Facebook, Where Opportunity Knox host small business seminar

Together with Where Opportunity Knox, Facebook’s Boost Your Business seminar offered training for veteran and military families on how to successfully use Facebook advertising to increase business and connect with customers.

“We have a lot of national players in this area,” said special guest Rep. Brett Guthrie. “But the real growth happens with small businesses.”

This region has many veteran retirees who are looking toward their next phase of life after military service, Guthrie said. “This seminar is to help those small business owners understand how to use social media to market their business,” he said.

Jeremy Lynch of Facebook’s small and medium business team presented information to help new and existing businesses make use of Facebook’s advertising, and to help improve the success of those ads.

Four topics were covered: posting engaging content; finding your target customer; promoting your business; and measuring how this targeted effort has increased traffic and results.

Posts for business pages can be text, photo or video posts, with varying degrees of delivery and interest, Lynch said.

“Facebook business ads are not disruptive, and customers experience the message as part of their normal Facebook experience,” Lynch said.

Lynch also covered finding target customers by using such criteria as location, interests and behavior. In order to do this it’s important for small business owners to understand their business goals and audience.

“Facebook connects your business with the people who matter to you and your message,” Lynch said.

Posts can be boosted, Lynch said, which amplifies the reach of a post. Business owners set their own budget for this, which allows them to also set the amount of exposure they’d like a particular post to have.

The seminar closed with a question and answer panel of local business owners who are or soon will be veterans. Included were Will Rivera with Running Soles; Brandon Vermillion with Artistic Body Tattoo; Lindsay Gargotto with Athena’s Sisters; and Fritz Chatelier with Crossfit Hard Knox. They shared their experiences with using Facebook and Facebook advertising to support their businesses.

“I learned that Facebook was necessary for our business,” Gargotto said.

Guthrie, a veteran himself, said that many veterans aren’t ready to stop working once they retire from service.

“We want to empower them to live out their own dreams,” he said.