Businesses have been given the chance to learn more about how to promote themselves on social media.

The Federation of Small Businesses and Facebook held the first in a series of UK-wide Boost Your Business events this week at the Crooklands Hotel in South Cumbria.

Facebook experts travelled from Germany and London to help advise Cumbrian small businesses on how to maximise their return from activity on Facebook and Instagram respectively.

Businesses from across Lancashire and Cumbria attended the event and heard from Facebook trainers Kevin Zab, Melissa Ghossoub and Julie Sukkar, (pictured left to right above with FSB development manager Paul Foster).

Suzanne Edgley, FSB area leader for Cumbria, said: “This was a very popular and useful event.

"It’s great to see FSB and Facebook working in partnership to help small businesses harness the power of social media and was fantastic to be able to welcome Facebook staff to Cumbria.”

FSB research found that 26 per cent of small business owners in the UK lack confidence in digital skills and their partnership with Facebook aims to help more small businesses grasp the opportunities available to them through social media. According to Facebook, 45 per cent of small businesses say it has helped increased sales and 78 per cent say it has helped attract customers.