The persuading powers of Facebook

If you were to create your first profile in the world of social networking where would you immediately think of? Facebook. It’s the most common social networking site we use today and the first thing we think of. Facebook adds 500,000 new users every day, that’s 6 new people joins the site every second. We use Facebook as a way of connecting to people, all over the world, we may use it to let our friends know how were doing or share our latest life moments or find out the latest gossip from friends, celebrities, brands or even the news. Half of all internet users who don’t have Facebook live with someone who does- this just shows the drastic number of people who have been consumed by this social networking site that connects the world together today. And even of those people who don’t use Facebook, 24%  have admitted to looking at posts and photos through another person’s account. Some businesses use Facebook to create groups in which colleagues can discuss any information such as holiday hours or rotas made. Facebook has not only become a personal use but a business one as well.

Businesses now use Facebook to create pages to represent the brand and the products they offer. There are 40 million pages made by small businesses but only 20 million pays for advertising- why is this? Brands have clicked onto not needing to pay for advertising on Facebook as the minute their page is liked, the customers see every post. These posts will promote new products, offers and information to the public. They also use it as a means to speak directly to customers with any questions or issues they may have, this can make us feel more inclusive with the brand as we get a one to one conversation. It’s almost like becoming friends with a brand- so can following brands on Facebook entice us to buy products?

I’ll admit it myself- as I scroll through Facebook while eating breakfast and see a post of new shoes that have just come out or a discount code I can use to get 20% off, it’s like I can’t stop myself- it’s like a must have! If you think about it, most of us are on Facebook almost every day, when brands constantly post their latest product or amazing offers, it can lure us into making a purchase, especially if we know we deserve it.

Brands who do pay for advertising show up as sponsored posts on our home page- Facebook tracks the type of brands we follow and therefore allows similar brands to pop up on our sponsored posts. This introduces us to new brands that we may like and there goes another purchase.

Apart from brands who can use Facebook to entice us to purchase products, so can individuals. Almost all bloggers have social media pages, including Facebook. Some of us may feel that seeing products such as clothes on a normal every day person rather than a 6ft size 6 model can persuade us to purchase them as we truly see how the product looks rather than guessing whether it’s been photoshopped or changed in any way to make us want the product. So when bloggers/fashion fans or any individual posts pictures of products they often provide a link of where the product can be bought- this makes it too easy for us to purchase them!

Facebook accounts for 62% of social logins from consumers who want to sign into apps or websites of brands. This just shows that brands and websites are using Facebook as a means of signing in due to how popular this social networking site is. The power of this social network is vast and it truly can play a part in persuading us to purchase products in so many ways.

Keep a look out for my next blog post, what Twitter can do!