Facebook – The World at your Fingertips

From the dorm rooms at Harvard University in 2004 to today being one of the most valuable businesses on the planet (worth $59 billion). Many of us probably remember the beginnings of Facebook and how connecting with former school friends or colleagues and estranged family was suddenly really easy.

Fast forward to 2023, and Facebook has 37.2% of the global population using its platform monthly! With its immense reach and versatile features, Facebook has become an indispensable platform for individuals and businesses. It's a space where connections are forged, stories are shared, and businesses grow. In this blog article, we'll explore Facebook's reach in the US and UK and what user reviews as well as advertising can do for businesses.‍

Facebook's Reach

Facebook's reach is truly staggering. It’s got 2 billion daily actives and 3 billion monthly users; it's a platform that virtually connects people from all corners of the globe. This enormous user base provides unprecedented opportunities for businesses.

However, let’s dig deeper into the markets of the US and UK to understand the importance.

From its “eligible” audience (Facebook restricts access to its platform to 13 years and older) an astonishing 59.8% of its population in the UK and 60.9% in the US are using the Facebook platform in 2023. This is the equivalent of 34.4 million users in the United Kingdom and 175 million users in the United States. The audience make-up is almost identical in both the US and UK, with 54% being female and 46% being male.

What’s fascinating here is that users spend an incredible amount of time on Facebook, and via the use of data from Facebook’s Android app, is estimated that users spend approximately 15 hours a month on their app.

At this time, users are potential business customers, and the use of social media for brand research continues to grow year on year. Over 55% of users in the UK and 62% in the US use social media for the purposes of finding information about businesses, products, and services.

Besides using Facebook, for example, for research on your business, statistics show that internet users aged 16 to 64 now discover brands 24% of the time in the UK and 28% of the time in the US from social media ads.

It’s undeniable how important Facebook has become to the digital marketing landscape, and aside from search engines attributing the lion’s share of website traffic referrals, Facebook is the biggest website referral channel among social media platforms. Over 51% of US links clicked on social media are on Facebook, with Instagram and Twitter sitting at only 13%. For the UK, Facebook dominates too, with 48% of website referrals on social media, and X/Twitter following with 23%, and Instagram with 15%.

It is clear that users no longer see Facebook only as a place to connect with friends and family; they stay updated on current events and businesses, and use Facebook as a resource to help with their purchase decisions. For businesses, it's a goldmine for potential customers and brand visibility. However, businesses need to harness Facebook’s tools to leverage this opportunity, and one such tool is user recommendations.

The Impact of User Feedback

User-generated reviews and recommendations are a pivotal aspect of Facebook's power. They play a crucial role in building a business's reputation and instilling trust in potential customers, with 93% of customers in today’s world having made buying decisions based upon an online review.   

Feedback serves as social proof and results in a business rating on Facebook. When someone is considering a product or service, they often turn to reviews to gauge its quality and reliability. Positive reviews can bolster a business's reputation, encourage trust, and sway potential customers in your favour. On the other hand, a low rating can highlight areas for necessary business improvement and lead to customer concerns. It has been shown that customers are more motivated by an online review than by a discount.

For businesses, actively managing and leveraging these recommendations is crucial. Responding on feedback clearly demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction and dedication to delivering a quality product or service.

A positive biproduct of recommendations is the increased visibility of your business and organic reach. When a recommendation is left for your business, the “reviewer” has the option to share it with friends, and this information will appear in their news feed too.

Furthermore, everything we are doing online will have an impact on SEO, and your ranking can improve the more user-generated content Google, for example, can read.

We have now established that the majority of the population is spending time on Facebook; they are using it for active buying and business decisions, and businesses have to embrace the power of recommendations on a Facebook business page. An easy future strategy would be to encourage reviews via targeted mailing (Facebook allows you to send a link directly to your recommendations tab) and encourage staff to pro-actively seek recommendations from customers. All of this will help your business reach the news feeds of more customers, and a final superpower of Facebook will be its advertising to reach exactly your target audience.

Advertising on Facebook

While organic growth can take time, Facebook's advertising capabilities take your outreach to the next level. With Facebook ads, you can pay for posts to promote your business/product or service and reach a highly specific audience, making sure your content reaches the people most likely to be interested in it. 

Advertising customisation is one of the key differences from traditional marketing, and Facebook has users profile information, including gender, age, relationship status, job, interests, location and much more, available for business to take advantage of.

As a business, you set an ad budget and bid for each click or number of impressions the ad receives. The possibilities are endless, and your ads can be targeted on news feeds, stories, messenger, or even the marketplace.

Facebook also offers several ad formats to suit your objectives. Images, video, carousel, and lead ads, to just name a few.

With Facebook's advertising tools, accessible via your Meta Business Suite, you can easily monitor the performance of your campaigns and use the data provided to refine your strategy and ensure you're reaching the right audience.

After all, Facebook had over 10 million active advertisers in the last year, and their global advertising revenue for 2022 stood at $113 Billion US Dollars.  

As a business questioning why, we can digest their low average cost per click ($1.72) and high conversion rate (9.21%).

Facebook ads have without a doubt become one of the most powerful tools for businesses, and they are vital to combine with your organic content strategy and customer engagement on the platform.

Conclusion

Facebook's reach is unmatched in the social media landscape. By understanding and leveraging its platform tools, businesses can unlock Facebook's true potential for growth and engagement. It's not just a platform; it's a community where connections are made and recommendations are shared. Whether you're a small business or a large corporation, expanding your online presence via Facebook is one of the most powerful steps to take for modern business, connectivity, and engagement.