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Survey finds most SMB advertisers on Facebook spend less than $50 per month

Generating awareness the most common marketing scenario for local businesses on Facebook, says Alignable survey data.

Greg Sterling on April 21, 2016 at 2:08 pm

Generating awareness is the number one marketing scenario for small businesses (SMBs) on Facebook, according to a new survey from local business networking site Alignable. Among SMBs that advertise on the social site, the majority are spending only modest amounts of money.

The Alignable survey polled 1,200 local businesses. Respondents were from North America and had fewer than 50 employees. They represent a range of both B2B and B2C marketers and multiple verticals.

After awareness, “generating new business” was the second most common “success” SMBs were having on the platform. It’s not entirely clear how this was/is being measured by the businesses.

Other survey data show that many local businesses see Facebook and social media generally as an effective marketing channel. Yet three-quarters of SMBs don’t use any tools to track the performance of their digital marketing.

Alignable found that half of SMBs are exclusively using Facebook’s organic presence and promotional tools. Among the other half that are advertising on Facebook, 61 percent are spending less than $50 per month.

Previously, in a local business survey, Thrive Analytics found that 19 percent of SMBs had paid for social media advertising. Globally, the percentage of local businesses that have a Facebook presence and are also advertising on the site is even smaller.

The Alignable survey also found that 38 percent of SMBs had uploaded video to Facebook in Q1 2016. However, nearly twice that number (69 percent) said that they were likely or somewhat likely to upload a video to promote themselves on Facebook in Q2.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.