Facebook in the macro environment and brand PDF

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Essay on fabebook macro environment and branding....

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Facebook in the macro environment The analysis and monitoring of how Facebook can perform in the macro environmental market can be conducted using different models. The model that has been chosen is the PESTEL analysis which includes the analyses of different aspects such as political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors. From a political perspective, the major factors that can be considered are the political stability in developed countries and the political barriers in certain countries. The political stability in a country can guarantee Facebook to continue the diversification of its business in those markets. In other countries, Facebook can face the political barriers that are imposed. For example, in China, North Korea and Iran Facebook is banned. Another aspect to consider is the respect of laws and regulations issued by the government of a country. In these markets, the potential growth of the company is limited because of their censorship. Without the respect of laws and regulations, Facebook cannot operate as it can face sanctions or, in the worst case, a censorship like it happened in China. Therefore, the plan is prepared predominately for countries with political stabilities. From an economic perspective, countries with a favourable economic condition are targeted as they can guarantee a growth to the business of Facebook. Moreover, the aspects that Facebook can benefits from are the economic stability of developed countries and the economic growth of developing countries. A country with a stability in its economy can guarantee a safe administration of Facebook business operations. The economic growth in developing countries can be used as an opportunity to establishing new activities within these markets. From a legal perspective, the major aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is the privacy issues. In recent years, Facebook had many problems related to violation of privacy. Facebook pages are fulfilled with plenty personal information and the protection of those data is a concern as Facebook had many cases related to data infringement and sensitive data theft. In recent years, especially in the EU and in the USA, a great number of cases of data violation have been reported with a consequent concern in joining the social network from many individuals. The protection of users data is essential as the plan is designed to guarantee safe business operations within the social network. From a social perspective, Facebook is a place where billions of people connect with each other every day. The users can stay always stay in touch with friends, family and relatives wherever they are in the world as long as they can have access to the internet. This social network is a place where you can socialise but also, a place where businesses can create and advertise their products and services. In particular, small businesses have the advantage that, through the help of Facebook, they can grow and connect with their customers and also provide services in better ways. From a technological perspective, Facebook core activities are based online as it is a social network. In recent years, with the growth of popularity of mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, users have a more attitude to prefer the use of those mobile devices instead of using desktop computers or laptop. The use of mobile applications keeps growing

and Facebook needs to keep its application always up to date and easy to use so that users have the possibility to use the social network on their devices without problems and without complications. From an environmental perspective, Facebook needs to take into consideration sustainability tools to satisfy concerns regarding the natural environment. Moreover, with the growth of complexity of waste disposal standards, the company should give attention how they can increment their waste disposal policies regarding their corporate operations. Also, the company have the commitment to keep improving their corporate social responsibility policies.

Brand Since its foundation, Facebook has been able to grow its brand from a small social media to one of most valuable brands in the world. In terms of the positioning of the company, Facebook is currently recognised as the most used social media on the internet. Following the statistic of Smartinsight (2016), Facebook is recognised as the social platform leading in terms of popularity, engagement and usage. In particular, the social media occupy the 61% of the social media market share. Regarding Facebook products, the company has managed in the last few years to acquire brands like Instagram, Messenger, Whatsapp and Oculus. Facebook is built on five core values: be bold, focus on impact, move fast, be open and build social values. Those brand values are a key aspect of the company as they guide the way the social network works and the decisions made every day toward the mission statement accomplishment. Important to consider is the brand equity. Facebook Brand equity is listed in a framework composed of five categories, which are loyalty, perceived quality, associations, brand awareness and online experience. The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, revealed in 2014, Facebook ambitions for three, five and ten year time. In details, in the next three years, the aim was to continue Facebook growth and serve existing communities and businesses to help them reach their full potential. In the next five years, the aim was to focus on the development of its products (Instagram, Messenger, Whatsapp and Oculus) with the final objective to make them become important businesses on their own. In the next ten years, the ambition is the achievement of the goal, which is the connection of the whole world and the development of next generations of computing platforms.

Ref. Academy, P. (2016). Marketing Theories - PESTEL Analysis. [online] Professionalacademy.com. Available at: http://www.professionalacademy.com/blogs-and-advice/marketing-theories---pestelanalysis [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Facebook.com. (2016). Facebook's 5 Core Values | Facebook. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1655178611435493.1073741828.1633466236940064 [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Lardinois, F. (2016). Facebook Continues To Dominate Social Logins, Expands Lead To 61% Market Share. [online] TechCrunch. Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/27/facebookdominates-social-logins/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Shontell, A. (2016). Mark Zuckerberg Just Revealed His Grand Vision For The Next 10 Years Of Facebook. [online] Business Insider. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/zuckerbergs-3-5-and10-year-facebook-plan-2014-10?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Smart Insights. (2016). Global Social Media Statistics Summary 2016. [online] Available at: http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-socialmedia-research/ [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Jensen, T. (2014). Facebook brand equity: “A study of how to utilize social media to improve brand equity” [pdf]. Available at: http://studenttheses.cbs.dk/bitstream/handle/10417/5194/thomas_jensen.pdf?sequence=1 [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016]. Young, J. (2016). Facebook Inc. PESTEL/PESTLE Analysis, Recommendations - Panmore Institute. [online] Panmore Institute. Available at: http://panmore.com/facebook-inc-pestel-pestle-analysisrecommendations [Accessed 14 Dec. 2016].

SWOT Analysis

Strengths -

More than 1.4 billion active users Available in more than 70 languages Includes mail, chat and web search Popular platform for advertisement and app development

Weaknesses -

Privacy issues Lack of website customisation Lack of monetisation sources (advertisement main source of monetisation) Inability to manage application feeds leading to clutter on the website

Opportunities -

Improve privacy policies Improve web search Improve mail and chat Diverse source of revenue Expand into new markets (ex. China, North Korea, Iran)

Threats -

People have privacy concerns with Facebook Risk of losing young users Users use ads-blocking features Competitors always trying to “steal” the company customer base...