Facebook has been an important platform for marketers for quite some time now, but how effective is advertising on Facebook?  A June 5th study by Reuters and Ipsos (shown right) found that only 20% of Facebook users in the US have bought products because of advertisements or comments they've seen on Facebook.  This sparked heavy disputes over the value and ROI of Facebook ads.

A week after the Reuters and Ipsos study was released, Facebook collaborated with comScore to release their own study on the purchase behaviour of US Facebook users.  Facebook used the retailer Target for this experiment (see below).  A group of US Facebook users were exposed to brand messaging from target and were compared to a control group.  4% of fans in the exposed group made purchases during the following month, compared to 3.3% of fans in the control group.

Facebook must also prove that their paid media advertising programs, such as Premium ads, are effective.  Facebook examined one retailer's Premium ad campaign over a four week period.  This study found an increase of 16% in in-store purchases and 56% in online purchases.  While this study may be biased towards Facebook, it is undeniable that earned media greatly affects consumer's purchasing behaviour.  Companies and marketers cannot overlook this powerful advertising platform if they wish to run successful marketing campaigns.

Contact Us for more information on Social Media Marketing or any other Internet Marketing services. Alternatively, read the full article: "Can Facebook Go Beyond Earned Media Success?" 

With the recent exponential growth in Social Media usage, it is surprising to discover that neither Facebook nor Twitter are the most popular channels for content sharing with friends and family.  E-mail is the most popular channel for content sharing, with an overall usage of 63%.  People share content with friends and family through e-mail as much as they do through Facebook, Twitter, and telephones combined.

Referring to the chart below, only the 15-17 age group shares content more via Facebook than e-mail.  However, it is not by much (47% e-mail vs. 54% Facebook).  In every age group above 18, e-mail is the most popular choice for content sharing.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, was quoted as saying: "I would expect that next year, people will share twice as much information as they share this year, and next year, they will be sharing twice as much as they did the year before."  With the ease and convenience of the Internet, sharing information has become such a simple task that most people do it daily.  There are two types of sharing that occur, public sharing (Facebook, Twitter, Blog), and private sharing (e-mail, telephone).  

Private content sharers are the cautious consumers whose activities are very difficult to track.  Their endorsements, however, are extremely valuable to businesses.  A recommendation from a friend or family member through an e-mail or a phone call means much more than a recommendation from a "friend-of-a-friend" on Facebook.  Social media is a great marketing tool, but it is important to not overlook the proven success of e-mail marketing.