中国是未来Facebook的重要潜在红利

    为了吸引潜在投资者，Facebook首席运营官雪莉•桑德伯格在该公司的首次公开募股路演视频中发表了振聋发聩的演说词：“在美国，Facebook网站上的每一天都像是收视率最高的电视节目——《美国偶像》（American Idol）的总决赛，而且，我们的用户数量还是它的两倍。”这种自夸极具冲击力。但事实证明，桑德伯格的此番讲话还是相当保守的。在美国和加拿大每天有1.88亿用户登录使用Facebook，这个数字实际上相当于《美国偶像》总决赛收视率的四到五倍，确实不是吹牛皮。

    然而，桑德伯格的说法也凸显了一个问题。据业内人士估计，美国偶像的赛季压轴带来了超过4,000万美元的广告收入。而去年，拿Facebook的典型一天来说，仅仅收入560万美元。因此，保守计算，在福克斯（Fox）电视台举办的这档节目中，每一双盯着参赛者们在舞台上假意哭泣的眼球所带来的利润超过Facebook用户在网站上点击查看亲戚朋友是否安好而替该公司所带来盈利的至少30倍。Facebook不只是落后于电视。它高达9亿的用户每人每年只为公司带来略高于4美元的收入。比较而言，谷歌（Google）的用户每人每年为公司创造的毛利至少超过它的7倍。也就是说，Facebook的高额利润只是来自于它的巨大规模，而并不意味着它是一家特别高效的广告媒体。

    当Facebook力图证明它有能力成为一家市值突破1,000亿美元并能维持这一高位的公司时，它实际上面临着巨大的挑战。首先，这家社交网络服务公司必须找到一种方式提高其广告业务的增长速度。该公司最新财季的广告收入增速下滑到45%，几乎只有去年同期的一半。同时，公司现在还面临用户从网站快速转向移动设备的不利局面，在移动领域它的商业化还处在起步阶段。总之 对于它所做出的承诺，对于它拥有的彻底改变各种行业的潜力，Facebook必须向广告客户和投资者们证明它有能力提供与其拥有的庞大社交网络服务相匹配的全球性广告业务。目前，Facebook网络社交平台已经成为约占全球七分之一人口日常生活的一部分。

    可以肯定的是，Facebook是一个卓越的社交枢纽，而它作为广告媒体没那么光彩夺目的原因在于设计。创始人扎克伯格总是不遗余力地打造Facebook这个平台，有时甚至不惜牺牲公司的广告业务。但是现在Facebook上市在即，以后他的团队必须向投资者提交令人满意的财务报表，就这一点而言他们会面临巨大压力。因此，他应该着眼于以下三个方面：

第一：广告业务

    Facebook广告已经成为各种在线陈列广告攻势的筹码，但公司必须向这些广告客户们证明其广告位会提供丰厚的回报，这样才能让其广告业务由客户的尝试性购买转变为一大批企业广告业务策略的基石。

    去年，Facebook的广告业务推广策略已经发生了变化。现在公司不仅仅是派销售人员带着广告清单出去兜售，而是开始聘请怀揣MBA学历并且在业内拥有丰富经验、受广告商青睐的人士担任公司的“公关经理”。这些人对他们的客户不叫“广告客户”，而是称作“合作伙伴”。他们建议大型公司，比如宝洁（Procter & Gamble），不要只盯着社交网站上的消费者“喜好”，而是要多留意消费者们在Facebook上说的话、做的事哪些与自己的品牌相关，也就是说消费者与品牌之间发生的故事。Facebook相信，如果各大品牌能够在粉丝页面和应用上发起这样的讨论，宝洁这样的公司就会顺理成章地购买更多的广告服务。

    In Facebook's video IPO roadshow, Sheryl Sandberg, the company's chief operating officer, delivers a powerful line intended to impress potential investors: "In the United States, every day on Facebook is like the season-finale of American Idol -- the most popular show on television -- times two." It's an impactful boast, but as it turns out, Sandberg is playing it pretty safe. Every day, 188 million people log into Facebook in the U.S. and Canada. That's actually four to five times the number who tuned in to the season finale of American Idol. Wow, indeed.

    And yet, Sandberg's boast also highlights a problem. American Idol's season finale brought in more than $40 million in advertising, according to industry estimates. On a typical day last year, Facebook (FB) took in just $5.6 million or so in the U.S. So conservatively, each set of eyeballs trained on the mewling of contestants on Fox is worth at least 30 times more than those checking in with friends and family on Facebook. And it's not just television that Facebook lags behind. Every one of its 900 million users generates a little more than $4 in revenue for Facebook in a year. By comparison, Google (GOOG) grosses at least 7 times more from each one of its users. In other words, Facebook makes gobs of money because of its massive reach, not because it is a particularly effective advertising medium.

    As Facebook seeks to justify and sustain a mammoth valuation that seems certain to top $100 billion, it faces enormous challenges. First and foremost, the social networking service must find a way to accelerate the growth of its advertising business, which slowed to 45% in the most recent quarter from nearly twice that rate the year before. And it must do so in the face of headwinds from the rapid shift of users from the Web to mobile devices, where Facebook's monetization efforts are still nascent. In short, for all its promise and its potential to revolutionize entire industries, Facebook must prove to advertisers and investors that it can build a global ad business to match the power of a social networking product that has become a habit for nearly one of every seven people on the planet.

    To be sure, the fact that Facebook's advertising prowess lags behind its preeminence as a social hub is by design. Zuckerberg has always made the Facebook product his top priority, sometimes at the expense of the company's ad business. But now that Facebook will be a public company, his team will be under enormous pressure to deliver financial results that keep investors happy. Here are three things he should focus on to achieve that.

No. 1 Advertising

    Facebook ads have become table stakes for any online display advertising campaign, but as these ads move from experimental purchases to the cornerstone of many advertising strategies, Facebook must show to advertisers that these spots deliver significant returns.

    In the past year, Facebook's approach to advertising has changed. Now, rather than simply sending salespeople out to sell its ad inventory, Facebook has begun to hire MBA-carrying "relationship managers" with experience in the industries from which the advertisers hale. These folks call their clients "partners" instead of "advertisers" and encourage large bands like Procter & Gamble (PG) to stop chasing "Likes" and, instead, look at what people are actually saying and doing on Facebook that relates to them -- engagement. Facebook believes that if brands can jumpstart these conversations on fan pages and within apps they'll naturally buy more ads.