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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers

Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers in

Anini-y and San Jose Antique

A Research Plan

Presented to

Mr. Steven Paul V. Bacanto, Subject Teacher

St. Anthony’s College

San Jose de Buenavista, Antique

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Subject

Practical Research 2

By

Angel Grace O. Tongol, Bea S. Orcullo, Charles D. Solis,

Greshan B. Jubilan, Jazz Shanly R. Manzano, Princess Joana M. Fernandez

ABM 11 - St. Ignatius of Loyola

March, 2021
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers

A. Rationale or Problem Being Addressed:

Online selling is defined as the selling of products or services using the internet. However,

it is not simply just as selling for it also requires passion, expertise and marketing chops in order

to succeed (Fuscaldo, 2020). Facebook, being the largest social media site containing billions of

end users, became an excellent platform for online selling. It has been said that more than 80

million small businesses around the world are using Facebook Pages (Mohsin, 2021). Especially

nowadays that online selling has become rampant that some people even made it a lifestyle wherein

they can create a profit to provide for their families’ daily basic needs. Facebook became their

option, for people believed that it is the easiest way to sell their goods and truly opens a lot of

opportunities because it upholds various creative features. And on this ground, we will find out

how effective facebook could be in utilizing as a tool for online sellers to advertise and sell their

products.

B. Outcome/Hypotheses Goals/Expected

1. Goal/Objectives of the Study:

This study aims to find out the efficacy of Facebook to the online sellers in Anini-y and

San Jose Antique. Distinctively, this study seeks answers to the following question:

1. How can Facebook be efficient to the online sellers at Anini-y and San Jose Antique in

advertising, promoting and selling their products?

2. How can Facebook work as a viable and an effective marketing tool to the online sellers at

Anini-y and San Jose Antique in advertising, promoting and selling their products?
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
3. How can Facebook be efficient to the online sellers in advertising, promoting and selling

their products when grouped according to their location?

4. How can Facebook work as a viable and an effective marketing tool to the online sellers in

promoting and selling their products when grouped according to their location?

2. Hypothesis of the Study

The following hypotheses will be put forward:

1. Facebook has a large community, thus making online sellers reach a wide audience to

advertise, promote and sell their products.

2. Facebook is an effective and viable marketing tool for it upholds different features

such as: messaging, posting, liking, commenting, sharing, tagging, creating a Facebook page

and many others, wherein online sellers utilize for a creative way of attracting prospects and

customers.

3. Conceptual Framework of the Study

A diagram that shows the relationship of the key variables on efficacy of Facebook to the

online sellers in Anini-y and San Jose Antique is shown in Figure 1.

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Online Sellers
 Location Efficacy of Facebook
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
Figure 1. A conceptual framework on efficacy of Facebook to the online sellers in Anini-y and

San Jose Antique.

Review of Related Literature

The American Marketing Association defined marketing as “the activity, set of institutions,

and processes for creating, communicating, and exchanging offerings that have value for

customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” That is to say, marketing is all about creating

products and services that will provide the needs and wants of customers. In between 1930 and

1940, marketing was more on selling and advertising, however in due time it created a tremendous

market. Additionally, marketing also upholds advertising and sales wherein customers could

perceive different products and services a business offers.

In today’s technology driven world, social networking sites have become an avenue for

retailers to extend their marketing campaigns to a wider range of consumers (Paquette, 2013).

Undeniably, for the past years, social media sites have also become an important tool and platform

for business owners to market and advertise their goods and services (Calabia, 2020). Hence,

different platforms of social media have suddenly become crucial to different structures of

marketing.

The evolution of social media has taken place on people’s lives over the years. Merriam

Webster defined social media as “forms of electronic communication through which users create

online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content.” Also,

Maryville University asserts that today’s social media landscape is occupied and populated by
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
numerous services that grabs the attention of more than 5 billion mobile device users worldwide.

As can be seen, social media has truly existed to help people connect digitally to their friends and

families but later on quickly shifted its focus to videos, images and games for a particular reason

that technological improvements took place. Social media is a phenomenon that has transformed

the interaction and communication of individuals throughout the world (Rugova & Prenaj, 2016).

As different sites have taken places over individuals’ lives, not only it became a communication

tool but also an important part of marketing strategies in business life. The success of constant

growth of these platforms has paved the way for social networks to become known and wider each

and every day. Social media offers a good deal of functions and opportunities not just for the

people who benefit for it as a recreation but also for businesses that utilize it as a marketing tool.

The possibility to notify the customer of business’ products through the use of social

networking tools is defined as social media marketing (Mohammadian & Mohammadreza, 2012).

Social media marketing is a connection between brands and consumers that offers personal channel

and currency for user centered networking and social interaction (Chi, 2011). It is a powerful way

for any businesses to reach its possible prospects and customers with an easy way of reaching to

them. Since the evolution and growth of information technology with the internet, it made the

communication between companies and customers a lot easier. Moreover, the increasing number

of people using internet has also resulted to the increasing number of consumption (Nekatibeb,

2012). The tools and approaches for communicating with customers have changed greatly with the

emergence of social media; therefore, businesses must learn how to use social media in a way that

is consistent with their business plan (Mangold and Faulds 2019).

A myriad number of available social networks can be maneuver by people for social media

marketing, nevertheless Facebook still remains to be the largest one. At the present time, where
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
COVID-19 pandemic continues to rise, Facebook became salient and striking. It was founded in

2004 by Harvard students—Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dastin Moskovitz, and Chris

Hughes. Within 24 hours of launching it, many Harvard students had already signed up (Phillips,

2007). Facebook is an American company that offers social networking services and has founded

its way over the world with a various number of end users. Access to Facebook is free of charge

for anyone who wants to create profiles, upload photos, and communicate with others. The site has

also many components, such as Timeline, Status and News Feed wherein users and their friends

can post contents and messages, can update their status, location and situation, and can inform

users of any changes that occur to their friends’ profiles, respectively (Hall, 2021).

Correspondingly, Facebook’s management forbids the use of any false identities. Hence, it

encourages people to show transparency while communicating and sharing personal information

in order to build a user-friendly environment for all and can help create a better society. Its goal is

to become the operating system of the internet and to make the world more open and transparent

by giving everyone the right to share and connect (Laudon & Traver, 2008). Certainly, the site’s

features continue to grow and develop as years passed by. Based on the statistics, it is the leading

social platform, reaching 60.6 percent of internet users (Facebook, 2018). It is a tool that billions

of people use to connect, keep in touch, communicate, and share with their faraway friends,

relatives, work colleagues or even people they don’t know. Presently, Facebook has already

reached 2.80 billion users worldwide. People interact with Facebook on a daily basis that having

an account became a condition for and a part of everyone’s lives. As a matter of fact, Facebook

has definitely entered people’s lives, that in this point, it’s hard for them to imagine a life before

and without it. By all means, Facebook is indeed creative and essential, not only because it allows

people to find their dates; to easily share updates with their lives through posting images, videos
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
and statuses; to catch up with family and friends by video chatting; to create a personal portfolio;

or to acquire day-to-day information and news but for a particular reason that it connects more

people than any other platforms ever have, thereupon resulted to open social media marketing.

The use of social networks is becoming more and more popular among consumers (Fox et

al., 2010). Facebook, being the biggest social media site out there, gets its fair share of attention

from marketers as well (Mohsin, 2021). Also, social networks offer interesting perspectives for

marketers (Eisend and Küster-Rohde, 2008; Zhang, 2010), and it is not surprising that several

marketers already use Facebook as a marketing tool (Coca Cola, Red Bull, Audi, and others). On

the other hand, Facebook has more than 80 million small businesses around the world using

Facebook Pages (Facebook, 2018). Facebook pages has successfully become as an instrument for

business owners to market and advertise their products and services and to increase the online

presence of their business. Business owner’s main goal is to reach more people who can be their

potential customers in order to cater their needs that will certainly provide a good service.

Facebook’s marketing system is based on three elements and on the concept of a

transparent client as organizations can access users’ published personal information to target

exactly the right audience (Blech et al., 2009; Tapscott & Williams, 2008). The first elements are

the ads which are usually displayed in the news feed, where it shows to be more effective.

Facebook’s ads’ system is based on the possibility to target the exact audience the marketers want

to approach (Arreola, 2020). The second element is the pages. Pages offers organizations more

features than regular profiles. Users interact with brands through pages because they are looking

for incentives and for them to build a relationship with a company (Facebook, 2007; Holzner,

2009; Tuten, 2008; Vander Veer, 2008). The social graph system brings up the last part of

Facebook’s marketing system. This part allows business owners to inform the people of Facebook
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
about their favorite services and products and makes the strongest advantage of Facebook as an

online selling instrument for it can reach many people as much as possible. In fine, the overall use

of Facebook’s marketing system is absolutely beneficial for both the marketers and the consumers.

Facebook itself has indeed created a demand for social media marketing. Compared to

other social networks, Facebook shows people’s businesses to the widest audience and allows

owners to build and create online brands and meaningful connections with customers that will help

increase the business’ overall productivity (Conlin, 2020). As early as 2006, Facebook began to

place ads on its platform. And as the success is carrying on, by 2016 it was labeled and launched

as a ‘Facebook Marketplace.’ This feature became significant to every business owner and

provides them the chance to sell their products online and to have their own page wherein they can

freely post their own contents that will help attract more customers.

Presently, the COVID-19 pandemic has made Facebook’s marketplace a more obvious

necessity (Arreola, 2020). According to research from consultancy Bain & Company and

Facebook, the global crisis has accelerated e-commerce and other digital trends across Southeast

Asia (Barreiro, 2020). With the strict implementations of lockdowns and quarantines that made

the unemployment rate raised in the Philippines, Filipinos forced themselves to engage on e-

commerce activities or also known as online selling and shopping so that they could meet their

daily basic needs. Even before the pandemic, Filipinos had already given their effort and time to

sell and buy through Facebook but because crisis arose, online selling became a catalyst for the

growth of e-commerce in the country. The Philippines has 76 million prolific users of the

Facebook. It is revealed that 64% of Filipino internet users are spending more time on social media,

with 23% indicating an increased activity in their online shopping activity (Arreola, 2020). Some
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
of the end users believe that setting up an online shop to sell products can be a useful and profitable

way of doing business (Queensland Government, 2016).

Markedly, Facebook became essential in the Philippines for those who have online

business and those who plan to open one, especially that it is the most used social media of the

country. In fact, a lot of small and big business owners in the Philippines are already using

Facebook to promote brand awareness (Calabia). The nature of Facebook contributes to the new

way consumers view marketing (Popova, 2007). Other organizations also became interested in

exchanging and spreading information, trading products or services, staying close to current and

potential customers, acquiring a better understanding of their customers and other benefits

generated by Facebook (Ertugan, 2016). The platform can be used to express people’s opinions

about products and services offered by business owners. It can help out buyers distinguish what

they believe they want and need. Over the years, Facebook has managed to meet the expectations

of its continuously growing user base and reigned as the market leader (Mohsin, 2021). Given that

it has billions of users worldwide, is very essential, creative and produces a lot of functions,

Facebook became prominent (Paquette, 2013). According to HubSpot’s “Social Media Marketing:

The Ultimate Guide,” companies use organic social media marketing to: increase brand awareness,

generate leads and increase conversions, develop and nurture relationships with customers and

learn from competitors.

Henceforth, Panboli Sabapathy of B. S. Abdur Rahman University (2014) upon making

their study they asserted that social networks change micro phenomena into a major sensation

overnight by commoners who become influencers to several followers who trust them as valuable

resources for information. They added that the groups formed can have impact to affiliate owner’s

business to different users, customers and even those prospected ones for the purpose of building
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
a strong fan base of the page. In addition, individuals on Facebook can also share their thoughts

and insights about their recent purchase from a Facebook store or page in the said network. These

people will either like, share and recommend a product or will likely to dislike, discourage and

turn down a product. Their study also concludes that being available in Facebook, leads

organizations to connect more with their customers in order to serve them better, create leads,

research on customer trends and draw feedback so that they could perform better than their rival.

They found that Facebook provides fun and opportunity for users to ask for suggestions in an easy

and entertaining way. The study further advised businesses to improve their Facebook appeal by

adding amusing interactive applications such as games and contests. Business owners can increase

awareness of their brand by being innovative when interacting with customers on social media

sites. According to Curran et al. (2011), social media websites such as Facebook are superior to

other advertising media because it stores details on all its users hence ensuring advertisers reach

their targeted segments.

For the most part, Facebook can be effective for online sellers to successfully promote and

sell their products. In the event that, (1) businesses can reach one of the world’s largest

communities by creating a Facebook Page for they can build an audience and connect with people

who are interested in what business they have to offer; (2) Facebook business page also helps to

make it easy for people to find out more about the business or to get in touch with the owner; (3)

it provides a platform where people can connect with your products or services, and strengthen

customer relationships. Customers have the possibility to post questions to your Facebook page,

and your team can respond, which saves time and streamlines communication; (4) a Facebook

business page is a free opportunity for your business to increase brand awareness and promote

positive word-of-mouth; (5) through Facebook, online sellers can point out their target audience
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
easily. In this way, they can create content that will attract its prospected customers, even if those

are non-followers of the page; (6) Facebook can easily build and gain followers that will later on

develops as customers; (7) Facebook provides affordable advertising just by accessing the internet

and logging in. It will be a good start to advertise your goods that won’t be needing the owner to

show out a large amount of money; (8) Facebook upholds tools and features to promote your

products wherein owners can create a message, invite to visit shop pages, upload videos and

images of a product and tag people to widen the audience a product can reach.

Research Design

This study aimed at finding the efficacy of Facebook to the online sellers in Anini-y and

San Jose Antique.

This study was a quantitative research utilizing the survey method. A descriptive design

seeks to describe the current status of a variable or phenomenon. The researcher does not begin

with a hypothesis, but typically develops one after the data is collected. Data collection is mostly

observational in nature.

Sampling Procedure

The purposive sampling was employed in the selection of groups. This was derived as a

technique for selecting subjects in such a way that researchers handpick and decide the significant

number of respondents within the desired group number for analysis.

Data gathered through the questionnaire was subjected to frequency counts. In other words,

the subjects’ responses for each individual were added together to find the highest frequency of
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers
occurrence. This response to the questions, which are qualified, are then presented to the tables in

percentage forms. This analysis is presented in tabular form.

Data Gathering Procedure

The Figure presented below will serve as the guidelines of the proponents to follow in

gathering needed data for the study.

Design, Construction and Distribution of Survey

Validation of Survey Questionnaires
Questionnaires

Interpretation Tabulation and Retrieval of Survey

of Data Ranking Questionnaires
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Efficacy of Facebook to the Online Sellers

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