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>Local businesses use Facebook relentlessly because, lots of times, it actually works to get people in the door or calling your number. Small businesses almost

>Local businesses use Facebook relentlessly because, lots of times, it actually works to get people in the door or calling your number. Small businesses almost have to use its ad platform (in my opinion). I don't think local businesses can afford to look away from a top performer like this. Anecdotally, based on my experience working with over 250 local businesses across the business spectrum, this doesn't reflect reality. A very small percentage of my clients "actively" use "organic" Facebook, an even smaller percentage use their ad platform (much higher usage of Google Ads). The ones that do (buy FB ads), typically do so through local "media company" who tack on their own fees, which in turn makes it a poor investment. I can count on one hand (out of hundreds) the number of our clients who effectively use Facebook. In fact, in the last couple of years, the number of businesses forgoing a "real website" and choosing Facebook (a common theme just a few years ago) has basically disappeared.

ratww 7y ago
Can confirm. I used to work for a large media companies, and the consensus in our area is that Facebook used to be a primary channel in the past, but now it's a secondary engagement channel (behind Instagram and Twitter), and a secondary organic source (much less people is using it to find businesses). It's going down in all metrics. The only businesses still relying on Facebook are event-based: concerts, parties, exhibitions, etc. Because they use FB Events. But even Instagram is taking over in that area. Other than that, Facebook business pages are just becoming a place for marketing to dump stuff.
- e2021 7y ago
  You know FB owns Instagram though right? Why do they care if you spend money there or on FB proper?
  - vageli 7y ago
    > You know FB owns Instagram though right? Why do they care if you spend money there or on FB proper? Because the audiences are different?
    - benj111 7y ago
      I don't follow. The audiences for Starbucks Latte and Cappuccino are different. Starbucks is indifferent whether you buy one or the other though.
      - tracker1 7y ago
        A better analogy would be Pizza Hut or Taco Bell ... They absolutely market both and some share space, that doesn't mean they each respectively don't care where the spend goes. If people are buying from Taco Bell, the Pizza Hut a block away may or may not shut down, and spending efforts will reflect those differences.
        benj111 7y ago
        Ok that highlights the misunderstanding. My analogy would be that Yum Brands doesn't care whether you visit Taco Bell or Pizza Hut. In the same way Facebook (inc) doesn't care whether you visit Facebook or Instagram.
        tracker1 7y ago
        Possibly, I'm unsure of their executive structure or internal culture, it could go either way.
        munk-a 7y ago
        But, the marketers hired specifically for Facebook do care if you're going to Instagram more since it endangers[1] their product... Facebook Inc cares because one of it's branches is less worth in investing in but is happy the money you're spending is still within their product universe. I think that you're being a bit over simplistic, there is a lot of decision making based around company component performance, poor sales number within the Facebook native platform may influence more money being redirected to support Instagram which might end up as a personnel cut in an extreme circumstance. 1. Reeeeeally loosely defined, since AFAICT Facebook isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
  - OrangeMango 7y ago
    I don't think FB cares, but if you are the one spending your own money, you probably care an awful lot.
    - e2021 7y ago
      Yes, but the point op seemed to be making was that FB inc was in trouble because now instagram is the #1 choice instead of Facebook. This makes no sense - it all goes to the same bank account
      - ratww 7y ago
        > the point op seemed to be making Wait, are you talking about me? In my post I don't even hint at anything even close to that, I don't have any bias against Facebook, the company or the website. I'm not even talking about the future of Facebook AT ALL in the post. I'm just stating some metrics we gathered at my last workplace that might be helpful for people using social media. Are you sure you're not projecting, or being over-defensive?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - phkahler 7y ago
    Youre right, but for an advertiser it's important to know where to spend the money. From their perspective FB and Insta are not of equal value.
downandout 7y ago
The ones that do (buy FB ads), typically do so through local "media company" who tack on their own fees, which in turn makes it a poor investment. I can count on one hand (out of hundreds) the number of our clients who effectively use Facebook. That seems less an indictment of the performance Facebook ads, and more of an indictment of local Facebook ads consultants. As an experienced marketer, I can tell you that in most niches, ROAS from Facebook ads done correctly vastly outperforms that of AdWords ads. AdWords tends to deliver higher quality traffic, but at a CPC that is so much higher than Facebook that it makes Facebook’s lower quality traffic the better buy.
paxys 7y ago
It completely depends on the target demographic. For escape rooms, for example (mentioned in the above post), everyone is going to look up reviews on Facebook before buying tickets.
- mdorazio 7y ago
  Not so sure that's true - most of the people I know look on Google/Maps for reviews now rather than trusting FB (or Yelp). It's probably demographic and market dependent.
- munk-a 7y ago
  I dunno, FB business pages seem to be really flaky. I'm just myself but I'd do a cursory check of google reviews and call it at that.
- PopeDotNinja 7y ago
  Facebook has reviews? That's news to me.
scarface74 7y ago
A quick Google search shows that your anecdote, doesn't match the broader statistics... https://www.investopedia.com/news/facebook-google-digital-ad-market-share-drops-amazon-climbs/ https://www.investopedia.com/news/facebook-google-digital-ad... Between Facebook and Google. Facebook has about 34% of the ad spend (36.2 + 19.2)/19.3.
- dx034 7y ago
  I believe that's for Facebook Inc. and includes Instagram.
smbowner 7y ago
> Anecdotally, based on my experience working with over 250 local businesses across the business spectrum, this doesn't reflect reality. Have to chime in here. I run a small brick and motor business with a membership model (climbing gym). FB/Insta are paramount to our marketing and communication. Like the parent comment said, people like to say they don't use Facebook/Insta but that doesn't seem to be true at all. Our ad budget on FB is an easy choice and is the only method of adverts that have given us any sort of consistent return. Groupon can get people in the door as well, but then you need to convert them directly with strong sales. It's good, but hard. Organic FB/Insta are also the best way for us to communicate with our members/community about events, specials and closures. People check these platforms all the time. I believe these work so well for us because of the visual aspect of our business. If we were more informational, perhaps email would be a better tool. I fantasize about not using Facebook properties, but it would come at a tremendous cost to the business and our community.

ratww 7y ago

Can confirm. I used to work for a large media companies, and the consensus in our area is that Facebook used to be a primary channel in the past, but now it's a secondary engagement channel (behind Instagram and Twitter), and a secondary organic source (much less people is using it to find businesses). It's going down in all metrics. The only businesses still relying on Facebook are event-based: concerts, parties, exhibitions, etc. Because they use FB Events. But even Instagram is taking over in that area. Other than that, Facebook business pages are just becoming a place for marketing to dump stuff.

e2021 7y ago
You know FB owns Instagram though right? Why do they care if you spend money there or on FB proper?
- vageli 7y ago
  > You know FB owns Instagram though right? Why do they care if you spend money there or on FB proper? Because the audiences are different?
  - benj111 7y ago
    I don't follow. The audiences for Starbucks Latte and Cappuccino are different. Starbucks is indifferent whether you buy one or the other though.
    - tracker1 7y ago
      A better analogy would be Pizza Hut or Taco Bell ... They absolutely market both and some share space, that doesn't mean they each respectively don't care where the spend goes. If people are buying from Taco Bell, the Pizza Hut a block away may or may not shut down, and spending efforts will reflect those differences.
      - benj111 7y ago
        Ok that highlights the misunderstanding. My analogy would be that Yum Brands doesn't care whether you visit Taco Bell or Pizza Hut. In the same way Facebook (inc) doesn't care whether you visit Facebook or Instagram.
        tracker1 7y ago
        Possibly, I'm unsure of their executive structure or internal culture, it could go either way.
        munk-a 7y ago
        But, the marketers hired specifically for Facebook do care if you're going to Instagram more since it endangers[1] their product... Facebook Inc cares because one of it's branches is less worth in investing in but is happy the money you're spending is still within their product universe. I think that you're being a bit over simplistic, there is a lot of decision making based around company component performance, poor sales number within the Facebook native platform may influence more money being redirected to support Instagram which might end up as a personnel cut in an extreme circumstance. 1. Reeeeeally loosely defined, since AFAICT Facebook isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
- OrangeMango 7y ago
  I don't think FB cares, but if you are the one spending your own money, you probably care an awful lot.
  - e2021 7y ago
    Yes, but the point op seemed to be making was that FB inc was in trouble because now instagram is the #1 choice instead of Facebook. This makes no sense - it all goes to the same bank account
    - ratww 7y ago
      > the point op seemed to be making Wait, are you talking about me? In my post I don't even hint at anything even close to that, I don't have any bias against Facebook, the company or the website. I'm not even talking about the future of Facebook AT ALL in the post. I'm just stating some metrics we gathered at my last workplace that might be helpful for people using social media. Are you sure you're not projecting, or being over-defensive?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- phkahler 7y ago
  Youre right, but for an advertiser it's important to know where to spend the money. From their perspective FB and Insta are not of equal value.

downandout 7y ago

The ones that do (buy FB ads), typically do so through local "media company" who tack on their own fees, which in turn makes it a poor investment. I can count on one hand (out of hundreds) the number of our clients who effectively use Facebook. That seems less an indictment of the performance Facebook ads, and more of an indictment of local Facebook ads consultants. As an experienced marketer, I can tell you that in most niches, ROAS from Facebook ads done correctly vastly outperforms that of AdWords ads. AdWords tends to deliver higher quality traffic, but at a CPC that is so much higher than Facebook that it makes Facebook’s lower quality traffic the better buy.

paxys 7y ago

It completely depends on the target demographic. For escape rooms, for example (mentioned in the above post), everyone is going to look up reviews on Facebook before buying tickets.

mdorazio 7y ago
Not so sure that's true - most of the people I know look on Google/Maps for reviews now rather than trusting FB (or Yelp). It's probably demographic and market dependent.
munk-a 7y ago
I dunno, FB business pages seem to be really flaky. I'm just myself but I'd do a cursory check of google reviews and call it at that.
PopeDotNinja 7y ago
Facebook has reviews? That's news to me.

scarface74 7y ago

A quick Google search shows that your anecdote, doesn't match the broader statistics... https://www.investopedia.com/news/facebook-google-digital-ad-market-share-drops-amazon-climbs/ https://www.investopedia.com/news/facebook-google-digital-ad... Between Facebook and Google. Facebook has about 34% of the ad spend (36.2 + 19.2)/19.3.

dx034 7y ago
I believe that's for Facebook Inc. and includes Instagram.

smbowner 7y ago

> Anecdotally, based on my experience working with over 250 local businesses across the business spectrum, this doesn't reflect reality. Have to chime in here. I run a small brick and motor business with a membership model (climbing gym). FB/Insta are paramount to our marketing and communication. Like the parent comment said, people like to say they don't use Facebook/Insta but that doesn't seem to be true at all. Our ad budget on FB is an easy choice and is the only method of adverts that have given us any sort of consistent return. Groupon can get people in the door as well, but then you need to convert them directly with strong sales. It's good, but hard. Organic FB/Insta are also the best way for us to communicate with our members/community about events, specials and closures. People check these platforms all the time. I believe these work so well for us because of the visual aspect of our business. If we were more informational, perhaps email would be a better tool. I fantasize about not using Facebook properties, but it would come at a tremendous cost to the business and our community.