Ever since the Coronavirus pandemic had spread, it caused huge damage to the business field, especially to the small and medium businesses.
Many small and medium businesses had to end their journey due to the huge loss caused by the pandemic and many others struggled to survive. Since everything is almost back to being normal but with taking precautionary measures, these businesses have been struggling to fully recover from the COVID-19 damage.
Therefore, Facebook is giving an amazing opportunity to support business owners; The international company started a new campaign under the name of #LoveLocal in the Middle East and North Africa to support local small and medium businesses.
An Overview on #LoveLocal
The MENA region was and still is badly affected due to the Coronavirus pandemic. So, Today Facebook Inc. announced the launch of its new campaign #LocalLove to support those small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the MENA region.
The new campaign will represent the voice of the SMBs and will focus on their stories and the challenges they faced, through this, #LoveLocal will help generate consumer demand for those SMBs in the MENA region.
How The Campaign Will Help SMBs
Facebook had launched the MENA SMB Training Hub, which is a platform with over 40 online webinars for free to support and upskill SMBs and business owners.
The #LoveLocal campaign will provide the business owners with access to this training hub so they can use a range of digital tools that cover digital marketing and e-commerce to develop and grow their online business presence.
They will also be provided with courses that have been developed by popular e-commerce platforms and Facebook partners such as Ecomz, Expand Cart, and Zid.
COVID-19 Digitizing The Economy
The pandemic had caused a huge shift in the economy as it put it on the road of digitizing. The pandemic had shifted the customers’ spending behavior towards digital and online shopping.
Many reports stated that at least one-third of SMBs globally indicated that their digital channels had earned them 15% of their sales in the previous month.
Therefore, the SMB training hub will provide the business owners with Facebook’s business resources hub, an online skills training program for courses such as How to grow your online store with social media’ or ‘Keys to a successful digital transformation.
They can also learn new marketing skills to help them grow their business and can know more about Facebook’s grants program. They will also be provided with free webinars so they can learn how to use Facebook and Instagram tools to be able to connect with their customers and the business community.
Ramez Shehadi who is the Managing Director for the Middle East & North Africa, Facebook said, “It is now clear that a key way for SMBs to survive the pandemic is to pivot to digital in order to access a wider radius of consumers beyond their traditional physical reach. Entrepreneurs can register for free online courses to receive insights on Facebook’s services and tools that can help them get online, boost leads, and grow online commercial engagement. Our online resources and tools can help small business owners with tips, training and much more to learn, live, and work more readily and effectively in the digital world.”
“Boost with Facebook”
Facebook launched a number of initiatives across countries in MENA with local partners under the name of ‘Boost with Facebook’. The ‘Boost with Facebook’ is aiming to help small businesses to grow by expanding their digital skills, provides virtual learning sessions to upskill SMBs and startup companies.
Consumers can also join the #LoveLocal initiative by using the hashtag to share their buying experiences to support their local businesses.
If you own a small business then this is your chance to grow and to survive these current hard days.
