The Power of Facebook Groups
I joined Facebook when my daughter was in college. I could easily see how it could be used as a business tool to build community, engagement, strengthen buyer personas and poll prospective clients.
To observe its growth has been fascinating and frustrating. Frustrating because being on Facebook can consume HUGE amounts of your time and attention. Fascinating because it can also be the birthplace of some amazing business opportunities.
Today my intention is to share with you the power of Facebook Groups, not to go into all of the reasons why you should not use the service. However I would not be in integrity if I did not say that there are advantages and disadvantages to building a Facebook Group.
The primary disadvantage is that you are digital sharecropping (building your brand on someone else's platform), and can easily be shut down if you violate community guidelines.
The secondary disadvantage relates to buyer persona research. If you ever wanted to take the data found inside of your Facebook group and conduct extensive research, you are limited because you can only download YOUR content, not every post with the participant response. If this same information were on your website, you could easily access the information needed to determine your next offer or how to improve engagement.
Keep that in mind as I share the following 10 ways to tap into the power of Facebook groups:
1) I already mentioned that it is no secret that Facebook Groups have become a powerful tool for businesses to build community and engagement. Pay attention to your group’s description and other clues, such as text on the cover photo (and even the name of that group). Why did you start the facebook group? In what ways can the group members benefit? Having clarity in this area allows you to promote and further that goal, and build up your community. Once you know your group’s most urgent goal, stay focused, on target, and help everyone reach it.
2) Create an exclusive group with memberships only available through purchase, such as a membership program or premium content.
3) If your business has multiple locations, create a group for each location and include posts about events happening at the specific branch in question.
4) Build up anticipation by announcing when new products are going on sale or when you're holding contests/giveaways on your page--promote these announcements via the appropriate facebook group!
5) Encourage interaction by asking questions or setting up polls with multiple choice options (and then pin an answer you want people to choose to the top of the page).
6) Create a list of members so that you can send out targeted advertising and content.
7) Gain valuable feedback from customers and create an interactive community. Members will feel like they are part of something larger than themselves which in turn provides them with feelings of belonging , self-esteem, and empowerment . This sense of connection has been shown to improve overall well-being and it is no surprise that people feel good when they are part of something special!
Always credit other group members for solutions they have given you, and give people in the group shout outs when they have achieved something of importance to them. Group members are there to support each other, so be your fellow group members’ biggest cheerleader, and referral partner.
8) Public Groups are visible to anyone by default, while Hidden Groups can only be seen if you’ve been invited or request an invite to join the group. That being said, any member of a Public Group can share posts from it in their Timeline as well as with friends individually outside of the group.
This is great because it means that you can use your Public Group to share content and gain visibility, which will lead to organic engagement as people feel like they are part of a community when there’s dialogue happening and sharing going on.
9) If you have a product, service, or expertise to share with people who are interested in learning more and joining a community of like-minded individuals, then having a Public Group is the way to go for growing your visibility. You can test out content first by sharing it privately within group before making it public so you can get an idea of how people are responding to it. Then you can decide if it is worth making public and what the best time would be for pushing your content out there.
Once again, showing that you're actually listening and engaging with members by sharing their posts or comments will go a long way in establishing trust factor which leads to organic engagement. People don't have the same kind of trust in Facebook ads or sponsored posts so using Groups to market your business or brand is a solid approach.
10) Facebook Group admins can send a broadcast message by creating an announcement and sharing it with all members at once, which creates visibility for you as well as giving people something new that they can engage with.
You could also send a message to just one member who has left comments on your posts, which can be helpful for those people if they’re struggling with something.
FYI - Selling within a Facebook group is seen as spamming (unless it is actually a group whose purpose is allowing people to promote offers. Always think in terms of helping, rather than selling, and you won’t go wrong. Save those promotions for special promotion days, if your group has these.
As you can see, there are many benefits to using Facebook Groups. I strongly recommend that you have a community manager foster engagement and inclusion. I also recommend that you train the people within your group to visit your website and opt-in to your email list. The foundation of a successful business i shaving direct access to a list of people who are interested, willing and able to invest in your products, services, and programs.
In the comment section, please share whether you prefer to use Facebook groups to expand your visibility, trust factor and reach; run challenges or test new offers.
