Used by half of French small and medium-sized businesses, Facebook is launching the #SoutenonsNosTPEPME operation on Monday. Objective: support artisans, traders and other small bosses lagging behind on digital. Laurent Solly, boss of Facebook France, explains how the American social network intends to advise them, from a distance.
What is the #SoutenonsNosTPEPME operation that you are launching this week?
LAURENT SOLLY. We want to engage in economic recovery alongside VSEs-SMEs. In partnership with experts from PrestaShop and Shoppy applications, we will organize, from June 23 to the end of the year, 100 training courses in digital tools. They will relate to the use of search engines, the creation of Web sites or on the trade on line, which exploded during confinement. We won't just talk about our tools.
How to participate?
Executives can register on our site #SoutenonsNosTPEPME. We have thought of their requirements. Often, lack of time is an obstacle to learning digital. Our sessions will last between thirty minutes and an hour. In addition, the bosses will be able to ask questions directly to the expert via the space dedicated to comments.
You are also launching a tool to establish a digital diagnosis of his business remotely…
For thirty minutes, you are asked questions: Do you know how to use search engines? Do you talk to your customers online? If yes, by Messenger? By text message ? And what are your goals? From there, we can build a personalized and concrete action plan. The third initiative is a portal to free tools made available by Facebook. For example, our Facebook Shops interface allows you to sell online without creating a merchant site.
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Sectors such as tourism emerge very weak from the shutdown of the economy, from March to May. You are also launching a specific operation in this area this week ...
In partnership with the French start-up Mapstr, we have created a map to identify local shops and businesses linked to tourism, hotels, bars, restaurants ... This initiative, #EnsembleEnFrance, aims to encourage French people to 'go there this summer and go eat.
How to put your business on the map?
By downloading the free Mapstr app today. The manager can add his hotel or campsite, the customer of a bar or a restaurant too.
All these services are free. How much does it cost Facebook?
Several hundred thousand euros. We have always wanted to be free because we have a strong idea: the acceleration of digital transformation is synonymous with growth and sometimes export for our companies. We feel legitimate to go further with these 50% of French VSEs and SMEs who use Facebook.
What drives you today to strengthen your proximity to VSEs?
In an Ipsos study carried out in March, the bosses express the need to be helped, to acquire skills. We also learn that France is lagging behind in the digitalization of businesses. Our TPE-PME are, for example, 20th in Europe for online sales. Furthermore, there is a gap between consumer behavior and the country's economic fabric. Thus, 64% of French people aged 15 and over buy online, but only 15% of French SMEs do e-commerce. However, the Covid-19 crisis will accelerate digital transformation.