The Story:
It started in June, when statistics suggested a considerable decline in the number of active Facebook users aged 18 to 44. All of a sudden, the whispers starting getting louder: “People are getting tired of Facebook”; “Facebook isn’t fun to use anymore”; “Privacy issues are forcing the younger crowd to turn away.”
Fast-forward a month. The July numbers indicate Facebook has completely recovered from its short-lived dip, adding three million users across all demographics, including the valued 18-44 range. Moreover, Facebook hit the 500 million active users mark in July, adding a whopping 100 million users in less than half a year.
What It Means For You:
Instead of getting caught up in the individual numbers, take a step back and try to look at the situation holistically. Avinash Kaushik sums it up perfectly when he says, “Two months do not a trend make.” We often see companies fall into the same trap over and over: they place too much emphasis on a single event or report – as some marketers did in June – and lose out on the big picture and long-term gains. Is Facebook on the decline? It hardly seems that way. But you won’t be able to spot relevant trends – and glean actionable insights – unless you take a step back, give trends some time to reveal themselves, and use deep dive analytics to ensure you get to the bottom of why the trends are occurring, not just that they are.
In fact, while Facebook’s numbers may ebb and flow, your company’s marketing strategy will be much more effective when guided by insights and trends specific to your campaigns. In essence, it’s not all about the overall industry numbers. Don’t say “Facebook doesn’t work”; rather, ask yourself, “Does Facebook advertising/presence work for this product, with this copy, in this context, at this time, in this market, with this audience segment, for my site?” Don’t concern yourself too much with the number of active users and how that shifts month to month – focus more on their engagement with you and your campaigns. That’s where the real return will be found.
Funny you mention the story of how “people are getting tired of facebook” I can’t tell you how many times I hear people around me discussing facebook and the words, “facebook is annoying” or “I have to get off facebook” come out of people’s mouths. Yet they seem to flock back to it day after day. So their dip was just that a short lived one.
As for marketing strategy, facebook is just one component of a strategy, or at least it should be. Activity in Facebook, combined with other social media should just be pieces to your overall marketing strategy. I agree with looking at the whole picture.