Small Businesses Favor Facebook Selling

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According to the F-Commerce Facts survey by Payvment of over 100,000 sellers on Facebook, small sellers are using a wide variety of outside marketing channels to drive traffic to their Facebook storefronts, including Twitter, Google ads and email marketing.

The majority of respondents are small businesses with less than 500 Facebook fans.  The data shows strong adoption and favorability towards Facebook Ads, with most sellers planning to use the social network’s ad products again.   

Christian Taylor, founder and CEO of Payvment, notes that “... there are hundreds of thousands of small businesses who are successfully selling products on Facebook... a robust and vibrant environment in which sellers are aggressively marketing their products through many different channels... bringing revenue and traffic back to Facebook... ”

Payvment sellers, the majority of whom are small businesses, are marketing their businesses using Facebook ads and numerous other social channels.

Key conclusions from the survey by Payvment include:

• More than one-third of respondents report having used Facebook Ads, making this the most prevalent marketing tactic used by sellers to drive traffic to their stores, beyond general Facebook marketing such as promotions and deals posted to their wall, and nearly 70% of respondents say they plan to use Facebook Ads again
• Among the 30% of Facebook sellers who say they wouldn’t use Facebook Ads again, 68% report that they did not acquire many new fans or customers through this channel. 65% say they wouldn’t continue because they are too expensive; 32% say that Facebook Ads are too expensive to use; 63% cite lack of budget as their primary deterrent
• While 84% of sellers are actively marketing on Facebook, and 39% are using Facebook Ads, many are also using other marketing channels to drive traffic to their stores. 38% are promoting their Facebook store on their company web site, 34% are using Twitter, and 30% are using email marketing
• The data shows that Facebook sellers plan to increase their marketing efforts across the board over the next six months using Google Ads, print ads, email marketing and direct mail
• When asked what they like best about selling on Facebook, the majority 61% of respondents cite the ability to promote their products via social marketing as a top benefit of selling on Facebook, and  60% like that customers don’t have to leave Facebook to buy their products
• Nearly 50% of sellers say it is easy to set up and maintain a storefront on Facebook, and 40% say they like selling on Facebook because they are already familiar with how Facebook works.  33% say they like selling on Facebook because shoppers can more easily discover their products
• Nearly 50% of respondents have been selling on Facebook for less than 6 months, and 72% report having less than 500 fans.  72% of respondents point to their small fan base as the biggest challenge of selling on Facebook.  38% cite lack of understanding about how to do marketing on Facebook as a top challenge, and 31% say they don’t have enough time to do marketing

For more information about the Payvmant study, please visit the complete release here.

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2 comments on "Small Businesses Favor Facebook Selling".

1. Rhonda Campbell from NA
   

   commented on: March 19, 2012 at 6:47 p.m.
   Lots of info here. Thanks! I prefer Facebook. I also agree with the last point that it takes time to work social networks. In a year or less social network specialist will become a professional job at many companies, not just a few. Rhonda http://www.writemoneyinc.com
2. Kevin Horne from Lairig Marketing
   

   commented on: March 20, 2012 at 9:11 p.m.
   misleading headline (or poorly constructed research)

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