The pandemic accelerated the growth of eCommerce. Millions of businesses opened virtual stores for the first time in history. As part of the world reopens, Facebook needs to develop new ways to help businesses reach more customers. At the same time, the platform also needs to promote the users’ privacy. Today, Dan Levy, Facebook’s VP for Ads and Business Products, outlines the 4 key focuses of Facebook’s product innovation.
Business Tools Beyond Marketing
Facebook knows that budget and time are both very important among businesses. That is why they need more tools besides buying ads and posting updates. As such, Facebook continues to develop products and tools based on their needs.
- Facebook Jobs allows businesses to announce job vacancies and hire within the platform.
- Facebook Business Suite helps brands run multiple channels across Facebook’s family of apps.
- Messenger API makes it easier to connect with customers through a unified inbox or single interface.
Commerce
The new normal looks forward to 1 out of 3 shoppers spending more time shopping online. Around 75% of shoppers today get ideas from Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. In fact, 1 billion people visit the Marketplace per month. That is why Facebook made its Shops available to the US Marketplace. Facebook is also developing AR ads to allow virtual try-ons of brands and products.
Privacy-Enhancing Technologies
Facebook leads the shift to personalized advertising. With the rising concern on data privacy, the platform also focuses on developing privacy-enhancing technologies. This is to avoid sharing personal information but still show relevant ads among users. That is why it continually updates its privacy policies. It has also been adding new controls and safety features among users. To further enhance user privacy, Facebook collaborates with the following organizations:
- Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media (PRAM)
- World Federation of Advertisers (WFA)
- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Product & Business Discovery
Facebook Pages and Instagram for Business allow 200 million businesses to use free advertising tools within the platform. The platform recently made some eCommerce push like live shopping Fridays, optimize text per person ads, QR codes, quick replies, and payment links on Messenger, etc. The platform will continue to innovate to make things easier for businesses to build communities.
Facebook outlines 4 key focuses on product innovation on 07 July 2021.
Implications for Marketers:
Facebook’s products continually change but its mission remains the same. It aims to build meaningful connections between people and businesses. Marketers should take a careful look at Facebook’s product innovation. It can definitely help a brand grow and prosper.