Social Media Advertising: Is Your Small Business Involved?

There is no stopping the rise of social media. According to the Pew Research Center, “52% of online adults now use two or more social media sites.”

While that number is impressive, here is what you really need to know: this is up from 42% of internet users in 2013.

Our April 2015 SurePayroll Small Business Scorecard survey backs this up, showing that “35% of small businesses are using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or Pinterest to advertise.”

Where are Small Businesses Spending Money?

Advertising by platform - infographic

When it comes to small business social media advertising, Facebook is the cream of the crop. In addition to the 58% of small business owners who said they recognize the value of advertising on Facebook, 33% put their money where their mouth is. This is followed by:

  • 26% advertising on LinkedIn
  • 17% advertising on Twitter
  • 6.2% advertising on Instagram
  • 2.6% advertising on Pinterest

It wasn’t that long ago when social media advertising was in its infancy. Rather than spending money on these platforms, small businesses put most of their budget toward Google ads. The market has shifted – only 14% of small business owners with 1-10 employees are relying on Google pay-per-click-ads. This makes Google ads less popular than Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Other Takeaways

In addition to the above, our April 2015 Small Business Scorecard touched on other areas of small business advertising. Here are a few more points:

  • 19% of respondents said they would spend more on Google advertising if they had the budget to do so.
  • 15% of respondents spend “significant” money on search engine optimization.
  • 22% of respondents said they would spend more on search engine optimization if they could afford it.

Social media advertising

What will the Future Bring?

We all know social media is growing at a rapid pace. But what about social media advertising? Will it keep pace?

Adweek notes the following:

“Total social ad revenue is expected to increase by 194 percent to reach $15 billion by 2018, and more than half of that total will be mobile.”

When compared to total social ad revenue of $5.1 billion in 2013, it is easy to see there is no slowing this trend. It is poised to catch fire and stay on fire, at least for the next few years.

Final Word

If your small business has yet to get involved with social media advertising, you may want to consider allocating a small slice of your budget towards these platforms. The trend will only grow.