As Greg Sterling said in his Search Engine Land article, “There’s been a boatload of survey data released in the past six months documenting the adoption of social media by small businesses (SMBs).” (See the rest of Sterling’s article, Report: 58% of SMBs on Social Media Sites, Most Have Only Limited Engagement.)

Unfortunately, this data doesn’t give a clear picture of how and how many SMBs are using social media — and in particular, Facebook.

Hiscox, a company that provides insurance to small businesses, surveyed small businesses and found that nearly 50% weren’t using social media at all and that of those who do use some form of social media, only 19% use Facebook.

Data from Palore’s research, however, paints a different picture: 54.2% of SMBs have a Facebook page, with 22.3% of SMBs having both a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Jason Falls, social media expert and author of the forthcoming book, No Bullshit Social Media, on the other hand, states that only 27% of small businesses are using Facebook.

Although Facebook usage data may be unclear, these social media experts quoted agree on one thing: SMBs need to use social media to market their products and services.

But is this really the case? Maybe, maybe not. From Heinrich’s perspective and in working with small and mid-sized businesses, there is no universal answer; it really depends on your audience, budget, and business objectives.

Why you may not need a Facebook page

When our clients ask whether they should be on Facebook, we say, “It depends.” This is because social media is just one marketing channel, and Facebook is just one platform within that channel. Facebook should make sense within the context of the overall mix.

Although the Facebook “Like” button is ubiquitous, it doesn’t necessarily follow that a Facebook page is right for your business. When deciding whether to begin a Facebook campaign, it pays to look at a number of factors:

1. Your audience — The question to ask yourself is, “Will my customers engage with me on Facebook?” For many big-name consumer brands, a Facebook presence can be a must.

This isn’t always the case for local businesses, something Francine Hardaway points out in her article, “Most Small Business Facebook Page Fans Not Local” for the Business Insider blog.

According to the research data she cites, only 15% of “Likes” on the average small business page are local — the rest come from “fans” outside of the area. “From that,” states Hardaway, “you can extrapolate that the Facebook pages of most small businesses do them little or no good for targeted marketing efforts.”

Just because you can create a Facebook page doesn’t mean you have to or should, especially if your local customers would rather engage with you during the course of face-to-face transactions in your store.

2. Your budget — Common advice states that social media is “free” and therefore a cost-effective tactic for SMBs. Yes, opening a Facebook page or Twitter account is free. But maintaining these accounts requires a huge investment of time and resources to create fresh content on a regular basis, respond to people’s comments, and provide damage control to manage negative commentary about your business.

If you don’t have internal resources, you may have to hire an outside agency or consultant to maintain your presence for you.

3. Your business objectives — If your objective is to generate leads — for example, you’re a fencing company that needs to keep its installers busy — Facebook may help you build brand awareness but it won’t necessarily provide you with the leads that you need. In this case, your business objectives and marketing tactics don’t match, and while you may see some business lift from the additional awareness, it’s certainly a much more passive sales path to take.

Instead of using social media, you’ll want to consider an integrated lead generation campaign that rewards people for word-of-mouth and online referrals (reviews on your Google Places page), takes advantage of targeted direct mail, and includes pay-per-click and SEO.

Has your business developed a Facebook presence? Why or why not? Leave your comments below.