Facebook currently has 1.95 billion active users, including 1.28 billion daily users, and 1.15 billion on mobile devices. The platform represents an advertiser’s dream: highly trafficked and highly accessible, with a highly devoted user base. Gone are the days of casting your advertising net into the vast ocean of uninterested masses and pulling in your few prized targets. With Facebook Advertising, you get:

• A custom ad
• A highly targeted and specific audience
• An opportunity to state the desired outcome of your campaign
• Real-time ad performance tracking
• Comprehensive budget breakdowns

What to Expect From Facebook Advertising

Before launching your campaign, you must first determine what you want your ad to accomplish. Facebook provides many possibilities, for whatever your business requires. Whether it’s increasing traffic to your store or social media pages, spreading awareness about events or new products, or simply getting your brand into consumers’ minds, Facebook can help you reach your goal.

Facebook offers a range of demographic options for indicating your target market, including location, age, gender, language, etc. You can also create custom audiences, based on contact information from your current customers. Using this information, Facebook’s algorithms can find you a base of potential customers with a similar makeup to your custom audience.

Tracking the Success of Your Facebook Advertising

Facebook Advertising offers analytic tools that break down how your ads are performing, and how your budget is being spent. Performance statistics are collected in the Ad Manager tool and compared with your marketing budget. The Facebook Pixel tracks visitors to your website, and then automatically creates a target audience of those most likely to “convert,” or take the desired action. This increases the likelihood of retaining customers and creating repeat visitors.

The Cost of Facebook Advertising

Facebook has a dynamic cost structure, giving you complete control over your budget. When organizing your campaign, you can choose either a daily spending limit or a lifetime budget. This limit can be as low as a dollar a day, so even the smallest scale operation can advertise on Facebook.

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Although the US has long been on this bandwagon, it is relatively new in Canada. A question you might have is, how does a purchaser know if a supplier is actually a diverse supplier? Does anyone regulate this? The answer, of course, is yes!

What agency certifies Women Business Enterprises?

WEConnect Canada certifies women-owned businesses in Canada. While WEConnect Canada is relatively new, the US has been running the counterpart Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) for about 15 years. Women Business Enterprises (WBE’s) is a strong network of women-owned businesses that network with each other and connect with Corporate Members to help grow their businesses. Having just attended the national WBENC conference in Orlando, I saw firsthand how the WBENC and WEConnect national conferences are an excellent way for certified WBE’s to network and grow their businesses.

How can a Supplier Diversity program help you?

1. It allows women-owned businesses to compete in the area of procurement and buying services by big corporations and government agencies.
2. The large network of certified women-owned businesses develop close business relationships with each other, partner together and provide opportunities to do business among themselves.
3. It opens new business opportunities for women. According to the WeConnect Canada website, about 95% of Fortune 500 companies have supplier diversity programs. This pool can create immense advantages for women entrepreneurs.

The recent Astra 16th Annual Matchmaker & EXPO held in Seattle on September 13, 2012 provided an opportunity to make new contacts for many B2B businesses in the Pacific Northwest. WBENC and WEConnect Canada-certified businesses showcased their companies at the EXPO and met with representatives from corporations and government agencies one-on-one and in roundtable discussions. Starbucks, REI, Nordstrom, Boeing, Microsoft, Alaska Airlines, Stantec and several others participated in the Matchmakers session.

You can access the program if you are a certified WBE. Women’s Enterprise Centre of BC is the certifying body for WEConnect in British Columbia. To learn more about the certification process contact us at inquiry@womensenterprise.ca or clientservices@womensenterprise.ca

Get certified to access the Supplier Diversity Program and grow your business globally!

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Doing things green is no longer optional: it’s a necessity. It is crucial to understand the importance of sustainability throughout your business life cycle. By including sustainable practices in your business environment, you contribute to creating a better planet. The key to sustainable design isn’t doing less; it’s doing more with less.

Here are a few important tips to create the best sustainability practices in your business:

Design Creation

Nature is an excellent designer, using only the necessary materials, before cycling waste into its next creation. Every flower comes from dirt and will return to dirt. This doesn’t diminish its value; it increases it. By making designs more thoughtful and functional, it’s possible to mimic nature’s efficiencies. At KIMBO, our creativity is not just shown visually through our graphic designs. We also strive to come up with conceptual design elements, giving our work added functionality, and making people think.

Materials Selection

Design is increasingly digital, but material selection for traditional designs is increasingly vital. Sustainable design materials don’t have the permanence of plastic, which fills landfills and oceans. By using materials that are easily recyclable or biodegradable, the sustainable design reduces the long-term impact of waste.

Recycle and Reuse

Once a design has served its purpose, it’s crucial for it to take one of two paths. The first is recycling. Recycling technology is becoming increasingly powerful leading to less landfill. The second route is towards another functional use. Whether it’s a tote bag, a poster or piece of art, or a homeware product, it can be reused.

Incorporate sustainable practices in your business to make an authentic commitment to the environment.

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