First of Its Kind Network Built on Facebook Platform Creates a
One-Stop Resource for Small Business Owners
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 2008--Visa Inc. (NYSE: V)
today unveiled the Visa Business Network
(www.visabusinessnetwork.com), the first-ever application dedicated to
connecting small businesses on Facebook. The Visa Business Network has
been created with small businesses, for small businesses, and is a
unique environment built on Facebook Platform for the small business
arena. To celebrate this initiative, Visa will award a total of $2
million in Facebook advertising credit to help small business owners
reach new customers and drive new growth.
The Visa Business Network combines Facebook Platform, and its
ability to deliver innovative applications on Facebook, with the
global leader in small business payment services, Visa. This inventive
new site can help small business owners easily tap into a global
network of peers and advisers from among the more than 80,000 small
businesses already on Facebook. It will also provide small business
owners with valuable business tools and help them efficiently identify
and target thousands of prospective customers. This one-stop resource
will empower small business owners to expand their customer base,
manage their business better and exchange ideas with other businesses
and trusted advisers.
Visa has been working closely with small businesses for many
years, and we know that they are anything but small. Small businesses
have big ideas, big expectations and big ambitions. We established the
Visa Business Network to help them thrive and grow, said Antonio
Lucio, Chief Marketing Officer, Visa Inc. Working with Facebook, Visa
is breaking new ground by harnessing social networking to connect
business owners. We are putting the power of the network in the users'
hands, and it will be fascinating to see how the community evolves.
Visa focuses on enabling small businesses to pursue their passions
by providing payment products that help them succeed. The Visa
Business Network builds on that by providing small businesses with
networking capabilities that will help to grow their business, get
support to manage it more effectively. In creating the Visa Business
Network, Visa and Facebook focused on these three needs:
-- Connect with others -- Networking is an essential part of a
small business' success; it helps owners grow and manage their
business. The Visa Business Network is a simple way to find
and network with other business owners for new business, best
practices, advice or support. The network enables small
business owners to search for and connect with relevant
businesses.
-- Manage more efficiently-- Small business owners can access
tools kits from content partners that provide easy-to-use
products, including Google Docs(TM), Google Calendar(TM), and
Google Sites(TM), to help increase business efficiency. Small
business owners can also quickly get an online presence
through Google Maps(TM). In partnership with The Wall Street
Journal marketing, small business owners can also Ask the
Experts. They can connect with leading small business experts
from Entrepreneur by participating in Q&A forums and expert
advice columns. Also in partnership with All Business,
Forbes.com, Fast Company and Microsoft, Visa is providing
small business owners with exclusive access to small-business
news feeds, videos, blogs and editorial commentary about
issues such as cash flow management, new ways to attract
customers and cost management.
-- Grow business -- Small business owners can grow their business
by reaching more than 80 million active users worldwide and
more than 80,000 small businesses on Facebook. People can stay
connected with their friends and peers and the people around
them. Facebook users communicate and share information through
the social graph -- digital mapping of the connections and
relationships between people that exist in the real world.
It's the power of the social graph that helps business owners
connect with one another and connect with their customers on
Facebook. In addition, Facebook Ads allow businesses to
deliver relevant advertising that can be targeted to users
based on their interests.
Facebook plays a central role in people's daily lives by helping
them communicate and share information with the people they know,
said Dan Rose, vice president of business development at Facebook.
With more than 80 million active users worldwide, Facebook gives
small businesses a great opportunity to connect with their customers
and other business owners. We are proud to work with Visa on the Visa
Business Network to bring even more tools to small businesses.
Business owners Vivian Wang and Ingrid Chen, of San
Francisco-based Viv&Ingrid, Co. jewelry, see the Visa Business Network
as a valuable tool to help find advisers, peers and new customers. As
a small business, connection is extremely important to our ability to
grow, said Wang and Chen. Just as we have to stay connected to
trends in jewelry and fashion, we also have to connect with our
customers to remain competitive. With the Visa Business Network,
building and maintaining those relationships will be easy and access
to expert resources will help grow our business.
Getting Started Couldn't Be Easier
Joining the Visa Business Network is not only simple, but
rewarding. Visa will provide the first 20,000 U.S.-based businesses
that join the Visa Business Network with a $100 Facebook Ads credit,
allowing business owners to reach the exact audience they want on
Facebook through advanced targeting capabilities. Facebook Ads allow
businesses to deliver relevant advertising for users based on their
interests as well as targeting categories such as location, age and
gender. Small business owners can quickly create their Facebook
account by logging on to Facebook. From there, they can visit
www.visabusinessnetwork.com on Facebook to join the Visa Business
Network.
For more information about Visa Small Business, visit
www.visa.com/smallbusiness.
NOTE TO REPORTERS/EDITORS: Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing Officer,
Visa; Dan Rose, Vice President, Business Development, Facebook; and
Alex Craddock, Head of Small Business Marketing, Visa will host a
taped video web conference today at 9 a.m. PDT/12 p.m. EDT. To view,
visit www.facebook.com/visabusinessnetwork. Broadcast quality footage
of the web conference is available by visiting
www.thenewsmarket.com/visa.
About Visa
Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments
network providing processing services and payment product platforms.
This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments,
which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS
brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and
Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering
cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more
information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.
Contacts: Sabine Middlemass, Visa Inc., Tel: +1 650 432 8307, at:
[email protected], or Colleen Smith, Fleishman-Hillard, Tel: +1 415
318 4183, at: [email protected].
Facebook(R) is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.
Google, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites are
trademarks of Google Inc.
CONTACT: Visa Inc.
Sabine Middlemass, +1 650-432-8307,
[email protected]
or
Fleishman-Hillard
Colleen Smith, +1 415-318-4183
[email protected]
SOURCE: Visa Inc.