中國(guó)是未來(lái)Facebook的重要潛在紅利
????為了吸引潛在投資者,F(xiàn)acebook首席運(yùn)營(yíng)官雪莉?桑德伯格在該公司的首次公開(kāi)募股路演視頻中發(fā)表了振聾發(fā)聵的演說(shuō)詞:“在美國(guó),F(xiàn)acebook網(wǎng)站上的每一天都像是收視率最高的電視節(jié)目——《美國(guó)偶像》(American Idol)的總決賽,而且,我們的用戶數(shù)量還是它的兩倍?!边@種自夸極具沖擊力。但事實(shí)證明,桑德伯格的此番講話還是相當(dāng)保守的。在美國(guó)和加拿大每天有1.88億用戶登錄使用Facebook,這個(gè)數(shù)字實(shí)際上相當(dāng)于《美國(guó)偶像》總決賽收視率的四到五倍,確實(shí)不是吹牛皮。 ????然而,桑德伯格的說(shuō)法也凸顯了一個(gè)問(wèn)題。據(jù)業(yè)內(nèi)人士估計(jì),美國(guó)偶像的賽季壓軸帶來(lái)了超過(guò)4,000萬(wàn)美元的廣告收入。而去年,拿Facebook的典型一天來(lái)說(shuō),僅僅收入560萬(wàn)美元。因此,保守計(jì)算,在??怂梗‵ox)電視臺(tái)舉辦的這檔節(jié)目中,每一雙盯著參賽者們?cè)谖枧_(tái)上假意哭泣的眼球所帶來(lái)的利潤(rùn)超過(guò)Facebook用戶在網(wǎng)站上點(diǎn)擊查看親戚朋友是否安好而替該公司所帶來(lái)盈利的至少30倍。Facebook不只是落后于電視。它高達(dá)9億的用戶每人每年只為公司帶來(lái)略高于4美元的收入。比較而言,谷歌(Google)的用戶每人每年為公司創(chuàng)造的毛利至少超過(guò)它的7倍。也就是說(shuō),F(xiàn)acebook的高額利潤(rùn)只是來(lái)自于它的巨大規(guī)模,而并不意味著它是一家特別高效的廣告媒體。 ????當(dāng)Facebook力圖證明它有能力成為一家市值突破1,000億美元并能維持這一高位的公司時(shí),它實(shí)際上面臨著巨大的挑戰(zhàn)。首先,這家社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)公司必須找到一種方式提高其廣告業(yè)務(wù)的增長(zhǎng)速度。該公司最新財(cái)季的廣告收入增速下滑到45%,幾乎只有去年同期的一半。同時(shí),公司現(xiàn)在還面臨用戶從網(wǎng)站快速轉(zhuǎn)向移動(dòng)設(shè)備的不利局面,在移動(dòng)領(lǐng)域它的商業(yè)化還處在起步階段。總之 對(duì)于它所做出的承諾,對(duì)于它擁有的徹底改變各種行業(yè)的潛力,F(xiàn)acebook必須向廣告客戶和投資者們證明它有能力提供與其擁有的龐大社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)相匹配的全球性廣告業(yè)務(wù)。目前,F(xiàn)acebook網(wǎng)絡(luò)社交平臺(tái)已經(jīng)成為約占全球七分之一人口日常生活的一部分。 ????可以肯定的是,F(xiàn)acebook是一個(gè)卓越的社交樞紐,而它作為廣告媒體沒(méi)那么光彩奪目的原因在于設(shè)計(jì)。創(chuàng)始人扎克伯格總是不遺余力地打造Facebook這個(gè)平臺(tái),有時(shí)甚至不惜犧牲公司的廣告業(yè)務(wù)。但是現(xiàn)在Facebook上市在即,以后他的團(tuán)隊(duì)必須向投資者提交令人滿意的財(cái)務(wù)報(bào)表,就這一點(diǎn)而言他們會(huì)面臨巨大壓力。因此,他應(yīng)該著眼于以下三個(gè)方面: 第一:廣告業(yè)務(wù) ????Facebook廣告已經(jīng)成為各種在線陳列廣告攻勢(shì)的籌碼,但公司必須向這些廣告客戶們證明其廣告位會(huì)提供豐厚的回報(bào),這樣才能讓其廣告業(yè)務(wù)由客戶的嘗試性購(gòu)買轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐淮笈髽I(yè)廣告業(yè)務(wù)策略的基石。 ????去年,F(xiàn)acebook的廣告業(yè)務(wù)推廣策略已經(jīng)發(fā)生了變化?,F(xiàn)在公司不僅僅是派銷售人員帶著廣告清單出去兜售,而是開(kāi)始聘請(qǐng)懷揣MBA學(xué)歷并且在業(yè)內(nèi)擁有豐富經(jīng)驗(yàn)、受廣告商青睞的人士擔(dān)任公司的“公關(guān)經(jīng)理”。這些人對(duì)他們的客戶不叫“廣告客戶”,而是稱作“合作伙伴”。他們建議大型公司,比如寶潔(Procter & Gamble),不要只盯著社交網(wǎng)站上的消費(fèi)者“喜好”,而是要多留意消費(fèi)者們?cè)贔acebook上說(shuō)的話、做的事哪些與自己的品牌相關(guān),也就是說(shuō)消費(fèi)者與品牌之間發(fā)生的故事。Facebook相信,如果各大品牌能夠在粉絲頁(yè)面和應(yīng)用上發(fā)起這樣的討論,寶潔這樣的公司就會(huì)順理成章地購(gòu)買更多的廣告服務(wù)。 |
????In Facebook's video IPO roadshow, Sheryl Sandberg, the company's chief operating officer, delivers a powerful line intended to impress potential investors: "In the United States, every day on Facebook is like the season-finale of American Idol -- the most popular show on television -- times two." It's an impactful boast, but as it turns out, Sandberg is playing it pretty safe. Every day, 188 million people log into Facebook in the U.S. and Canada. That's actually four to five times the number who tuned in to the season finale of American Idol. Wow, indeed. ????And yet, Sandberg's boast also highlights a problem. American Idol's season finale brought in more than $40 million in advertising, according to industry estimates. On a typical day last year, Facebook (FB) took in just $5.6 million or so in the U.S. So conservatively, each set of eyeballs trained on the mewling of contestants on Fox is worth at least 30 times more than those checking in with friends and family on Facebook. And it's not just television that Facebook lags behind. Every one of its 900 million users generates a little more than $4 in revenue for Facebook in a year. By comparison, Google (GOOG) grosses at least 7 times more from each one of its users. In other words, Facebook makes gobs of money because of its massive reach, not because it is a particularly effective advertising medium. ????As Facebook seeks to justify and sustain a mammoth valuation that seems certain to top $100 billion, it faces enormous challenges. First and foremost, the social networking service must find a way to accelerate the growth of its advertising business, which slowed to 45% in the most recent quarter from nearly twice that rate the year before. And it must do so in the face of headwinds from the rapid shift of users from the Web to mobile devices, where Facebook's monetization efforts are still nascent. In short, for all its promise and its potential to revolutionize entire industries, Facebook must prove to advertisers and investors that it can build a global ad business to match the power of a social networking product that has become a habit for nearly one of every seven people on the planet. ????To be sure, the fact that Facebook's advertising prowess lags behind its preeminence as a social hub is by design. Zuckerberg has always made the Facebook product his top priority, sometimes at the expense of the company's ad business. But now that Facebook will be a public company, his team will be under enormous pressure to deliver financial results that keep investors happy. Here are three things he should focus on to achieve that. No. 1 Advertising ????Facebook ads have become table stakes for any online display advertising campaign, but as these ads move from experimental purchases to the cornerstone of many advertising strategies, Facebook must show to advertisers that these spots deliver significant returns. ????In the past year, Facebook's approach to advertising has changed. Now, rather than simply sending salespeople out to sell its ad inventory, Facebook has begun to hire MBA-carrying "relationship managers" with experience in the industries from which the advertisers hale. These folks call their clients "partners" instead of "advertisers" and encourage large bands like Procter & Gamble (PG) to stop chasing "Likes" and, instead, look at what people are actually saying and doing on Facebook that relates to them -- engagement. Facebook believes that if brands can jumpstart these conversations on fan pages and within apps they'll naturally buy more ads. |