In the past few years, the purpose of using social media has evolved and shifted from just sharing images and videos to actually engaging with people and creating communities. Brands have modified the manner in which they market to their existing customers and bartered the essence with innovative ways to build meaningful relations with customers.
One platform that has outperformed community marketing is Facebook, via Facebook Groups. Facebook groups are, by far, the most popular channel that drives the biggest organic engagements. Members of Facebook groups share millions of topics every day for discussions amongst each other in the form of sharing experiences, asking questions, offering recommendations, and seeking advice. For brands, these communities play an important role as they propose boundless opportunities to explore more about their marketing mix. But, before tapping into Facebook groups and how they help brands build communities, knowing what communities are and why brands need them is vital.
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What is a community?
With this Facebook group called Canva Design Circle, members learn how to take advantage of various features and functions of the product to create something creative. Also, the group members are notified about the newest product updates or launches, useful tips, etc., to open up a topic related to designing.
Through this Facebook group, Canva encourages its members to introduce themselves upon entry. Such initiation fosters a sense of trust, belonging, and identity in the community.
Why do brands need to build communities?
Build Community with Facebook Group Marketing
1. They give you better organic reach
2.Provide a direct communication channel to your audience
3. Allows you to form meaningful relationships
Facebook Groups have brought newness to what brands can do to build relationships with their customers. In other words, running a group on Facebook can help you connect with customers on a personal level. Since normal people like us post on the groups from their personal accounts, it gives a human touch to what we can call ‘Facebook Group Marketing’. Since people post using their personal accounts, members get to interact with a human first and then the brand.
This one-on-one human interaction, questioning, and answering allow brands to learn more about their customers and simultaneously provide them with ideas about what they can do to help.
Another huge advantage of using Facebook Group Marketing is that it can expose your content to a wider audience. Good! Now that we know how Facebook Group marketing efforts can help us, it is time to learn the nitty-gritty of how to get the attention of your target audience.
Step-By-Step Guide To Facebook Group Marketing
Step 1: Pick a perfect group name
First impressions matter a lot. Thus, picking the right Facebook group name can do wonders and bring out the best of its advantages. This step doesn’t have to be that difficult unless you already have a good brand name. Naturally, this group should pop up when people search for your business via its name on Facebook. Ideally, you can use your business’s name with a pinch of creativity.
While naming your group, remember that:
- The URL is short and easy to memorize.
- It has your brand name so that people can identify you just by reading the handle.
- Your group’s values and focus should be clearly mentioned.
Step 2: Decide what content to post
Your content strategy is the most important aspect of running a Facebook group. First, understand your group’s focus and values. Then, think about what unique insights you can offer people. And do you have enough content to keep the audience satisfied? Answering all these questions will help you lead your group. Well, if you’re short on what type of content can best grab attention, here are some tried and tested formats.
- Tips and advice
When someone new joins your group, chances are they might need your help to get acquainted. As the group admin, it is your duty to offer them insights about the group. In order to do that, you can offer them relevant tips, advice, and non-obligatory support to help them know you better. - Inspirational posts
We all love you for our daily dose of inspiration, right? Well, inspirational posts can thus pump the audience to take action and see the brand as ‘someone’ who cares about you. Post some inspirational content that’s relevant to your group. For example, if you’re a real estate brand, you can post about achieving big, working for your dream home/office, etc. - Q&A Sessions
Getting advice from professionals within a brand seems like a valuable gesture to the members. So, holding weekly Q&A sessions by inviting the group members and driving engagement can help you pose the ‘good brand face’ as you’ll be showing your expertise, commitment to maintaining a community, and enthusiasm. A Q&A thread is a potential way to showcase yourself as a go-to brand for your services. - Discussions and story-telling
Groups are formed where there are people sharing common interests, grounds, and knowledge. Fledging the same, Facebook Group takes the opportunity to exchange mutual opinions, trends, and practices. These groups give their members the freedom to speak up on the platform, get their voice heard, and share their stories too. When people share their happy stories or experience, other members may find their motivation to purchase from you. So, give group members the spotlight to produce positive results for you.
Step 3: Use tools to make your group awesome
Beyond just sharing content, Facebook extends some excellent built-in features to keep all its members in the loop. A few features you could use are:
- Documents: you have the feature to create/upload documents, e-books, guides, etc. to share on the platform.
- Events: to engage more people within the group, you can create events like workshops, free lectures, and live sessions online.
- Polls: polls are another fantastic way to drive engagement with low efforts. You can run polls raising common concerns, topics, discussions, etc.
Tips to successfully build a community with Facebook Groups
1. Post something valuable
2. Stay up-to-date
3. Maintain consistency
4. Promote your Facebook Group
There are several ways to expand your community and followers. Promote the group on Facebook and Instagram to focus on user engagement, demographics, and reach. Besides promoting on social media, you can:
- Post the content on your website.
- Get into guest blog postings.
- Promote your group through your own mobile app.
- Share on LinkedIn.
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Measure Success Of Your Facebook Group Marketing
Beyond just following tips, and steps and posting on groups, there is one thing you need to do, measure the success of your Facebook Group. Here are a few to look at to measure success.
- A highly valued Facebook Group has monthly posts at least 0.5% higher than the number of members in the group. For example, if you have 5000 members in the group, the number of posts on the group in a single month should be 250.
- The organic growth rate of your group should be 0.03% minimum. Initially, you might need to use social media, blog postings, invitations, and emails to grow organically.
Takeaway
Creating successful Facebook Group Marketing demands consistent efforts, engagement, and follow-ups with your followers. So, when you’re ready to take the step to build a community for your brand, take initiative to help solve your customers’ problems, because only then will they notice your efforts. Though building a Facebook community is a sensitive job, when it all comes together, you’ll be able to beat Facebook’s algorithms.
Building a community can help your brand grow, so why wait? Get started today!
FAQs
Facebook Group Marketing can help you build a loyal community by allowing you to create a targeted group of people who have similar interests and goals. You can use this group to create engaging content, provide helpful resources, and create meaningful conversations. By building relationships with your group members, you can create a sense of loyalty and trust that will help you build a strong and supportive community. Additionally, you can use Facebook Group marketing to create a platform that allows members to share their experiences, ask questions, and give feedback, which will help you build relationships and foster engagement.
The benefits of using Facebook Group Marketing include:
1. Increased Exposure:
A Facebook Group allows you to reach a wider audience and get more eyes on your content.
2. Targeted Audience:
You can easily target specific demographics with Facebook Groups, allowing you to target your message better and get the results you want.
3. Cost-Effective:
You can create and manage a Facebook Group for free, making it an extremely cost-effective marketing tool.
4. Engagement:
You can foster community by engaging in conversations and activities with your group members.
5. Insights:
You can gain valuable insights into your group members’ interests, behaviours, and preferences with the help of Facebook Insights.
Yes, it is relatively easy to use Facebook Group Marketing. Facebook has a range of tools and features that make it easy to create, manage and promote your group. You can also use the platform to engage with your target audience, build relationships and grow your following. However, it’s important to remember that Facebook Group Marketing takes time, effort and resources to succeed, so it’s important to have a clear strategy before you start.
To create a Facebook Group for marketing, log in to your Facebook account and click on the Groups tab on the left-hand side of your home page. Then click on the “Create Group” button. You will be prompted to enter a group name, description, and privacy level. Next, invite other people to join the group. Finally, you can begin posting content such as images, videos, and links related to your marketing goals.
To promote and engage with your Facebook Group, you can start by inviting friends and family to join. You can also join relevant groups and engage with their posts and discussions. Use hashtags to make your posts more visible. You can also advertise your group on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to reach a larger audience. Additionally, you can use Facebook Live to engage with your audience and answer any questions they may have. Finally, post regular, relevant, interesting content to your audience to keep them engaged.