Attending Facebook’s first-ever SME Bootcamp

Kent at the Selfie Station, where every guest could take as many pictures as they wanted.

Facebook’s B2B offer has shifted its focus from corporations to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as their main market this year. Facebook held its first-ever UK event aimed at the business backbone of the country: how Facebook can help SMEs achieve their business goals.

On January 26th I attended the Facebook SME Bootcamp organised by Facebook for Business, unsure of what to expect as no such kind of event had been held before. I was quite skeptical, to be honest, asking myself if it would just be massive propaganda for Facebook, or a painstaking lesson from an engineer talking about how to tailor different ads on Facebook.

My fears dissolved quickly, as the event was very well run. The first hour was networking time when entrepreneurs had an opportunity to get to know each other. You could visit different booths run by Facebook and their partners including Hootsuite and AdEspresso.

I particularly loved the branding of the event: when I waked into The Brewery, a huge well-designed banner in front of the door greeted me. The brand identity was strongly and consistently placed everywhere from the stage setting, the decorations, and the gift packages to the posters hanging around the hall. You could easily tell the setting was very cosmopolitan and cool in a very ‘generation Y’ way (which is Facebook’s main target group by the way).

This positioning was made even clearer with the Instagram booth where all you needed to do was take a selfie, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #fbSME and they would print the photo for you. This simple idea was a huge hit at the event — and I have to admit I spent quite a lot of time getting the best picture to print out.

When the conference started, we were introduced to how Facebook helps small businesses reach the right customers and achieve their business goals. I like how Facebook didn’t invite famous speakers for talks; instead successful case studies were introduced and those entrepreneurs were invited to come on stage to share their stories, why they chose Facebook for their campaigns and how they optimise it for their success. Lots of ideas were shared and discussed. Later on, we split into workshops according to our interests, either driving sales or creative best practices. I went to the latter one which is more appropriate to the way we at Grain work with our clients.

Facebook’s lovely SME Bootcamp gift pack nicely designed and put together.

These are the key takeaways from the SME Bootcamp:

> Facebook now is the most frequently used social network. Currently there are more than 27 million people on Facebook in the UK, checking it on average 14 times per day. Facebook claims to have the deepest understanding of your business’s audience, helping you target them precisely and thus cost-effectively. This year, Facebook has shifted the focus onto SMEs.

> Facebook advertising has now been engineered to be even more user-friendly and even if you are not a social media expert, with some research you could manage to create a Facebook ad quite easily.

> Some tips I learned: to make a good campaign on Facebook (both for B2B & B2C), the campaign needs to be:

• Creative
• Visual (content in infographics or other multimedia forms)
• Consistent
• Trying new things every day (right-hand side ad, video or image ad, etc.)
• Managed & measured daily

> In the Creative Best Practices workshop, quite a lot of new trends and techniques were shared. There is an interesting shift from search to discovery: people want to feel part of the process. Instead of showing how good the brand or product is, try to encourage your audience to discover it by themselves.

Deborah Hale shared her secrets behind the marketing success of London Olympics.

> Digital engagement is more important than ever – you either have to engage with them rationally or emotionally, or both ideally. Facebook invited Deborah Hale, the marketing guru behind the massive success of the London Olympics, to share how she came up with the strategy, using the theme of ‘extraordinary ordinary’ to unite people emotionally in the world event.

> There is a shift from driving sales online to driving love of the brand first, especially if when building a Facebook page from scratch.

> Content producing was also mentioned during the discussion. ‘How to make posts likable’ was probably the most frequently asked question. The presenter didn’t come up with a specific answer, which is fair enough as it would vary from business to business. However, he stated that on Facebook, in order to attract people, the posts should be funny, moving or relevant. The same applies to Facebook advertisements.

There was also an opportunity for 1:1 consultations on the day with the Facebook team and their partners. I left the event with lots of inspiration and ideas for our clients and for Grain itself. If you happened to be there on the day and have something to add, or if you have anything to ask or say, feel free to leave a comment below!