Despite suffering from a massive trust setback in the last year, small businesses still recognize social media’s value as a marketing tool and its ability to engage and successfully reach audiences.

As a result, a recent survey by business news site The Manifest found that nearly all small businesses said they plan to ramp up their paid social media investments this year.

The Manifest survey found that 92 percent of small businesses said they'll invest more time and money in social media in 2018.

Top Social Media Channel Investments for Small Businesses

The top social media channel investments for small businesses in 2018.

Facebook will take the lion’s share of this investment, according to the survey, cited by 58 percent of respondents, more than any other platform, followed by YouTube (39 percent), Instagram (39 percent) and Twitter (32 percent).

Business owners said engagement is the most important metric they use for tracking the success of their small social media efforts (20 percent), followed by audience growth (18 percent), clicks (16 percent), leads/conversion (15 percent) and reach (12 percent).

The survey also found that the larger a company is, the more likely it is to invest in social media: nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of businesses with more than 51 employees said they use paid social advertising, compared to 30 percent of businesses staffing only one employee. While just under half of all small businesses (46 percent) said they use paid social advertising, 85 percent of businesses with more than 51 employees admitted to investing in social media ad spend.

The Manifest’s “2018 Small Business Survey” polled more than 350 U.S. business owners and managers whose operations have fewer than 500 employees. The survey was conducted at the end of Q1 this year.