Today, over 40 million SMBs have an active Facebook business page.  Of those, 2.5 million are marketing partners paying to advertise their goods and services on Facebook.  Most are SMBs and this is good news for Engage121 clients.

Facebook’s new Professional Services Search – replete with consumer reviews – is an important innovation that will yield great results for Engage121 SMBs once it’s fully launched.

Its focus is hyper local and, considering that 71% of digital shoppers said they are more likely to respond to an ad for a local business than a larger operation, search results will be more relevant – and productive – than ever.

Of course, it will also yield great results for Facebook as it takes on Yelp and Alphabet (formerly Google) to keep people on Facebook for all their research and shopping needs. (Clearly Yelp stockholders are concerned – price is down almost 20% since the FPSS discovery.)

Facebook clearly understands the value of the 40 million SMB business pages and is investing in better servicing that segment.  By focusing here Facebook ensures a) better advertiser satisfaction; b) a better user experience; and c) increases in ad spend.  Win-win across the board.

We see better targeting, richer data, and improved performance in our (not too distant) future.  Good for Engage121 and good for our clients.  Another win-win!

We’re excited to see how Facebook rolls this out and will keep you updated on opportunities as they develop.