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It looks like Facebook wants to befriend small businesses, having recently announced the launch of its new “Facebook Fit” campaign. This boot-camp style workshop is being offered to small businesses in order to teach them how to better utilize the social networking website as a marketing and advertising tool.
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s operating chief, says the key is showing business owners how to find new customers by creating Facebook pages and purchasing ads that appear on individual Facebook users’ pages.
“They don’t have enough customers. This is their No. 1 problem — and we can help them solve it,” Sandberg said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Dan Levy, Facebook’s director of small business, says that companies are hoping to ride the wave of Facebook’s popularity in order to grow their businesses. “But they also want to hear from SMB experts and leading companies on best practices in other key areas, such as payments, legal services and financial management. That’s why we’re creating Facebook Fit, so SMBs can achieve success in every aspect of their business. ”
The small business market has been a notoriously difficult industry to crack for digital companies such as Facebook and Google, with many owners reluctant to advertise, thus limiting the revenue companies like Facebook can make from small businesses.
Workshops are planned for nationwide cities as part of Facebook Fit:
- Chicago on July 10
- Austin on July 24
- Menlo Park on August 5
Software maker Intuit and payment processor Square will also take part. Registration is required for attendees. Information is available at http://fb.me/fit.