Good news for Mark Zuckerberg – in the US, small businesses have not wavered in their use of advertising on Facebook, according to a survey by CNBC and SurveyMonkey. More than one-quarter (26%) of the 2,100 small business owners surveyed said they had advertised on Facebook within the past few months, up a point from the year-earlier period – even at a time when Facebook’s privacy practices are still being called into question and it has seen a drop in popularity with 12-34-year-olds.
While the increase in the recent use of Facebook advertising among small business owners is marginal (25% in Q2 2018 vs. 26% in Q2 2019), there appears to a pattern of consistency that suggests that Facebook’s ongoing issues have not scared off those small businesses who choose to advertise on the platform.
In fact, a survey from last year revealed that 58% of small business owners who used social media planned to increase their efforts on Facebook during the year. Another larger study where some 60% of respondents were from small businesses (1-10 employees) found that Facebook remains the most popular social media platform for paid advertising.
There also is an untapped opportunity for the social media giant, as the majority (60%) of small businesses surveyed are still to advertise on Facebook.
Small businesses do not seem convinced that regulations on how Facebook can use consumer data will have an impact on ads, with 49% saying regulations will make no difference on the impact of Facebook ads (consistent with 50% last year). However, 3 in 10 (30%) respondents do think that regulations would make ads less effective, almost twice the share (17%) who feel regulations would make ads more effective.
About the Data: The CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey for Q2 was conducted across 2,100 small business owners between April 15 and April 22.
