As Facebook turns 10, Rupert Staines, European MD of digital advertising company RadiumOne looks at the social network’s biggest challenges ahead…
From a dorm room to a digital powerhouse in ten years, Facebook has had an unbelievable journey. And, despite them now competing with pretty much every player in the online space, Zuckerberg and his crew do need to be congratulated. They recognised the importance of human connection very early on, and without this, thousands of companies wouldn’t even exist and the digital advertising industry wouldn’t be half as prosperous.
However, the biggest challenge is still to come. Attracting over a billion users is a phenomenal achievement, but it is going to have to be incredibly canny with its advertising strategy moving forward. Mobile is clearly a major focus and its very strong financial results from last week have a great deal to with its success here. Striking the balance between creating enough advertising space, so that brands are attracted to invest and not annoying users with too many ads is undoubtedly tricky.
Facebook has played a major part in creating a world where audience is always connected. And, as a result, brands, publishers and agencies alike are rapidly cottoning on to the fact that they can reach their respective audiences with the right message at the right time. Facebook is naturally just one link, albeit a significant one, in the overall chain of online advertising when you consider the entire Open Web. So it needs to demonstrate it understands this concept of “connected audiences everywhere” to its potential advertisers in order to keep them coming through the door. Added to this, it is now across so many platforms and more presence means more plates to spin. It naturally has the technical ability, it’s just whether it has the capacity to maintain focus across all these different areas. If it does, there’s no reason why it can’t become one of the most successful advertising businesses of the next decade.
By Rupert Staines
European MD
RadiumOne
http://www.radiumone.com/