How is Facebook helping small businesses during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies of all sizes are under threat. However, while significant, established companies have the resources to keep themselves afloat, small businesses worldwide are finding it extremely difficult to survive. During such difficult times, Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, have offered relief, especially to small business owners. The social media giant has launched several brand new features to help small businesses reach out and stay connected with their customers during the coronavirus crisis. 

Nhance Digital’s team of social media consultant professionals has researched your behalf to keep you informed of all the new features that Facebook has introduced. Please continue reading to get an idea of how the social media giant has made it easier for small businesses to survive by leveraging their platform. 

Facebook has announced the launch of ‘Shops.’

Facebook has made known the launch of its latest feature, known as Shops. This feature is going to enable businesses to showcase and sell their products on the social media platform. This move is a relief to many retailers who have been forced to close their brick-and-mortar stores due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this feature, such stores can easily start selling online. 

Shops let businesses create their digital storefronts to purchase products from Facebook or the retailer’s website directly. This feature will also appear on Facebook-owned Instagram, enabling users to discover Shops, via ads or Stories. 

The search giant already allows sales through Marketplace, but it centered on selling personal belongings, which is quite similar to eBay or Craigslist. In contrast, Shops are focused on businesses and enable them to compete with retail stores that are already established, like Etsy and Amazon. 

Facebook has collaborated with 8 third-party shopping platforms with the launch of Shops. Shopify is one of those platforms, and this platform has recently announced the launch of a unified Facebook platform. This means that retailers or sellers can connect their Shopify business to their Facebook account while making the shopping experience of their customers feel native to each application. 

To fully take advantage of Shops, you can join hands with an expert social media consultant like Nhance Digital. 

‘Business Nearby’ section

‘Business Nearby’ is a new section that has been introduced by Facebook for the Facebook app. This feature allows users to discover small businesses in the neighbourhood and located within a specific distance. With this feature, people can learn what is happening in their neighbourhood shops, drop them a message or even order food or buy goods through third-party apps. Facebook is hopeful that this will allow small businesses to see more virtual foot traffic. 

Business Resource Hub

More than 140 million small businesses leverage the social media platform to market their goods and services. Most of the businesses generate important advertising revenue on Facebook. This is why the social media giant has always aimed at helping small businesses through various tools like ‘Appointment’ and ‘Automated Ads’. These were tools that previously helped small businesses succeed on the platform. 

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, Facebook has launched the ‘Business Resource Hub.’ This directed toward helping those businesses that are affected by the pandemic. The hub includes a resilience toolkit that gives information on how to prevent business disruptions during this time. It also contains a quick action guide to assist in coordinating response activities. 

Moreover, Facebook provides businesses myriad templates that can be used to communicate vital messages related to coronavirus response or simple messages of gratitude. 

‘Support Small Business’ sticker

Facebook-owned, Instagram has released a new feature to support small businesses to make sales. The ‘Support Small Business’ sticker can be used in stories so that users can show their appreciation and spread the word regarding a small business that they support. 

Using this sticker, users can mention the business so that it is easier for the businesses to repost the story on their Instagram page. Also, this makes it easier for businesses to connect with prospective consumers. 

Besides these, Facebook is also updating Facebook messenger, its messaging platform. The tech giant plans to update the Business Inbox in messenger so that it is easier for businesses to communicate with their customers or potential customers. Businesses will also be allowed to install the Chat Plugin of Facebook on their website directly. 

So, if you are a small business owner and want to take advantage of all the new features introduced by Facebook, get in touch with Nhance Digital. Our social media experts will help you make the most of the latest launches.