Community has become a much bigger focus in 2020, with more people considering how they can support their local businesses in order to lessen the impacts of the pandemic.
The various lockdowns and mitigation efforts have hit SMBs hard, with many already pushing hard to maintain their margins. That’s particularly true of Black-owned businesses – according to Facebook, Black-owned SMBs have been closing at twice the rate of other small businesses throughout 2020.
In order to provide support where it can, Facebook has launched a range of new tools for SMBs to help them maximize their promotions on the platform, and this week, Facebook will launch a new set of initiatives specifically for Black-owned businesses.
These will include:
- #BuyBlack Friday Show – Beginning 10/30, people can tune in every Friday at 11am PT to Facebook’s Lift Black Voices Hub or the Facebook App or Facebook Inc. page to join a LIVE show, hosted by comedian and bestselling author, Phoebe Robinson.
- #BuyBlack Friday Gift Guide – A curation of products from 60 US Black-owned businesses across categories from beauty to home and fashion. Unlike your typical gift guide, this one will be LIVE and will be brought to life during the #BuyBlack Friday Show with Facebook’s new Live Shopping capabilities, for a unique shopping experience celebrating and supporting Black businesses. You can check out the guide here.
- #BuyBlack Challenge – Starting 10/30, people can tag their favorite Black business and use the #BuyBlackChallenge hashtag to automatically invite others to take the challenge via a footer on their post that encourages family and friends to ‘Try It’ too.
Definitely, support for SMBs has accelerated in 2020 – Facebook has also shared this new infographic highlighting how people are supporting small businesses.
