The wild bushfires that spread rapidly across Australia caused extensive damage to the country and was claimed to be one of the largest natural disasters in history. Although most of Australia was affected, the popular tourist destination, the south east coast of New South Wales was the most affected area where more than 2000 homes, farms, resources and even local businesses were destroyed.
As an initiation to help Australia overcome this crisis, Facebook has decided to make best use of their platform to help the affected businesses get their operations back on track. In order to put this in place a set of new support measures have been announced by Facebook.
According to Facebook: “Australia is going through a difficult time. Unprecedented bushfire events have taken a huge toll on communities across the country. If your small business has been affected by bushfires please [get in touch] and a Facebook Small Business Support Specialist will reach out to understand your business challenges and offer guidance and assistance.”
Ranging from one-to-one business specialist consultations to general Facebook business page coaching & advising, and even $200 in Facebook ad credits, are just few of the measures in which Facebook is offering their help to the small businesses, for free of charge.
In addition to this, a series of workshops will be run by Facebook in the towns affected by the bushfire in order to support “empower local businesses and communities with the digital skills required to thrive online.” These workshops will be conducted by a member of the Facebook Community Trainer Network, covering everything from the basics of managing your online presence to using ad targeting tools. Facebook will also include a specific segment for tourism business in order to bring in more visitors to the areas affected by the bushfires.
Facebook providing their assistance and making an effort to be physically present in the community should be largely appreciated, spoken of, taken as an example and followed.