Facebook announces tools to help businesses expand internationally

As technology brings the world closer, it can also help businesses grow. However, attracting customers is the number one reason a business will succeed or fail. Today Facebook is launching new solutions to help small businesses become large and local businesses become global. 

NEW: Here are three new solutions to help businesses expand internationally:

1. Finding new customers, in new countries: Businesses can now use a new feature in the Lookalike Audiences tool to reach customers in new countries who are similar to their existing ones. They can do this by uploading a list of existing customers or high-potential leads.
2. Finding new countries to grow your business: Any business who wants to increase installs of app, increase engagement in app or increase conversion on site can now target people Worldwide or in a specific region. Facebook will then deliver ads to selected regions and then optimize delivery to the countries with the greatest return.
3. Resources to optimize campaigns: To help businesses optimize global campaign strategy we are releasing new webinars and a handbook on international marketing techniques.

NEW: More than 1 billion people on Facebook are connected to a business in another country.

NEW: Almost 50% of people on Facebook across Asia are connected to at least one business in a foreign country.

People in INDIA are connecting with SMBs in INDIA and other countries:

• 59% of people on Facebook in India are connected to at least one SMB in India.
• NEW: 41% of people on Facebook in India are connected to at least one SMB in a foreign country
• NEW: People on Facebook in India are connected to businesses in other countries around the world. Here are the top five: US, UK, Pakistan, Canada, UAE

People around the world connecting with SMBs in India:

• NEW: More than 175 million people from around the world are connected to a business in India. Example countries include: US, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Philippines, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE. 

LATEST FACEBOOK USER STATS:

• NEW: In India there are 155 million MAU, 77 million DAU, 147 million Mobile MAU and 73 million Mobile DAU (as of Q2 2016)

SMB STATS:

• 3 million businesses globally are active advertisers (up 50% in one year) (vast majority are small businesses.
• The top three verticals building pages: Services, Local Commerce, and eCommerce
• Small Businesses are International
  • More than 70% of these 3 million active advertisers are outside of the US
• Powerful engagement between people and businesses on Facebook:

o    Facebook Pages are the mobile solution for many of the over 60 million businesses using the product each month around the world and people post more than 2.5 billion comments on these pages each month.

• More than 43 billion connections between people and businesses on Facebook.
• NEW: Over 85% of active business Pages use mobile and 40% of active advertisers have created a Facebook ad on mobile.

SME Pages In India:

• INDIA:2 million small business pages in India as of October 2015. 1.5 million small business pages were announced in August 2015.
• Number of new women-owned SMB pages on Facebook in India has increased approximately six-fold in the last four years (between 2012 and 2015).
• +1.99 billion interactions generated between businesses and people in India
• GLOBAL: More than 45 million small businesses actively use Facebook Pages because they’re free, easy to use, and they immediately give businesses a digital (and mobile) strategy. 

You can find more details in the blog here - https://www.facebook.com/business/news

Sheryl’s post on the announcement -

https://www.facebook.com/sheryl/posts/10157331525015177

BLOG POST

Expand your Business Across Borders with New Tools and Resources

In today's globally connected world, technology, especially mobile, is creating more opportunities for businesses to find more customers anywhere in the world. In fact, by 2018 there will be an estimated 2.3 billion people using the Internet on their mobile phones(1).

On mobile, and on Facebook, people engage with the things that matter to them even in other countries. More than 1 billion people on Facebook are connected to at least one business in a foreign country(2), and 1.57 billion people visit Facebook monthly on mobile(3). In India, 41% of people on Facebook are connected to a business in a foreign country.

We want to help all businesses grow internationally. Today, we are introducing new resources and solutions to help them expand across the globe, from wherever they are.

Businesses can now use a new feature in the Lookalike Audiences tool to reach customers in new countries who are similar to their existing ones. They can do this by uploading a list of existing customers or high-potential leads. 

In addition, advertisers with website conversion or mobile app install objectives can use our extended location targeting capabilities by selecting a worldwide region or trade zone. Facebook will then deliver ads to selected regions and then optimize delivery to the countries with the greatest return.

We're also introducing solutions to help businesses optimize their global campaign strategy, including webinars on international marketing with Facebook and a handbook on finding the right customers in new countries. 

Businesses are already using Facebook to expand their business globally. 
For example, Turkish fashion startup Modanisa used our newly enhanced Lookalike Audiences tool to find customers in new countries and got a return on investment that was 4x higher than its previous campaigns.

“Facebook’s international lookalike campaign helped us to reach niche audiences and customers all around the world. The focus led to significant increases on our acquisition ratios and supported our overall acquisition strategy.” - Sami Güzel, General Manager & Partner, Modanisa, Turkey

“Facebook helps us open the doors to new countries. It’s the first marketing channel we consider when we make our expansion strategies. Facebook allows us to expand to countries faster than we had planned in an efficient and scalable way.” Ashwin Seshadri, Althea Beauty, Malaysia 

“Facebook and Instagram really helped us grow internationally, we are now shipping to more than 25 countries around the globe.” Felix Ermer, Co-Founder and CEO of Brooklyn Soap Company, Germany 

Learn how your business can use Facebook for successful cross-border promotions in our resource guide, where you can get essential information on cross-border marketing with Facebook, including how to optimize campaigns for global audiences.