Facebook launches new site for businesses and Australian user data
Helen Crossley
Facebook has launched a specific website aimed at businesses and revealed its first detailed local research claiming the social media platform accounts for 12 per cent of users’ digital media consumption and 63 per cent of people engage with brands there.
The global launch of Facebook for Business, aimed at giving businesses clear guidelines, statistics and case studies of best practice, follows the release of data on how its 12 million monthly active users in Australia engage with the platform.
Helen Crossley, who leads measurement and insights for Facebook in Australia and New Zealand, presented the data in Sydney yesterday, highlighting trends in research of over 1,000 Australian users conducted with TNS, Roy Morgan and Nielsen in August.
The research, which follows a less detailed study conducted two years ago, found 70 per cent access Facebook from their mobile phones and around 88 per cent browse the platform while watching TV, 38 per cent doing so regularly.
Crossley said: “The question for brands and advertisers is how do you synergise your messaging across TV and Facebook? Brands need to think about that. Maybe their ears are listening to the TV ads but eyeballs are on mobile.”.
Facebook will look to share data with TV networks in Australia following The Wall Street Journal’s reports about the platform doing so in the US, Crossley has said, as digital increasingly competes with television for viewers.
Further trends highlighted by the research found 77 per cent of Australian users post photos to the site, and there has been a 53 per cent rise in the number of people who “check in” from various locations while using Facebook for mobile.
The study also found that while 69 per cent of Australian users are on the platform to keep in touch with friends and family, almost as many, 63 per cent, engage with brands on the site.
Facebook has also made changes to the site’s News Feed algorithm this week to ensure people see more articles that are relevant to their interests.
Around a third of Aussie users use the platform to keep updated with news and current affairs, the research showed, and 40 per cent of Australian users post news articles on the site. One in 10 people reading news online at News.com.au site are driven there via a link published on Facebook.
Breaking down the user demographics, Crossley said Australian mothers check the site 20 per cent more than the average user, and 90 per cent of youths 14-24 consider it to be their main social network.
Over the last year Facebook Australia’s Sydney team has doubled in size as it looks to drive revenue onto the platform from local advertisers.
63 percent of Australian users engage with brands on Facebook?
Please can you prevail upon FB to show us some evidence for this and perhaps ask them what they mean by “engage”. I’ve engaged with brands on facebook three times in the last 12 months, each time it was to complain or vent about poor service when I couldn’t “engage” with the brand due to death by call centre – a useful conduit. It’d be going to far to cite the Emperor’s new clothes but these tailors should do something to demonstrate credibility.
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