There are a number of steps involved in planning and setting up a successful business Facebook Group. However, if you follow Facebook’s formula and implement the method, Facebook groups could serve your business well, especially getting followers and potential leads to build your list and sell to.
There are some steps you need to follow…
Firstly, make sure you carefully consider both your goals for your Facebook Group and also the size of audience you want. There are actually 3 different types of Facebook groups:
- Public – Any Facebook member can join. All members can invite and add anyone.
- Closed – Facebook users can ask to join and must be approved by you or your team. Members can add or invite any Facebook users.
- Secret – Members must be invited and approved. No one can see any information shared in a secret group except other group members.
Public will help you gain the widest exposure, but it can also get you unwanted attention from spammers and people who behave badly online due to the impersonal makeup of the Internet. A closed group will be more manageable and prevent the group from being taken over by people who just like to express their own opinions and find fault with other group members.
So your choice of the type of Facebook Group you create will depend on your own type of business and the market you serve. You should take a step back and look at your business and marketing objectives and how your social media goals and Facebook Groups dovetail with these
For example, a Facebook Group can actually be a valuable strategy for a product you’re selling if the group is secret and exclusive to them …and you promise members access to yourself and other group participates and influences in your industry. You can get your ideal audience by inviting them from other groups that you’re a member off.
Just remember that whatever marketing approach you take, Facebook is a social community. This means interacting and engaging with real people, not trying to sell all the time. Which means you have to nurture your group and any group you are in to build trust by helping and supporting them to achieve what they want and need.
Most businesses prefer to create a closed Facebook group in order to have more control over what is actually going on in the group. A closed group inclusive and gives you an air of authority that a public group might not. Those in your group will appreciate your expertise and be willing to speed the word and tell others about it. A closed group can also build brand loyalty, which in turn can mean more subscribers, followers and ultimately sales.
You can always change your settings if you want to, provided that you are under 250 members. Once you are over that number, you can only make the privacy settings more restricted, not less so, which means you can’t turn a closed or secret group into an open one.
In general, closed will be probably be your best option for marketing your business, your brand and your products and services in a Facebook Group.
Once you have carried out your research and set your goals for your group, create a group name which should have one keyword related to your market niche or industry to signal to Facebook searchers and Google users that your group is relevant to their interests. Try to keep the name as short and as simple as possible.
Then when your group is officially live on Facebook, you can to market it to your target audience by adding a group description to encourage people to join. Then add a cover image that’s grabs attention.
Now you can start posting content and inviting people to the group. Look through the groups you have joined to see which people stand out as being interesting and are engaged with the group they’re in. Issue them an invitation to join your group and immediately start interacting and engaging with them.
Also, invite staff and colleagues and consider letting some of them become moderators to help you run the group, because, as your group grows, you probably won’t have the time to do it all yourself, so train people to help you interact with the group.
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