How amazing would it be to command the attention of your customers?
Picture the ability to actually tell your customers to buy something – and them listening. Sounds like it’s too good to be true, right?
Has business not always been about connecting with your customers where they are most comfortable? Considering we live in the digital age – social media is evidently one of the most reliable places to find your target audience.
But… so what? That doesn’t make it that great does it?
Well, when you think about the 2.23 billion active users on the platform. Or the fact, that 1 in 5 individuals who follow a brand make a purchase from that brand. It’s something that can really turn your business around.
However, the catch is you need to do everything in your power to grow a genuine, down to earth active facebook group. Something, which we plan on helping you with through this article.
Engagement Is A Two-Way Street
Besides worrying too much about the looks of the group. The biggest mistake that I see businesses making when running a new group is worrying more about growth then engagement.
The thing to realize about social media is that it’s not a numbers game. It’s a way for you as an enterprise to connect and build trust with your potential customers. You can do this by showing your expertise, and helping your facebook members with problems they face on a regular basis.
A good practice is to always respond to comments. Try to be insightful and descriptive when answering questions. Most importantly, encourage new members to share their stories, and ask for guidance if they need it.
Now, just because you need to constantly be posting and engaging with your audience, it does not mean you need to slog hours of your day into social media. In fact, you can automate the entire content process with a nifty tool called buffer.
Analytics Literally Pave The Golden Road For You
Analytics in your Facebook group is the equivalent of a giant road map showing you where to go and how to get there. While building your community, you are going to be experimenting with a ton of strategies.
It’s important to be able to determine which strategies are working, and which strategies need to be trashed. Thankfully, Facebook analytics can help you determine this.
Group insights become available once you reach 250 members, and boy are they are helpful. You can see everything. From who your most engaged members are, right down to the pace of growth for your group.
You can also determine when the most active engagement is in your group. Meaning if you do want to start advertising, you know the exact time when you have the broadest point of impact for the message that you are trying to get across.
Live Talks Are The New “In-Thing” When It Comes To Building A Successful Group
The entire point of a Facebook group is to build a community. A place where your customers help each other out, and more importantly – learn from your expertise.
Let me give you an example.
2-years ago, when I first looked into starting my business, I hit a bit of a roadblock. I couldn’t solve it by myself, I needed someone to give me a hint. My colleague recommended one Facebook group that would be hosting a webinar on the very subject I was battling with,.
To this day, I am still an active member on that facebook group, with countless topics broached, and plenty of advice given/taken.
The point is, you need to show your community that you want to help them. And encourage them to help others. Here are a few good ways that you can do this:
- Ask Me Anything (AMA’s) – this is best with niche-experts that can handle any questions thrown their way.
- Q&A’s with customers.
- General talks and discussions with frequently asked questions.
- Mastermind webinars to help teach your community new skills.
- Casual get-togethers to discuss basic community interactions to improve the atmosphere for all of your members.
It’s Not All Sunshine And Rainbows
When running a social media platform – regardless of which one; not everyone is friendly. You are always going to have that one person who tries to tarnish the reputation of the community.
Which is why you want to make sure you do have ground rules in your group for all new members to read through and accept. Remember, the point of these ground rules is simply to ensure no one tries to troll your members when they are looking for a helpful hand.
You should also employ a moderator or two to help you keep track of all the posts that go live to ensure that it all relates to your group’s niche, and general message. This is one of the most important things to do – because let’s face it, no community wants to be spammed with unrelated products/sales pitches.
