Facebook Tops Google For Local Business Marketing

More than half of local businesses are spending less than $2,500 a year on marketing, and 60 percent have no plans to raise their budgets in 2011, according to a new survey from MerchantCircle.

Facebook continues to be a popular way for merchants to market their business, with 70 percent using the social network for marketing, up from 50 percent one year ago. Facebook has now surpassed Google (66 percent) as the most widely used marketing method amongst local merchants, and is almost tied with Google search (40 percent) as one of their top three most effective marketing methods, with 37 percent rating Facebook as one of their most effective tools.

Three of the top marketing methods for local businesses — social, search and email — are also cited as being the most effective, with 36 percent putting social networking in the top three, 40 percent citing search and 36 percent choosing email marketing.

“Online marketing continues to be a challenge for most local businesses, and many merchants are working with very small budgets and almost no marketing resources,” said Darren Waddell, vice president of marketing at MerchantCircle.

“The marketing methods we see gaining the most traction are therefore the ones that offer merchants simplicity, low costs and immediate results.”

There are 11 Comments. Add Yours.

Ankush
February 20, 2011 at 1:05 am

Facebook has changed the pages layout, they’re more specific to the local ads now. so facebook know that the industry is going to niche and local and this is the right time to go. But I’m sure Google knows very well, what they’re doing and they can beat facebook soon or later.
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Chris
February 18, 2011 at 4:19 pm

Our local internet marketing company, LocalViz has some experience so we know how small business owners feel. Let’s imagine the scenario that Google might be getting to a point where it’s cost prohibitive for many small businesses to rank in Google, especially tougher niches like carpet cleaning and especially in any city with a decent population. They need someone that knows what they’re doing and that’s going to cost. Small businesses need cost effective marketing because they typically have small budgets.

Facebook is at a point where everyone wants to learn about it and become a social media expert, plus you don’t have competition for rankings. What happens when they bring out Facebook slaps for having crummy looks Facebook pages. It’s a different form of marketing completely. You’re taking advantage of your personal connections. With search you’re getting into the minds of the individual buyer and that’s the most valuable form of marketing in my opinion. In my opinion they are both completely up to date and valid form of marketing for most businesses. Some may just benefit greater than others.

Chris
Guest
February 17, 2011 at 5:49 pm

I think it depends on the type of business you have, I work for a Custom Web Development company, http://www.paragon9.com so our services are rarely mentioned in social settings unless of course they know of a business who might be looking for custom web development services. I will give it a try, if nothing else it is adverstisment now matter how you look at it.
Kathy Long
February 17, 2011 at 3:56 pm

Since research seems to indicate that only 20% of the local businesses have a web presence and a fraction of those use Facebook, where does that 70% come from? Are we talking about 70% of local businesses who already do internet marketing? I can see that being true. Facebook ads have a very good ROI because they are more targeted to your demographic.
medlaw
February 23, 2011 at 1:36 pm

You don’t need a website to use google places (what they are now calling their local directory). I’m not sure where this 70% comes from. I assume it refers to paid advertising. I think google still drives more local business by far than facebook if one looks at all traffic rather than just paid advertising. Thus, I view facebook and twitter as tools to be used on top of google marketing. I haven’t done facebook ads so I can’t comment on their effectiveness. They must be doing something right though because their ad revenue is growing.

http://www.brafton.com/news/facebook-now-a-top-10-ad-platform-800421658
Jamal
February 17, 2011 at 2:20 pm

Most of the people are now concentrating facebook to spread there website i have launched a new website http://www.filescabinet.com which deals with all free ebooks and any file search engine and its doing quite good in facebook.
Guest
February 17, 2011 at 1:24 pm

I’ve tried using facebook but to be honest I can’t work out if it works or even how its supposed to.
Dr Ian Smith
February 17, 2011 at 12:33 pm

To say “” is a slight exaggeration I would suggest – especially as Facebook is a complete waste of time for most small businesses.
Guest
February 17, 2011 at 11:46 am

I use facebook to spread the word with my network on dental supplies, http://www.dentalofficeproducts.com used with all dental practices in Miami, FL from general dentistry to cosmetic dental as well with the entire U.S.
Dr Ian Smith
February 17, 2011 at 12:35 pm

To say "Facebook Tops Google For Local Business Marketing" is a slight exaggeration I would suggest – especially as Facebook is a complete waste of time for most small businesses.



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Facebook Tops Google For Local Business Marketing

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