E-Marketing and Social Media: Facebook's Strategic Contributions

This report analyzes Facebook's significant contributions to e-marketing, highlighting its evolution from a social platform for students to a global marketing tool with over 2.2 billion active users. It details Facebook's history, target audience demographics, and competitive landscape, including direct competitors like Myspace and indirect competitors like Twitter and YouTube. The report also examines Facebook's advertising-centered business model and provides a SWOT analysis, identifying strengths such as a strong brand image and extensive clientele, weaknesses including easily imitable services, opportunities for product innovation, and threats like cybercrime and market saturation. Ultimately, the paper underscores Facebook's transformative role in e-marketing through targeted advertising and brand building.

Running head: CONTRIBUTIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO E-MARKETING 1
Contributions of Social Media to E-marketing
(Author’s name)
(Institutional Affiliation)

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Executive Summary
Founded in 2004, Facebook has grown to become one of the most popular social media
sites with over 2.2 billion active users. The extensive user base of the company makes it an
effective tool for e-marketers to reach potential consumers. The ability of the site to allow
for targeted marketing has significantly changed the manner through which e-marketing is
conducted. With the increasing popularity of social media sites a number of direct and
indirect competitors have emerged. This paper analyzes Facebook’s impact on e-marketing.
History of Facebook
Launched in the year 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollu, Eduardo Saverin,
Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz, Facebook is one of the largest social media sites
(Zuckerberg, 2008). The founders originally intended the site to operate exclusively as a
social platform for students of higher education and as a result of this during its initial stages
membership was only limited to students of Harvard University before being expanded to
institutions of higher education within the Boston area. In the year 2006, membership to the
site was allowed for anyone from the age of 13 years and older.
The company has experienced one of the fastest growth rates for social media
companies with statistical reports indicating that as at January of the year 2018, it had over
2.2 monthly billion active users (Facebook by the Numbers (2018): Stats, Demographics &
Fun Facts, 2018). Facebook is also regarded as the most popular social media platform
across the world and this has contributed to its rapid growth rate (Kirkpatrick, 2012). The
revolutionary technology that was employed by Facebook led to it replacing a number of
internet sites (Kirkpatrick, 2012). Some of the applications that were replaced by Facebook

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include AOL Instant Messenger, SixDegrees.com, freindster , myspace and orkut (Erickson,
2012). A key feature of Facebook that makes it quite appealing to lead marketers is the fact
that it provides for both brand building and lead generation. By marketing in Facebook, e-
marketers are able to reach its over 2.2 billion active members thereby enhancing their brand
image. Facebook also allows e-marketers to analyze different social demographics and in
doing so be able to generate lead for its products.
Current and Future Target audiences and Core Users
Studies into Facebook’s user demographics have revealed that youths between the
ages of 15-29 years constitute a significant percentage of those who use the platform at 87%
(Facebook by the Numbers (2018): Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts, 2018). The study also
determined that 57% of the sites users are female while 43% are male. Another study on
Facebook demographics in the U.S determined that 89% of individuals who are between 18-
28 years use the site in the U.S (Facebook by the Numbers (2018): Stats, Demographics &
Fun Facts, 2018). It was also revealed that 79 of individuals who are between the ages of 30
and 49 use Facebook in the U.S (Facebook by the Numbers (2018): Stats, Demographics &
Fun Facts, 2018).
The demographic distribution has changed over the years as a significant percentage of
individuals over the age of 30 have started using the site. As the company integrates new
features it is estimated that a large percentage of the youth is likely to use the platform in
future. E-marketing can be used to reach these users through target marketing which is a
feature that is made possible by the platform. The platform is able to distinguish users based

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on their geographic location, age, sex and other factors this allows for effective target
marketing.
Competitors
As social media sites becomes more popular, the number of competitors. The direct
competitors for Facebook are Myspace, LinkedIn, Meetup, Ning and Google+ (13 Top
Facebook Competitors - Facebook Competition analysis, 2018). Other major competitors of
the site are Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest. The sites however focus on different aspects of
social life that serve to make them indirect competitors for the site.
Profitable business models
Facebook like most other social media sites utilize an advertising centered business
model. In the model, the company offers its social networking services free to the public and
sells advertising rights to organizations that seek to reach the people who are using the site.
This model is sustainable due to the fact that offering free social networking services to the
public ensures that the organization has a stream of users thereby creating a viable market
for e-marketers.
SWOT Analysis
Strength
A key strong point for Facebook is the fact that it has a strong brand image. The
company also enjoys an extensive clientele base. It enjoys high revenues and has an
innovative workforce (Young, 2017).
Weaknesses

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A major weakness for Facebook is the fact that its services and products are easily
imitable. The massive advertising employed by the site negatively affects user experience
and the organization is not effectively diversified (Young, 2017).
Opportunities
Major opportunities for Facebook include Product Innovation and the Diversification
of the business by moving into other industries (Young, 2017).
Threats
Key threats facing the company include Cybercrime, imitation, and market saturation
(Young, 2017).

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References
Zuckerberg, M. (2008). Facebook. Retrieved July, 15, 2010.
Kirkpatrick, D. (2012). The Facebook effect: The real inside story of Mark Zuckerberg and
the world's fastest growing company. Random House.
13 Top Facebook Competitors - Facebook Competition analysis. (2018, February 10).
Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/13-facebook-competitors/
Erickson, C. (2012, May 17). 7 Companies That Could Have Been Facebook. Retrieved
from
https://mashable.com/2012/05/17/companies-before-facebook/#gwTXyXqOHOq5
Young, J. (2017, February 08). Facebook Inc. SWOT Analysis & Recommendations.
Retrieved from http://panmore.com/facebook-inc-swot-analysis-recommendations
Facebook by the Numbers (2018): Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts. (2018, January 26).
Retrieved from https://www.omnicoreagency.com/facebook-statistics/