Last year, Vancouver's marketing community turned out to hear Facebook Canada senior director Alfredo Tan's presentation: "Is Facebook the elephant at your company?"
In his talk, which was presented by the Sales and Marketing Executives International, Tan called Canada "one of the most Facebook-obsessed nations on the planet" and pointed out the tremendous marketing opportunities for Canadian businesses of all sizes to exploit the social network's population.
There are more than 16 million Facebook users in Canada alone, although the number of Canadians actively logging onto Facebook dropped in 2011, according to Inside Facebook, which tracks the social networks metrics.
Ben Pickering, CEO of Strutta – a Vancouver company that develops tools for businesses to manage website and Facebook marketing campaigns – attended Tan's talk last year and said the message seems to be getting through.
"More and more businesses are continuing to utilize Facebook in new ways," he told Business in Vancouver.
Kelly Robertson, marketing manager for 6S Marketing, agreed.
Most clients who come to the company to develop SEO campaigns or email marketing campaigns also want the company to develop a Facebook page, Robertson said.
Strutta is one of only three preferred Facebook developers in Canada.
Vancouver's HootSuite is the only other preferred Facebook developer in B.C.
Over the past year, Strutta has landed contracts with Comcas, AOL, and the Vancouver Canucks, and Pickering said its revenue has more than doubled.
In "Marketers' target for today: More Facebook face time" (issue 1119; April 5-11, 2011), Business in Vancouver focused on Facebook's business marketing opportunities. •
