Fewer than one-third of US consumers are influenced by social media when making a purchase decision; that was an eye-opening statistic from a new consumer survey conduct among 1,512 US online consumers by Splashlight, a visual content creation company.

That pretty much aligned with findings from a 2016 study by Lithium Technologies, a digital engagement platform. In its survey, conducted by Harris Polls, among 2,000 U.S. consumers, it found that all consumers, but most especially some 74% of digitally-native millennial and GenZ consumers, object to being targeted commercially by brands in their social media feeds.

Lithium reports, "In fact, 56% of these digital natives report cutting back or actually stopping use of social media sites entirely due to advertisements in their news feed."

Social media advertising is booming, reaching $31 billion in 2016, according to HootSuite and Facebook is the biggest and baddest social media platform of them all, raking in a remarkable $26.8 billion in advertising last year.

But I wondered if Facebook, in particular, was delivering on its promise of more eyes, more engagement and ultimately more sales. Or whether as these recent studies show, consumers are pushing back against the increasing commercialization of their Facebook social media experiences.

What I discovered is that Facebook makes big advertising promises that most small businesses take on faith, not measurable return on investment. But as the saying goes, "Hope is not a strategy," and the only thing that will make those FB advertising efforts pull customers in the end is to make a big investment in time, and often money, to achieve success.

While Facebook gives the illusion of being easy to use by small businesses, the reality is that Facebook advertising is targeted to capturing the ad spend of big brands employing highly-trained consultants who know how to tweak the system and make it work.

For small businesses, it takes enormous effort to learn how to use it effectively, then an on-going commitment to keep the momentum growing.

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing

Speaker, author and market researcher Pamela N. Danziger is internationally recognized for her expertise on the world's most influential consumers: the American affluent, including the HENRYs (high-earners-not-rich-yet) mass affluent.

As founder of Unity Marketing in 1992, Ms. Danziger leads with research to provide brands with actionable insights into the minds of their most profitable customers.

Ms. Danziger is a member of the renowned Leaders in Luxury + Design panel recognized by The Home Trust International. She received the Global Luxury Award for top luxury industry achievers presented at the Global Luxury Forum in 2007. She was named to Luxury Daily's Luxury Women to Watch in 2013. She is a member of Jim Blasingame: The Small Business Advocate's Brain Trust and a contributing columnist to The Robin Report.

A prolific writer and blogger, Pam is author of seven books, including her latest Home for HENRYs: Meet the New Customers Home Décor Marketers Are Searching For - High-Earners-Not-Rich-Yet, which launches a series focused on the mass-affluent HENRYs who are the changing face of America's affluent consumer marketplace. 

In 2016 Shops that POP! 7 Steps to Extraordinary Retail Success was added to her bibliography. It reveals the secrets to crafting a retail shopping experience that's irresistible to high value shoppers.

Ms. Danziger is frequently called on to share new insights with audiences and business leaders all over the world.

Web address: UnityMarketingOnline.com. Contact: pam@unitymarketingonline.com