Facebook helps SMMEs to unlock potential, grow

© Robert Churchill via 123RF

“Our Future of Business Survey shows small businesses want to create new jobs in the next six months. Giving them the ability to take mobile, personalised marketing to our global community will help them unlock their potential and reach new markets,” says Williams.

Small businesses worldwide and in South Africa are turning to Facebook and Instagram to help them grow. It allows them to:

Save time

With the Ads Manager App, small businesses can manage ads and get insights. They can see at a glance how their ads for Pages are performing, or see a snapshot of how their ad account performed this week compared to the previous week. They can also select up to five ads and compare them side by side.

The app now recommends actions advertisers can take to increase ad performance. For example, it will notify the advertiser when a high-performing ad is about to end and offer the option to extend the schedule for another one, three, or seven days.

Get creative

Facebook’s Mobile Studio is a new way to show businesses how easy it is to create great ads using only a mobile device. All businesses can improve their creative and, ultimately, the efficacy of their ads with mobile apps and tools.

Learn new skills

Blueprint eLearning courses give businesses the power to learn best practices for advertising on Facebook's family of apps and services at their own pace. The online education platform is available in ten languages.

Communicate with customers

Responding to customers quickly is key to delivering good customer service but it can be hard for small businesses to keep up with the volume of communications. In November 2016, Facebook announced a single inbox to manage communications across Facebook, Messenger and Instagram within the Pages Manager app.

Find new customers, near and far

It is now easier to run global campaigns from anywhere, with new solutions that help businesses connect with new customers:

• International Lookalikes can help businesses find new people that look like their best customers in other countries.
  
• Worldwide/Global Region targeting can help businesses set up a global campaign and find efficient conversions.

• Country Snapshots and Insights Playbook can help businesses create customised campaigns in each country.

Furniturespot, an online platform that connects local furniture makers to sell bespoke furniture uses Facebook to advertise. “Three-quarters of our website traffic comes from Facebook, delivering 65% growth month-on-month,” says owner, Wouter van Bockel. “Facebook is a powerful tool for building a community.”