Marketing Plan: Facebook Mobile Payment System in Australia

This report outlines a marketing plan for the launch of Facebook's mobile payment system in Australia. It begins with an executive summary and a problem/opportunity statement, analyzing Facebook's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) alongside a PESTEL analysis to assess the external environment. The report then details Facebook's strategic positioning and marketing objectives, including SMART goals for revenue growth. Product-market strategies, segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies are discussed, emphasizing customer value creation. The marketing plan aims to enhance Facebook's growth and visibility in Australia, targeting mobile users with a focus on increasing user adoption of the mobile payment system. The report also includes strategic recommendations and a control and evaluation plan to measure the success of the marketing activities. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the marketing strategies to be used by Facebook in Australia.

Executive summary
The purpose of this paper is to develop a plan for a new launch of mobile payment system of
Facebook. It is one of the new initiative or business activity of Facebook for targeting the
potential users of Facebook in Australia. The report will present the situational analysis highlight
the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats of Facebook and the PESTEL analysis for
highlighting various factors impacting the launch of mobile payment system in Australia. The
next part of the paper will throw lights upon strategic position and marketing objectives of
Facebook highlighting the key objectives of the marketing plan. There is also presented the
implementation and the control and evaluation plan so that the success of the marketing activities
can be analysed.
Problems and Opportunities Statement
[Refer to Chapter 3 (pp. 87-8) for a discussion of the requirements for this section.]
1 The business unit’s capabilities in relation to critical success factors
CSF Our capabilities
 There is high relation of the
business of mobile payment
system of Facebook with the
political landscape. There is high
level of political stability, the
support of Government for new
technologies and less political
barriers.
 The extended global presence,
strong financials, addicted users,
high employer branding and
extreme value added services are
few other strengths of Facebook
(Bharadwaj, et al., 2013).
 There is continuous growth of the
country as well as there is
 Facebook is the regular updates
which offer new and more
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increased level of disposable
incomes which offers an
opportunity.
effective and customised services
to the users and it helps in
developing their interest in using
Facebook.
 There is continuously increasing
preferences of the users for having
high quality and innovative
services to ease the payment and
day to day transactions. There has
also a sudden increase in the
online buying behaviour of the
individuals which requires a fast
payment system through mobile
and Facebook has a good
opportunity to fetch the attention
of the masses with its new mobile
payment system (Kietzmann, et
al., 2012).
 The loyal and reliable customers
as the people who are on Facebook
takes a continuous and regular use
of it which enhances their
reliability and loyalty towards the
social media platform and develop
it as the leader of the social media
or social platform industry.
 There is continuously rising use of
the mobile phones by the
individuals which are an
opportunity or positive factor for
Facebook to get potential users
(Kane, et al., 2012).
 Face book is one of the most used
applications in the special media
platforms by all type of customer
base and so the high customer base
and huge visibility
2 Opportunities for the business unit to exploit with existing capabilities
In the global business, there is a huge demand and need of digital marketing and
Facebook can take effective advantage from the introduction of digital marketing by
having a good presence in the online advertisement market and thus Facebook has a
number of opportunities to grow and attain increased profits. Another significant
opportunity for face book is target audience marketing as it helps in understanding the
connections, activities, interest and the demographics which helps in generating more
high traffic based events and offers. And this is one of the vital factors in fetching the
attention of the advertisers and will help Facebook to grow (Liébana-Cabanillas, Sánchez-
Fernández and Muñoz-Leiva, 2014).
3 Opportunities for the business unit to exploit with improved capabilities
With the in caressed use of tablets as well as smart phones, Facebook can also take benefit
from the growing opportunities for mobile payment system as individuals are getting
more attractive towards such systems (Liébana-Cabanillas, Sánchez-Fernández and
Muñoz-Leiva, 2014).
4 Threats that must be addressed
In recent time, there has been developed and came into existence a number of other social
sites and are giving striving competition to Facebook. For engaging the consumers and
have increased number of users, these social sites are taking extensive use of strategies
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like Facebook. As well as another major factor posing threat on Facebook is there are
several mobile businesses that are offering extensive info about the udders and are also
fetching the attention of the advertisers. And thus the growth of these mobile businesses
and applications are a big threat for the sustainability of Facebook. As well as the biggest
threat is from the law making agencies on the development of such products that steals the
privacy of the users. There is increased number of spammers too which are disturbing the
experience of the users extremely unattractive and are also leaving Facebook because of
the issues arise as a result of these spammers (Kirtiş and Karahan, 2011).
5 Strategic implications
 There is a high need that Facebook must understand the various risks and challenges
present in the business today.
 There is a need to plan the marketing program in a strategic way so that there can be
gained long term sustainability and revenues.
 Facebook can gain a huge market share in Australia and high profits by capturing the
most potential market i.e. of mobile users through a mobile payment system.
 There is a rapid growth in the mobile industry and there can be attained increase market
share if Facebook address the potential market of mobile users (Debatin, et al., 2009).
Strategic Recommendations - High-level
Marketing Strategies
Strategic positioning
In all the social media platforms, Facebook stands at first position with market leadership. It is one of the
highly used platforms by the users for the purpose of connecting, sharing photos, videos and chatting as
well as a marketing platform for the companies to advertise and promote their services and products.
Facebook is considered as the recognized and preferred sources for generating sales and gather traffic as
well as for branding the services and products (Tuten, 2008). There are several other social median
platforms that give striving competition to Facebook such as Google Plus and Twitter. Among a number
of various social media websites, Facebook is considered as the best platform for addressing the highest
number of audiences. There are several numbers of organisations that take use of Facebook for promoting
their brands and the ecommerce websites take use of Facebook for having a promotion of their sites. There
are several innovative and effective ways by which the audiences are targeted. In comparison with other
various traditional Medias, Facebook is highly cost effective (Hart, et al., 2008). For achieving a strategic
positioning, the key marketing strategy applied by Facebook is for enhancing the market share. There are
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continuous innovations taking place within the website for attaining the interest of the users. To have a
better accessibility and to increase the market share and the number of users, Facebook initiated mobile
application. The Facebook messenger is comparatively faster and efficient than the messenger of other
social sites or applications in terms of sharing message, pictures or videos (Wilson, Gosling and Graham,
2012). The mobile application of Facebook had gained a huge recognition and helped Facebook in gaining
a strong market share in terms of users but not in terms of revenues or profits. The effective and sound
word of mouth is one of the best marketing tools for Facebook. The primary revenue and profitability
comes only from the advertisements.
Marketing objectives
The marketing objective of the marketing plan is to enhance the growth and visibility of Facebook in
Australia. The marketing objective is based upon the above identified weaknesses and strengths of
Facebook as well as on the basis of the threats and opportunities present in the business environment. The
marketing objective of Facebook to cover the market of Australia is linked with the overall business
strategy of the Facebook of a newly launched mobile payment system of Facebook (Ondrus and Pigneur,
2009).
SMART Marketing Objective of Facebook
Specific
The specific marketing objective of Facebook in Australia is to get more number of users as well as higher
use of mobile payment system of Facebook.
Measurable
The measurable aspect of the marketing objective is to check whether the plan is effective or not by
measuring the success of the plan after one year of the marketing plan. It will help in measuring the
success of the plan through comparing the actual and the planned data (Treadaway and Smith, 2012).
Achievable
To achieve the marketing objective of increased number of users and enhanced revenues, Facebook will
be using more investments as well as personnel to catch the attention of the potential users by working on
the security as well as promotional activities for mobile payment system (Liébana-Cabanillas, Sánchez-
Fernández and Muñoz-Leiva, 2014).
Realistic
The marketing objective of Facebook is realistic in nature as there are still huge numbers of individuals
who are not on Facebook or not take use of the mobile payment system of Facebook. Therefore, the
objective or the target set is realistic in nature.
Time-bound
There is a time frame of a total of 3 years in which the marketing plan for Facebook will be execute and
implement. The period of three years has been taken as to cover maximum regions of Australia and
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achieve utmost effective and potential outcomes from the launch of mobile payment system (Treadaway
and Smith, 2012).
The top-line (gross) revenue and gross margin objective for each year of the
strategic marketing plan of Facebook.
Top line revenue objective Gross margin
Year 1 $359,570,729 10%
Year 2 $377,549,266 5%
Year 3 $396,426,729 5%
Rationale
The marketing objective has been set as a total increase of twenty percent in the overall revenues on a
percentage wise on yearly basis (Macroaxis, 2017). It has been planned am increase of a total of 10
percent in the first year as the new initiatives and incaresed promotions will be able to gather instant
results and thus there can be an increase of ten percent and in the later years with more focused activities
there has been planned an increase of five percent of revenue each year (Duckett, 2017).
Product-market strategies
Facebook can undertake the following strategies for attaining long term growth of the organization.
Enhancing the association with the potential clients
There is a need to have increased association with the potential customers as it will support in developing
a platform for the potential customers. And other than the social networking also, the company can gain
increased market share.
Gaining increased level of positive word of mouth publicity
The higher the word of mouth publicity is, the improved are the chances for generating more user base for
Facebook. There is a need to enhance and develop a more secured framework of Facebook so that it can
be ensured that there is a strong bond of trust. The higher the level of security and privacy would be, the
increased number of users will be there (Lilley, Grodzinsky and Gumbus, 2012).
Segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies
In holding the strategic position and remaining the market leader there were a number of challenges face d
by Facebook. But it sustained all those challenges and attained a much improved position in the social
networking as it offers multiple services to the users including making connections, interacting, sharing
message, videos and photos, performing business and advertising (Sas, et al., 2009). The mobile
application of Facebook had gained a huge recognition and helped Facebook in gaining a strong market
share in terms of users but not in terms of revenues or profits. The effective and sound word of mouth is
one of the best marketing tools for Facebook. The primary revenue and profitability comes only from the
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advertisements. There are few marketing strategies applied by Facebook for achieving a strategic position
in the market:
 Taking use of potential social networks for promoting the website
 For meeting the marketing requirements, there is a strong financial plan implemented by
Facebook
 The target market of individuals addressed are of the age group above 13 years
 Strong promotional activities for gathering the attention of the users (Owyang, Tran and
Webber, 2010).
Customer value creation mix
For customer value creation mix following are the strategies used by Facebook:
Develop as a content machine
There is a need that strong association must be developed with the developers so that there can be
effective development of the content of the Facebook website. It is essential that there is an educating and
enriching content for attracting the mass audience. Other than the various promotional activities, there is a
need that Facebook must put efforts in publishing knowledgeable and new content for gaining
appreciation from a specific user base. It will be one of the best strategies for Facebook for achieving long
term sustainability.
Enhance ‘fan to fan’ interaction
There is a need that a separate community must be developed which can help in encouraging the
interaction with the fans. It will help in accessing high growth by Facebook and will also help in ensuring
long term success. The interaction of the stars with their fans will help in enhancing the brand value of the
organisation (Shih, 2009).
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Resource allocation
Following is the marketing program spending percentage by resource allocation. There are two tables, first
demonstrating the various resource allocation and the second shows the spending by the type of resource.
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Implementation plan
Plan
Timeline
Activities Oct-
Dec 17
Jan-
June, 18
July-
Dec, 18
Jan-
June, 19
July-
Dec, 19
Jan-
June,20
July-
Sep, 20
Market Research
Overall personnel and
resource planning
Planning over Budget
Project Planning
Detail Design
Marketing activities
Analysing Customer
demographics
Milestone 1: Acquiring
new user base for
mobile payment system
Promotional activities
Monitoring Progress
Milestone 2: Increased
Revenues
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Evaluation and control processes
After the implementation of the marketing plan, it is evident to have effective evaluation and controlling
process to ensure that the marketing plans are successful as well as to analyze there is achievement of the
individuals’ objectives too. For the controlling of the marketing plan there will set standards based upon
the plan dev eloped, the performance will be measured against the set standards and last corrective set of
actions will be taken to correct the deviations took place in the plans and the standards. For effective
evaluation, the techniques that will be used by Facebook will be the user analysis, market share analysis,
efficiency ratios, profitability analysis, customer analysis and the marketing audit (Burke and Ruppel,
2015).
What is to be measured How it is to be
measured
Data source When it is to be measured
Execution of the
marketing plan
Through comparing
planned and actual
performance
Evaluation reports In the middle of the plan
Success of the marketing
Plan
By comparing the
previous year results
with results after
implementation of
marketing plan
Annual report of
last year and report
of the outcomes of
marketing plan
At the end of the marketing
plan
Deviation Through comparing
planned and actual
outcomes
Evaluation reports In a phase of each quarter
end
Customer base By matching the
previous customer base
with new customer base
Annual report and
quarterly report
At the end of the marketing
plan
Market share By comparing previous
market share with new
market share
Annual report and
quarterly report
At the end of the marketing
plan
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