Facebook Plans Campaign to ‘Friend’ Small Business

Facebook is courting small business owners as part of its drive to increase advertising revenue.

The social media company's operating chief and "Lean In" author Sheryl Sandberg says the key is showing business owners how to find new customers by creating Facebook pages and by buying ads that appear on individual users' pages. It's announcing a campaign called Facebook Fit with workshops in five cities to show small business owners how to use Facebook as a marketing tool.

Facebook is also creating advertising products that Sandberg says will be affordable.

Industry analysts say Facebook needs more small-business advertising to compete with Google. But all Internet and social media companies have been finding small business a hard market to crack.

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