Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using

Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School

Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the

Effectiveness of Using Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a
Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School

Batas, Julliah M.

Bernales, Katrina R.

Dasilva, Ericka Grace T.

Faderanga, Gladys L.

Gumapac, Nicole F.

Holgado, Jane Evan L.

Napiza, Dhezamine

Accountancy, Business and Management

First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities

Tanauan City, Batangas

December 2021
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
Abstract

As the technology and social media platforms are continuously becoming more
pervasive, many business owners choose to use Facebook as their advertising platform.
This research explored the efficacy of using Facebook as a medium for advertising a
business from the opinion of the Grade 12 entrepreneurship students. The respondents of
this study consist of Grade 12 entrepreneurship students at FAITH Fidelis Senior High
School, who experienced promoting a business using Facebook as their marketing tool in
their entrepreneurship subject, chosen through convenience sampling. This study
demonstrated the benefits of utilizing this specific social media as an advertising platform
that will give awareness to other small entrepreneurs regarding its effect as a marketing
tool. This research used a phenomenological method to further examine the experiences
and perspective of the respondents in using Facebook Advertisement for their business.
As this kind of approach gathers the understanding of each individual in a certain
phenomenon, it helps to deeply explain the answers from the questionnaire made through
online interviews to come up with an accurate result.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Facebook, Small Business, Social Media, Advertising Tool

Introduction

Since the advent of the Internet in the late twentieth century, communication
between individuals and organizations has changed drastically. There is the development
of platforms that bring people together, the capacity to create and then share content with
others, so audiences and content creators all over the world become connected at all
hours of the day via the World Wide Web. There are other social networks accessible, but
the most popular is Facebook, which will be the subject of this study. Facebook offers a
variety of services to meet the demands of its customers and works similarly to an online
social media platform. Because Facebook services and applications are used by millions
of people, businesses of all sizes set up corporate accounts and profiles to reach out to
users. This research examines Facebook's potential to act as a feasible and successful
marketing tool of small business from the perspectives of the students at FAITH Fidelis
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
Senior High who were tasked to partner up with business owners of their choice to
advertise their products for their subject Entrepreneurship.

According to Aderemi (2015), there is a strong relationship between the

effectiveness of Facebook advertising and the advantages obtained. It assists in defining
and advertising new items in such a way that brand images are created or enhanced
across civilization. It improves customer relationship management by establishing strong
relationships between the client and the company, hence increasing the firm's strength. It
enables the organization to learn more about its consumers, their tastes and market trends,
to celebrate their great moments, and to empathize with them through times of loss.
Facebook aids in the retention of existing consumers and the development of brand
reputation. It may aid in the enhancement of a brand's reputation and image.
Organizations may utilize Facebook to boost their goodwill and credibility. It promotes
branding by allowing two-way engagement with customers, which increases the
organization's and its goods' reputation. It contributes to the development of good brand
qualities for an organization's products or services. Because of the company's brand
qualities, customers' moods during Facebook advertising, information on their profile and
prior experiences with the company's brands can be formed. It is also a simpler platform
for informing the market about new products and services. Facebook is feasible to
announce new items or services with little effort. It establishes a channel that facilitates
the transmission of knowledge about new products and services via message.

Facebook is such a huge internet platform where anyone can communicate and
interact with each other. It was the first networking site to exceed one billion registered
accounts and currently has almost three million monthly active users (Statista, 2021).
This creates great changes in the business world, especially in the aspect of marketing.
According to Bochmer, et. al (2013) , Facebook pages are now transfiguring the
technique of how the organizations and businesses market themselves and interact with
the public people. In connection with that, startup or small businesses are endeavoring to
embrace social media as a marketing tool in promoting their products and services and
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
create an advantage among its competitors. Facebook is an essential element in the
marketing strategy and for building good relationships with the customers of the
businesses (Bochmer, et. al., 2013). According to the same study, Facebook pages can
function as a puissant tool to create brand presence, save advertising costs, and provide
insightful information about the new products in such a nominal amount. However, with
this power held by Facebook and other social media platforms in marketing a business,
social media managers must practice the responsibility superbly.

The majority of social media research have been focusing on the engagement and
advertisements on medium to large businesses e.g. (Jarvenpaa & Tuunainen, 2012;
Saundage & Lee, 2011). There might be some past research which discusses how small
organizations use social media but with little discoveries about the success they are
achieving. Sharing information (Megaphone) with customers raises awareness about
products and services within the customers. However, the power of social media lies in
the networked nature of the tool and its ability to reach far beyond the initial contact
group, potentially broadening market share (Magnet and Monitor) (Jarvenpaa &
Tuunainen, 2012). The ease of using Facebook provides small businesses with a virtually
cost free channel for advertising their business and connecting with potential customers.
Facebook presence is having a positive impact on sales due to the immediate reaction
they receive from postings through customers visiting their store and mentioning
Facebook posts. It indicates that this application is the dominant platform used and
provides an easy way to reach customers. Participants felt there were minimal risks
involved and none had experienced negative feedback or inappropriate posts.
(Zeleznikow, et. al., 2014).

Facebook is extensively analyzed whether it is effective and how it works as a

free marketing tool. Free Facebook advertising has great potential to enhance revenue
because Facebook platform is a great marketing tool for businesses (Curran, et. al., 2011).
According to Palma (2016), the success of Facebook as a marketing tool may be
determined by the aggressiveness of promotion and the level of knowledge of human
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
emotion or consumer behavior. Additionally, it was found that there are some related
behavioral gaps and linkage amid Facebook, marketers, and Facebook policies that can
be an important point of interest. Considering the usage of Facebook as a free marketing
tool should be practiced as this is not only vital in increasing the business revenue but
also in decreasing cost that may lead to the possibility of optimizing the future business
profit.

Small businesses of all types are now relying on online marketing as this becomes
significant to their growth. Online marketing can help in spreading information to an
enormous range of customers but the security of transactions makes it adverse (Kit, n.d).
According to the same study, the cost-effectiveness of marketing in different social media
platforms like Facebook, which helps in increasing brand awareness and in reaching
larger numbers of customers, leads to the venturing of businesses to use it over direct
marketing which is more expensive. Online marketing helps the businesses grow as well
as their profits. In addition, however, marketing online is risky because of the online
scamming activities or online fraud but still, the number of reliable and various customers
are more than the fraudulent and bogus ones.

General Problem

The research aims to explore the perception towards the effectiveness of using
Facebook to advertise a small business of the Grade 12 entrepreneurship students at
FAITH Fidelis Senior High School.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. How would the respondents describe the effectiveness of using Facebook

in advertising a business?
2. What difficulties were encountered by the Grade 12 entrepreneurship
students in advertising a business using Facebook?
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
3. What makes Facebook the most effective platform to advertise a business?

Methodology

This section discussed the procedure utilized by the researchers to conduct the
study. It included the research design used, the sampling method applied, the data
gathering procedure, and the type of qualitative data analysis employed.

Design

This study utilized a qualitative research method to assess the effectiveness of

using Facebook in advertising a small business. Specifically, this qualitative study was
supported by the use of a phenomenological research approach, in which the researchers
presented the views of the respondents involved in the study. According to Fuster, D.
(2019), phenomenology is based on the study of life experiences, in relation to an event,
from the perspectives of the subject. The main objective of phenomenological approach
is to explore a phenomenon as it is witnessed and perceived by the participants
(Guilbeau, 2014). Thus, this study used this research approach to gather data in regards
with the effectiveness of using Facebook in advertising a small business as the
respondents have their own observations or perceptions in the said phenomenon.
Additionally, there are various methods that can be used to conduct phenomenological
research approach, including interviews, conversations, and participant observation
(Lester, n.d). This research utilized convenience sampling technique in gathering
sufficient data that supports the study. According to Dudovskiy (n.d), convenience
sampling method is one of the most common types of non-probability sampling method
that relies on gathering data from the population of respondents that are easily available
to participate in study. It provides convenience to the researchers and it doesn't require
too much time in gathering data.
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
Qualitative Data Analysis

The analysis of the qualitative data started with evaluating and reviewing the
responses of the chosen respondents to the questionnaires. The collected data were
organized and categorized into themes. Thematic analysis, one of most frequently used
forms of analysis in qualitative study, was the one chosen to be utilized in analyzing data.
According to Clarke and Braun (2013), thematic analysis is basically a technique of
distinguishing and exploring patterns in qualitative data. In addition, it has six phases
which are familiarization of the data, coding, searching for themes, reviewing themes,
defining and naming themes, and writing up. Thematic Analysis is a widely used data
analysis approach by the qualitative researchers to derive themes from interview data. It
can be used in a variety of studies including case studies, phenomenology, and general
qualitative and narrative inquiry since there's no specific research design affiliated to it. It
can yield substantial results to qualitative researchers who have little to no experience
with doing qualitative analysis (Tom, et. al, 2020). Due to its flexibility and accurateness,
we ended up employing it in understanding and interpreting our findings.

Results

This paper capitalizes on four identified themes: Effectiveness as an advertising

tool, Convenient and Accessible for all, Free and Caters Wide Range Population and
Disadvantages of Facebook marketing. Facebook Advertisement had been a great
platform for the Grade 12 students to perform and engage their business, in the subject
Entrepreneur, to their target market. The research shows the respondents' experiences of
using this Social Media application through different aspects as they discussed honestly
every side of their perspective. Therefore, we found out how effective Facebook was for
them as an advertiser, its convenience and accessibility that keeps the respondents on
using it, it's free and even a wide-ranged platform, and also the advantages that they've
faced utilizing it.
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
We extracted the four aforementioned themes from the answers of Grade 12 Students
of FAITH Fidelis Senior High.

Theme One

Effectiveness as an Advertising Tool

According to Radekunle A. Aderemi (2015), Facebook has been one of the most
significant social trends of the recent decade as a social network site. Facebook assists in
defining and advertising new items in such a way that brand images are created or
enhanced across cultures and markets. Enterprises must grasp Facebook and the tactics
behind leveraging social media advertising to promote their businesses, particularly those
aimed at university students.

“Nowadays, people spend most of their time on Facebook. Moreover, the more people
who use Facebook, the more customers you may get. Hence, this is the reason why
Facebook is effective for advertising in our business.”
(Respondent 1)

“It is effective since Facebook is an application that a lot of people has an access, for
advertising a small business it will be really effective for them.”
(Respondent 2)

“For me, it is super effective as we advertised our business partner's products maybe
because by using Facebook and having a lot of Facebook friends that supports you is one
of the factors why it is very effective.”
(Respondent 3)

“It is a good way of promoting business since Facebook can be used to interact with
other people.”
(Respondent 4)
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
“Facebook is the most well-known social media platform in our world specifically in this
modernization era. More than million people are using Facebook so, this is the big
opportunity to advertise our business/enterprise.”
(Respondent 5)

Based on our respondents, Facebook is an effective marketing tool since millions

of people are using this application. Also, Facebook can easily reach and influence
targeted consumers. As what Al-Hadban, Nora, AL-Ghamdi, Hadeel, Al-Hassoun,
Thekra, and Hamdi, Prof stated (2014), Facebook presents itself as the ideal marketing
tool since its developers have established an advertising system that allows companies to
utilize the information of each Facebook user for targeted advertising. It is the best
platform for direct connection between businesses and their customers.

“Yes, there are so many benefits that we could get using Facebook as a marketing tool.
However, we should use this social media platform in a good way to provide an easy
connection and easy communication in our customers. This is an important tool for
sharing material, building links, and increasing interaction to build customer base and
achieve our business objectives.”
(Respondent 6)

“Yes, since, as I mentioned in my previous answer, Facebook is a once-in-a-lifetime

opportunity for me. There are numerous benefits, particularly in terms of communication
and selling/advertising.”
(Respondent 7)

Some of our respondents said that there are a lot of benefits that can get in
Facebook as a marketing tool. Using Facebook as a marketing tool, marketers may learn
a lot from the profiles of community members as well as the news feed remarks that
people publish on their walls and pages. This information can then be utilized for targeted
marketing. According to Radekunle A. Aderemi (2015), there is a substantial correlation
between the success of Facebook advertising and the benefits obtained. The greater the
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
number of advantages obtained, the more effective the Facebook advertising campaign.
These impacts are treated as independent variables, and it has been proposed that they are
connected to the success of Facebook advertising.

Theme Two

Convenient and Accessible for all

The ease of using Facebook provides small businesses with a virtually cost-free
channel for advertising their business and connecting with potential customers. Facebook
presence is having a positive impact on sales due to the immediate reaction they receive
from postings through customers visiting their store and mentioning Facebook posts. It
indicates that this application is the dominant platform used and provides an easy way to
reach customers. Participants felt there were minimal risks involved and none had
experienced negative feedback or inappropriate posts (Zeleznikow, et. al., 2014).

“It is more convenient than the other social media platform.”

(Respo
ndent 3)

“I think Facebook is favored by many business owners to be an advertising tool because

it is much more convenient than advertising personally or using other platform.”

(Respondent 13)

“Because it is easier for them to let people know what business they have because the
scope of this platform is big.”

(Respondent 15)

“Because it is easy to use and a lot of people are using it.”

Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School

(Respondent 16)

According to our respondents, the Facebook platform is more convenient to

advertise on; it is easier to advertise here since millions of people already use Facebook,
making it more accessible to all users than other social media platforms. As we all know,
many people use this as an advertising platform because it is easy to use and free to
access, this sentence proved by our respondents.

Theme Three

Free and Caters Wide Range Population

According to Thom Tracy (2021), Facebook has a massive amount of user data
and is quite good at target marketing. Broad-based advertisements directed at males,
women, or younger generations have given way to a more personalized approach. The
ubiquitous Facebook single sign-on boxes weave through third-party websites, allowing
marketers to track purchases and other key activities.

“It benefited me in a way of I had a chance to encounter a lot of people there and I was
able to learn how to properly use facebook for advertising a product.”
(Respondent 2)

“It does not consume a lot since you just need to operate it and make an effort on posting
and advertising our product.”
(Respondent 3)

“It's one of the most easily accessible platforms aside from Twitter and Instagram.
However, Facebook also has a wider range of demographic”
(Respondent 7)

“It is free. Additionally, due to COVID 19, using Facebook is one of the safest options”
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
(Respondent 15)

The respondents stated that Facebook is the easiest and accessible platform that
they use for advertising and they can advertise on Facebook for free that can easily be
accessed by a wide range of audience and potential customers. As what Thom Tracy
stated (2021), Facebook is at the top of the social media game as its platform caters to a
wide variety of people, incorporating many different media aspects, from photos to
messenger to text. It is not as limited as LinkedIn and Twitter, which typically cater to a
specific demographic. Lastly, Facebook is a free tool for reaching out to your target
audience and promoting your brand. Having a Facebook business page is free, and
posting and sharing material is also free.

Theme Four

Disadvantages of Facebook Marketing

Entrepreneurial work cannot be imagined without the internet, whereby an

entrepreneur can perform a large number of activities in a very simple way, quickly and
regardless of time and geographical distance. Internet marketing is a common
denominator for all types of online marketing (e-marketing, cyber marketing, internet
marketing, and web marketing). As there are advantages of social networks, there are also
shortcomings. All social networks are free and registration requires a corresponding
email address and user name. For this reason, you need to be on the alert because you
never know who is hiding behind another user profile. The shortcomings of social
networks include disclosure, loss of privacy, and manipulation of private data for
marketing purposes, anonymity and virtual identity, virtual friends. There is also the
dependence on social networks, where users retreat from the real world and strive to
show the best in the virtual world (Simić et al., 2019).

“The only difficulty I can think of that I had experienced while using Facebook as a
marketing tool is the people that keep on flooding messages or comments and reporting
our page that cause us to have a slow connection or something called lagging.”
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
(Respondent 4)

“The first issue I had was that Facebook's system would occasionally go down.
Furthermore, the use of words has limitations, and the phrases that you want to add but
are not acceptable on Facebook, you must replace them before using it as a marketing
tool.”

(Respondent 6)

“There are several challenges I have encountered when using Facebook as a marketing
tool, but the most significant difficulty I have encountered is the fact that there are many
direct rivals of the product that I have been advertising. People also have a habit of
scrolling down the ads, especially when they are uninterested.”

(Respondent 13)

“Lack of Customers”

(Respondent 17)

“There are people who are not taking your posts or business seriously as they are
reacting or commenting negativity.”

(Respondent 18)

According to the respondents, Facebook marketing still has disadvantages even

though it has a lot of benefits to offer when it comes to promoting products and
businesses. However, not all of them experienced struggles while utilizing Facebook as
an advertising tool but some of the disadvantages that were mentioned by those who
experienced it are lack of customers at first, people commenting negatively towards the
postings, there are many rivals; the system may usually go down, floods messages, and
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
numerous trolls and bogus buyers online. These disadvantages might be a hindrance to
effectively promoting a business and product online but still for them, Facebook is one of
the best marketing tool choices.

Discussion

This research study was focused on exploring the perceptions of Grade 12

students towards the matter of utilizing Facebook as an advertising tool. The respondents
think that Facebook is more convenient and effective to use as a marketing tool than
other social media platforms. According to them, using Facebook as a marketing tool is a
good idea because it is very accessible and easy to use. Since we are in this time of
pandemic, the method used to gather data was a written interview. However, there is a
possibility that the respondents can just imitate the answer of the others through online
messaging apps. So, we suggest to the future researchers to gather data in a socially type
data collection method, such as one by one call interview. Also, since there is no existing
specific study about assessing the perceptions of the students towards this phenomenon
that we can compare with, we suggest to the future researchers to dig deeper and have a
broader understanding towards this matter.
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
References

Fuster, D. (2019). Qualitative Research: Hermeneutical Phenomenological Method.

Retrieved 2021, from: [Link]
l9-wn4a6mfoC0-qsNLPO4TpwuXva0SQQ9h244Anaula3D1ThKwdqI

Guilbeau, C. (2014). Phenomenology. Retrieved 2021, from:

[Link]

Lester, S. (n.d.). An introduction to phenomenological research, Retrieved 2021, from:

[Link]
585983364b51&lang=en-
GB&fbclid=IwAR1DezWJ_IseW1Qt2UnHSbldrsKFwTtevAZPlRQNU8kGpeHZiijg2Lq
tlOA

Dudovskiy (n.d). Convenience Sampling. Retrieved 2021, from:

[Link]
sampling/

Aderemi (2015). “Effectiveness of Facebook as an Advertising Medium among University

Students”. Retrieved 2021, from: [Link]
fbclid=IwAR1l_QDO4DBtr6o8Jc71kblJ9MUXdbhaazzOYHBb9rTx8dBkG4kdfI9fhXs

Statista (2021). Global social networks ranked by number of users 2021. Retrieved 2021,
from: [Link]
number-of-users/

Bochmer, et. al. (2013). Small Business use of Facebook for Marketing: The Case of a
Family-Owned Mediterranean Restaurant. Retrieved 2021, from:
[Link]
_for_Marketing_The_Case_of_a_Family-Owned_Mediterranean_Restaurant

Saundage, D., & Lee, C. Y. (2011). Social Commerce Activities – a taxonomy. Retrieved
2021, from: [Link]

Jarvenpaa, S. L., & Tuunainen, V. K. (2012). Company Tactics for Customer Socialization
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
with Social Media Technologies: Finnair's Rethink Quality and Quality Hunters
Initiatives. Retrieved 2021, from: [Link]
Tactics-for-Customer-Socialization-with-and-Jarvenpaa-Tuunainen/
08bcd2bcac5a5743f14d807338c87484bf6e64c3

Zeleznikow, et. al. (2014). ‘I just saw this on Facebook, I need it now’: Exploring Small
Business use of Facebook. Retrieved 2021, from:
[Link]
%27I_just_saw_this_on_Facebook_I_need_it_now
%27_Exploring_Small_Business_use_of_Facebook?
fbclid=IwAR0S4sqSiiNJJ7wP1J3hw3aagIpyEeCiCyVrIYN5MV3IpZYk44CeHRUKrV4

Curran, et. al. (2011). Advertising on Facebook. Retrieved 2021, from:

[Link]

Palma (2016). Effectiveness of Facebook as a Free Marketing Tool. Retrieved 2021, from:
[Link]
315574427_Effectiveness_of_Facebook_as_a_free_marketing_tool

Kit (n.d). The Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing to Business Owners. Retrieved
2021, from:
[Link]
MARKETING_TO_BUSINESS_OWNERS?fbclid=IwAR05G-
joxqiQ117RbxgbmBRBH7uKhZNkFIQmH3zRWvINcvz-W3kpknN2Ikg

Clarke and Braun (2013). Successful Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide for Beginners.

Retrieved 2021, from:

[Link]
A_Practical_Guide_for_Beginners

Tom, et. al (2020). Thematic Analysis. Retrieved 2021, from:

[Link]
fbclid=IwAR1NEj8WzFUAziesXXuJXv0GHqMB9Yt_U1aaC848n9HGpPjWoNFCEOj
n23M
Perception of Grade 12 Entrepreneurship Students regarding the Effectiveness of Using
Facebook as a Platform for Advertising a Small Business at FAITH Fidelis Senior High School
Simić et al. (2019). Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising by Social Networks.

Retrieved 2021. from: [Link]