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

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