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Facebook/Meta - Decreasing sales in EU

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New answer on Aug 07, 2022
3 Answers
741 Views
AR
Skilled
asked on Aug 06, 2022

I recently interviewed with a firm which gave me the following problem statement:

Facebook is facing a decline in sales/revenues in Europe. What steps will you take to rectify the problem?

My solution:

1. Increase Ad spend/advertiser

- Increase transparency/visibility to track performance of ads on Meta (automated dashboards)

- Extra Support to businesses - Ad design, creative, marketing insights to get the best ROI

- Upsell other new innovative formats - stories, reel, video, product markers, etc.

2. Increase number of Advertisers

- Incentivize & increase number of sales people/account managers

- Lower price/impression (to increase # impressions)

- Build partnerships with agencies (that handle brands' ad spend)

- Focus on and support SMEs (growing customer segment)

3. Launch alternative revenue streams

- Social Commerce: Storefronts and make money off each tx

- Business account subscriptions: Whatsapp/Messenger/Instagram 

- Premium User Subscriptions: Exclusive ad-free and premium user generated content

- New products: Building a super-app - Payments, mCommerce, Dating, etc.

 

Have I structured the answer correctly? Am I on the right track or missing something here?

 

Thanks in advance!

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Ashwin
Expert
Content Creator
updated an answer on Aug 07, 2022
Ex Consulting Director | Bain and company , Deloitte| INSEAD

Hey there , 

Good structure to identify revenue growth opportunities and it is MECE , great work. 
 

 This structure is excellent if the problem had just been - identify revenue growth opportunities. 

However, the problem talks about revenue decline the company is facing and steps to rectify the problem. In that case you might want to diagnose the problem first before recommending revenue growth opportunities . Revenue decline diagnosis could be on the lines of your first two branches i.e. (A) Is ad spend / customer declining or (B) Are we losing customers 

 

Thanks 

Ashwin 

 

(edited)

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Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Aug 07, 2022
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi AR,

It's rare that I find a good (or even half good) framework from candidates (both on the Q&A and when I first meet with my candidates).

This is the best one I have seen in a long time (from someone I haven't trained).

Well done!

You are objective-driven and MECE in the context of the real business/company/industry.

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Anonymous A updated the answer on Aug 07, 2022

A few additional thoughts on how to grow top-line:

- Increase in geography/markets- 1. new markets 2. Increased presence in existing market via marketing and promotions

- Acquiring competitor/imitating their products (e..g., TikTok).

- Increase in user base i.e. FB users (consumers) through improved UI/UX, incorporating new features that induce customer lock-in…

[Additionally, I would expect decline in sales would largely mirror a decline in profit as I would expect the primary costs for FB to be fixed in near term. Where they may differ could be due to increase in existing investments to alleviate sales decline]

(edited)

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