Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, all Harvard University undergraduates, created Facebook in 2004. With over one billion members as of 2012, Facebook has become the world’s biggest social network, with about half of them using it every day.

It is one of the world’s biggest companies and its stock is part of the exclusive FAANG group on the S&P 500. FAANG is an acronym for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google. These are the world’s leading technology companies. Tesla is also gearing to enter this exclusive club.

Each of these companies generates a lot of business and has also given rise to smaller businesses which are independent of its control yet directly influenced by the decisions they take. Even niche businesses that offer services like a random shape generator to create graphics for Facebook posts owe a lot to the social media giant. 

These kinds of services fall under the software as a service or SaaS category. This is a whole new business sector that has arisen thanks to the great reach and dominance of social media in the world.

Now, with the invention of secure digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH), we can be rest assured that it is going to have an effect on future decisions of all tech companies and possibly even Governments of the world.

Here are a few benefits of Facebook –

Meaningful Engagement
Apart from text, Facebook also lets you upload pictures and videos from your business. This can be a powerful way to communicate with customers and potential customers, allowing them to engage with the product without having to be there in person.

Facebook also enables users to ‘tag’ pictures to identify whether or not they include a Facebook friend. This feature is utilized by creative companies to promote themselves. For example, a tour operator might publish a picture of a group whitewater rafting on their page, then allow each participant to tag their image in the shot. Each tagged picture will appear as a status update on the participant’s Facebook page, where it will be seen by their friends as well. This kind of thoughtful participation goes a long way toward establishing a strong bond.

Steer traffic
If there’s one thing that you’re guaranteed of when you’re using Facebook to promote or market your business, it is that you will have the best possible reach in the world. You can literally take your business international by simply utilizing Facebook and its various business marketing tools.

One of the most prevalent methods of using Facebook to further our own businesses is to steer traffic to the business website through Facebook. Usually, this is the method of operation for any business that deals in orders. The way to go about this is to first create engagement with your target audience where you not only build up numbers but also the rapport. Once you get there, you can make creative posts to steer traffic to your own business websites and continue with your business.

These are but only two ways out of many more. As time goes on, social media evolves and so do the methods of monetizing it.