Tim Tse's Blog

From Rihanna’s newest single to Starbuck’s new logo, Microsoft Windows to Zara, Facebook has been used by every type of business to advertise their newest products. Facebook users are constantly bombarded with product information with the use of Facebook Pages, Groups, and Likes. One may question, is this marketing method effective?

With almost a 4 million growth in the number of Facebook users last month in the United States, Facebook secures the spot of “King of All Social Media”. A study conducted by MerchantCircle has suggested that, many of the small businesses are also in favor of using Facebook, the ultimate social media, to market their products. After beating Twitter and MySpace in terms of the number of users, Facebook this time kicks Google out of its throne and becomes the dominant social media that small businesses use to advertise their products; more than 70% of the survey participants responded that they are currently (or in the past) using Facebook to promote their products. The study also discovers that, most small business owners are optimistic about the future.

Most of these businesses, however, rely on the use of “side advertisements” (the ones that are known to choose advertisements that are specifically based on what each user is interested in). While this marketing strategy may be effective, it may turn down a number of potential customers as well as causing harm to the reputation of the business due to ethical issues (data gathering without permission). Most businesses are fragile to damages to their reputation; in the case of small businesses, the effect would be more devastating since most small business rely on frequent customers and word of mouth marketing.

Effectiveness or reputation damages, which one would small businesses side with?

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