How intimate and authentic can you get with your target audience? Thanks to social media, the gap has now been bridged between the seller and the customer; the business owner and the consumer; and the individual practitioner with the client. In this episode of The Digital Slice Podcast, Bella Vasta clues us into all the ways your business can grow using Facebook Groups.
In particular, Facebook has afforded entrepreneurs the power to interact with potential customers directly in a platform where they are their natural selves. This is why most companies have their business pages splashed on Facebook in the hopes of benefiting from this direct contact with their target market.
Beyond a page, however, Facebook groups provide you with an even greater opportunity to talk to, interact with, and eventually build a community with your customers in a venue they have chosen. This also makes Facebook groups a perfect venue for inbound marketing where clients trust you and go to you directly in a desire to do business with your company. Certainly, Facebook groups are one way to go to grow your business.
Bella In The House
Have you ever jumped out of an airplane at 13,000 feet above ground? Well, Bella Vasta has and she named her coaching company Jump Consulting from her daring adventure. And just like that brave act, Bella works with various clients to push them to their limits and take a big leap of faith toward the next big thing in their businesses.
Pet sitting is in her genes, and she has been rocking the industry since 2007 as she coached pet sitting businesses and published her comprehensive researches on them. On top of that, she wrote the book, “The Four Types of Dogs Every Business Needs: How to Build the Right Team to Grow Your Business and Have a Balanced Life.” She used her knowledge of the popular breeds as a metaphor to embody the four personality types that work well together in a team set-up.
Bella believes in the power of Facebook groups to grow your business. She manages her own group, in fact, multiple Facebook groups, and she has seen how it can work its magic from the start.
Why A Facebook Group?
So you already have a Facebook business page, what do you need a group for? Bella uses an analogy to describe how a group is worth investing in and the important purpose it serves. Think about your Facebook page as your front yard and your Facebook group as your backyard. Imagine having a barbecue in your front yard, sunbathing, swimming, and other cool stuff. Would you feel comfortable doing all this in your front yard with passersby staring at you and maybe even giving you awkward looks? Of course, these things are what you do in your backyard, where you feel comfortable in private and where invited guests are likely to have a great time with you.
In the same way, your group is your backyard. You invite people in, and they join because they are interested in spending time with you. Bella says, “You reserve your backyard for personal stuff.”
On your page or in your front yard, you show everybody the beautiful side with a well-manicured lawn and homey atmosphere, but only those who are interested in going beyond that gets the passage to your house and into your backyard. Bella adds, “And so if you already have a Facebook page that’s cool. Everyone has a front yard.” It is where you entertain solicitors. But in your backyard, it is where your friends come and hang out with you. You entertain them, you serve them food and drinks, and put on some nice music. And the best part is, it is where people talk to each other. Bella points out that “The backyard is your group and the front yard is your page. So why have it? Because it’s more personable. People love to feel safe and like they belong, and that’s what groups do for a brand. It humanizes a brand.”
As in your backyard, the interactions with your audience is more personalized. It is where you can be your authentic self as a business owner which in turn makes it easier for them to trust you. On your page, you mostly do a one-way talk. They see it, but they don’t talk that much unless they want to ask questions about your products or services. Even Bella has observed how “Most people don’t feel comfortable having those intimate conversations on a business page.” There is not much of that deeper, back and forth, human to human conversations. But in your group, you can become very personal because the communication lines are open as well as private. Relationships are built as time passes. Your group members also get to interact with other members. Ultimately, the community that you have been envisioning to form will take its shape.
Should Everybody Do It?
Should every business have a Facebook group? It’s easy to think that as a business that you should be on every social media channel. Best practices will tell you however that your social media strategy should be patterned based on your unique needs and culture as a company. Thus, you do not have to be on everything, including Facebook, or Facebok groups. Even if all businesses are capable of having a Facebook group, not all are bound to benefit from it. Bella agrees that, “You can’t do everything all at once.”
You have to consider whether a group is a good compliment to your business or not. Some guiding questions to ask yourself would be: What value are you going to give your group members? Is your group going to be a part of your sales funnel? If yes, which part? Is it just to get people involved? Or to sell to directly and buy your products or avail your services. What position does your group have in your overall business? It is easy to get excited over it, but you have to be able to focus on one social media at a time. Time is a business investment, and every action you make has to be purposeful. If you believe your community is on Facebook, then Facebook groups can be good for you.
Initial Set Up
Congratulations! At this point, you may have decided to go ahead with creating your own Facebook group. The initial set up stage is most important as it will lay the foundation for the kind of members you will admit into your group and the information you can gather from them. There are questions you can ask would-be members before you add them to your Facebook group. Bella suggests the following main questions:
1. What’s your email address to be added to our list? (or to get a free gift or course)
2. What is your biggest challenge? (based on your subject matter)
Once these questions are answered, it will give you a wealth of information to turn into productive ideas for the kind of content you will feed your group. It can even guide in your product creation or in helping serve your audience better. You can also use the data for your next marketing campaign, sales pitch, and the like. Bella realized, “If you have a group, you need to be asking the right kinds of questions.” You can make their answers into a content goldmine and gather all their responses into a spreadsheet because once you click approve, you cannot go back and get that information again. So you have to record it, have a virtual assistant do it or use available software. Bella confirms “It’s just a content goldmine, those three questions, if you position it right. Make those questions so they serve your business because it’s so valuable.”
How To Get People Into Your Group
There are different ways to urge people to join your Facebook group but at the heart of it is creativity. You have to be creative about how you invite them in to make them interested. For one, your website is a good starting point. The Facebook icon on your website can be set up to go directly to your group instead of your page. As Bella points out, “Chances are that if you get people on in your group, they will end up liking your page. It’s a much easier sell that way.” Moreover, you can also put a byline in your email specifying a certain value you are providing if they join your group such as, “Join my free group to get x, click here.”
Meanwhile, on your Facebook page, you can do a cover profile or cover video pointing to an arrow linking to the group. You have to put them front and center so people can easily click and join. Sending an email blast every quarter to invite them to join your free group is also a good idea. Your marketing materials, Facebook, and Instagram stories are great avenues for inviting people to your group. Video teasers, screenshots, and live videos they can see only inside the group are great come-ons as well. In the end, Bella emphasizes “You gotta know what your value is. What are you giving them? Why should they appear?” Get them hooked up and engaged because who knows, one day you will be able to directly monetize your Facebook group as well. Bella ends with: “I have multiple groups, and I can tell you I’ve had two products this year that I’ve completely sold out just in my mastermind group.”
Be sure to listen to this episode of The Digital Slice Podcast to get the scoop on Facebook Groups! And, if you like it, leave a rating and a review!
For more information about developing a Facebook marketing strategy, or to schedule your free digital marketing consultation, please call 720.248.8185, e-mail info@friedmansocialmedia.com, or click here.
Please note: The Friedman Group is an inbound marketing agency based in Denver, Colorado, and we work with professionals and business owners across the U.S. Our digital marketing services include: inbound marketing, social media marketing, email marketing and digital marketing strategy and implementation.
