San Francisco: Facebook has announced that more than 140 million businesses use its apps every month to find new customers, hire employees or engage with their communities.
Michelle Klein, VP of Global Business Marketing, said Facebook is opening up 17 of its largest offices and hubs around the world to host "Boost with Facebook Holiday Bootcamp", a training programme designed to help small businesses and non-profits learn how to grow their business and get ready for the holiday shopping season.
"We know holidays are one of the busiest times of the year for many businesses, so having the right resources and skills to manage your business during this time is critical," Klein said in a blog post on Thursday.
The "Boost with Facebook Holiday Bootcamp" will welcome small businesses to Facebook offices in New York City, Menlo Park, Austin, Chicago, London, Dublin, Berlin, Madrid, Warsaw, Istanbul, Lagos, Johannesburg, SA¿o Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Singapore and the Philippines.
Earlier this year, Facebook enabled businesses to manage their messages from Messenger and Instagram Direct in a single location from their Facebook Page Inbox.
"During the holiday season, we'll introduce new features to Instagram Direct messages to help businesses manage customer communications more seamlessly and efficiently across our apps," said Facebook.
In the coming weeks, said Facebook, it will roll out tools like instant replies to let businesses automatically respond to initial messages and give people more information about their business or let them know their typical response time.
Businesses can also set up an away message for days when they are closed or on vacation and create saved replies to answer commonly asked questions.