Online retailers should add Facebook-like networks to their arsenal

According to some experts social networks like Facebook can be used as an effective marketing tool taking into consideration that they contain huge bases of people who communicate with each other.

Facebook, with its 175 million users, is a source of valuable information for marketers. The site can provide data regarding the user’s location, friends, interests, holiday destinations and groups that they belong to. Thus, companies can concentrate on “pull” marketing rather than “push” marketing. Moreover, Blake Chandlee, commercial director for Facebook, says: “Progressive brands are seeing social networking as an opportunity to connect with consumers like never before. When information about a brand comes to you from a friend rather than from a corporation, it gives your brand a completely different level of credibility.” Nonetheless, the reverse is also true: when something goes wrong, the information is passed within a click of a mouse.

Taking into account the information provided by Forrester, the market researcher, the online sales in the UK will grow at a rate of 6 per cent a year, and will reach £56 billion by 2014. The number of online shoppers is predicted to reach 30 million this year, and 37 million by 2014. This might mean that companies should put more emphasis on using benefits offered by popular social networking.