A billion people use Facebook each day: Why your small business needs this social media platform more than ever

Facebook remains a huge marketplace for small business, with the social media giant releasing  figures this week that shows it averages 1 billion users a day and has amassed a total user base of 1.55 billion people.

In its financial reports for the quarter ending September 30, Facebook also revealed its users view an average of more than 8 billion videos a day and more than 45 million small and medium businesses have a Facebook page.

Facebook recorded total revenue of $US4.5 billion ($6.2 billion) in the three months to September, up from $US3.2 billion ($4.4 billion) the year before.

The social network made $US4.2 billion in ad revenue, of which 78% came from mobile advertising.

When it came to daily active users, Facebook said 1.01 billion people on average used the social media platform every day in September this year, representing a jump of 17% from this time last year.

Of the billion average daily users, an average of 894 million users are using the platform through mobile, an increase of 27% year-on-year.

Steve Vallas, co-founder of Chunky Media, told SmartCompany this morning there are some “pretty impressive results” in the report, primarily because of the double digit growth Facebook has experienced.

But Vallas says the figures highlight that small and medium size businesses not using Facebook are missing out, especially because of the platform’s ability to still reach people organically.

“You have to be on Facebook now, there’s no other medium that can get our message across in the way Facebook can,” he says.

Vallas says the value is there for all types of businesses, even if it’s just using the platform for competitive intelligence or as a digital store front for the business.

“There’s an element of the platform that has a relevance to almost every small business,” he says.

Vallas says the trends towards ads on the platform and the uptake in mobile usage are worth small businesses paying attention to.

“Mobile is where people are consuming it,” he says.

Vallas has one simple tip for those wondering about the attractiveness of their business’s content on mobile.

“I always suggest holding the phone out at arm’s length and if it doesn’t grab your eye, you probably shouldn’t be putting that content up,” he says.