV was king until the DVR, or the radio until the CD and print until websites and websites until web 2.0. Well, go where the peeps are.