With more than 2 billion users monthly on Facebook, if your business is not already marketing there, you should really think hard about getting started on this popular social media platform.
And if you already have a personal and/or business page, great, because Facebook offers numerous opportunities to market your business for free …and Facebook Groups are one of the best ways to build a community of followers and position yourself as an authority in your market niche.
It only takes a few minutes to set up a group and the preparation and research you do and the content you get ready for your target audience will be the important key activity to get people joining your group and coming back regularly for more.
Which means, you have got to interact with them on a regular basis to see what Facebook groups can do for your traffic, subscribers and sales.
There are a number of ways to grow your Facebook Group…
Firstly, encourage your members in your group to invite others who might find your brand and products and services of interest, and add friends and new connections strategically if you think they are the kind of person who would be truly interested in the group
Look for the top bloggers, influencers and media representatives, such as journalists who cover your market niche and invite them to join you by using the Facebook interface, or email them.
Keep a spreadsheet of your growth each week… It is easy to keep track when you’re first starting out with a new group, because you will have a few members. But over time, it’s important to track the growth of your group members by determining what might be triggering new contacts joining, otherwise you won’t know unless you track this activity. For example, it could be a great free giveaway you have offered, or special discounted offer. Create more than one list, each with a different offer, and also track which one gains the most subscribers.
You could also add new subscribers to an existing mailing list, but remember at the same time to track the conversions from your Facebook Group to your email marketing list.
Watch the lists you have joined as well, to see how their numbers night be going up or down. If they’re going up, what sort of activities are they doing that might account for the boost? Then imitate what seems to be successful and track your results.
Invite members through other social media sites. Facebook may be the top social media site, but there are other sites with millions of active users, including Instagram who Facebook owns, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn who has their own business groups. If someone is a member of Facebook, there’s a good chance they also spend time on some other social platforms and you can invite certain group members to your Facebook Group.
Here are a few more suggestions on how to grow your group.
Drive memberships via your website or blog to your Facebook group by telling them the benefits of joining, such as access to your expertise and special product offers.
Participate in discussion boards related to your niche and use your Facebook Group URL in your signature file.
Include your website URL and your Facebook group URL on all your marketing material. Some people understand the value of groups and might be more interested in your Facebook Group than in a regular Facebook page.
Brand all your free giveaways with your Facebook group URL and encourage people to share the URL so their followers can get this great content, too.
Use paid Facebook ads which are just about the most cost-effective ads online. They are much more targeted due to Facebook algorithms than Google AdWords ads. You can turn your best content into an ad, a sponsored post, or create an ad of your own from scratch. A starting budget of as little as $5 per day as a test run could just grow your group really rapidly, leading to more members, subscribers, referrals and sales.
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