Registration is now open for Community Boost, a new Facebook-sponsored program to invest in small businesses across the country.
Community Boost, a 50-city tour, is designed to help small businesses grow and to give more people the digital skills they need to compete in the new economy, and will be in Atlanta from September 24-26 at the Georgia International Convention Center. The program is free.
Since 2011, Facebook has invested more than $1 billion in training, technology, tools, support and research to help people and small businesses alike. This includes existing programs like Boost Your Business, which has trained more than 60,000 small businesses in the US and hundreds of thousands more around the world. More than one million small businesses have taken advantage of Facebook’s free online learning hub, Blueprint and more than 70 million small businesses use Facebook Pages each month. And we recently created a digital marketing curriculum that will help train 3,000 people in Michigan in digital skills development over the next two years.
Why Georgia? When Facebook heard that Georgia wanted more digital skills training, it became a driving force behind why Atlanta was chosen to be one of the cities to host Community Boost. A survey by Morning Consult of small businesses in Georgia found:
- Demand for digital skills: When we spoke to the Georgia small business community about what are important factors when hiring employees, more than 8 in 10 (81%) said an individual’s digital skills were important. When asked about where a candidate went to school, 64% said that was a factor. We’re seeing in state after state that the future of work is changing and we know that companies like us have a role to play.
- Value of social media: Georgia small businesses also see social media as critical to their success. For example, more than 6 in 10 (64%) said that Facebook is essential for their business.
- Growing with social media: The Georgia small business community knows Facebook is an important tool to help grow their businesses. More than 5 in 10 (51%) said that Facebook has helped them hire additional employees. Nearly 8 in 10 (79%) said that Facebook allows them to reach more customers outside their cities, states, and countries.
“We’re inspired by what small businesses have been able to do using Facebook, but we want to do more—particularly for those who are transitioning to careers that require more digital skills,” Facebook officials said in a statement.