Facebook’s run to be “more than social media”

As Facebook successfully claims its place as an irreplaceable part of consumers’ lives, its director of North Asia Jayne Leung (pictured) said the platform is fully equipped to embark on the next stage.“Facebook is not just about social media,” she said.“For marketers, there are so many channels to choose from, and it’s all about reaching consumers. For sure, you can find a lot of people on Facebook, but our added value is in our ability to help marketers find whoever they want and accurately.”Currently, Facebook ads can be targeted by demographic, interests (which Facebook tracks by the subjects users have “liked”) and/or, a custom audience derived from the marketers’ own database; they can appear on the side or among users’ newsfeed – a feature that rolled out in Q3 of 2012.So far, it has proven to work: according to its latest financial results, Facebook’s revenue for Q2 of 2013 totalled US$1.81 billion, a 53% increase compared to the US$1.18 billion in Q2 of 2012.Leung said the success of its offering is partly made possible by users’ willingness to reveal their real identities on the platform.“We have really good momentum so far, and we’re focusing more on business metrics and helping marketers do brand building and drive sales,” she said, adding that education is still a large part of her job.“Just a year ago, online advertising was about clicks and social media was just for storing a bank of fans, but it’s not like that anymore: so both marketers and Facebook are both on a learning curve in terms of education an what we can offer.”For the full story, stay tuned for the September social media feature in Marketing magazine Hong Kong.