New Study Shows that Facebook Marketing Works

Facebook has been the social media option of choice among consumers and those of us in the South Florida business marketing arena for quite some time now, but there has always been a question concerning the effectiveness of the integrated ad system offered by Facebook. Over the past few years, a myriad of studies have appeared showing Facebook marketing effectiveness as being generally considered either completely ineffective or marginally effective at best.

However, that may no longer be the case according to a new study published by ComScore–which paints a different picture indeed.

During a recent study concerning Starbucks, it was found that users who had seen a series of unpaid marketing messages posted over a 4 week period were 38% more likely to go to their nearest Starbucks location and buy something than those users who had not seen the messages. This is a very important statistic when considering business marketing in south Florida, especially when it comes to small businesses and startups which may be lacking large marketing budgets. Whether you can afford a PPC campaign or not, posting your marketing messages in a non-paid location cost you nothing but a few minutes of your time and lead to a sizable return in the long run.

Speaking for PPC and other paid marketing options, the other half of ComScore’s study happened to cover just that. A major American retailer, which was not named in the study, reported an 16% increase in purchases at their brick-and-mortar stores among Facebook users who had been exposed to their paid marketing materials and a whopping 56% increase in online sales.

In spite of these promising numbers, Facebook still faces an image crisis with business marketers in South Florida and around the world. Over the past month several major corporations, most notably General Motors have very publicly announced the discontinuation of their Facebook marketing plans due to lack of returns.

So what do you think? Is Facebook a worthy investment of time and money as a marketing platform or should it be avoided like the plague? Let us know in the comments section below.