Check the Stats, Mac

22% of the world’s total population uses Facebook.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Almost a quarter of every human being on the planet is using Facebook…

And some businesses still think that marketing on social media is a waste of time.

Determining the Value of Facebook Marketing for Your Business

In the United States, 68% of all adults use Facebook, and most of them log in and check it every day.

That’s a massive market.

To be fair, just because a market is large doesn’t necessarily make it valuable.

Tracking and measurement are important to every business, and when you’re deciding whether or not to begin a social media campaign for your company, your decision should rely on measurable metrics.

Consider this:

In one survey of professional marketers, 95.8% of them ranked Facebook as one of their top 3 most effective tools.

Facebook began as a social site for college students, but today, its users represent all ages and types of people.

Where other social networks are dominated by young, tech addicted people with some kind of common denominator, Facebook bridges gaps, and that gives marketers the ability to reach their own audiences within the broader spectrum.

Since people are also voluntarily describing themselves on public profiles, it’s very easy to find hyper-qualified prospects.

The marketing tools are ridiculously powerful.

And they’re also far, far cheaper than any kind of traditional advertising – the average cost to reach 1,000 people with a Facebook ad is $5.99.

Seriously.

It’s the most cost effective marketing tool that has ever existed.

Tracking and metrics are easy, budgeting is super simple, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist (or a cutting edge digital marketing company) to create and promote a basic ad.

So why are some businesses still reluctant?

The Facebook Skeptics

Let’s be fair:

There are some cases in which Facebook might not be a smart business move.

For example, if you sell butter churners to Amish people, you might not want to market that on Facebook.

In most cases, though, a smart social strategy is a low-cost, high-reward undertaking that should be seriously considered.

The skeptics say things like:

Facebook doesn’t work.

The numbers don’t lie.

Facebook consistently drives 25% of all social referral traffic.

All of it.

Each business’s results are going to be different, which is why tracking is so important, but dismissing Facebook as ineffective without taking a closer look at the numbers is ridiculous.

Usually, there’s some other objection.

Facebook marketing is too time consuming.

Marketing in general takes time and skill, and to use Facebook appropriately, you will need to invest a bit of time.

You know what’s actually expensive, though?

Spending time on ineffective marketing techniques that don’t produce returns.

There are 24 hours in a day, and you’re going to use all of them somehow. To free up time for Facebook marketing, cut out something with lower returns.

I don’t know how to use Facebook.

Lots of small business owners and entrepreneurs are doing everything – they’re the CEO, CFO, customer service representative, manufacturer, shipping company…

Marketing is another skill to learn as a solo business owner.

Maybe you can survive handling everything on your own, but if you’re going to grow, you either have to get better as an individual or bring new people onto the team that have skills you don’t.

That’s true of every skill you don’t yet possess.

Either learn, bring on a team member, hire a third party, or reevaluate your business’s future.