3 Takeaways from Facebook’s Phillip Rather at LSA19 – You Are Here: The State of Local

At this year’s LSA19 conference in Dana Point, CA, Phillip Rather, Head of Local at Facebook, explained in his session titled, “You Are Here: The State of Local” that Facebook is about more than just boxes on a page — they focus on business results and will be bringing this to both SMB’s and Enterprises in the following three ways:

#1 Relevant Recommendations

Rather spoke about Facebook’s investment in solutions that provide more personalization through scale. Rather went on to explain that while the market is moving toward automation, consumers are showing a preference for personalization. Recent research indicates that nearly three out of four consumers will pay a premium for a more personalized experience. One of the ways Facebook is looking to address this consumer trend of personalization is through its new dynamic ads unit. Through dynamic ads, a business can match the right products to the right person, at scale, and they’re empowering businesses to do this efficiently by using smart pixel tags.

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#2 More 1:1 Messaging

Rather talked about the growing use of messaging; 80 percent of adults are now using a messaging application daily. Rather further supported this stat by sharing that 58 percent of consumers prefer messaging over more traditional forms of communication when looking to gather information or correspond with a business. As a result, Rather stated that “messaging is now the new normal,” and messaging will now be an integrated feature in most of Facebook’s solutions, like Marketplace. The new messaging feature is even integrated into Facebook local pages. Facebook believes this is the fastest way to move users from interest to action, while also providing patrons with that 1:1 communication they most desire.

#3 Better Connectivity

Rather noted that national to local marketing is more complicated than ever before, and urged conference attendees to spend time at the conference to create those meaningful connections that help tie together disparate marketing systems and channels. Rather spoke to these gaps by sharing the fact that between franchisees and agents, 74 percent have used Facebook Ads but less than five percent were using co-op for these ads. Rather elaborated on the growth of Workplace by Facebook and how large brands, like Starbucks, are using it to connect their entire organization, from corporate to the local level, with each individual store location. Rather ended the session at LSA19 by restating the power of bringing national and local marketing together to provide end-to-end solutions, while reminding conference attendees that in the end, the sum is worth more than the parts.

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