AT F8 2019, Mark Zuckerberg talked about Facebook’s plan to integrate all the messaging services across their various platforms into one tool. In September 2020, a few select accounts were given early access to this cross-platform functionality. With this came along the idea for businesses to consolidate and merge their advertising across Facebook and Instagram. Enter Business Suite.
The Cross-platform Solution for Small Businesses.
Business Suite is aimed at small businesses to make it easier for them to manage their advertising on Facebook and Instagram together, instead of having to create, manage and optimise individually. To get started, you would first need to link your Facebook and Instagram business accounts. The Suite then allows businesses to post to both platforms together, and receive notifications, alerts and inbox messages all in one place. The Facebook and Instagram Insights tool also shows details of how well ads are performing, how much engagement their posts are receiving, what one might need to change, etc. The increased online presence due to the pandemic makes this kind of time and effort saving tool all the more important, as it is often the only way to reach potential customers, and any form of efficiency that can be obtained in keeping up with this demand is always useful – giving you more time to focus on running other parts of your business.
Ease of Use with a Simplified Design.
Not only would you be able to respond to the engagement to your social ads via Business Suite, but its easy-to-use interface also allows you to keep up with Facebook’s policy changes, guidelines and terms of service to maintain compliance and not have your ads censored or taken down.
The majority of the major updates that would need attention are shown on the home screen, which allows easy prioritisation and management of alerts, comments, messages, etc. You can also save a customised reply for the most frequently asked questions and have a shortcut to execute these responses, or indeed, automated responses. In addition, you can schedule a post to appear on your customer’s feed at a time that would be sensible for the majority of your target audience. The home screen also allows you to create posts and promote your business. You are able to cultivate leads as they come in and strategize your content according to your advertising objectives. Content effectiveness metrics are another major aspect that the Suite can help you with, along with the potential impact on costs and revenue. The insights provided on reach and post-performance can help you see what’s working and what’s not, and optimise your marketing. For further details on your ads’ performance, you have a direct link to your Facebook Ads Manager from the ‘More Tools’ tab. If you have a commerce account linked to your business account, you can access it from the Business Suite desktop. You can also create a new commerce account if you don’t have one. As this is being made available on both mobile and desktop, it is replacing the Facebook Pages Manager app on mobile.