Skip to main content

When teams talk about growth, Facebook is on top of mind. Facebook and Instagram both take front and center of paid search with marketing teams, generally speaking. While we have social channels such as Pinterest or Reddit that can pay some dividends and help scale that growth, right now, and for the foreseeable future, growth in paid search is primarily driven through these two networks.

If you look at Q4 of 2020, Facebook brought $27.2 billion in advertising! That is a staggering figure for a social platform and shows how valuable businesses are seeing this channel. However, in contrast to the search leader, Google’s Q4 advertising business generated $46.2 billion, up 22% YoY from $37.9 billion. Search generated $31.9 billion in Q4 2020, up 17% YoY from $27.2 billion and YouTube brought in $6.9 billion, up 47% YoY from $4.7 billion.

When it comes to Facebook, Oberlo created a very telling infrographic of where the social giant sits today.

Here’s a summary of the Facebook statistics you need to know in 2021:

  1. 2.80 billion monthly active users use Facebook. It also has 1.84 billion users that are visiting the social networking site on a daily basis.
  2. Facebook is the leading social media platform, reaching 59.0 percent of social media users.
  3. Facebook brought in $27.2 billion in ad revenue in Q4 2020.
  4. More than 200 million small businesses around the world use Facebook’s tools.
  5. More than six out of ten (63 percent) of the U.S. population aged 12+ claim to use Facebook. 
  6. 65 percent of Facebook users are under the age of 35.
  7. 98.3 percent of Facebook users access the social media platform via mobile phones.
  8. Facebook users spend 19.5 hours per month using the Facebook app.
  9. 86 percent of US marketers are using Facebook for advertising.
  10. 78 percent of American consumers have discovered retail products to buy via Facebook.

All these statistics are telling and relevant to us marketers. They tell a story of not only a platform we really need to ensure the highest visibility possible but keep adding resources for those seeking growth.