How Many Marketers Are Using Facebook?

Despite all of the controversy surrounding Facebook, marketers are not leaving the platform. In fact, the number of US marketers using Facebook for marketing purposes increased slightly this year to 86.3%, according to eMarketer forecasts. We expect a similar number of marketers will continue to use Facebook next year.

This week, we’re looking at how marketers use various technologies. Each day, we’ll feature a different topic. Yesterday, we took a look at content marketing. Next up: Facebook.

Why Do Marketers Stick with Facebook?

As noted in our Facebook's 2018 Year in Review report, Facebook had a tumultuous year. The #DeleteFacebook movement gained traction after the platform fell victim to several scandals. However, social media activists are not representative of the general population, as evidenced by Facebook’s continued audience growth. eMarketer forecasts that the number of people who use Facebook per month in the US will grow from 166.2 million people in 2016 to 169.5 million in 2018.

Facebook has also gotten called into multiple congressional hearings for how it handled its user data. But advertisers aren’t pulling out. eMarketer estimates that Facebook’s US digital ad revenues will increase from $12.2 billion in 2016 to $32.6 billion by 2020.

Regardless of how many congressional hearings it gets called into, Facebook still has a large audience, and advertisers keep using its products. A September 2018 report by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research found that nearly nine in 10 US Fortune 500 companies have a public-facing Facebook page.

“Despite the scandals, marketers still see Facebook as a highly effective advertising medium. It’s the largest social network in the world, so it doesn’t make sense for them to move off the platform,” said Jasmine Enberg, senior analyst at eMarketer. “That said, user engagement is plateauing, so marketers are also looking at other platforms, particularly Instagram, to augment their social media marketing efforts.”

Should Facebook Be Worried?

Through a turbulent year, Facebook has maintained a robust audience size and ad business. But signs of distrust are cropping up.

In an August 2018 survey of 1,079 adult US internet users conducted by Janrain, nearly one-third of respondents said that internet companies like Google and Facebook are the least trustworthy to protect personal data. And in an April 2018 survey of 2,772 adult US internet users by Recode, more than half of respondents said that Facebook is the company that they least trust with their personal information.

More on Facebook from eMarketer

Articles:

Facebook Is Tops with Everyone but Teens

Who Is Using Facebook in the US?

Would You Pay for an Ad-Free Facebook?

Podcasts:

Can Advertisers Still Trust Facebook? An Interview with Facebook’s Carolyn Everson

The Facebook News Feed Conundrum

The Weekly Listen: Facebook's Security Breach, Amazon Increases Minimum Wage and a Presidential Alert

Reports:

Facebook Advertising 2018

Changes to Facebook Advertising After Cambridge Analytica

Facebook's 2018 Year in Review

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