FACE IT

Two out of every five small businesses use Facebook Ads as their preferred and most prevalent marketing tactic.  A new survey shows that hundreds of thousands of small businesses are successfully selling products there with most saying they’ll use the social network’s ad products again.

Findings by creators of e-commerce platform Payvment show that small businesses which had tried Facebook Ads had by and large enjoyed positive results.  “There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses who are successfully selling products on Facebook,” said Payvment founder and CEO Christian Taylor; a trend that was in contrast to several larger companies which have put their Facebook commerce efforts on hold.

Based on the Payvment survey smaller sellers also drive traffic to their Facebook storefronts using a wide variety of outside marketing channels, including Twitter, Google Ads and email marketing.  The fact that 37 per cent of all sellers using the site say it is their sole sales channel, apart from their own website, reflects the level of confidence in Facebook Ads to produce positive results.

Facebook’s projected $5 billion in ad revenue this year is no doubt fueled by the more than one third of respondents (39 percent) reported having used Facebook Ads.  Overall this makes Facebook Ads the most prevalent marketing tactic beyond general Facebook marketing, such as such as promotions and deals posted to their wall.

Apparently a big plus amongst sellers is the ability to market and directly sell their products on a single platform with sixty per cent of respondents saying they liked the fact that customers did not have to leave Facebook to make a purchase.

Effectiveness in fan and customer acquisition was also among the top reason for planning more Facebook Ad campaigns.  The ability to start and stop campaigns (60 percent), Facebook’s targeting capabilities (60 percent) and Facebook Ads’ ease of use (55 percent) were also cited.

The survey underscored the appeal of Facebook as a platform for both marketing and selling products.