The AMI-Partners Blog

With Mark Zuckerberg’s recent China trip, the most probable 2012-IPO-of-the-year, Goldman’s recent valuation of $50 B, over 3x more than Microsoft’s once-gasped-at 2007 valuation, as well as the recent frenzie behind Facebook’s new email capabilities, it is not a surprise to find that 60% of US SBs –roughly 4 M SBs –are leveraging Facebook to market and build brand awareness. It’s pretty simple to conclude that having a public Facebook page is a “De facto” now a day; we are even finding businesses without websites are using Facebook instead as a platform to market themselves. Based on – AMI’s new social media and cloud study – almost 2 in every 5 of those businesses using FB succeed, meaning they incur a positive boost in revenue but what happened to the other 60% who didn’t see any boost?

Perhaps Facebook is jumping the gun, and overestimating its brand loyalty and site intuitiveness amongst SBs? Regardless, Facebook is moving towards the correct direction with its email enhancement, but having a good user experience is basic. Is if I went to my favorite paella joint, Soccarat, and not getting that burnt crispy bottom texture when I order my mariscos paella – fail. Ultimately, SBs are using Facebook as a ‘relationship-building platform’ and wants to see the value-add (aka ROI) before being a true advocate. My question is if this is Facebook’s issue or Small Businesses’ issue for not utilizing this powerful platform more efficiently? For me, I believe it is both.

There are 2 ways I see that can help alleve the situation:

• With the potential $1B+ investment injection into Facebook, new tip and tricks offerings are anticipated and FB should focus on how to include features like getsatisfaction.com for SBs during this time. This is a pretty powerful tool for SBs who have only 1-4 employees, and now with a virtual customer service team to help increase their own customer satisfaction, kudos for Facebook.

   

• If all Facebook fails, SBs’ next technology investment will be their website. Majority of SBs who have a websites are utilizing providers like the Godaddy.com. Now wouldn’t it be a good opportunity than if companies such as Godaddy or HostGator roll out a bundle: baseline offering + Facebook Page Services? We are already seeing blogs/sites that provides SBs with advice on how to be successful on Facebook and I believe SBs will pay up for this additional service.

All in all, I’m definitely interested to see how this new round of funding will be put to use. Do I see e-commerce on Facebook.com?