After the recent announcement from Facebook regarding the huge timeline changes (read the post from Mark Zuckerberg here,) many entrepreneurs have been worried about how these updates will affect their businesses. There’s no doubt that when it comes to your Facebook Page, your visibility is likely to decrease even further in the coming weeks, but don’t freak out just yet! There are other areas where you can spend your time promoting your business that will yield even better results and skyrocket your business’ growth. These areas are within Facebook Groups and they’ve proven to be a very valuable marketing strategy for many business owners, including myself!
When I first started joining Facebook Groups, I was a pretty big lurker, and I didn’t engage at all. I only joined groups to take in the knowledge that people had to offer and learn from the mistakes that others often vented about. The information definitely helped me learn more about various areas of business, but by not engaging, I was missing out big time! After I started engaging in the community, I went from having a few Facebook referrals a month to my site, to Facebook being my #1 referral and where a majority of my clients find me. (I went from an average of 20 unique monthly visitors to over 400 in a matter of months from Facebook alone!) So if you’re feeling discouraged by the recent timeline changes, don’t give up on the platform just yet! Below, I’ve listed out how to skyrocket your business’ growth with Facebook groups which have exploded my website’s traffic and helped me connect with many clients as well as other entrepreneurs that have aided in my growth even further.
1. Join Facebook Groups specific to your niche
The most obvious advice I can give you is to make sure you’re joining groups that are actually within your niche. Don’t try to sign up for 10 different “garage sale” or “promotion” type groups where the wall is a giant free-for-all and anyone can post whatever they want. When you post something in those types of groups you are doing so in the hopes that maybe 1 person will see it in the madness and be interested in what you have to offer (not likely.) These types of groups have never worked for me in either a service or product based business. I advise to skip these types of promo groups and opt-in for more niche-based groups. You don’t have to get too specific, but don’t get so broad that no one will be interested in what you’re trying to promote.
• Tip: Make sure to join my Facebook Group the Online Business Collective where I share regular business tips to help you grow further, plus connect with other like-minded Entrepreneurs!
2. Join groups where your clients / customers will be
In addition to joining groups that are within your niche, you need to make sure that they are also groups where your target audience will be hanging out. For example, if you’re a virtual assistant, it’s smart to join groups where your fellow VA’s hang out to learn from one-another, but don’t make these groups the majority of the ones you join. You’ll want to mostly join Facebook Groups where people are looking to hire you and if you’re in a group with only virtual assistants, it’s not going to help your business’ growth very much.
• Related Reading: What to Do When You Have No Client Work
3. Be active
After you’ve found your niche-based Facebook Group(s), introduce yourself, get acquainted with the rules, and figure out which days you’re allowed to promote your business. Note that some groups are stricly “No Promo” and will not allow you to share your links at all. Create a schedule to make remembering the days in which you can promote your business easier. (Download my template below!) Be sure you take advantage of these promo days as it’s free advertisement and many entrepreneurs are looking to connect with others or find someone to work / collaborate with!
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4. Be helpful
The most important piece of advice I can give you with how to grow your business in Facebook Groups is to be helpful. You don’t want to solely focus your energies on promoting your business on the daily prompts. Yes, this will bring some traffic to your website, but you want to make a better connection with the community and show others that you are someone to turn to if they need help with {enter your speciality here.} Every day entrepreneurs are posting questions and asking for help with various issues. If you see someone in need of assistance in an area that you specialize in, hop on their post and offer some advice on how to solve their issue. You can even offer to complete the task for them (if it applies) and send them a link to your website which others interested in the answer will see as well.
TIP: You can use the “Search” feature to filter group posts by keyword which will better separate the questions within your specialty for you to answer.
The most common question that gets asked within the groups I’ve joined is, “Which website platform is the best for my business?” I answer this question so much (almost daily) that I created an answer that I copy & paste in. I eventually wrote a blog post answering the question in greater detail. (Read 7 Reasons Why You Should Choose WordPress Over Squarespace & Wix!)
5. Don’t join too many groups
To ensure you leave a memorable presence, you don’t want to join “too many” Facebook Groups. Focus on a couple of groups where you really dive in and answer the questions on a regular basis. People will start to recognize your name and will remember that you’re always helpful in whatever profession you’re in. Being a part of too many groups can also make it more difficult to keep track of the daily prompts and posts. It’s best to choose between 2 – 4 groups to spend most of your time browsing and answering questions in to get more acquainted with the community.
6. Only promote your business in appropriate times / areas
Last, but definitely not least, is to make sure you’re following the rules, being respectful, and not being overly spammy. If people notice that you’re only hopping in posts to promote your services or website, it will definitely leave a bad taste in their mouth which they will likely remember. Some good rules of thumb to follow are:
- DO make sure to keep your overly promotional and sales posts on the appropriate “Promo” threads.
- DON’T create sneaky article length posts which end in you making people sign-up for your list to grab whatever “offer” you have. This is the best way to get banned in most groups where promotion on the wall is not permitted. If you are unsure whether your post is too promotional or not, it most likely is.
- DON’T solicit your business on a post that’s asking about something vaguely in the area of your service.
- DON’T hijack a conversation between 2 entrepreneurs looking to work together by offering your “slightly better” services.
- DON’T PM someone without their permission. If they’re interested in contacting you, they will send one themselves or get in touch through your website.
I hope these tips prove to be useful in your business, they definitely have been in mine! Do you have any other tips to improve your business’ growth with Facebook Groups? Let me know in the comments below!
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Great tips! Very helpful. Question though, you recommend not PMing someone unless they ask you to. I’ve read elsewhere that sending someone a private message offering value (not just promoting your business) makes you stand out from the crowd and the people that just comment “hire me, I can help.” What are your thoughts on that?
Thank you Lauren! Great question as well. To me, PMing a person whether to answer their question or to solicit a service without them saying it’s “okay,” feels a little invasive. There’s no problem with asking if it’s okay to PM them first though, and I’ll often see a lot of people do that, which definitely can make them stand out.
Personally, when I ask a question and someone randomly PM’s me, it feels like a way to get an “in” with me when it’s in regards to a question and sometimes feels sneaky. (A lot of the time, I don’t even see the request though until too late.) When I’m answering a question, I like to provide value within the post itself so multiple people can see it and benefit from it. If someone asks me to PM them, or sends me one themselves, that’s an invitation and totally fine.
I know people may have differing views, but that’s my take. Hope it helps! 🙂
Marriah
Great, thank you! Question about that though (I’m new to this so I need all the help I can get). When you answer their question, do you explicitly say “do this and I can help” or something else?
Pretty much, yes. When I answer a question, I give them some information on how to do so, or give them insight to whatever it is they’re asking. Then, I’ll end with something like, “Feel free to get in touch if you need any assistance and I’ll be happy to help! (URL).” Or I’ll say, “If you need more information feel free to check out my post on this subject here (blog post URL).” Just something that sounds more personal and not like you’re just trying to get their business.
Hope that helps!
Marriah
Do you have any tips in terms of growing a group? I have two, one for bloggers and one for my audience. Neither is doing well in terms of engagement and I would love to be able to change that!
Aside from that, I do agree with everything you have said. I get the majority of my readers from groups of like-minded people.
Like pages, group post visibility is decreasing as well, so it’s harder for admins to get their post seen and get that engagement. But, I’m just learning the ropes of successfully managing a Facebook Groups as well, so I don’t have any tips at the moment! It’s a lot easier to gain followers / traffic by joining groups that are already active and have a good amount of engagement. This will definitely be a post I would love to elaborate on, but I don’t have much helpful information to share in terms of running groups as I’m trying to increase my group engagement as well. 🙂
Marriah
Great tips. Finding groups that share your interest makes conversations so much easier. There are plenty of spammy FB groups that don’t seem to provide much value, so finding the right one for you is important.
Thanks so much Tatjana! Yes, finding your niche groups is super important for growth.
Marriah
Excellent tips. Agree with you that strategic planning is needed to leverage Facebook groups effectively.
Thanks so much Sudipta, I’m glad you found these tips useful!
Marriah
This is some great advice. I have had luck with plenty of FB groups and still do.
Thanks so much Dee! Yes, with the changes to Facebook, engaging in groups seems to still trump pages in terms of traffic and making connections!
Marriah
Great tips! i agree. Join a specific group with the same interest or niche. Then take it from there!
Yes, definitely!
Marriah
these are some awesome tips. i just started blogging and really trying to figure out how to get all my socials up. instagram has been easy but i havent gotten a handle on facebook yet
Thanks so much, I’m happy you find them useful! Facebook can be difficult with all of the changes, but Groups seem to be a great spot to gain traffic and engagement.
Marriah
I couldn’t agree with you more. I had no clue how valuable Facebook groups are until recently. Good luck with your business 🙂
Same here! You don’t realize how awesome they are until you start seeing the incredible results. Thanks so much, good luck with your business as well! 🙂
Marriah
I like facebook groups. They can take up a lot of your productive time if you aren’t careful though.
I am still uncertain about facebook groups, however I will implement a few things you have mentioned to possibly make my experience better. Thank you for sharing your words of wisdom!
This is great advice. I really need to be more interactive within my niche. Getting into the areas that I already love and eventually they may come back to my site and be interactive in the long run.
Facebook groups have helped me tremendously! This was such a helpful post. Thanks for sharing.
What a great post! Lots of valuable information for anyone wanting to grow. I agree Facebook groups are the best.
These are great tips, Marriah! I absolutely love Facebook groups for growth! At first I didn’t see the benefit of them as I wasn’t interacting, and like you, was just lurking 🙂 But once I started answering questions I was a big difference! I ended up starting my own Facebook group and love being able to run that.
That’s so great to hear Dana! I wish you continued success with your group!
Marriah
Great advice! I’m definitely not engaging in my groups as much as I need to be. I think one of the main reasons is because I’ve joined so many! Time to prioritize and start connecting! Thanks for posting!
Yes, definitely re-prioritize and decide which groups can benefit you the most by being more active in them. Glad you enjoyed the post Jen!
Marriah
Great tips! I’m in too many groups to keep up with but I keep finding new ones I want to join! I definitely need to cut back.
Thanks so much Michelle! There’s nothing wrong with being in groups you are getting valuable info from, but choose a few where you can really be active yourself and provide helpful information to others.
Marriah
I never thought of joining groups for promoting my business. But I think it is a great idea. I will search for groups relevant to my niche. Thanks for these tips.