Facebook’s active advertiser is on the rise, but it is still far away from challenging internet giant Google
The number of Facebook’s active advertisers has spiked to 2 million, a 33% increase from 1.5 million in July 2014. The majority of the new advertisers who paid to place their ads on the social network in the past 30 days are small- and medium-sized business owners.
Making efforts to lure small business owners
Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), said in a statement, “Small business owners are really hard to reach and they are not tech savvy usually.” She further revealed that 30 million small business owners have Facebook pages. Around 80% of the total new advertisers on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) acquired in the last quarter of 2014 started paying for a promoted post.
According to Sandberg, small business advertising is growing rapidly in regions of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific region. The social network is making constant efforts to lure in advertisers to enhance its global market share. Additionally, the social networking site has launched an app for advertisers to manage their campaigns.
The social network did not provide much detail on the actual number of small business advertisers compared to big brands, but on an average, they spend $5 to $50 per day, compared to the millions of dollars shelled out annually by big companies. Revenue for the fourth quarter surged 49% to $3.85 billion from the corresponding period in the previous year, with mobile accounting for 69% of the advertising revenue.
Will Facebook beat Google?
As of now, Google stands at the top in the digital advertising market, holding 31.1% of the market, according to an estimate from research firm eMarketer. However, recently the company’s share has dropped marginally, sliding from 33.6% in 2013. On the other hand, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) succeeded in increasing its share to 7.8% in 2014 from 5.8% in 2013, according to eMarketer.
Google’s advertiser base is yet unknown, and the only information dates back to 2007 when it was estimated that the company had 1 million advertisers, according to Reuters.
Padraig Bracken, marketing manager at Y-Volution, a Dublin-based toy company that manufactures scooters for kids, has revealed plan of spending 60% of their digital marketing budget with Facebook this year. Bracken told Reuters that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is making stronger efforts than Google, adding, “Google search is the king but it’s getting more expensive.”
