There’s no denying that for most marketers, Facebook’s organic reach has declined in recent years. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on this social network just yet. Quite the contrary: According to a recent survey of marketers, Facebook remains the single most effective social media marketing platform out there.
A whopping 95.8 percent of respondents in The Future of Social Marketing report ranked Facebook as one of the top three drivers of return on investment (ROI) among all the social networks. By comparison, 63.5 percent of respondents ranked Twitter and 40.1 percent ranked Instagram among the top three ROI drivers.
Here are nine reasons Facebook is the most effective social media digital marketing tool:
- Facebook is the most popular social network. There’s strength in numbers, and with over 1.4 billion users and over 900 million of those users visiting the site every day, Facebook is undoubtedly the 800-pound gorilla of social media. If you’re like most small businesses, you simply can’t afford not to have a presence there.
- Facebook users encompass all demographics. Whether you’re trying to reach teens or seniors, you can find them on Facebook. According to Pew, some 72 percent of online American adults use Facebook. Eighty-two percent of online adults ages 18 to 29 use it, 79 percent of those ages 30 to 49 use it and 64 percent of those ages 50 to 64 use it. Even among Internet users aged 65 and up, nearly half (48 percent) use Facebook.
- Facebook is “sticky.” Facebook users spend a lot of time on the site — 40 minutes per day, on average. Worldwide, Facebook-use accounts for a whopping 20 percent of all time online, Business Insider says. More time on Facebook means more time spent interacting with your business’s presence there.
- Facebook is growing. Not only does Facebook dominate social media use, but it shows no signs of slowing. In fact, Facebook is projected to top 169.2 billion users by 2018, eMarketer.
- Facebook advertising is affordable. The average Facebook ad costs just $5.99 per thousand impressions. In addition, you can set and control your own budget so you don’t face unexpected marketing costs.
- Facebook advertising is highly targeted. You can target your audience by location, age, gender, interests and other factors. Use the Custom Audiences feature to target existing customers safely and privately. Or, market to local customers with Local Awareness ads that reach customers on their mobile devices.
- Facebook lets you reach out to website customers. Facebook’s re-targeting option allows you to show Facebook ads only to people who have previously visited your business website.
- Facebook lets you spread the word to Friends of Friends. When your target customers see your Facebook posts or ads, their Facebook Friends see them too, multiplying the effectiveness of your Facebook marketing efforts.
- Facebook helps you measure your results. Still doubt that Facebook is an effective marketing tool? Don’t take my word for it: measure the ROI yourself. The free Facebook Insights tool lets you track the results of your Facebook marketing, including ads and organic posts. You can get detailed information about how prospective customers are engaging with your business on Facebook, such as how many likes you got this week and how that compares to past measures, what type of engagement you received (likes, comments and shares) on posts, and which ads drove traffic to your website or other actions.