Boost Your Business Event

Two weeks ago I headed out to Facebook’s Boost Your Business event in Seattle, WA.  You have probably seen these events pop up in your feed from time to time. I have. If you are a small business owner or work for a small business in the capacity, I highly recommend you attend. Why?

It’s Free. Yep, attendance at this event was free. They also provided validation for parking in a nearby structure. I live 45 minutes North of Seattle and happily would attend events like this again.

Professional. Registering was simple and easy. I received a confirmation email. As the event approached I received email reminders followed with details about the event, what to expect and links to parking information and directions from the parking structure to the venue.

Upon arriving at the venue, I was met in the lobby by two friendly Facebook associates who assisted me in checking in at one of six iPad stations.  If you had not pre-registered they assisted you in registering. When the event opened we proceeded to the conference area.  All attendees received a swag bag.  After picking up some coffee, I visited several of the vendor tables, asked questions, gathered information sheets, had my picture taken and met several fellow attendees.  All of the vendors were geared to the small business.

Great Speakers.  The event began with several relevant speakers, our information session and a short panel discussion that consisted of the moderator asking three local area business owners who spoke about how they have been able to use Facebook to boost their businesses.

Amazing Follow-Up Information.  After the event concluded we received an email survey.  If you completed the survey, you received an email with an outline of the presentation and several links to even more helpful sites and Facebook groups that you could join.  We all knew this was an optional so we were encouraged to sit back, soak up the information and take it all in. No need to take notes. I still did.

There is so much information that I can’t really get it all in one blog. The following is what I learned and found helpful.  I highly recommend that if you haven’t seen and attended these events, if you are thinking of starting a business or already have one and are looking for customers.  That’s my two cents.

What I Learned

• Facebook has over 100 billion users. Instagram has 600 million users. That’s a lot of peeps interacting with one another! 1 in 5 mobile minutes are spent on these social media outlets. You need to engage your audience in the first 1-3 seconds. Holy cow!
• Use Facebook Insights for your page to figure out when to post. When are people viewing your page? Post near that day/time to get greater interaction.
• Schedule your posts by using Page Manager.
• Instagram is a younger audience so target your marketing accordingly.
• Use Ad Manager.
• Want to generate leads for your business? Look into a Lead Ad.
• You can upload a list of your customers for a “custom audience” or create a “look-alike audience”.
• There are several different formats you can use to present photos. Use them.
• You can add Facebook Pixel to your website to find out how you are getting your traffic, mobile or desktop.
• You can use Facebook to hire. Wow! How cool is that? You can create an ad for a job!

Between the presentation and the panel we learned a whole lot of information about targeting ads and posts along with content and when.

It was a great morning. This is just a tip of the iceberg. Make the most out of your social media. Attend if you are able. I am glad that I did and I can’t wait to put it into use!

Useful links provided by Facebook:

Create an ad: Facebook.com/ads/create

Free Education and Training: Facebook.com/blueprint

Free online courses, live and recorded webinars as well as a certification process available.

Advertising help, tips and support: Facebook.com/business/resources