New Delhi, Feb 27 (IANS): In a bid to further help small businesses navigate the road to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, Facebook has announced to waive fees for small businesses selling with its ‘Checkout on Shops feature through June 2021.

Facebook has already said it will not collect any fees for paid online events from small businesses until at least August.

"It's a critical time because small businesses are facing the greatest challenge of their lifetimes, with 47 per cent saying they might not survive the next six months, or are unsure of how long they will stay afloat if current circumstances persist," the company said in a statement.

For many, digital marketing has been a lifeline, with two-thirds of small businesses across 17 countries reporting that they started or increased their use of digital tools for marketing, and 61 per cent reporting they expect to increase the use of these tools post-pandemic.

"We're introducing ‘Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found', an initiative that highlights how personalised ads are an important way people discover small businesses on Facebook and Instagram, and how these ads help small businesses grow from an idea into a livelihood," the company informed.

The social network also announced to simplifying ‘Ads Manager' to make it easier for SMBs to get started and use personalised marketing plans to increase the value of their advertising investment.

"Restaurants have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, so we're introducing new options to note what type of dining experience is available, and making this easy for people to see in Businesses Nearby," Facebook said, adding that it is also adding a new menu tab on Pages so businesses can upload their menu directly to their Page.

The company said it is also updating the Business Resource hub on Facebook and Professional Dashboard on Instagram with more information on how personalised ads work.