Facebook: 60 million businesses have Pages, 4 million actively advertise

Facebook has released new numbers around the popularity of its Pages. The social networking company said that more than 60 million businesses now have a Page, a 33 percent increase from September. In addition, 4 million businesses are actively advertising on Facebook, with more than 70 percent marketing outside of the U.S.

“The number one reason businesses succeed or fail is their ability to attract customers,” Facebook said. Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg once remarked that “building an online presence is hard, and building a mobile presence is even more difficult.” The company has sought to highlight Facebook Pages as a suitable alternative to setting up a website, touting its effectiveness on mobile devices, among other advantages.

Breaking down the numbers for business Pages: Eighty-five percent of users are on mobile, while 40 percent of active advertisers have created a Facebook ad on mobile. The fastest growing region, with the most businesses creating Pages, is South East Asia. More specifically, rapid growth is attributed to Vietnam, Indonesia, Greece, Ukraine, and the Philippines.

Pages are also becoming more diversified, with more than 30 percent of small- to medium-sized businesses owned by women.

Of course, it’s not enough to just have a Facebook Page — sadly, the adage “If you build it, they will come” isn’t always effective — so businesses are also advertising on the social network. To enhance those efforts, the company has released new opportunities, including boosted posts, promoted pages, and even video ads — something that recently got Facebook into a bit of controversy. Video ads seem to be catching on, however — within the last month, more than 4 million new video ads have been created by more than 20 percent of “active advertisers.”

Facebook has made a point of citing the growing number of businesses on its platform as a way to demonstrate that brands and individuals are mingling on the social network. In a time when mobile dominates, businesses are eager to go where users are, both from a device point of view and also from the social graph perspective. Pages gives companies that opportunity, providing tools to not only improve conversion, but to open up marketing options, as well.