By Jasmine Browley· Updated November 3, 2022
85% of business owners and marketers who heavily use Facebook as a way to reach consumers are extremely worried about the rising cost of ads o the platform. In fact, 47% think they will be “priced out” if costs continue to rise.
2021 has seen some of the largest leaps ever in the cost of Facebook ads.
As of 2020, more than 180 million small business owners globally use the free tools the company provides, and about 9 million advertise in some form, with 3.7 million businesses currently managing Facebook robust, active ad campaigns equating to $5.5 billion in ad spend.
Until 2020, Facebook hadn’t asked business owners (SMB) to identify themselves by race, it’s been reported that a large segment of SMBs advertising on the platform are Black.
“We realize critical support for Black entrepreneurs is needed now,” said Maxine Williams, Facebook’s global chief diversity officer as reported by CNBC in 2020 following the company’s announcement of nationwide support, $40M grant to Black businesses battered by COVID-19. “Helping these businesses stay alive and thrive is a way to promote economic justice and equality. Many people don’t even know what businesses in their community are run by Black entrepreneurs,” Williams said. “This will provide a way for consumers to find and support them.”
Two years later, the company is taking a look at the fruits of its labor in their Global State of Small Business Report, their tenth report in three years, which rounded up survey responses from 22,000 small- and medium-sized business leaders across 30 countries.
“We can see from Meta’s Global State of Small Business Report that small businesses are continuing to lean on digital tools to find customers online,” said Marne Levine, Chief Business Officer. “Even in the midst of economic uncertainty, they continue to show remarkable resilience by using digital tools to find new ways to grow. At Meta, we’re committed to helping small businesses use our platforms and tools because they are the heartbeat of our local communities and the driving force of the global economy.”
The report found that 48% of minority-led business owners on the Facebook app reported making at least 25% of their sales digitally in the past month, compared to 41% of others. This is in reference to Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp’s (companies owned by Meta) free digital tools which include in-feed content sharing, Lives, instant messaging and stories.
Per the report: digital sales channels remained an important aspect of SMB operations, with 31% reporting that over 50% of their sales occurred digitally, compared to 34% in May 2020.The July 2022 report has confirmed that digital tools continue to be a key vehicle through which SMBs connect with customers and drive sales. Nearly two-thirds of SMBs (63%) on the Facebook app generated some proportion of their sales in the past 30 days through digital channels. The use of digital tools for connecting and marketing toward customers continues to be the focus of SMBs globally, with greater sales and increased customer base the most often reported impacts of these tools.
There was no indication that there were any plans to cut down on some of the exorbitant paid advertising costs but during a media event held at their Hudson Yards, New York HQ, instead rolled out a new way for advertisers to display ads on Instagram’s explore page.
Much like its most staunch competitor Tik Tok’s “For You” page, content will be based users’ digital routines. As part of a the beta format, chosen influencers will be able to place in-feed ads for another stream of revenue.
For Messenger, machine learning software will display ads intended to “reach people who are most likely to make a purchase,” said Maz Sharafi, Meta’s vice president of marketing and growth for business messaging as reported by CNBC.
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