DESIGN AUDIT

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

SUBMITTED BY: DANIYAL ALAM

Submitted by DANIYAL ALAM
By Doreen Owolabi-Ajao
ROLL NO: P1591011
Student ID:0611111

DM5562 Strategic Design Management and Research

CONTENTS
Page Title Page Title
3 About Facebook 23 Facebook Design
4 Introduction 24 Logo
4 Mission Statement 25 Home Page
4 Objectives 26 Mobile Devices App
4 Service Overview 27 Registration/Lon In page
28 Investment in Design
5 Services
6 Facebook Website 29 Conclusion
7 Facebook App 30 Conclusion
8 Facebook Developer Platform
9 Facebook Ad System 31 References
10 Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs
11 Product Mix 32 References
12 Marketing mix
13 Product Life Cycle

14 Competitor Analysis
15 Potential Entrants
15 Substitutes
15 Industry Competitors
16 SWOT Analysis
17 PEST Analysis
18 Barriers to Entry

19 Customer Analysis
20 Facebook Worldwide
21 Customer Segmentation
22 Personas
2
ABOUT FACEBOOK
Introduction

Facebook is a social networking service provider that was founded on 4th February 2004 by Mark
Zuckerberg and four fellow Hardvard University students - Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum,
Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. It started as a college project website where membership
access was restricted to Harvard University students, as its popularity grew access spread to Ivy
League Universities in the Boston area such as Stanford University. Eventually, as its support
grew, its popularity spread worldwide and on 26th September 2006 Facebook was made available
worldwide to anyone over the age of 13 years old.

This service allows users to register and create their own personal profile, search for friends
and family and connect with them through a messaging service or by posting messages on
each other’s walls. They can also join groups based on common interests. It has now become
common for organisations, politicians and celebrities to own a Facebook page; it is used as a vital
communication tool for Public Relations and Marketing.

Facebook’s service was initially delivered through a website. The rapid increase in demand for
their service, along with the growth of technology, caused them to develop their product range
and the service is now also available as an App. This allows users to access Facebook on the go
through their smart mobile phones and tablets.

3
ABOUT FACEBOOK
Mission Statement Service Overview
Facebook’s mission is to Facebook offer their services in four main ways. Primarily they are a Social Networking
“Give people the power to share and to Service Website that allows friends, families and businesses to network all over the
make the world more open and connected.” world. The rapid development in technology propelled them to also offer the Social
Networking Service through a mobile app that can be accessed through smart mobile
phones, tablets and iPods.
Facebook has its own Developer’s Platform that allows developers to create apps and
Objectives websites that can integrate with Facebook’s Social Network Service.
The forth service that Facebook offer is the ability for Marketers to advertise different
Users products on Facebook’s website and apps. Due to the fact that Facebook holds large
Allow millions of users to stay connected with amounts of data on their users and tracks their lifestyle, Marketers can easily channel
friends and family around the world. their products to the correct segment of the market.
Developers
Can use Facebook Platform to develop
applications (apps) and websites that combines
with Facebook’s global network of users.
Marketers
Allow Marketers to reach out to huge amounts
of Facebook users’ information that is relevant
to their company in order to enhance the value
of their products and advertisements.
Overall
Be the leading Social Network Service
provider that enables faster, easier and richer
communication, making it an essential part of
daily life.

4
SERVICES
SERVICES
Facebook Website
Facebook was launched as a Social Networking website that people can access by using their
personal computers. This method of accessing Facebook is still very popular; for example in the
Facebook Q3 2013 Quarterly Report, 315 million users access Facebook through their personal
computers each month. However, this method of accessing Facebook is in decline; this accounted
for only 26% of access, while the other 74% of users accessed Facebook by using mobile apps.

These are the key features of their website:

Account Personalisation Timeline Check in

When you register with Facebook you are The timeline keeps a record of the activities You can alert your friends as to where you
prompted to personalise your account by and pictures you put on Facebook, allowing the are by ‘Checking In’ at various locations and
choosing what name or nickname you want. user to look back and reminisce about the past. Facebook will publish it on your profile page.
You can add a profile picture, cover photo and
update your status as often as you want. Search Privacy Settings
There is a search option that allows the user to The user can modify their privacy settings
Photos and video search for other friends, families or groups that by choosing who can see their profile page,
The user can express themselves and their are part of Facebook in order to connect and personal details, pictures and you can contact
interests by uploading photographs and videos network with a wider range of people. them.
of themselves or things they find interesting.
Newsfeed
Messaging – chat, email, texting The Newsfeed keeps you up-to-date with what
You can send instant messages to your friends your friends are doing by alerting the user
using the Chat facility; activate text messaging anytime their friends update their profile page.
through Facebook and even sign up for a free
email address that will end with @facebook.
com.

6
SERVICES
Facebook App
An App is a software application designed for mobile devices such as smart mobile phones and
tablets. This technology is extremely popular and this is the most common way that Facebook
users access the site. In December 2012, 680 million users accessed Facebook by solely using a
mobile app, and by Q3 2013, this grew to 874 million users; accounting for 74% of the way users
view Facebook.

The mobile app provides the user with the same facilities as the website, but it is delivered in a
simpler layout.

7
SERVICES
Facebook Developer Platform
The Facebook Developer Platform provides tools for developers and Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs) that allow developers to create social apps and websites that integrate with
Facebook. Over 10 million apps and websites are integrated with Facebook, Facebook Annual
Report 2012.

Below are the key features of Facebook Developer Platform.

Monetisation Open Graph Social plugins

An online payment infrastructure is provided This allows developers to create apps and Social plugins are features such as ‘Like’ buttons
to enable developers to receive payments websites that share the users’ activities with that developers can easily add using a few
from their users in an easy, secure and trusted friends on Facebook. When the user performs HTML lines of code that adds a personalised,
environment. Users are able to pay through key activities on the developers site these events social element to their product in order to make
debit and credit cards, PayPal, mobile phone can be displayed on Facebook’s Timeline and the user experience more engaging.
payments and gift cards. However, this comes News Feed. This promotes the developers site
at a cost; the developers will have to pay and helps to increase their user number.
Facebook up to 30% of each purchase their
users make.

8
SERVICES
Facebook Ad System
Facebook’s Ad System enables businesses to send adverts to large amounts of people and aim
it towards appropriate users in order to engage with the correct target market.

Below are the key features of the Ad System:

Facebook Ad Analytics Social context Redirection

Allows marketers to track and optimize the Marketers can allow users to interact with their Businesses can direct user to specific content,
performance of their adverts. They can see adverts by allowing them to like or comment on destination webpage or Facebook page when
which adverts were clicked on, and modify their their Facebook page. they click on the advert
campaigns to maximize their results
Price Location
Facebook Insights Marketers can indicate the maximum price Adverts can be placed in multiple locations; on
Allows marketers to view the performance of they’re willing to pay per advert, per click, per the right-hand side of the screen and in News
their Page and posts. They can see the users number of times its displayed or by maximum Feeds
that ‘Like’ or comment on their pages and which budget
stories were shared.

9
MASLOW’S HIERACHY OF NEEDS
Being a Social Networking Service, Facebook meets a number of social needs; these are identified
in the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs diagram below.

10
PRODUCT MIX

Augmented
Product
Free Age
Access Restriction
Actual Product

Chat Logo

Core Product Photos Live

and Video Updates
Privacy Website
Connecting Networking
Settings
Entertainment
App Blue
Colour
Socialise
Professional
Messaging
Style
Multiple
Mobile User Friendly
Accounts
Access Interface

Computer
Access

11
MARKETING MIX

Product Price
Their products are social The social networking website
networking website, mobile and app are free for users. The
devices app, developers platform marketers pay according to how
and advertising system Their products many times their adverts are viewed.
are social networking website, mobile The developers pay 30% of the
devices app, developers platform revenue they make when their
and advertising system users make a purchase

Marketing
Mix
Place Promotion
Available all over the world, Facebook has gone viral and word of
anywhere with an Internet connection. mouth is its main form of promotion.
Can visit the website by using a Current users invite their friends to
personal computer, or by using join Facebook. They also market
mobile devices such as tablets their advertising and developers
and mobile devices. services by hosting events and
conferences for marketers
and developers

12
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
Facebook is now at its maturity stage. According to Facebook’s 2012 annual report its rate of
growth is now slowing down and it’s expected to decline in the future. For example its revenue
grew 154% from 2009 to 2010, 88% between 2010-2011, and 37% between 2011–2012.
It is trying to diversify because its competitors are becoming more aggressive and gaining a large
segment of the market.

It introduced internet.org, which is a “global partnership dedicated to making Internet access

available to two thirds of the world not yet connected.” Internet.org This will dramatically increase
their ability to gain more customers as they will be able to reach people they were previously
unable to reach.

13
COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Potential Entrants Industry Competitors
Path is a social networking app for mobile phones Facebook’s main Social Networking Site competitors are Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+
only. Users can share photos and message up Pinterest, Tumblr. They are in direct competition with Facebook but at the moment
to 150 contacts. Launched in November 2010 Facebook still have the highest amount of users.
it is relatively new to the market and with 20
million registers users, it doesn’t pose a threat Below are the Top 6 Social Networking sites and the number of monthly active users
to Facebook just yet, however social mobile they received in quarter 4, 2011.
apps is a rapidly growing market and it offers a
different user experience for customers.

Substitutes
When it comes to social mobile apps, facebook
is not the most popular; apps that do one thing,
e.g. messaging, are performing well. They
provide good substitutes for Facebook as they
are easier to navigate, however their user Monthly Active Users
numbers are still not as high as Facebook.

Competitors in this area are:

(millions)

1. WhatsApp - cross-platform mobile messaging

app
2. BBM - messaging app originally made for
blackberry users only but is now
available for android and iPhones.
3. Skype - free internet voice and video calling

140.5
4. Viber - free calls, text messaging, photo
800

250

200

150

125
and location sharing done over an
internet connection. Social Networking Site

15
SWOT ANALYSIS

S TRENGTHS
- Globally recognised brand
W EAKNESSES
- Lack of security; there have been
numerous cases of users’ profiles being
- They had 1.06 billion monthly users in hacked into.
2012, a 25% increase from 2011
- They are involved in various lawsuits,
- They generate substantial revenue from claims, and investigations
advertising and fees from developers.
- Fake accounts can be easily made,
- Trading on the NASDAQ since May 2012, allowing people to hide their true identity.
and on the Fortune 500 list
- Some children are subjected to Facebook
- They have their own data centres bullying

O PPORTUNITIES
- There is a huge increase in the use of
T HREATS
- Virus, Malware, hacking, Phishing attacks
mobile apps - Competitors such as Twitter, LinkedIn
- They have filed various applications to and Google+
protect their Intellectual Property in USA - New apps are continuously being brought
and abroad, and they currently hold a into the market each month.
number of patents - Facebook has been available for almost
- They collect a lot of data about customers 10 years so they have to work hard to
and user behaviours worldwide, which keep users engaged otherwise the
can be used to generate revenue number of users may start to decline

16
PEST ANALYSIS

P
Political
Even though Facebook has to legally protect users data the government still has certain rights over the data and
often use Facebook as a tool to spy on specific users. Between January and June 2013 the US Law enforcement
agency requested information about 20,000 users, of which Facebook honored 79% of these requests. Under
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the Patriot Act the US National Security Agency are permitted to
gain access to this information.

E
Economic
There is a recession all over the world and some of the most powerful countries are still in deficit. This has a
huge effect on businesses as it causes interest rates and inflation rates to increase. Many companies are cutting
back on their expenses; marketing budgets are usually the first to be cut. This will affect Facebook because they
make a substantial amount of revenue from fees made from advertisements. This can result in a large reduction
in their revenue.

S
Social
Facebook is used around the world, however majority of their users are in the Western world. For example, in
September 2012 they had 243.3 millions users in Europe where as in Africa they had 48.3 million users. This is
due to the fact that Facebook is delivered over the Internet and a significantly low amount of people has access
to the Internet in third world countries in comparison to the western world. Having personal computers, mobile
phones and tablets are seen to be luxury items in the third world. This potentially reduces Facebook’s income.

T
Technological
Facebook is facing huge competition from newer social networking services such as twitter. They have to be
ahead of the competition in order to stay relevant and be a strong competitor. To do this they have to invest large
amounts in research and development to be innovative in a rapidly growing market.

17
BARRIERS TO ENTRY
Product Differentiation Capital Requirements Access Distribution Channels
- The brand makes use of a professional blue - They have to invest a lot of money in innovation Facebook is accessible to majority of its users
colour and has a clean user-friendly interface. and technology to develop new ideas in order in Asia, Europe and America and gradually
It is also free to use, in comparison to some to respond to customer demand and compete penetrating the African market. It started initially
social networking app like Whatsapp. in the market. using an internet based website, but overtime it
has developed an app for mobile devices like
- It has an integrated communication strategy, - When demand for Facebook grew they began smart phone and tablet so users can access
which combines chatting and messaging generating more capital through floating shares their Facebook on a go in any part of the world,
facilities, picture and video upload, gaming, on the stock market and are making more profit provided they have access to Wi-Fi or internet
status updates, and searching for friends. All compared to other social networking sites. access. .
these features are embedded in Facebook to
compete with other popular sites and apps like - As a well-established and trusted brand
Twitter, Youtube, Whatsapp and BBM. Facebook is now at its maturity stage and needs
less investment on advertising campaign.

Government Policy Pricing Strategy

Facebook has access to over a billion users Their pricing strategy is price leadership.
information and in the UK they have to comply Essentially their social networking site is free
with required regulations such as the Data for the user. None of the other popular social
protection act 1998 and the Computer Misuse networking sites charge their customers so it
act 1990. They have to comply with US laws will be unwise for them to charge their users.
for data protection, aswell as the laws of the However, they make their revenue by charging
countries they operate in. Some countries advertisers and platform developers.
such as North Korea and Syria do not allow Advertisers: based on number of times the ad
Facebook to operate there. is displayed, number of clicks made by users.
Developers: facebook takes up to 30% when a
user makes a payment to a platform developer.

18
CUSTOMER
ANALYSIS
CUSTOMER ANALYSIS
Facebook Worldwide
Facebook is the world’s most popular social networking site; With 1155 million active monthly
users in Q2 2013 . 219 million monthly active users access Facebook solely through their mobile
phone app
( Facebook quarterly earnings Report Q2 2013)

The graph below shows how their montly active users are distributed all over the world:

20
CUSTOMER ANALYSIS
Customer Segmentation
The graphs below show how Facebook’s users are segmented:

21
PERSONAS
The Young Student
Ripa Patel

Age: 23 years old

Profession: International Masters student
Interests: Music, netball, theatre, sightseeing and socialising
Uses Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends back home. She made a theatre lovers
group on Facebook, where her and her friends discuss about the theatre plays they’ve been to,
make recommendations and plan monthly events. She likes to post pictures of her nights out in
London

The Over 45
Alecia Baker

Age: 54 years old

Profession: Nurse
Interest: Baking, charity work, dancing and babysitting her grandchildren.
Uses Facebook to connect with her family in America and the Caribbean. She spies on her
daughters’ profile pages to see what they’ve been up to. She also posts pictures of the cakes she
bakes and makes a small amount of money from friends occasionally asking her to bake birthday
cakes for their kids.
The Business Man
Alexander Dixon

Age: 35 years old

Profession: Marketing manager at Mixall
Interests: Football, socialising, traveling and computer games
Uses Facebook at work to gain user information to help improve is marketing campaign.
He also has a personal facebook page where he posts pictures of his holidays and keeps in
contact with his friends.
22
FACEBOOK
DESIGN
FACEBOOK DESIGN
Logo
Facebook’s logo was designed in 2005, by a San Francisco based design
company called Cuban Council.

The contrast
of the white
lettering on a blue
background it eye
catching and
memorable

Registered
Typography is bold Distinctive Blue trademark The logo above is a shortened form of
and white, which stands colour is professional, the main logo. The same font is used but
out well from the blue intellectual, trustworthy features only an ‘f’ for ‘Facebook’, on the
background and calm blue background for consistency. This
simpler form of the logo is commonly
used; it is used on the Facebook app and
Blue used in professional industries such as academic schools and universities, other websites.
medical industry and the Information technology industry

Other brand logos that use blue and white colour choice

24
FACEBOOK DESIGN
Registration/Log In Page Blue & White
colour scheme ties in with
brand logo

Brand Logo Existing users

can log in

Simple graphic to
emphasise message
of people connecting New Users
together can register

Page is clean and

uncluttered ‘Sign Up’ button
is green, which
inherently means
go

Simple Clean Professional Intuitive

25
FACEBOOK DESIGN
Home Page
Use of simple icons
in dark blue
Logo always stays
on top left-hand side
of page

Timeline bar for easy

navigation through page
history
User can
personalise page
with pictures

Blue hyperlinked text works

with colour scheme and
user instinctively knows
they’d be redirected to a
different page if clicked.
Information is grouped into
sections to help user find
what they are looking for
Simple and clear user-
friendly interface

Personal Social Consistency User-friendly

26
FACEBOOK DESIGN
Mobile Devices App
Vital phone information still
shows at the top

Blue bar on top resembles

website

Blue colour scheme follows

through to mobile app

Minimal information on the

screen so it is easier to
read

Small picture of users still

appear next to posts

Makes use of icons that

are easy to understand
instead of loads of writing

Icons on bottom of page

to navigate to a different
feature

27
DESIGN INVESTMENT
According to the Facebook Annual Report 2012, Facebook invests ‘significant amounts’ into
product development, personalisation technologies and mobile technologies. They have an
in-house team of User Interface designers and engineers, and highly skilled computer scientists
that help to help design new products and develop the existing products. They invest in researching
and developing new techniques and technologies that can improve the user experience.
Each year the amount of money they invest in research and development increases. In 2010 they
invested $144 million, in 2011 they invested $388 million, and in 2012 they invested $1.4 billion.

Facebook in 2005 Facebook in 2013

App for Smartphones
Logo
Logo

Website

Website App for Tablets

28
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Facebook is currently the most popular Social Networking Site. It has grown exponentially from
a small university wide website to a market leading Social Networking Site worldwide. With over
1 billion monthly active users in quarter 2 of 2012, and over $1.8 billion revenue in quarter 3 of
2013, Facebook is at the maturity stage of its life cycle.

Design is a key factor in their success as this has allowed them to continually provide an engaging
user interface and user experience for their website and mobile devices app. With the rapid growth
of technology, they have to continue to make huge investments into research and development
so that they can continue to design innovative product features that attract and engage the users.
This will be increasingly difficult as time goes on because the number of competitors in the social
networking industry is rapidly growing, and Facebook has been around for almost ten years.
Customers might get bored and move on to the next trend, so they have to work hard continue to
innovate and retain their customer in order to stay at the top of the market.

Overall, Facebook is a successful company with a strong and memorable brand identity. Their
emphasis on design and research and development has helped to make them successful so far.
Having a developer’s platform and advertising tool has been hugely beneficial as this is where
they make majority of their profit from. Their mobile app is also very popular and I will recommend
they continue to invest in designing mobile technology, advertising technology and technology for
the developers.

30
REFERENCES

31
REFERENCES
Facebook. (2013) Facebook Docs. [Online]. Available from:
https://Developers.facebook.com/docs. [Accessed 20th November 2013]

Facebook. (2013) Facebook Docs. [Online] Available from:

https://Developers.facebook.com/docs. [Accessed 20th November 2013]

Facebook. (2012) Facebook Annual Report 2012. [Online]. Available from:

http://investor.fb.com/annuals.cfm. [Accessed 18th November 2013]

Facebook. (2013) Facebook Quartely Earnings Slides, Q3 2013. [Online]. Available from:
http://investor.fb.com/results.cfm. [Accessed 18th November 2013]

ebizmba. (2013) Top 15 Most Popular Social Networking Sites. [Online]. Available from:
http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites. [Accessed: November 30th 2013]

Apple. (2013) Itunes Store Top 10 Apps – Social Networking. [Online]. Available from:
http://www.apple.com/euro/itunes/charts/apps/top10appstoresocialnetworking.html. [Accessed November 30th
2013]

B2B Digital Marketing. (2013) Three Reasons Marketing is the First Budget Cut. [Online] Available from:
http://b2bdigital.net/2013/01/29/b2b-marketing-budget/. [Accessed: December 4th 2013]

NBC News (2013) Facebook: US Government requests info on more than 100 users per day. [Online]. Available from:
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/facebook-us-government-requests-info-more-100-users-day-8C11016738.
[Accessed December 3rd 2013]

Internet World Stats. (2013) Facebook Users in the World. [Online] Available from:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/facebook.htm. [Accessed: December 3rd 2013]

Internet.org. (2013) intertnet.org. [Online]. Available from:

http://internet.org. [Accessed: December 5th 2013]
32
REFERENCES
Colour Affects. (2014) Psychological Affects of Colours. [Online]. Available from:
http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours. [Accessed: January 3rd 2014]

Printwand (2014) What’s the hidden meaning behind your logo colour scheme. [Online] Available from:
http://www.printwand.com/blog/whats-the-hidden-meaning-behind-your-logo-color-scheme. [Accessed January 3rd
2014]

Cuban Council. (2014) We made it, Mark. [Online]. Available from:

http://www.cubancouncil.com/work/project/facebook-logo. [Accessed: January 3rd 2014]

All Facebook (2014) Who Developed the Original Facebook Logo?. [Online]. Avalable from:
http://allfacebook.com/who-developed-the-original-facebook-logo_b37132. [Accessed: January 3rd 2014]

Images:
LRTV. (2014) Latinos ready to vote. [Online]. Available from:
http://latinosreadytovote.com/the-gray-and-the-brown-the-generational-mismatch/. [Accessed: January 5th 2014]

ICIS. (2014) Are you wearing a tie to NPRA. [Online]. Available from:
http://www.icis.com/blogs/icis-chemicals-confidential/2009/03/are-you-wearing-a-tie-to-npra/. [Accessed: January
5th 2014]

Smartphones Epicentre. (2014) Facebook application. [Online]. Available from:

http://www.smartphonesepicenter.com/mark-zuckerberg-denies-rumors-of-a-facebook-smartphone/. [Accessed:
January 5th 2014]

Video Jug. (2014) How to use the Facebook app. [Online]. Available from:
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-use-the-facebook-iphone-app. [Accessed: January 5th 2014]

Facebook. (2014) Facebook Developers. [Online]. Available from:

https://developers.facebook.com/images/devsite/developers_og_image.png. [Accessed: January 5th 2014]

Ju-Chun Ko. (2014) Facebook Developer Heroes. [Online]. Available from:

http://www.juchunko.com/facebook-developer-heroes/. [Accessed: January 5th 2014]
33