DISSERTATION. 9. : DISSERTATION. How Facebook’s sponsor

How Facebooks sponsored advertisements influence customer sales?

Running head: DISSERTATION
How Facebook’s sponsored advertisements influence customer sales
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ……………………. whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the…………… [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
The aim of the research is to perform an analysis of the influence of Facebook advertisements in
customer sales. The fierce and intense competition among the business organizations have made
it necessary for the firms or the companies to come up with new ideas for being the favorite one
for the customers. Advertisement is one of the methods that business organizations use for
gaining the attention of the target customers. Facebook have become a recent favorite among the
business organizations as an advertisement platform because of the various advantages it has to
offer. Business organizations can target large audiences with any geographical constraint as well
as time constraint. Facebook offered effortless and efficient communication and connection of
the users to individuals across the globe freely. However, in spite of the benefits, the vastness of
Facebook is often challenging for the users and the business organizations using it for
advertisement and increasing sales are not spared. Problems or challenges include targeting the
wrong audiences, high cost per conversation and the social media platform is running out of
space to put their advertisements.
Positivism philosophy, descriptive design, deductive approach, survey research strategy has been
used. Additionally, probability sampling technique has been used for selecting 50 participants
whose opinion can be helpful for analyzing the influence of Facebook sponsored advertisements
in customer sales. The primary data collected from 50 participants is analyzed using quantitative
analysis technique using descriptive statistics. According to the suitability, pie charts and bar
graphs are used to interpret the opinion of 50 participants.
From the data analysis and interpretations, it can be summarized that Facebook sponsored ads
has become a recent favorite for the business organizations and are highly used for increasing

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customer sales. From the descriptive analysis, it can be implied that the participants who took
part in the survey had adequate knowledge about the effective use of Facebook in increasing
customer sales. However, arguments are there that presents a different set of opinion about the
effectiveness of Facebook sponsored ads in increasing customer sales. The analysis and the
information provided from the past researches have highlighted instances where the effectiveness
of Facebook sponsored ads are questioned because of challenges such as straightforwardness of
the ads, tracking profile being time consuming and target incorrect target audiences. In spite of
the criticism the role of Facebook sponsored ads in increasing sales can be established and
highlighted in the data analysis, interpretations and past researches.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................9
1.0 Overview................................................................................................................................9
1.1 Problem statement...............................................................................................................10
1.2 Research aim........................................................................................................................10
1.3 Research objectives.............................................................................................................11
1.4 Research questions...............................................................................................................11
1.5 Research rationale................................................................................................................12
1.6 Structure of the dissertation.................................................................................................13
1.7 Summary..............................................................................................................................14
Chapter 2: Literature review......................................................................................................15
2.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................15
2.1 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................................15
2.2 Emergence of social media platforms..................................................................................16
2.3 Different types of social media platforms...........................................................................18
2.4 History of Facebook............................................................................................................21
2.5 Factors affecting increased Facebook use among businesses for advertisements...............23
2.6 Benefits of using Facebook advertising...............................................................................27
2.7 Facebook ads that drive sales..............................................................................................30

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2.8 Concept of Facebook sponsored ads and its role in improving sales..................................33
2.9 Challenges of using Facebook sponsored advertising.........................................................35
2.10 Concept of sales.................................................................................................................38
2.11 Need of increased customer sales for businesses..............................................................39
2.12 Advantages of increased customer sales by advertisements..............................................40
2.13 Research gap......................................................................................................................43
2.14 Summary............................................................................................................................43
Chapter 3: Research methodology.................................................................................................45
3.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................45
3.1 Research outline...................................................................................................................45
3.2 Research onion.....................................................................................................................45
3.3 Philosophies of research......................................................................................................47
3.3.1 Validation for preferring positivism philosophy..........................................................47
3.4 Approaches of research........................................................................................................48
3.4.1 Validation for preferring deductive approach...............................................................48
3.5 Designs of research..............................................................................................................49
3.5.1 Validation for preferring descriptive design.................................................................49
3.6 Strategies of research...........................................................................................................50
3.6.1 Validation for preferring survey research strategy.......................................................50
3.7 Sampling techniques of research.........................................................................................51

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3.7.1 Validation for preferring random probability sampling technique...............................51
3.8 Data collection processes of research..................................................................................52
3.8.1 Validation for preferring primary data collection process............................................52
3.9 Data analysis techniques of research...................................................................................53
3.9.1 Validation for preferring quantitative data analysis technique.....................................53
3.10 Accessibility issues............................................................................................................53
3.11 Ethical considerations........................................................................................................54
3.12 Summary............................................................................................................................54
Chapter 4: Findings and interpretation..........................................................................................56
4.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................56
4.1 Data analysis........................................................................................................................56
4.2 Summary..............................................................................................................................68
Chapter 5: Discussions..................................................................................................................70
Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................75
6.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................75
6.1 Linking with objectives.......................................................................................................76
6.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................79
6.3 Future scope of the study.....................................................................................................81
References......................................................................................................................................82
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................93

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Survey Questionnaire.................................................................................................................93
List of Figures
Figure 1: Conceptual framework...................................................................................................16
Figure 2: Number of social media users globally from 2010 – 2019............................................17
Figure 3: World population on social media.................................................................................18
Figure 4: Monthly users of Facebook............................................................................................23
Figure 5: Facebook’s annual revenue............................................................................................24
Figure 6: Cost per click by Facebook advertisements...................................................................25
Figure 7: Different Ad Objectives in Facebook............................................................................26
Figure 8: Facebook active user profile..........................................................................................28
Figure 9: Facebook advertising increasing revenue......................................................................29
Figure 10: Example Facebook ad..................................................................................................31
Figure 11: Social media customer reach........................................................................................34
Figure 12: Social media content....................................................................................................36
Figure 13: Advertising figures.......................................................................................................41
Figure 14: Post impressions...........................................................................................................42
Figure 15: Research onion.............................................................................................................46
Figure 16: Demographics analysis.................................................................................................57
Figure 17: Considering the use of Facebook sponsored ads in the past decade............................58
Figure 18: Preference of Facebook sponsored ads over other forms of digital ads.......................59
Figure 19: Preference of Facebook sponsored ads over other social media platforms.................60
Figure 20: Primary reason of selecting Facebook for ads.............................................................60

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Figure 21: Benefits of Facebook ads in customer sales maximization..........................................61
Figure 22: Capacity of Facebook sponsored ads in increasing customer sales.............................62
Figure 23: Type of Facebook sponsored ad preferred...................................................................62
Figure 24: Effectiveness of Facebook carousel ads.......................................................................63
Figure 25: Effectiveness of Facebook slideshow ad......................................................................64
Figure 26: Effectiveness of Facebook video ad.............................................................................64
Figure 27: Role of Facebook sponsored ads in increasing sales...................................................65
Figure 28: Challenges in using Facebook sponsored ads..............................................................66
Figure 29: Types of Facebook sponsored ads challenges..............................................................66
Figure 30: Benefits of increased sales for business.......................................................................67

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Overview
Industries and sectors have become highly competitive because of the increase number of
similar business organizations offering more or less relevant products and services. Hence,
expanding business, increasing customer base and being the favorite one among the customers is
difficult and challenging. As commented by Dehghani and Tumer (2015), the fierce and intense
competition among the business organizations have made it necessary for the firms or the
companies to come up with new ideas for being the favorite one for the customers.
Advertisement is one of the methods that business organizations use for gaining the attention of
the target customers. However, traditional forms of advertisement are slowly fading out due to
the lack of flexibility that is needed for today’s organization (Celebi 2015).
The modern age is gripped by the latest technological advancements and is used in daily
life by individual for varied purposes. One such significant technological advancement is the rise
of social media that 2.62 billion users active users globally (Tucker 2014). The different social
media platforms are widely used by the users for different purposes such as communication,
shopping, following communities, supporting causes and raising voices. The business
organizations have used this opportunity in their favor and have started using social media
platforms for advertisements and increasing sales. One of the most prominent social media
platforms that have gained popularity and recognition over the years is Facebook and has an
estimated 2 million users (Lee, Hosanagar and Nair 2018).
Facebook have become a recent favorite among the business organizations as an
advertisement platform because of the various advantages it has to offer. Business organizations

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can target large audiences with any geographical constraint as well as time constraint. Facebook
offered effortless and efficient communication and connection of the users to individuals across
the globe freely. The users were able to share photos, videos and messages and follow
individuals, groups, communities and brands without being physically present at the place of
origin (Ramo et al. 2014).
1.1 Problem statement
The vastness of Facebook is often challenging for the users and the business
organizations using it for advertisement and increasing sales are not spared. While using
Facebook advertisement wrong audiences are targeted that decreases the sales instead of
increasing the sales. Targeting audiences lacks sharpness because each Facebook advertisement
is having more than 50,000 individuals that are way too broad thereby, resulting in high cost per
conversation (Kosinski et al. 2015). Issues such as declining ad revenue, ad metrics and
ineffective customer service is emerging as inevitable challenge for the business organizations
thereby, affecting the maximization of sales negatively. Ad revenue for Facebook is declining
because the social media platform is running out of space to put their advertisements.
Additionally, the ad managers handling Facebook advertisements are failing to offer adequate
help. Lack of direct help line for calling and no representatives for assistance is creating
challenges for Facebook advertisements in increasing customer sales (Gittelman et al. 2015).
1.2 Research aim
The aim of the research is to perform an analysis of the influence of Facebook
advertisements in customer sales. With the use of Facebook across the world, it can be known
that it is one of the most popular social media platforms among the mass. Apart from individual
use, Facebook is highly used and preferred by the business entities due to the various advantages

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the platform has in store to offer to the users. The business entities are using Facebook for
promoting their products and services thereby, maximizing the sales. Advertising using
Facebook allows reaching the ads to every corner of the world and across all age groups.
1.3 Research objectives
The objectives of the research are:
 Creation and performance of online questionnaires in order to evaluate the customers’
positive and negative reaction to the sponsored advertisements in Facebook.
 To determine the effectiveness and success of the Facebook’s sponsored advertisements.
 Statistical study with the questionnaires results to perform a study how the
advertisements influence the costumer sales
 To understand the emergence and use of Facebook
 To critically analyze the factors affecting the use of Facebook among business for
advertisements
 To investigate the benefits of using Facebook sponsored advertisements
 To study the different types of Facebook ads that improves customer sales
 To determine the role of Facebook sponsored ads in increasing customer sales
 To find ways of improving customers sales by using sponsored Facebook ads effectively
1.4 Research questions
The questions of the research are:
 What is the emergence and use of Facebook?
 What are the factors affecting the use of Facebook among business for advertisements?
 What re the benefits of using Facebook sponsored advertisements?

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 What are the different types of Facebook ads that improve customer sales?
 What is the role of Facebook sponsored ads in increasing customer sales?
 What are the ways of improving customers’ sales by using sponsored Facebook ads
effectively?
1.5 Research rationale
Facebook is one of the most widely used social media platform across the globe due to
the various advantages it has to offer for the individual users as well as organizational users.
Undertaking the current research is significant because this will help in studying the origin of
social media platforms followed by knowing the emergence of Facebook since its origin. As a
result, the history of Facebook can be known that will help in knowing the path that Facebook
have travelled in reaching the position they are having today (De Keyzer, Dens and Pelsmacker
2015). While studying the journey of Facebook from where it has begun to where it is today, it
will be easy to analyze the benefits that Facebook offers to the users. As a result, the study will
be able to critically analyze the advantages that Facebook offers that have made the social media
platform highly favorable and preferable among the business organizations for advertising.
Therefore, in this research, it will be easy to be aware of the benefits of using sponsored
Facebook advertisements for the business organizations increasing customer sales.
Additionally, conducting the research is also significant because this will provide
opportunity to know the different types of Facebook sponsored ads that can be used for
increasing the customer sales thereby, gaining competitive advantage and sustaining the fierce
and tough business competition. As a result, the crucial roles of Facebook sponsored
advertisements can be investigated in this research. Moreover, the research will also shed light
on the strategies those can be used or implemented by the business organizations in using

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Facebook sponsored ads more effectively and increasing customer sales significantly (Dwivedi,
Kapoor and Chen 2015).
1.6 Structure of the dissertation
Five chapters that form the entire structure of the dissertation are introduction, literature
review, research methodology, data analysis and interpretation and conclusion and
recommendations. Each of the chapters is developed in chronological manner so that the actual
message is communicated and the ultimate purpose of the research is fulfilled. The introduction
chapter is developed with the agenda of introducing the topic to the readers by providing
adequate and relevant background information that helps in identifying the ultimate problem that
is to be investigated. Based on the overview provided, the aim, objectives and questions of the
research is also developed in this chapter thereby, justifying the purpose of undertaking the
research and laying the overall foundation of the work. This chapter is followed by the literature
review chapter that deals with reviewing past pieces of literatures relevant to the topic. This
allows critical evaluation as the opinions and views of different authors are compared and
contrasted thereby; developing a quality and data enriched section. This section contains some of
the significant information that helps in developing better in-sight and understanding about the
topic for the readers.
This chapter is followed by the research methodology chapter that mentions and defines
the different methodological tools those are in existence and are used according to their
suitability with the research topic. Apart from being defined and mentioned, the selection of each
tool is justified for the current research topic thereby, improving the credibility of the research.
This chapter is followed by the data analysis and interpretation chapter where required and
relevant data is collected and analyzed by using appropriate methods. The analyzed data is

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interpreted and explained with required evidence mentioned in the previous chapter. Data
interpretation is necessary because this helps in supporting and arguing the findings with
appropriate studies conducted in the past. Lastly, the conclusion and the recommendation chapter
are developed that consists of the overall conclusion that is drawn from the above chapters
followed by suggesting ways of combating with the issues for positive impacts.
1.7 Summary
Thus, in this chapter, it can be summarized that highly specific and relevant information
is provided in the background information and the overview of the chapter that have helped in
identifying the major problem of using Facebook sponsored advertisements in increasing sales.
This helped in formulating appropriate research aim and objectives that needs to be investigated
throughout the research. As a result, the purpose of the research is justified successfully and
moving on to the next chapter.

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Facebook Customer sales increment
Effective advertising
Simple set up process
Communicating idea to the audience more effectively
Highly customizable ads
New features added each month
Chapter 2: Literature review
2.0 Overview
The literature review of this research is developed with the purpose of develop
meaningful and better in-sight about the variables of the research topic. As the chapter name
indicates, this chapter focuses on the reviewing and gathering information from studies those
have been conducted in the past. As a result, the information presented in this sector is critically
analyzed as the opinions and perspectives of different authors are supported and argued. The
information used for developing this section helps in understanding whether Facebook sponsored
advertisements influence customer sales or not thereby, determining the effectiveness between
paid and non-paid advertisements.
2.1 Conceptual framework

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Figure 1: Conceptual framework
(Source: Created by the Author)
2.2 Emergence of social media platforms
The roots and origin of social media is deeper than it seems and is defined as the mode of
online communication irrespective of the locations and time. Social media generally depends on
user-generated content and can be used for different purposes such as communication,
connection and business. As commented by Wilken (2014), the internet has its root in the 1960’s
and 1970’s when various private organizations were finding ways of using computer for
communication. Rapid changes of technology were encountered in the 20th century and by
1980’s computer became highly popular along with social media websites becoming more
sophisticated.
The emergence of internet and social media has had significant impact on both theory and
practice of advertising, marketing disciplines and public relations. As mentioned by Ruths and
Pfeffer (2014), advertising using the social media platform have outpaced all other forms of
traditional media. However, as argued by Bucher and Helmond (2017), business organizations
still use traditional forms of advertising for audiences those do not have access to internet
facilities and social media platforms. The first ever recognized social media site was Six Degrees
that was established in 1997. This first social media site was used for making friends by
uploading images and pictures. Additionally, in 1994, the first blogging site became popular that
created a social media frenzy and is creating sensation till date. It is recognized that the first blog
was created by Justin Hall while he was a college student in 1994 y using Links.net. Back then, it
was known as personal homepage and not blogs. It was in 1997, it was termed as weblog. Since,
then blogs have become an integral part of online culture.

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The next social media platform after Six Degrees was Friendster that was developed with
the aim of competing with Six Degrees. Friendster also allowed the users to make friends and
save them in their contacts along with facilities of photos and videos sharing. Additionally, in
this social media website, the users could also leave comments on other people’s profile
provided both the users were on each other’s personal network. In couple of months, Friendster
had over 3 million users and it continued to grow to over a hundred million (Batrinca and
Treleaven 2015). The beginning of the social media revolution began in 2009.
Figure 2: Number of social media users globally from 2010 – 2019
(Source: DeNardis and Hackl 2015)
From the above graph, it can be said that since 2010, the number of social media users
have increased and the platform have 2.62 billion users. The actives users of social media users

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include both individuals and business organizations for business purposes such as maximizing
customer sales, increasing profit and higher revenue generation. The above graph highlights the
global social media users from the period 2010-2019 and is not country specific (DeNardis and
Hackl 2015).
Figure 3: World population on social media
(Source: Trottier 2016)
This figure also indicates that globally, an estimated 2.1 billion people have social media
accounts out of which 1.7 billion accounts have active users. From the figures of active users in
social media platform, it can be said inferred that social media have come a long way and is
currently the most used for both personal, professional and business uses (Trottier 2016).
2.3 Different types of social media platforms
Social media is the most preferred advertising platform for the business organizations due
to the various benefits it has to offer. Appropriate and effective use of social media by the
business organizations increases sales and fan base, allows using customer generated content for

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ads and improved new net target followed by efficient return of customers (Duggan et al. 2014).
The different types of social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter and
YouTube.
Facebook
Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world and is used widely in every
aspects of life. According to Verduyn et al. (2015), Facebook is used as the online platform for
communication and connection with users across the world without any geographical barrier.
Facebook is the perhaps the first social media website that have passed the mark of a billion
users. Apart from networking with friends and relatives, this platform is also used for promoting
businesses and brands by using sponsored Facebook ads. However, as argued by Steers,
Wickham and Acitelli (2014), recently, Facebook have lost trust of millions of users after
enabling 3rd parties for accessing over 87 million users’ personal data. As a result, a massive
unrest amongst the audiences has been created that have given rise to the campaign
#deletefacebook.
Nike is a company that is known for speaking values and demonstrated examples of
having a true understanding how to use social media for advertisement. With the campaign
#Breaking2, Nike excelled the originality in a product launch. The launch of Zoom Superfly
Elite Shoes was streamed live in Facebook where Eliud Kipchoge ran a two hour long marathon
that created huge frenzy, tension and excitement among the fans and customers.
Instagram
The social networking platform, Instagram, was launched with the sole aim of sharing
photos and videos among the users. Thus, Instagram provides opportunity to capture the best

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moments of life and share it with others thereby, creating a work of art (Munoz and Towner
2017). This is because Instagram allows the users to use multiple filters before sharing the photos
and videos. Instagram have an estimated 400 million active users approximately. Recently,
Instagram have also become a favorite platform for reaching out target customers along with
using it for personal sharing of photos and videos. Instagram now provide option of creating
business profile for the brands that thereby, promoting better business opportunities. Instagram’s
story telling feature, hash tagging feature and instant gratification has made the platform recent
favorite for the brands (Salleh, Hashima and Murphy 2015). Misguided is a brand that advertises
using Instagram and the brand has over 3.4 million followers and the true value of this social
media platform can be identified when Misguided collaborated with Love Island in 2018 and the
sales increased by 40%.
WhatsApp
WhatsApp is another highly recognized and popular social media platform that is
primarily used for messaging. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook but on the contrary exists as an
independent entity. WhatsApp was established much later than Facebook but the platform
provided the opportunity to capture the imagination of millions by allowing them to
communicate and share messages, photos and videos immediately with both individual as well as
groups irrespective of the location of the user (Priyono 2016). WhatsApp have nearly 1 billion
users that use the platform for sharing messages, photos, videos, contacts, documents and calls.
Recently, WhatsApp have added calling and video calling feature that have made the platform
even more popular and in-demand. Additionally, group voice and video facility has also been
added by WhatsApp that is a huge jump for the social platform from it begun (Bianchi and
Andrews 2015).

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Twitter
Twitter is another social media platform that is highly used by users for posting short
messages called tweets. According to Huang et al. (2014), unlike Facebook, Instagram and
WhatsApp, Twitter is hardly used by brands and business organizations for increasing customer
sales and brand recognition. However, as argued by Leung, Bai and Stahura (2015), considering
the increasing craze of shopping using the online platform, Twitter is recently used for business
promotion and even shopping directly from the tweets. The limit of each tweet is 280 characters
for conveying the message one intends to do. Twitter have an estimated 320 million users
approximately those use the platform for tweeting, following tweets of others and shopping.
Domino’s has certainly made a way out by improving the mobile experience continuously.
Domino’s have included tweet-to-order and “DOM the Pizza Bot” enabling the customers to
place their order with just couple of clicks in their favorite chat app.
YouTube
YouTube is the world’s largest video-sharing social networking online platform that
allows the users to upload as well as share videos. Additionally, YouTube also offers viewing the
videos, leave comment on them and like or dislike them. YouTube is accessible across the globe
and also offers provision for the users to create their own YouTube channel where personal
videos and online contents can be uploaded and shared (Wu 2016).
2.4 History of Facebook
Facebook was initially as FaceMash in July 2003 but was later changed to the current
name in February in 2004. The social networking platform was founded by Mark Zuckerberg
with his roommates during his college days. Initially, the membership of Facebook was available

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only for the founders but later was accessible for the Harvard students. By 2013, Facebook had
several users across United States and Canada with age above 13 years and valid email address.
Since then there has been no looking back for the founder and within a year the social
networking platform had 1 million users and have reached 2 million in 2018 (Bakshy, Messing
and Adamic 2015).
Facebook offered effortless and efficient communication and connection of the users to
individuals across the globe freely. The users were able to share photos, videos and messages
and follow individuals, groups, communities and brands without being physically present at the
place of origin. As a result, Facebook is highly preferred and have such huge active users in so
less time (Tromholt 2016). However, on the contrary, the popularity of Facebook attracted
several controversies due to which the platform lost millions of users in short period of time.
Recently, the social networking platform has attracted criticism and controversy over privacy
and data breaches. This is because the company gave third party access to confidential and
personal information of the users that ignited the controversy (Martin et al. 2014).
In spite of the controversies, Facebook is still used by billions of users across the users
for various purposes. Additionally, Facebook has become the hot, favorite of the brands and the
business organizations because using this platform advertising allow the brands to reach wide
target audiences that offer competitive advantage. As a result, for digital marketing, sponsored
advertisements are used by brands and business organizations for increasing customer sales
effectively (Kuyumdzhiev 2014).

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2.5 Factors affecting increased Facebook use among businesses for advertisements
Advertising using social media platform is practiced and preferred because this facilitates
sales growth by increasing the number of customers. Additionally, reaching target audiences
across the globe is also possible because social advertising has no limit to the ability of the
business organizations.
Figure 4: Monthly users of Facebook
(Source: Bright, Kleiser and Grau 2015)
From the above image, it can be said that Facebook is the universal social media network
with an estimated 2 billion monthly users that indicates the presence of over a quarter population
of the world. As a result, social advertisement provides unparalleled and unmatched
opportunities to reach customers virtually regardless of the location (Bright, Kleiser and Grau
2015).
As mentioned by Dyson et al. (2015), with an estimated 2 billion active users monthly
and 1.5 billion daily users, Facebook has become an inseparable part of people’s lives. The social

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networking site is considered as one of the top most advertising channels and 51% of the overall
advertisement mounts up to the digital marketing used by the business organizations.
Figure 5: Facebook’s annual revenue
(Source: Reilly and Hynan 2014)
From the above graph, it can be inferred that a steady increase of the advertising revenue
each year since 2009 has been noticed until 2018. As advertising using Facebook is highly
effective, it is one of the factors that have increased the demand of the platform for
advertisement. Several customers have said that they have discovered products through
Facebook use (Reilly and Hynan 2014).
However, as argued by Barbu (2014), apart from being highly effective, Facebook is used
for advertisement because of the simple set-up process and fast outcomes. Though setting up the
advertisement might require little time, it yields impeccable and undeniable results. Great return

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on investment (ROI) is produced when digital media is used rightfully and appropriately. As a
result, Facebook advertisement can be used for both large and small business organizations.
Figure 6: Cost per click by Facebook advertisements
(Source: Amon et al. 2014)
The graph presented above explains the cost per click variations of the complete year on
different placements. For instance, the desktop newsfeed had a CPC of $0.50 where for
Instagram it was $1.15 in quarter 4 of 2017. In Facebook, traffic can be generated for a particular
advertisement by starting $.10 cents per click. Therefore, little budget is adequate to get started
advertisement on Facebook for the brands compared to the sponsored ads on other social media
platforms such as Google and Instagram (Amon et al. 2014).

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As opined by Katz (2016), advertisement using Facebook is highly preferred because it is
much easier for reaching the target audiences. Reports indicate that more than half of the active
users have said that the advertisements in Facebook have influenced them for shopping.
Additionally, specific targeting options are available on Facebook for the advertisers thereby,
making it a perfect channel for reaching the suitable and appropriate target audiences. Therefore,
it can be said that advertisements on Facebook are highly customizable that makes it highly
facilitated. Perfect ad experience can be created using Facebook ad options thereby, creating
advertisements for specific target audiences. However, as argued by Freeman et al. (2015),
understanding the most appropriate ads format in Facebook for each target audience and then
developing one is both time and effort consuming that gives rise to challenges.
Figure 7: Different Ad Objectives in Facebook
(Source: Slotwiner et al. 2015)
The concept of the above image highlights how ads can be customized and personalized
if different goals and objectives need to be set. The image presented above helps in inferring that
11 different ad objectives are present based on which different goals can be selected thereby,

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developing compelling and engaging advertisement for attracting customers and increasing sales.
Additionally, advertising using Facebook is used because ad design, landing pages, copy and
individual virtual element including the technical features such as delivery optimization, bidding
and target audience can be customized thereby, making Facebook the most customizable
advertising platform. As a result, highly specific ad experiences can be created that attracts
customers effectively thereby, increasing customer sales significantly. Moreover, Facebook adds
new features each month that is another major factor the platform is increasingly preferred for
advertisement for businesses (Slotwiner et al. 2015).
2.6 Benefits of using Facebook advertising
Facebook have become the latest need and requirement for ensuring effective digital
marketing by business organizations by increasing customer sales. From the information
provided in the above sections, it can be inferred that sponsored advertisements are not too
expensive for the users and have several benefits to offer thereby, being used frequently. As
mentioned by Dwivedi, Kapoor and Chen (2015), as the customers spend most of their time on
Facebook, using the platform for advertisement is highly beneficial.

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Figure 8: Facebook active user profile
(Source: Dehghani and Tumer 2015)
Facebook has an estimated 1.5 billion active users using the platform for several hours
each day. Additionally, approximately 80% of the internet users use Facebook and check their
Facebook pages multiple times a day. Therefore, the major benefit of using Facebook
advertisement is that the customers use it on a daily basis and increases the chances of the brands
to gain customer attention and increase sales subsequently. However, as argued by Kosinski et
al. (2015), turning followers into customers by using Facebook advertisements is challenging at
times.
Another significant reason for using Facebook advertisement is that the platform
possesses the ability of targeting the exact audience group. According to Goldfarb (2014),
Facebook is the most targeted form of advertising because in this platform ads can be developed
to the people by interest, location, age and behavior. However, as argued by Liu and Mattila

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(2017), the major challenge that arises in this case is at knowing the customers well enough.
Lack of knowledge about the target customers can land Facebook advertisement in trouble and
affecting customer sales negatively.
As opined by Ming and Yazdanifard (2014), using Facebook advertisement is highly
preferred because it is said to be the cheapest for of advertising. For instance, one can spend $5
and reach an estimated 1000 people thereby, making it the cheapest of all form of advertising.
Therefore, spending more in traditional advertising does not make any sense when the entire
population around the globe is just a click away. However, on the contrary, Facebook
advertisement maximizes sales, leads and revenue (Marshall, Krance and Meloche 2017).
Facebook advertising is not a myth and actually plays role in driving leads, revenue and sales.
The image below highlights that a business has spent an estimated $400 in Facebook
advertisement and yet generated more than $1200 sales.
Figure 9: Facebook advertising increasing revenue
(Source: Marshall, Krance and Meloche 2017)
On the other hand, Facebook advertising increases the traffic of the website. The business
organizations can run a website click campaign for the target audiences followed by sending it to

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their website. As a result, the traffic of the website can be increased manifolds through multiple
sources. Additionally, the cost efficient nature and precision of the Facebook ads makes it even
more advantageous compared to other sources thereby, increasing awareness of the brand and
increasing customer sales significantly. Facebook advertisement is a great way of letting the
customers know what the business organization or the brand has to offer and making them
familiar followed by influencing their purchasing decision (Coursaris, Van Osch and Balogh
2016). However, on the contrary, Facebook advertisement increases positive word-of-moth and
referrals thereby, capitalizing the business successfully. Additionally, Facebook advertising
offers breaking new markets when a new product or service is launched because the exposure is
increased (Kim and Johnson 2016).
2.7 Facebook ads that drive sales
Facebook ads are very important in regards to their potential in reaching the social media
audiences. The SNS being the most used social networking site in the world creates a huge scope
for effective marketing and promotions. There are various Facebook advertising types that have
been more effective till now in improving sales through reaching more people in efficient ways.
There have been some important ad types that have improved the prospects of businesses that
use the social media site. According to Dehghani and Tumer (2015) there has been some
important transformation of businesses through the utilization of Facebook. Some of the most
important Facebook advertising types that have improved sales for various businesses are 1.
Facebook carousel Ad, 2. Facebook slideshow Ad and 3. Facebook video Ad.

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Figure 10: Example Facebook ad
(Source- Van den Broeck, Poels and Walrave 2019)
Firstly, the carousel advertising type in Facebook has been effective in improving sales
for the company. The carousel ad consists of multiple images of the given product that is being
marketed. The specifications of the product are given along with any available discounts that are
being provided. The customers have the ability to move from one image to the other by clicking
on a ‘next’ symbol. There is a button provided for selection when the customer is interested in
purchase. It can be argued that the customers can get all information they need about their
product by checking all the related images. The systematic form of presentation makes it
effective to search for further information. However, at the same time users have to provide a

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certain amount of time to check all the images at time. This can be a significant setback if there a
large number of images in a given ad.
Secondly, the Facebook slideshow advertising is an important ad type that can contribute
towards improving sales. It is however, underutilized presently as a strong advertising medium.
The ad consists of some important parts. The first is the testimonial, the second is the landing
page and the third part is the call to action and the headline. The slideshow advertising can create
a better engagement platform for the users and the advertisers. The stories can be well presented.
However, at the same time it is argued that more complex slideshows can undermine the actual
meaning of the advertisements. One company that has effectively utilized this type of ads is
Jasper’s Market. It is an organic vegetables market that promotes its products through Facebook.
The various organic vegetables are shown through Facebook slideshow and have improved the
sales and market exposure of the company simultaneously.
Thirdly, the video ad has been very important in promoting the sales of various items in
Facebook. The video advertising can effectively grab the attention of the target audiences. There
are two types that can be most effectively used. There is the single video type advertisement that
focuses on the main video. There is also the product explainer video that can keep the customer
attached to the ad if done effectively. According to Duffett (2015) a large part of brand
promotion and marketing depends on the development of product understanding among the
customers. Exactly this aspect is focused in case of the explainer videos. However, it is argued
that explainer videos can make things complicated for the viewers at times. It becomes important
in that sense that the videos be made more engaging and user friendly.

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2.8 Concept of Facebook sponsored ads and its role in improving sales
The concept of the sponsored advertisements has been developing in the recent years. It
has been effective in determining the value of the online marketing campaigns for many of the
products. The sponsored advertisements of Facebook are actually posts by any given business or
organization that can appear on the newsfeed of any user despite the user having not liked their
page. This creates a powerful environment for the promotion of products and services of various
businesses.
According to Celebi (2015) small business owners can create content that is sponsored by
Facebook and greatly increase the visibility of their businesses. This can create better sales for
them as more exposure has always been linked with better sales in business environments.
However, According to Garcia et al. (2018) it is argued that sponsored posts are different from
advertising in Facebook and based on various situations this can at times lessen the effectiveness
of the promotion. The concept of Facebook sponsored posts are posts that are ‘boosted’ in
accordance of the paid promotions that are done by any company. The content of these boosted
posts appear to be organic content that are present in the given company’s Facebook timeline.
However, the visibility of these posts gets boosted in accordance of the target customer segments
of the product or service. Thus, it can be said that a large number of people can view the content
that is provided. These people might or might not have ‘liked’ or ‘followed’ the given company’s
page.

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Figure 11: Social media customer reach
(Source- Michaelidou and Moraes 2016)
Boerman, Willemsen and Van Der Aa (2017) has opined that the organic content reach of
companies in Facebook is continuing to decline. In this case it becomes much important the
companies engage in paid boost of their posts. The prospects of the companies or organizations
and even individual sellers have improved due to the sponsored ads. According to Ramadan,
Abosag and Zabkar (2018) however it is important that the message that is being sent is kept
brief and effective. The most important feature of the sponsored ads is the seamless experiences
of the customers. The ads appear smoothly for the user without disrupting much the experience
of Facebook news feed. The user is able to get the promoted content in between the normal posts
that he/she is viewing. According to Boerman, Willemsen and Van Der Aa (2017) the roles that
sponsored posts can play are important in the context of the promotional value of business
products. This is mainly due to the different ways in which the customers can be reached and
their exact product desires can be addressed.
If the goal is to increase the customer engagement, sponsored posts can be effectively
used to enhance interactivity. The feature of sponsored posts was recently updated through which

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the users can be encouraged to visit the site of the promoter. This creates far more scope than
simply engaging with the users. The sponsored posts can be used to only promote pages that
exist already. According to DeVito (2017) sponsored posts are meant for creating engagements
with the customers that go beyond normal promotions. The engagement is more on a
personalized level as the customers that share the same interests that are being displayed through
the sponsored content can be interacted with effectively. The format for the sponsored posts are
however only single. There is the additional benefit of displaying the sponsored post in both
desktop and mobile news feed (Westerman and Bonnet 2015).
The empirical studies that have come out in recent years have focused on the constant
improvement of promotional factors that have come up as a result of the sponsored ads.
According to Hughes, Swaminathan and Brooks (2019) the referral traffic that is driven by
Facebook is around 25% of the entire referral traffic that is done through the entire social media.
More traffic is referred by Facebook than all the other social media platforms combined. Hence,
this definitely points towards the fact that the users in Facebook are far more likely to interact
with advertisements than people using other SNS. There are around 65 million Facebook
businesses and around 4 million run ads on the platform (Varga, Kemény and Markos-Kujbus
2016). However, the recent decline in ad exposure has made it much necessary that sites like
Facebook are used to sponsor ads. This provides a more cost effective value to the advertiser.
The budget constraints can easily be addressed especially for smaller businesses that seek
effective exposure.
2.9 Challenges of using Facebook sponsored advertising
There are many significant challenges that can arise while advertising products on a
platform like Facebook. Firstly, it should be kept in mind that whatever is being promoted has

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the potential to reach a large number of people. With more exposure value arises the question of
what exactly the people are being exposed to. There are certain queries among the advertisers
about the effectiveness of Facebook as a platform to improve the sale of products. According to
Dwivedi, Kapoor and Chen (2015) the social networking site generated revenues of 27 billion in
revenue from advertising in 2016 whereas the same statistics in 2009 was 764 million dollars.
Hence in less than a decade there was a 3400% increase in revenue. Hence, in this case the
potential for Facebook for increasing sales of products and services cannot be questioned. The
problems that arise however are in regards to the various advertising challenges that can be
present in Facebook.
Figure 12: Social media content
(Source- Lee, Hosanagar and Nair 2018)

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There are various challenges that can arise in the case of the sponsored ads of Facebook.
These challenges can greatly limit the prospects of promoted goods and services at various times.
One of the most important challenges is reaching the right kind of customers. Sales can only be
improved for any product if the right kinds of people are reached. According to Varga, Kemény
and Markos-Kujbus (2016) advertising in Facebook can look to be quite straightforward but has
various aspects that need to be considered significantly to create optimally efficient ads. The risk
in reaching the wrong audience can be great as the kind of customers that are wanted by the
company can never be reached. This can result in the completely ineffective advertising
campaign resulting in failure of the organization to make significant amount of sales revenue.
According to Kim and Yang (2017) if a given company wants to reach 20 something young
males through their promoted content, they would require to track the Facebook profiles of 20
something males. It has been argued that many of the businesses fail to target the right kind of
customers leading to the ineffective promotion of their products on Facebook. Some of the
businesses fail to set effective parameters for considering the exact types of audiences that they
want to reach.
According to Agnihotri et al. (2016) the results from the Facebook ads of these
companies do not bring forward any specific appeal to the exact people that form the target
markets. This results in them reaching the wrong people altogether. Another significant
challenge arises in the form of omission of the website links. The audiences that are reached
through Facebook need to track the website of the companies that are promoting the products or
services. According to Hofacker and Belanche (2016) omitting the website links pose serious
challenges for the advertisers as it creates significant barriers to easy interactions of the
customers with the organizations. It can be argued that many of the interested customers can

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definitely Google the companies that they are interested in. However, a simple link provided can
provide much better exposure to the company as well as improve their website traffic that can
subsequently boost sales. Many people that might otherwise be interested in the products of the
company might actually lose interest due to this simple mistake by organizations.
According to Zhu and Chen (2015) one of the major challenges that have affected the
prospect of promoted Facebook content in the recent years is the lack of A/B testing of the
advertising content. AB testing refers to the release of an ad among a small number of customer
and gathering of the data in regards to which of the ads have been more effective to gain public
attention. AB testing helps to understand the type of promotion that most people would like and
the actual advertisement is made on the basis of the response received. The testing function is
important before promoting the product as it helps to enhance the knowledge of the advertisers.
Testing helps the advertisers to understand which content, design, messages or pictures have the
capacity to attract more people than others. The functional implications of the ads can be better
understood through the testing of the ads. However, this becomes a challenge as the resources to
run the testing might not be available with the smaller firms. Moreover, the firms may outright
omit the testing aspects before releasing their Facebook ad content. Another significant challenge
is not creating attractive imagery. This can result in the promotion of unattractive advertisements
that can ultimately be unable to generate any form of fanfare or popularity for the commodity.
2.10 Concept of sales
Sales are the most important function of any business organization. Sales refers to the
actual selling of the goods and services that are provided by a given company. Without sales
there cannot be any revenue that is generated for the organization. Hence, sales becomes the very
crux of organizational survival and development. It is a concept that focuses mainly on the sale

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of goods and services. According to Agnihotri et al. (2016) the sales of goods and services can
improve the business prospects of any given organization. It can improve the present business
situation and the future business prospects for a given business. Sales volume can help in the
achievement of profitability. However, sales functions become more complicated in competitive
environments. In some views sales is considered to be a requirement that is above the
consideration of actual requirement of the product being sold for the customer. Online sales run
on the same basic consideration of profitability that governs the offline sales.
2.11 Need of increased customer sales for businesses
Businesses need more sales to survive in the market and grow further in the future.
Online sales functions have increased in potential over the recent years. Increased sales are
required to boost productivity of the organizations. According to Agnihotri et al. (2016) the need
for more sales is made more important in light of the tremendous competition that ensues in the
present day markets. This causes sales to become more important for the enterprises that are
currently operating in the various markets across the globe. Currently businesses tend to be more
online than they ever were in the future. This creates an opportunity to reach effectively the
rapidly increasing online audiences. The opportunity need to be converted towards actual
positive revenue growth for the companies.
In essence, the sellers need to grow their online businesses. In order for the same
increased customer sales becomes very important. This makes important the prospects for selling
more products to the customers. In the rapidly changing environments, businesses should make
sure that they make the best out of opportunities for improving sales. The trends keep on
changing, the needs and wants of consumers are changing faster than ever. According to Hassan,
Nadzim and Shiratuddin (2015) increasing sales is the most important way through which

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companies can survive in the present or the future market environments. Sales can govern the
profitability prospects of newer businesses. Increased customer sales can also be one of the best
possible measurements of customer reach or improving goodwill for any organization.
However, according to Hofacker and Belanche (2016) sales cannot be considered to be
the sole parameter for the development of organizations. It is argued that quality of products and
services sometimes become more important than sales volume. The long term survival and
growth of organizations can be achieved effectively only through the better provision of quality
and service to the customer base. Sales nonetheless always remain relevant for any business.
According to Nisar and Whitehead (2016) sales functionalities of the various businesses
operating online has become important as they are reaching a global customer base. The
increased customer exposure concerning all the large enterprises with significant online presence
makes it more important that effective steps are taken to optimally utilize the larger customer
base that they can create through online platforms like Facebook. According to Youssef,
Viassone and Kitchen (2018) organizations need to take care of the large online audiences that
they can reach through the social networking sites. This can be done mainly through increasing
their sales by optimally utilizing the audiences of Facebook.
2.12 Advantages of increased customer sales by advertisements
There are various advantages that utilization of Facebook can provide to the companies in
terms of customer sales. Facebook is the most used social networking site in the world. The
advertising revenue of the social networking site (SNS) has increased greatly over the last few
years. However, according to Du et al. (2015) the sponsored advertising has become much more
important and effective in terms of both audience reach and increasing customer sales. One of

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the principal reasons for this is the constant reduction of the organic reach of Facebook
advertisements.
Figure 13: Advertising figures
(Source- Westerman and Bonnet 2015)
Facebook becomes a very important platform to improve sale figures as the advertisers in
this site have been found to outperform businesses that do not use the site. It has been found that
Facebook oriented business have 77% more fans in their pages. This is mostly due to the more
effective utilization of the sponsored advertising facilities. According to Kaur and Okoro (2018)
there are 96% more clicks that the Facebook promoted pages get. This is not the only fact about
the businesses that utilize Facebook promotions as they get 126% more impressions of their
pages, 225% more page impressions and reach 90% more fans (Ramanathan, Subramanian and
Parrott 2017). All of these factors combines actually lead to increased sales for the various
businesses with SNS presence.

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As mentioned previous active ad campaign users found that an increase of 77% in fan
following was gained in comparison of the companies without ad campaigns in the SNS. This
has contributed greatly towards the increase in sales revenue of the products that are sold by
these organizations. Running ads have increased clicks on Facebook pages by 96%. There were
found to be 170 users without having campaign ads. In comparison with the same it was found
that 332 businesses had witnessed active clicks for their advertisements (Youssef, Viassone and
Kitchen 2018). Page clicks are referred to as the number of times the users clicked any content
that is outside of the specifically promoted content measured through the metrics. For example it
can be said that when people click on the name of any person on the counter it can be taken as a
page click. This normally leads to the sale of more items as most of the people click on links that
are related to buying the products.
Figure 14: Post impressions
(Source- Westerman and Bonnet 2015)

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The aspect of running ads also points towards the advantages of sponsored ads in the
context of generating greater revenue. Page impressions are the actual number of times a user
comes across a given promoted post. Hence, seeing the same post in two different places is
regarded as two. Users that have active advertising campaigns have shown to get a 225%
increase in the number of page impressions (Lee, Lee and Oh 2015). This means that the more
people are exposed to a given promoted content, the likelier the people become to buy the
product displayed. This contributes greatly towards the increase in sales. The other factors that
were seen to increase also provide the same amount of advantages to the advertisers that
ultimately lead to the increase in sales revenue.
2.13 Research gap
Facebook has been one of the widely researched topics since it gained recognition.
Additionally, Facebook and its use by the business organizations have also been topics of
research in the past. However, Facebook and the role of sponsored ads it offers for the business
organizations have not been an area of research in the past thereby, leading to a research gap.
Hence, this gap has been identified in the research that is investigated in this dissertation.
2.14 Summary
Thus, in this section it can be summarized that Facebook have become one of the most
preferred and used advertising platform for the business organizations. Due to several advantages
it offers to the active users, the business organizations are using this platform increasingly.
Facebook provides greater exposure and better reach to the users that are beneficial for the
business organizations. Taking into account the competition that exist across different business
and industry sectors, Facebook advertisement offers greater scope of reaching out the target
audience and making them visible. However, Facebook allows the options of sponsored ads that

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are even more advantageous for increasing the customer sales. From the theoretical information
gathered across different secondary sources, it can be said that Facebook sponsored ads are
indeed more effective in increasing customer sales.

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Chapter 3: Research methodology
3.0 Overview
The chapter research methodology is developed with the intention of focusing and
discussing about the existing methodological tools those can be used for commencing with any
research. This chapter plays a crucial role in the development of a successful dissertation because
the section helps in selecting and defining each tool separately. This chapter also validates the
selection of specific tools those are used in achieving the aim of the current research. For the
current research, an analysis of the influence of Facebook advertisements in customer sales,
appropriate methods are selected followed by validating their selection suitably. Additionally,
this chapter also discusses the significant ethics and accessibility issues encountered while
working on the research.
3.1 Research outline
For performing an analysis of the influence of Facebook advertisements in customer
sales, positivism philosophy, descriptive design, deductive approach, survey research strategy
has been used. Additionally, probability sampling technique has been used for selecting 50
participants whose opinion can be helpful for analyzing the influence of Facebook sponsored
advertisements in customer sales. The primary data collected from 50 participants is analyzed
using quantitative analysis technique using descriptive statistics. According to the suitability, pie
charts and bar graphs are used to interpret the opinion of 50 participants.
3.2 Research onion
The research onion is an integral part for developing the research methodology chapter,
as it allows the readers to view the different levels of a research in a single diagram.

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Figure 15: Research onion
(Source: Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill 2013)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2003) highlighted the idea of research onion that
represents the major features that needs consideration while working with this chapter. The
research onion comprises of several layers with the outer layer being the philosophical and the
inner layer being practical. The philosophy includes believe and the validation of believe
whereas the inner layer highlights the effectiveness of the method for deriving results those are
economic from the readily available sources. However, the intermediate layer provides ideas and
hints about the research approaches, philosophies, strategies, sampling technique, data collection
process, time and place that allows linking the practical research activities towards the resulting
beliefs suitably.

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3.3 Philosophies of research
Selecting a philosophical stance according to the research onion indicates making a
commitment for the research purposes. Selecting the appropriate research philosophy allows
nature of reality and the ability for discussing things in certain terms. Three philosophies used
are interpretivism, positivism and pragmatism. As mentioned by Kumar (2019), a positivist
philosophy considers the reality that is being dealt with exists independently and is influenced by
any human interpretations and perceptions while collecting and analyzing relevant data.
However, on the contrary, the interprevist philosophy supports only talking about
research things those have been learned due to the influence of human understandings and
senses. Difference in opinion arises due to the existence of individuality and ability to observe
tings that restricts achieving complete objectivity (Mackey and Gass 2015). Pragmatist
philosophy believes that the truth needs to be found out and appropriate evidence can be derived
from both positivist and interpretivist view.
3.3.1 Validation for preferring positivism philosophy
Positivist philosophy has been the most validated for analyzing the influence of Facebook
sponsored advertisements in customer sales. The application of positivist philosophy needed
because this allowed considering the reality that Facebook has become the most widely used
social media platform and it can exist independently without being influenced by individual
perceptions and interpretations. Hence, suitable conclusion can be drawn while gathering and
analyzing the data about the role and impact sponsored advertisements of Facebook has in
increasing the customer sales. The statistics and numbers support the use of Facebook
advertisements in increasing customer sales and are not influenced and subjected to varied

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opinions of different individuals, as the facts and figures are evident (Johnson and Duberley
2000).
3.4 Approaches of research
The next layer deals with the approaches for working on researches. Inductive and
deductive are the two approaches those are used while working on researches. According to
Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault (2015), the implementation of this approach can be initiated with
models, theories and ideas followed by predicting deductively from them that specific things can
happen. Additionally, deductive approach also facilitates deducing laws and rules those are good
for the research. Hence, general information is transformed to specific information. However, on
the contrary, inductive approach facilitates going out and collecting relevant information in
relation to a specific subject or topic of interest followed by seeking to evaluate the data. This
approach is open to errors because previous information cannot be referred to. However, at some
case, multiple approaches are also used that combines the characteristics of deduction, induction
and abduction approach (Flick 2015).
3.4.1 Validation for preferring deductive approach
Deductive approach has been the most validated for analyzing the influence of Facebook
sponsored advertisements in customer sales. The application of deductive approach is needed
because this allowed initiating collection of data with information, statistics and facts and figures
about the extensive use Facebook over the years. The tested facts can thus be used for making
predictions about the reason of increased use of Facebook sponsored advertisements in
increasing customer sales. The increased use of Facebook sponsored advertisements can be
supported and justified with the existing pieces of information those can be further used for
validating the results obtained from the data analysis. Thus, general information about Facebook

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sponsored advertisements can be transformed in specific information about its role in increasing
customer sales (Bresler and Stake 2017).
3.5 Designs of research
This layer is followed by the research approach layer that describes the design that is
followed by achieving the overall purpose of the research. Descriptive, explanatory and
exploratory designs are used for conducting a research. As mentioned by Alvesson and
Skoldberg (2017), identifying the issue is the principle characteristics of exploratory research
design whose implementation helps in addressing the problem of the current research. However,
on the contrary, studying the cause and effect relationship of the two variables is facilitated by
the use of explanatory research design. As a result, the reasons those instigated the rise of the
issue can be identified thereby, studying the effect. Descriptive design reflects the attributes of
both explanatory and exploratory design (Ledford and Gast 2018).
3.5.1 Validation for preferring descriptive design
Descriptive design has been the most validated for analyzing the influence of Facebook
sponsored advertisements in customer sales. The application of descriptive design is needed
because this allowed studying the cause and effect association between Facebook sponsored
advertisements and its role in increasing customer sales. Using descriptive design for the current
research also enabled focusing on the origin of social media platforms and Facebook emerging as
the dominating one among the various social media platforms. This design also helped in
understanding the reason business organizations took the help of Facebook in generating
increased customer sales. As a result, the cause and effect impact of the two variables of the
current research is possible due to the use of descriptive design (Bauer 2014).

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3.6 Strategies of research
Next to the layer of research design lies the layer of methodologies that provide chances
for selecting the overall research strategies for undertaking the current type of research. The
different strategies of research are experimental that includes survey or interview, grounded
theory, action research and ethnography. According to Choy (2014), experimental research
designs indicates predicting results deductively those are often derived statistically. Both
interview and survey are types of experimental research strategies, as both are based on ways of
collecting relevant data about a specific subject of interest. On the other hand, grounded theory is
a strategy that is based on what people say or write about a specific area of interest. The
foundation of action research strategy is based on personal learning whereas the foundation of
ethnography is based on relevant experiences of specific demographics such as tribe, gender and
culture (Crang and Cook 2007).
3.6.1 Validation for preferring survey research strategy
Survey strategy has been the most validated for analyzing the influence of Facebook
sponsored advertisements in customer sales. The application of survey strategy is needed
because this allowed experimenting followed by predicting results deductively, that is, often
statistically. Using survey research strategy facilitated collecting relevant data about the subject
of interest, that is analyze the influence of Facebook sponsored advertisements in increasing
customer sales. As survey has been used, large data from the participants can be collected in
accordance with the current research topic and understanding how advertising using Facebook,
both sponsored and free became the most preferred way of increasing sales for them (Oppenheim
1966). The questionnaire are developed using Google form and are circulated using online
platform.

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3.7 Sampling techniques of research
Selecting the most appropriate technique of sampling is highly needed because the
samples act as the primary source or origin of data that helps in achieving the purpose of the
research. Probability and non probability sampling technique are the two sampling techniques
that are being selected according to the selected research strategy. As mentioned by Jamshed
(2014), equal chances for the individuals to share their views and opinions are defined as
probability sampling technique. The equal participation offers random opportunity for the
researcher to select the participants for the ongoing research. However, the concept of non-
probability sampling technique is just the opposite. For non-probability sampling technique,
equal chances for sharing views and opinions are not provided for the participants but it is the
researcher who selects the participants individually and only their opinions are taken into
consideration (Fletcher 2017).
3.7.1 Validation for preferring random probability sampling technique
Random probability sampling technique has been the most validated for analyzing the
influence of Facebook sponsored advertisements in customer sales. The application of random
probability sampling technique is needed because this allowed the participants to take part and
share their opinions randomly. In doing so, the researcher has been able to select the views of the
participants about the influence of Facebook sponsored advertisements in increasing customer
sales. The views and data shared by the participants can be used for validating and justifying the
data shared by researchers while conducting studies in the past (Smith 2015). For this current
research, 50 participants have been selected as the sample size using the probability sampling
technique.

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3.8 Data collection processes of research
Along with selecting appropriate sampling technique, selection of the best suited process
of collecting data is absolutely crucial. Primary and secondary are the two data collection
processes those are used while proceeding with a particular study. As mentioned by McCusker
and Gunaydin (2015), collecting relevant information for the ongoing research from already
existing sources is known as secondary data collection process. The various sources of data
collection process are different internet facilities, books, articles, journals and official websites.
As information is not being collected for the first time, collecting information from such sources
are known to be secondary data collection process. However, on the contrary, process that
facilitates collecting data for the first time and from scratch in accordance with the research topic
is defined as primary data collection process. Primary data collection process is usually
facilitated as this allows collecting and including recent and updated information that enriches
the quality of the work (Humphries 2017).
3.8.1 Validation for preferring primary data collection process
Primary data collection process has been the most validated for analyzing the influence of
Facebook sponsored advertisements in customer sales. The application of primary data collection
process is needed because this allowed gathering data for the first time in respect to the role that
Facebook sponsored advertisement has to offer in generating customer sales. Primary data
collection is justified in this case, as the increased preference of this particular social media
platform over others can be verified along with determining its significant role in customer sales
maximization. As the use of Facebook sponsored advertisement by business entities is a recent
phenomenon, primary data collection enabled getting hold of recent and updated information
regarding the topic (Reynolds et al. 2014).

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3.9 Data analysis techniques of research
Collecting data using appropriate method is followed by analyzing it by implementing the
most valid data analysis technique. Qualitative and quantitative are the two analysis techniques
used for analyzing the collected data. The term quantitative data analysis technique means
analyzing the collected data by focusing and representing the opinions in respect to numbers.
The analysis and interpretation is described by explaining the values obtained by conducting
specific tests. However, on the contrary, qualitative data analysis technique focuses on analyzing
the data by interpreting the views and opinions of different authors gathered across various
secondary sources (Silverman 2004).
3.9.1 Validation for preferring quantitative data analysis technique
Quantitative data analysis technique has been the most validated for analyzing the
influence of Facebook sponsored advertisements in customer sales. The application of
quantitative data analysis technique is needed because this allowed determining the significant
role of Facebook sponsored advertisements in increasing customer sales. The opinion in
accordance with the topic is presented using pie charts and bar graphs along with supporting or
arguing the findings in respect to the opinion of the past researches (Isaacs 2014).
3.10 Accessibility issues
Some of the constraints that emerged while proceeding with the research are time, budget
and sample size. Limited time for completion of the entire work provided fewer chances to get
feedback from the project supervisor. As a result, it minimized the chances of knowing whether
the work is proceeding in the right track or not. Other than time, budget also emerged as a
constraint. As a result, the ability to access relevant information and literature was restricted
because free access was unavailable. The sample size has also emerged as a constraint because

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gathering an overview from only 50 respondents in accordance with the topic has been somewhat
inappropriate (Mukhopadhyay and Gupta 2014).
3.11 Ethical considerations
Ethics in research is an undeniable truth and holds utmost significance. As survey has
been selected for collecting the responses from the participants, ensuring data confidentiality
holds the maximum significance. According to this ethics, the response needs to be collected
unanimously and the identity needs to be concealed. Abiding by the ethics is helpful, as this
minimizes the chance of biasness and conflicts due to difference in the opinions. Apart from this
ethics, manipulating the responses collected is also against the ethics of the research. It is
necessary to work and justify with the data that has been collected and not manipulate it
according to the research aim, as the authenticity and credibility of the research is questioned
(Bugos et al. 2014).
Additionally, the secondary information used while developing the research also needs to
be collected from original and valid sources. If not, questions might arise about the authenticity
and the credibility of the work. Using the information collected only for academic purposes and
not using it for commercial purpose is also an important ethics of the research that needs to be
considered without failure. Lastly, pressurizing the participants to share their views is not
permissible according to the ethics of the research instead the participants need to be convinced
(Haahr, Norlyk and Hall 2014).
3.12 Summary
From the information presented in the above sections, it can be summarized from this
chapter that suitable methods has been used for analyzing the influence of Facebook

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advertisements those are sponsored in increasing the customer sales. The methods selected are
validated with suitable and appropriate explanations thereby, improving the quality of the work.
While developing the chapter, the aim and objectives of the research has been kept in mind that
has helped in structuring the chapter accordingly. This chapter is followed by the data analysis
chapter where the data is collected; analyzed and interpreted by using the methods mentioned
this chapter.

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Chapter 4: Findings and interpretation
4.0 Overview
The findings and interpretation chapter is developed with the purpose of analyzing the
data that has been collected from 50 participants in order to determine the effectiveness of
Facebook sponsored advertisements in increasing sales. As known, traditional advertisement
techniques are hardly practiced by business organizations considering the technologically
advanced market scenario. Technologies have been successful in providing various advantages in
terms of communication and connection irrespective of location and time. For achieving the aim
of the research developed in the first chapter descriptive analysis is conducted. Both analysis
types provide opportunity to support and interpret the survey findings with relevant studies
conducted in the past. As a result, a chapter with enriched data and interpretations about the
effectiveness of Facebook sponsored advertisements in increasing customer sales can be
researched.
4.1 Data analysis
Demographic questions

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Figure 16: Demographics analysis
The above pie chart highlights the demographic characteristics of the participants who
took part in the survey. Hence, it can be depicted that the 50 respondents who took part in the
survey belonged to age group mainly from age group 26-30 years followed by 20-25 years, 31-
35 years and least number of respondents belonged to age group 36 years and above. As a result,
it can be implied that all the respondents who took part in the survey had knowledge about how
Facebook sponsored advertisements influence customer sales. Moreover, the next demographics
pie chart denotes the sector the organization operates. From the pie chart, it can be depicted that
approximately 50% of the respondents operate in the service sector followed by retail sector,
health sector, business products and services and primary and secondary sector.
However, it can be noted from the responses that none of the respondents who took part
in the survey operated in tertiary sector. Opinion and views from respondents across different
business sectors helped us know that Facebook is used as an advertising platform by business
organizations globally with the aim of influencing customer sales. Taking into account the
increased competition across the sectors, traditional advertisement is losing popularity and
demand. In this modern era of technological advancement, social media platforms have gained
huge popularity and out of the al social media platform, Facebook have managed to lead the race.
Apart from personal use by the users, the platform is highly used by business organizations.
Business entities across different sectors in the world use Facebook as an advertisement platform
because of the large number of users the virtual platform has and considering that Facebook have
become inseparable from the life of the individuals. Hence, as the world population is active in
Facebook for several hours a day, using it for advertisement reinforces and increases the chances
of gaining attention and increasing sales considerably.

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Objective questions
Figure 17: Considering the use of Facebook sponsored ads in the past decade
From the data shared by the 50 participants who took part in the survey it can be depicted
that 56% of them believe that the use of Facebook sponsored ads increased in the the past
decade. However, 36% of the participants have shared a negative review whereas 8% of them
have shared a mixed review. The positive response from the data analysis can be supported by
the information provided by Dehghani and Tumer (2015) in the literature review that agrees that
there has been some important transformation of businesses through the utilization of Facebook.
Additionally, Ming and Yazdanifard (2014) further support the findings that mention that
Facebook advertisement is highly preferred because it is said to be the cheapest for of
advertising. For instance, one can spend $5 and reach an estimated 1000 people thereby, making
it the cheapest of all form of advertising. Thus, in spite of being sponsored, the money spent by
the organizations is almost negligible if compared to the audiences they are able to reach by
paying that amount. However, Kim and Yang (2017) argues with the above findings because
targeting the right set of audiences is often challenging that gives negative results.

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Figure 18: Preference of Facebook sponsored ads over other forms of digital ads
From the opinion shared by the 50 respondents who took part in the survey, it can be
depicted that 56% of them agrees that Facebook sponsored ads are preferred that other forms of
digital ads. However, 34% does not believe that and feels all social media platforms provide
equal benefits whereas 10% shares a mix review. They feel Facebook might or might not be
better than other digital platform when it comes to advertisements. The positive data gathered
can be supported by the information provided by Bakshy, Messing and Adamic (2015) that
mentions that the platform has 2 million users as of 2018.
Additionally, the platform has an estimated 2 billion monthly users that indicates the
presence of over a quarter population of the world that is more active users than any other
platforms. Dyson et al. (2015) also mentions that Facebook has become an inseparable part of
people’s lives and is considered as one of the top most advertising channels and 51% of the
overall advertisement mounts up to the digital marketing used by the business organizations.
However, Steers, Wickham and Acitelli (2014) begs to differ and mentions that Facebook have
lost trust of millions of users after enabling 3rd parties for accessing over 87 million users’
personal data.

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Figure 19: Preference of Facebook sponsored ads over other social media platforms
From the data shared by 50 respondents who took part in the survey, it can be depicted
that 40% of them feels that Facebook is preferred more than other social media platforms.
However, 46% of the respondents begs to differ and feels Facebook ads are not preferred more
than ads in any other social media platforms. However, only 14% of the respondents have a
mixed review and feel ads over Facebook and other social media platforms are similar.
Figure 20: Primary reason of selecting Facebook for ads
From the data shared by the 50 participants who took part in the survey, it can be
depicted that 38% of the participants feel that the primary reason of selecting Facebook as an
advertisement platform is due to the simple set-up and fast outcomes. This is followed by the

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view of 28% of the participants that global connectivity have influenced the selection of the
platform for advertisement, 20% feel that easy access have made it a favorite platform of
advertisement and 14% feel that ability to target wide audiences have made it a recent favorite
among the business organizations.
Figure 21: Benefits of Facebook ads in customer sales maximization
From the data shared by the participants, it can be depicted that 44% of them feels
Facebook ads are beneficial because users spent huge time over the platform followed by 34% of
them that feels it is the cheapest form of advertisement, 14% feels it increases website traffic and
6% feel that exact audiences can be targeted. However, extremely less percentage of participants
feel that all the benefits are the reason of using the platform for sales maximization.

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Figure 22: Capacity of Facebook sponsored ads in increasing customer sales
From the data shared by the participants, it can be depicted that 54% of them feels that
Facebook sponsored ads have the capacity of increasing customer sales. However, 44% of the
feel that it is nothing unique that Facebook sponsored ads offers and very less number of
participants shared mixed view regarding the capability of Facebook sponsored ads.
Figure 23: Type of Facebook sponsored ad preferred
From the data shared by the participants, it can be known that three types of Facebook
sponsored ads are present namely Facebook carousel ad, Facebook slideshow ad and Facebook
video ad. All the three ads have distinctive characteristics that separate one from another. For
Facebook carousel ad, 34% of the participants strongly agree that it is one of the most effective

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advertising platforms that can help in increasing sales. For Facebook slideshow ad, 32% strongly
agrees that it is effective as an effective advertising platform and for Facebook video ad, 32%
think it to be most preferred and effective as an advertisement platform.
Figure 24: Effectiveness of Facebook carousel ads
From the data gathered from the 50 participants who took part in the survey, it can be
depicted that 46% of them feels that Facebook carousel ads are effective due to mentioning of
the specifications followed by 26% of the participants feel that it is effective due to the use of
multiple product images and availability of discounts followed by systematic form of
presentation.

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Figure 25: Effectiveness of Facebook slideshow ad
From the data gathered from the 50 participants who took part in the survey, it can be
depicted that 54% of them feel that Facebook slideshow ad is highly effective because of the
ease of landing page. However, 32% of the participants find Facebook slideshow ads effective
because of the presence of testimonials and 14% find it effective due to the storytelling feature it
has to offer while advertising.
Figure 26: Effectiveness of Facebook video ad
From the data gathered from the 50 participants who took part in the survey, it can be
depicted that 72% of the participants feel that Facebook video ad is more effective due to the
feature of easy access. 18% of the participants feel that the effectiveness of Facebook video ad
lies in the presence of main video and product explainer video and 10% feel that easy
engagement due to the video makes it effective. Hence, video advertising can effectively grab the
attention of the target audiences. However, the effectiveness of Facebook video ad is questioned
because the explainer videos can make things complicated for the viewers at times.

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Figure 27: Role of Facebook sponsored ads in increasing sales
From the data shared by the participants who took part in the survey, it can be depicted
that 48% of them feel that Facebook sponsored ads have a role to play in increasing sales
because paid promotions improves the visibility of the ads. 26% of the participants feel that
sponsored ads maximizes interactivity whereas 22% feel sponsored ads creates content that is
data enriched. Fairly less number of participants feel that Facebook sponsored ads have an
effective role to play because personalized engagement with customers are possible. The content
of these boosted posts appear to be organic content that are present in the given company’s
Facebook timeline. Hence, a large number of people can view the content that is provided. A
declination of the organic content reach of companies in Facebook has been noticed.

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Figure 28: Challenges in using Facebook sponsored ads
From the data shared by the 50 participants who took part in the survey, it can be
depicted that 48% of them feel that challenges such as targeting the right kind of customers, ads
being highly straightforward, huge time required for tracking the profile of the users and
omitting website links are there in using Facebook sponsored ads whereas the rest of the
participants feel that there are no challenges of using Facebook sponsored ads.
Figure 29: Types of Facebook sponsored ads challenges
From the data shared by 50 participants who took part in the survey, it can be depicted
that 38% of the participants feel that the major challenge of using Facebook sponsored ads is
straightforwardness of the ads followed by 34% feel that as tracking of profile is time consuming
it is a challenge, 24% feel that omission of website links is imposes more challenge and few
participants feel that inadequate A/B testing of the advertising is more challenging.

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Figure 30: Benefits of increased sales for business
From responses gathered from 50 participants who took part in the survey, it can be
depicted that increased sales offers benefits for the business organizations. The different benefits
that increased sales has to offer are ability to survive the competitive market, generating profit,
expanding business and increasing the customer base. 48% of the participants strongly agrees
that increased sales enables the organization to survive the competitive market, 28% agrees that
increased sales ensures profit generation, 46% feels that business can be expanded if sales are
extended and 36% feel that customer base maximizes if sales are increased.
From the data analysis and the interpretations, it can be known that Facebook sponsored
ads have own set of challenges that questions the credibility of the platform in increasing

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customer sales. In spite of the benefits Facebook sponsored ads provide, the challenges arise
when the platform is not used appropriately and effectively. The descriptive analysis and
interpretations indicates the challenges that impose negative and severe consequences if not
mitigated using suitable techniques. The following chapter, conclusion and recommendations,
highlights the suitable recommendations those can be used for overcoming the challenges related
to Facebook sponsored ads and increasing customer sales suitably.
4.2 Summary
From the data analysis and interpretations, it can be summarized that Facebook sponsored
ads has become a recent favorite and popular choice of media channel for the business
organizations and are highly used for increasing customer sales. From the descriptive analysis, it
can be implied that the participants who took part in the survey had adequate knowledge about
the effective use of Facebook in increasing customer sales. The participants who shared their
views had been operating across various sectors those have used Facebook as a platform for
advertising. The results derived from the analyses conducted are supported by the past researches
those are mentioned in the literature review chapter. Hence, from the data analysis and
interpretation chapter, it can be summarized that Facebook is the most preferred platform for
advertising and the platform have generated huge revenue from advertisements. However,
arguments are there that presents a different set of opinion about the effectiveness of Facebook
sponsored ads in increasing customer sales. The analysis and the information provided from the
past researches have highlighted instances where the effectiveness of Facebook sponsored ads
are questioned because of challenges such as straightforwardness of the ads, tracking profile
being time consuming and target incorrect target audiences. In spite of the criticism the role of

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Facebook sponsored ads in increasing sales can be established and highlighted in the data
analysis, interpretations and past researches.

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Chapter 5: Discussions
The positive response from the data analysis of figure 17 can be supported by the
information provided by Dehghani and Tumer (2015) in the literature review that agrees that
there has been some important transformation of businesses through the utilization of Facebook.
Additionally, Ming and Yazdanifard (2014) further support the findings that mention that
Facebook advertisement is highly preferred because it is said to be the cheapest for of
advertising. For instance, one can spend $5 and reach an estimated 1000 people thereby, making
it the cheapest of all form of advertising. Thus, in spite of being sponsored, the money spent by
the organizations is almost negligible if compared to the audiences they are able to reach by
paying that amount. However, Kim and Yang (2017) argues with the above findings because
targeting the right set of audiences is often challenging that gives negative results.
The positive data presented in figure 18 can be supported by the information provided by
Bakshy, Messing and Adamic (2015) that mentions that the platform has 2 million users as of
2018. Additionally, the platform has an estimated 2 billion monthly users that indicates the
presence of over a quarter population of the world that is more active users than any other
platforms. Dyson et al. (2015) also mentions that Facebook has become an inseparable part of
people’s lives and is considered as one of the top most advertising channels and 51% of the
overall advertisement mounts up to the digital marketing used by the business organizations.
However, Steers, Wickham and Acitelli (2014) begs to differ and mentions that Facebook have
lost trust of millions of users after enabling 3rd parties for accessing over 87 million users’
personal data.

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If the negative opinion of the participants is to be considered from figure 19 than it can be
supported by Steers, Wickham and Acitelli (2014) that mentions in the literature review that
Facebook have lost trust of millions of users after enabling 3rd parties for accessing over 87
million users’ personal data. This eventually led to the formation of a massive unrest amongst the
audiences has been created that have given rise to the campaign #deletefacebook. This is because
the customers or the users felt that Facebook have cheated on them and have used their personal
information without their consent (Steers, Wickham and Acitelli 2014).
Bright, Kleiser and Grau (2015) and Dyson et al. (2015) supports that high number of active
users across the globe have made it a recent favorite among the business organizations and is the
primary reason of being selected as a advertisement platform. However, Barbu (2014) begs to
differ and mentions that the simple set up is the primary reason for Facebook being selected for
ads. Katz (2016) mentions that ability to reach wide customers has made Facebook highly
preferable for advertisement. Dwivedi, Kapoor and Chen (2015) mentions the customers spend
most of their time on Facebook, using the platform for advertisement is highly beneficial
thereby, supporting the opinion shared by the majority of the participants who took part in the
survey. However, Kosinski et al. (2015) mentions in the literature review that turning followers
into customers by using Facebook advertisements is challenging at times. Ming and Yazdanifard
(2014) support the data shared by 34% of the participants and feels that it is the cheapest way of
advertising thereby, making it the most preferred one.
Celebi (2015), Boerman, Willemsen and Van Der Aa (2017), Ramadan, Abosag and
Zabkar (2018) and DeVito (2017) supports the data shared by the majority of the participants
that agrees that Facebook sponsored ads have the capacity of increasing customer sales.
Companies are willing to pay and boost their engagement towards sales (Lee, Lee and Oh 2015).

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Additionally, sponsored posts can play are important in the context of the promotional value of
business products. This is mainly due to the different ways in which the customers can be
reached and their exact product desires can be addressed. Moreover, sponsored posts are meant
for creating engagements with the customers that go beyond normal promotions. The
engagement is more on a personalized level as the customers that share the same interests that
are being displayed through the sponsored content can be interacted with effectively. However,
budget constraints can easily be addressed especially for smaller businesses that seek effective
exposure.
Dehghani and Tumer (2015) support the findings about Facebook carousel ad that
mentions this type of sponsored ad to be highly effective due to features such as multiple images
of the given product that is being marketed, the systematic form of presentation makes it
effective to search for further information. However, the effectiveness of this sponsored ad is
questioned due to challenges such as the users have to provide a certain amount of time to check
all the images at time. This can be a significant setback if there a large number of images in a
given ad.
. Celebi (2015) supports the effectiveness of Facebook slideshow ads due to the presence of
testimonials followed by the features of the landing page and the unique storytelling feature. This
is because the ads are highly exposed and has links with better sales in business environment. As
the ads keep on prompting, the users are ultimately influenced to look at it at least once that is
sufficient in making the user into a customer and ensuring sales. However, the effectiveness of
this sponsored Facebook ad is questioned due to the complex slideshows that can undermine the
true essence of the advertisements. Jasper’s Market is one such company that has used Facebook
slideshow advertisement and has been successful in enhancing sales and market exposure.

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Duffett (2015) agrees with the data shared by the majority of the participants and mentions that
video ad has been very important in promoting the sales of various items in Facebook.
Dehghani and Tumer (2015) mention the recent change and transformation across various
business sectors through the utilization of Facebook. Garcia et al. (2018) presents a different
view point and mentions that sponsored ads are different from that of the normal ads. The idea
behind using sponsored ads is to boost the promotions for the business organizations.
Under such circumstances, the role of sponsored ads in Facebook comes to play where
paid ads boosts the engagement of the posts by increasing the visibility of the ads. Celebi (2015),
Garcia et al. (2018) and Boerman, Willemsen and Van Der Aa (2017) supports the findings
because the most important feature of the sponsored ads is the seamless experiences of the
customers. The ads appear smoothly for the user without disrupting much the experience of
Facebook news feed. The user is able to get the promoted content in between the normal posts
that he/she is viewing. However, Varga, Kemény and Markos-Kujbus (2016) argue with the
effectiveness because at times the straightforwardness of the ads can fail in engaging customers.
Dwivedi, Kapoor and Chen (2015), Varga, Kemény and Markos-Kujbus (2016), Kim and
Yang (2017), Agnihotri et al. (2016) and Hofacker and Belanche (2016) supports that Facebook
sponsored ads have their own set of challenges that arises when the platform is used for
advertisements with the purpose of increasing customer sales. However, in spite of the
challenges, the use of Facebook sponsored ads cannot be denied and is supported by
Ramanathan, Subramanian and Parrott (2017) in the literature review. Dwivedi, Kapoor and
Chen (2015) agree that Facebook sponsored ads are challenging in regards to the various
advertising challenges that can be present in Facebook. Varga, Kemény and Markos-Kujbus

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(2016) mentions the straightforwardness in terms of ads is challenging because the audiences
might not be attracted. Kim and Yang (2017) that tracking of customer profiles are time
consuming and often results in tracking and targeting wrong target audiences. However, in spite
of the existing challenges, the significant role of Facebook sponsored ads cannot be denied.
Dwivedi, Kapoor and Chen (2015) mentions in the literature review that revenue generated in
2016 from advertising was 27 billion dollars whereas in 2009 the statistics were only 764 million
dollars. Hence, the potential for Facebook for increasing sales of products and services cannot be
questioned by considering the challenges it imposes.
Dwivedi, Kapoor and Chen (2015) mentions that as the customers spend most of their
time on Facebook, using the platform for advertisement is highly beneficial. Kuyumdzhiev
(2014) supports the opinion of 48% participants that states advertising using Facebook sponsored
ads allow the brands to reach wide target audiences that offer competitive advantage. Dwivedi,
Kapoor and Chen (2015) mentions that the customers spend most of their time on Facebook,
using the platform for advertisement is highly beneficial thereby, ensuring profit generation.
However, this is argued by Kosinski et al. (2015) because it has been seen in the study that
turning followers into customers is challenging.

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Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations
6.0 Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded that the use of Facebook in today’s world is inevitable for
personal, professional and business purposes. Facebook have helped in bringing the entire world
at the tip of the fingers and users present in the social media platform have access to world news
and updates irrespective of time and location. The emergence and rise of Facebook has been
noticed in the past decade because of the various benefits it offers for the users. Easily
accessible, ensuring security for individual profiles, following brands, supporting campaigns and
communicating are some of the features that has increased the popularity of the platform over the
other existing social media platforms.
If the use of Facebook for business is to be considered, it has offered huge advantages to
the business organizations and the brands in terms of expanding business, customer base and
targeting audiences. Reaching target audiences across the globe is also possible because social
advertising has no limit to the ability of the business organizations. However, the ability of
Facebook is questioned because using the platform and reaching out potential customers are
often challenging because Facebook is not accepted universally thereby, limiting the ability of
the brands or organizations to increase customer sales using ads in the platform. This is because
people do not have access to Facebook so they do not know the latest happening on the platform.
In the case of Facebook, the platform has 2 billion active users monthly and 1.5 billion daily
users and has become an inseparable part of people’s lives. With this, social networking site is

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considered as one of the top most advertising channels and 51% of the overall advertisement.
However, challenges for using Facebook in advertising arise due to lack of transparency.
Omission of links, inadequate A/B testing, targeting inappropriate people, straightforwardness of
the advertisement and making space for ads are common risks associated with using the platform
for advertisements.
However, sponsored advertisements in Facebook increases sales because the visibility of
the ads increases largely. The concept of Facebook sponsored posts are posts that are ‘boosted’
in accordance of the paid promotions that are done by any company. The content of these
boosted posts appear to be organic content that are present in the given company’s Facebook
timeline thereby, increasing customer sales largely. Facebook ads are cost-effective because
unlike Google ads that are charged by pay-per-click platforms, Facebook ads do not rely on a
keyword bid. Instead Facebook ads are based on creating the right audience target during the ad
set-up process. For Facebook ads the money spent hardly matters if the quality of the ad
campaigns developed are of low quality.
6.1 Linking with objectives
Objective 1: Creation and performance of online questionnaires in order to evaluate the
customers’ positive and negative reaction to the sponsored advertisements in Facebook
Objective 1 is linked with sections 2.6, 2.7 and 2.9 in the literature review. All these
sections talk about the positive and negative impacts of sponsored Facebook advertisements in
increasing customer sales. On the other hand, all the survey questions are developed with the
purpose of achieving this objective.

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Objective 2: To determine the effectiveness and success of the Facebook’s sponsored
advertisements
Objective 2 is linked with the entire literature review review because different aspects
and characteristics of Facebook and sponsored advertisements are taken into consideration and
discussed for understanding the effectiveness. Similarly, the entire questionnaire comprises of
different set of questions judging different aspects and determining the effectiveness of Facebook
sponsored advertisements.
Objective 3: Statistical study with the questionnaires results to perform a study how the
advertisements influence the costumer sales
Objective 3 is linked with the entire literature review because the articles and journals
considered in developing the chapter includes results of statistical analysis using questionnaires
that is performed for studying how advertisements influence the customer sales. Based on the
past researches, for the current research statistical study by using questionnaire is also
implemented.
Objective 4: To understand the emergence and use of Facebook
Objective 4 is linked with sections 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4. All these sections provide adequate
information about the rise of social media platforms, different social media platforms and how
Facebook become the favorite among all the existing virtual platforms. On the other hand, the
entire survey questions have been developed with the purpose of understanding how
advertisement using this social media platform helps in increasing customer sales.

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Objective 5: To critically analyze the factors affecting the use of Facebook among business
for advertisements
Objective 5 is linked with section 2.5. This section mentions and critically analyzes the
different factors that have made Facebook the most preferred online platform among the business
organizations for advertising them and attracting customers and increasing sales. However, on
the other hand, the survey questions 6, 7 and 8 helps in determining the increased preference of
Facebook among business organizations by analyzing the benefits the platform offers and the
reasons of the preferred mostly.
Objective 6: To investigate the benefits of using Facebook sponsored advertisements
Objective 6 is linked with sections 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8. All these sections talk about the
benefits that sponsored advertisements offer in Facebook for the business organizations in terms
of increasing sales. On the other hand, survey questions 8 and 9 aim towards identifying the
different types of Facebook sponsored ads and the benefits of using it.
Objective 7: To study the different types of Facebook ads that improves customer sales
Objective 7 is linked with sections 2.8 and 2.11. Both these sections in the literature
review aim towards knowing the different sponsored advertisements in Facebook and how it can
be used in improving customer sales compared to the use of other social media platforms. On the
other hand, survey questions 10, 11 and 12 helps in knowing the benefits each of sponsored
advertisements provide in increasing sales.
Objective 8: To determine the role of Facebook sponsored ads in increasing customer sales

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Objective 8 is linked with section 2.12 in the literature review. This section is successful
in determining the significant role of Facebook sponsored ads when it comes to increasing the
sales of the customers for the business organizations. On the other hand, survey question 13 and
16 helps in achieving this aim.
Objective 9: To find ways of improving customers’ sales by using sponsored Facebook ads
effectively
Objective 9 is linked with section 2.9 in the literature review as the potential challenges
of using sponsored ads in Facebook can be identified followed by suggesting the potential
strategies those can be used over overcoming it. On the other hand, survey questions 14 and 15
are developed with the purpose of achieving this aim.
6.2 Recommendations
Based on the problems and challenges identified for using Facebook sponsored
advertisements for increasing customer sales, the following recommendations can be taken into
considerations.
Tapping into recent purchasing behavior among Facebook users
Rather than using the platform only as a place to hangout, Facebook can be used for
tapping into the recent purchasing behavior for the users. Facebook have access to the personal
information of trillion of users and it needs to be used positively by the business organizations
for increasing sales. The advertisers need to have the power to reach beyond the CRM databases
and invade into insights gleaned from shopper loyalty programs of different kinds that matches
to the profiles of individual users. As a result, the users will get feeds according to their shopping
needs that will eventually led to increased sales.

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Getting creative with life events targeting
Facebook is used by users across the world and people share major life events. For
instance, funeral homes would like to connect with people planning a funeral of people with
terminal illness. Hence, moving the services in front of the users that is required by them will
help in increasing the customer sales. The business organizations can use the data that is
reflected on the profile of the users and provide them feeds accordingly. Pretty convincible life
event targeting option available in Facebook makes it easily visible by others having account in
the social media platform. Hence, the life event parameter is unique and can be used by
businesses to target people with specific needs at specific intervals.
Nurturing leads and building loyalty with the audiences
A unique feature provided by Facebook is Facebook Custom Audiences that is an
advanced feature that provide users to connect on the social media platform with existing
contacts. Hence, coming in notice of the existing customers on their most preferred social media
network reinforces the brand along with proving suitable opportunity for maximizing lifetime
customer value, loyalty and order frequency. This advanced feature can be used otherwise as
well and increasing customer sales. The efficiency of the campaigns can also be increased
thereby, restricting wasted clicks and increasing the sales eventually. For instance, it is not
necessary to show the advertisement of free trail to the loyal customers that are actually
advertised for new customers.
Expanding to look alike audiences
Lookalike Audiences are a logical step if the business organizations have a good and
efficient Custom Audiences Strategy. The lookalike audiences originate from the audiences

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dashboard in Facebook Ads Manager where firstly “Create Audiences” needs to be clicked and
then “Lookalike Audience” needs to be selected. This is followed by creating a “Lookalike
Audience box” followed by selecting the name of the page from the “Source” drop down list.
Hence, in the “Source” field the Facebook page needs to be selected that is followed by selecting
the target country and the target size of the audiences. Facebook can be used as a mirror for
monitoring the existing fan or customer base by the business organizations. As a result,
lookalikes in Facebook can provide opportunity to expand beyond reach and yet targeting
individuals with highly specific profiles by developing audiences that look like own targets.
6.3 Future scope of the study
The current study has been conducted based on the 50 participants who are aware of the
benefits Facebook sponsored advertisements have and its role in increasing customer sales.
However, data has not been collected from any specific organization using Facebook for
advertising them. Hence, in the future, research can be conducted by focusing on a single
organization that use Facebook advertisements and considering their customer sales reports
before they used Facebook advertisements and after using the advertisements. In doing so, at
least the customer sales report of past 5 years can be considered that will help in understanding
how Facebook sponsored advertisement influences customer sales. Moreover, developing a
organization specific research in the future will help in developing a valid and suitable secondary
source for future researchers.

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Appendix 1
Survey Questionnaire
Demographic questions
1. What is your age group?
20-25 years 26-30 years 31-35 years 36 years and above
2. Which sector do you operate?
Retail sector Service sector Health sector Business products and
services Primary sector Secondary sector Tertiary sector
Objective questions
3. Do you consider the use of Facebook sponsored advertisements has increased in the
past decade?
Yes No Maybe
4. Thinking of business organizations do they prefer Facebook sponsored advertisements
more than other digital advertisements?
Yes No Maybe
5. Is Facebook sponsored ads more preferred than other social media platforms ads?
Yes No Maybe
6. What is the primary reason for business organizations to select Facebook for
advertisements?
Global connectivity
Simple set-up and fast outcomes
Highly accessed
Wide target audience
All are relevant

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7. Which of the following benefits that Facebook advertisement helps in customer sales
maximization?
Cheapest form of advertisement
Users spend huge time over Facebook
Increases website traffic
Exact targeting of audiences
All are relevant
8. Does Facebook sponsored advertisement have the capacity to increases customer sales?
Yes No Maybe
9. Which type of Facebook sponsored ad would you prefer?
Facebook carousel Ad
Facebook slideshow Ad
Facebook video Ad
10. What makes Facebook carousel Ad effective for increasing customer sales?
Multiple product images
Mentioning the specifications
Available discounts
Systemic presentation form
11. What makes Facebook slideshow Ad effective for increasing customer sales?
Presence of testimonial
Landing page
Storytelling feature
12. What makes Facebook video Ad effective for increasing customer sales?
Presence of main video and product explainer video
Easily accessible

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Engaging by video
13. What is the Role of Facebook sponsored advertisement in increasing sales?
Creating content and increasing visibility
Paid promotions enhances visibility
Increased interactivity
Personalized engagement with customers
14. Does Facebook sponsored advertisements impose challenges in increasing customer
sales?
Yes No Maybe
15. Which of the following challenges does Facebook sponsored advertisements possesses?
Straightforwardness of advertisements
Tracking of profile is time consuming
Omission of website links
Lack of A/B testing of the advertising content
16. Benefits of increased sales for business
Survive the competitive market
Profit generation
Business expansion
Increased customer base