Marketing on social media channels is now a common thing in the majority of businesses. Especially towards Facebook, marketers have special expectations – perhaps because it gathers an enormous amount of people on one platform. However, we have to keep in mind that on Facebook there is also a huge amount of content and the organic reach is decreasing every single day for everyone, that includes you. When we add the changes in the Facebook algorithm to all of this, we as marketers are forced to constantly verify and re-evaluate our marketing strategies and activities, as well as to be more and more creative. One form of communication, which has huge but not fully recognized potential, is the use of Facebook groups.
The hidden potential
Facebook groups are enormously important nowadays. Although many marketers still are not aware of that, groups have a great potential to better reach a specific target audience.
Just think about how many Facebook groups there are (and most probably you know only about a small percentage of them!). They gather dozens of users – users who are often very active and engaged in what is going on in the group. Why? Simply because they belong to the group only when they really want to, when they are interested in specific topics or community issues.
Once your brand is present on Facebook groups, you have many possibilities to raise awareness about your business in their minds. If it is important for you to have full control over what is going on in the group, you should consider creating your own. It can be targeted e.g. at sharing knowledge and experience about a specific topic or event which your company is organising or even your product itself.
Of course there are brands which are already taking advantage of Facebook groups but the potential is still not fully realized. Although the reach in groups is also decreasing, the situation is still much better than comparing to the users’ feed. This is why now is the best moment to take advantage of this form of communication.
6 advantages of using Facebook groups for my business
Ok, but you may ask, how can my business use Facebook groups? It is all nicely said, but how does it all look like in practice? We’ve got that covered too!
First thing is that you can either create your own group or join an already existing one. Some companies/people are also buying groups, especially those which are performing well 😉
This is how you can use Facebook groups & what goals each activity will help you to achieve:
1.By monitoring Facebook groups you will be able to find out how big is the interest about this specific topic on Facebook, and what follows that, how big is your potential target audience there. Knowing all that it will be also easier for you to decide if your brand should create its own group or if it is pointless.
2. Monitoring Facebook groups has another benefit. It will provide your business with very valuable knowledge on clients’ real expectations:
- What are they looking for?
- What are their expectations towards the specific product or service?
- Are they satisfied with the current offer available at the market?
- Are they using your product or service? Or your competitors’?
- Are they satisfied about the product/service they use? Are they recommending it to other people?
It is extremely valuable knowledge, which can be used to improve your business, expand and develop it.
3. Besides monitoring, which with learning more about the market in general should be always a step number 1, another thing is simply asking people for their opinions. What we mean by saying that? Active ways of gaining knowledge, for example:
- Ask, more or less direct, questions,
- Create surveys,
- Run some research,
- Start discussion.
4. Thanks to Facebook groups you can obviously promote (again, more or less directly) your products or services, which means treating them like additional sales channel helpful to reach your target audience better and gain new clients.
5. When it comes to your own groups you can also use them to stay in touch with your clients – create some kind of community – and e.g. provide them with some exclusive offers or news – sneak peaks of what is coming. Quite popular is also creating groups after some events, where people can share knowledge and help each other.
6. Being present and active on Facebook groups can be an amazing way of getting people to know your brand, to exist in their minds by presenting your brand as an expert, a specialist in specific topic. By sharing knowledge, experience and advices you will build a trust and connection between your brand and your target audience. Such approach will mean that your brand is open and willing to help others. This kind of self-promotion is generally much better perceived by people than standard promotion and advertising. It shows your real value and proves your brand is unique and worth peoples’ attention. With this kind of educational attitude, you can be sure that people will be coming back to you, however, the effects in most cases won’t be immediate. But the patience pays off!
Get the most out of Facebook groups
Facebook groups, by engaging dozens of Facebook users, can be a great way to stay in touch with your (potential) clients. Although this potential might be not visible at first sight, it does not mean there is no value in using Facebook groups for business purposes.
Coming to an end, just remember that there are many Facebook groups on the topic connected to your business, so to be efficient you’ll have to select only few, which you find the most relevant in your case.
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