It would come as no surprise to people that use Facebook, but there are plenty of ads on the site these days. Some are more intrusive than others, but it is nothing you won‘t expect from a service that is offered to you for free.
Many smaller companies have found Facebook to be a great way to engage with potential customers, and have taken to the social media service to advertise. Yesterday, 24 February, Facebook announced that it has now reached more than two million active advertisers, most of them SME‘s (Small and Medium Enterprises).
They have seen a 33% growth in companies advertising on the site in the last 6 months. In addition, they announced a new Ads Manager app to help businesses manage their ad campaigns on the go, through their mobile devices.
“œThese numbers include healthy growth across South Africa and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa,“ says Aidan Baigrie, Sub-Saharan Africa for Facebook. With more than 50 million active mobile users in Sub-Saharan Africa, the continent clearly demonstrates being mobile-first. “œWe are seeing more and more African SMEs embrace advertising on Facebook because it drives sales. At Facebook, we are delighted to play a role in small businesses‘ growth stories.“
Small businesses are the backbone of the African economy, he adds. They drive economic growth and new jobs. The number one reason small businesses succeed or fail is their ability to attract customers. Up until now, it has been expensive and difficult to reach customers with limited time and resources available to them, says Baigrie.
With accurate targeting that saves SMEs from wasting money on audiences they don‘t want to reach, Facebook says they are the best place to build a business’ brands and sell their products.
“œAs more and more people turn to the web and to their phones to discover and connect with businesses, it‘s crucial that small businesses have an online presence. And Facebook is the best platform for them to do this,“ says Baigrie.
Baigrie says three factors explain the growing popularity of Facebook with SME advertisers. Firstly, it is easy to use with a lower barrier to entry. Most SMEs start out as personal users of the service. They quickly branch out into starting a business page ““ as easy as setting up a personal profile. Then, it‘s easy for them to graduate to using Facebook‘s “˜light weight‘ solutions that they can do with one click from their page.
Once SMEs start a Page, there are ways to use in-product messages to help them, say, fill out their profile, talk to a Facebook support person, or learn how to boost their posts. Of new Facebook advertisers acquired in the fourth quarter of 2014, 80% started by using such solutions.
Secondly, Facebook offers SMEs a simple and affordable way to do targeted advertising with proven results. Facebook gives them tools that let them see how their spending is improving the bottom line.
Thirdly, the consumer shift to mobile is making more business owners want to use Facebook‘s mobile tools to reach customers and manage their businesses. “œWe have the best mobile ad product,“ Baigrie says.
Almost 70% of Facebook users globally are connected to at least one small business in their home country (SME Page, local or eCommerce, classified as SME by Facebook). In total, there are 25 billion connections between SMEs and people worldwide.
Concludes Baigrie: “œAs businesses are increasingly investing in us, we want to continue investing more in them. This year, we are scaling our SME-dedicated support to include more in-person educational events around the world as well as access to more online support for any business who wants to grow with Facebook.“
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