Facebook’s Impact on Online Businesses

Social media, as well as other inbound marketing platforms, has become useful assets for business marketing. These sites provide opportunities for businesses to engage with potential clients (Berthon and Diane 262). Facebook is an important social tool that connects people globally. The social media site has over one billion active users, where half of the number visit the site on daily basis. Facebook currently has a significant effect on the worldwide business landscape. According to the analysis conducted by Delloite (12) and commissioned by Facebook, it was estimated that the social network has a worldwide financial impact averaging $300 billion. Facebook’s worldwide network allows businesses to exploit the nature of human relations in the network. Businesses can advertise their products, hire employees and promote their services. Marketers can exploit the social media tool to increase their online footprint while also indulging clients and prospects.

As noted by Delloite (12), Facebook is the second common social tool globally, after Google in terms of new visits. According to Heller and Parasnis (31), the social site ranks first place for being the most popular site. A survey by Delloite (12) approximates 75% of Facebook users to be out of college population, while users fall between the ages of 25 and 70. While Facebook began as a small college community user tool, it has expanded beyond its initial users to include a demographic entrepreneur would like to reach out to.

Using Facebook as a small business owner can prove useful for the creation of a web presence. Facebook can provide a valuable platform for both small businesses and established big enterprises in creating their web presence. It is important to be interactive and helpful as an entrepreneur. When other Facebook users reach out to a business page, they reach out for interaction and they should not be disappointed. One can go the extra mile of providing the fans with helpful information like links, interactive information and useful applications (Berthon and Diane 263). Creating an impactful web presence could also involve adding business-related videos. Facebook has the provision of adding videos and there is no need to refer users to other sites to watch videos.

Entrepreneurs can create a relationship between the outside world and the Internet. Some events in the real-life can be promoted through the Internet. This may be done through Facebook interactive sessions of updates and photos. Having funs hooked on the Facebook page may include contests (Berthon and Diane 262). Contests are captivating and appealing to a huge fan base. The contest can also help in attracting new people to the page. For example, an entrepreneur may engage the funs by having them give their feedback on a particular thread, and have the chance of winning an incentive. An entrepreneur may incorporate mainstream advertising with Facebook. Facebook is common and familiar to a large populace. One can add Facebook business pages to the mainstream advertisements to have the clients familiarize themselves with the Internet page. One may also consider using Facebook to increase their contact bases by using email newsletters. This leads to the growth of contacts in the mail list while increasing the Facebook client base.

In conclusion, entrepreneurs should have a convincing foundation for engaging Facebook in their businesses. The site is continually expanding its population usage, getting more features added and changing its appeal. More people are also turning to Facebook business pages for related information. Business owners may be the greatest benefactors when they use Facebook to their advantage.

Works Cited

Berthon, Plangger, and Shapiro Diane. Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing strategy. Business Horizons, 55.3, 261-271. (2012). Print.

Deloitte United States of America. Is the USA a Nation of Media Addicts?. n.p., n.d. Web. 2015.

Heller Baird, Carolyn, and Gautam Parasnis. From social media to social customer relationship management. Strategy & Leadership 39.5(2011): 30-37. Print.