Facebook, with its huge user base and robust features, provides an excellent platform for building a community around your brand. Building a community around your brand is a powerful technique that can foster engagement, commitment, and growth. With its extensive user base and powerful features, Facebook provides an ideal platform to create and foster such communities. In this article, we’ll delve deeper into how we can build a community on Facebook.
The advantages of setting up a Facebook Group for your business
Your company’s Facebook Page has its place, but there are amazing benefits to including Groups in your Facebook approach:
Build long-lasting relationships with customers
Groups are useful because people want to be there. Think about it: Is someone going to opt-in to a group for a company they don’t like?
It’s your #1 BFF in these groups, and they’re willing to be your cheerleading team. Solidify and improve that relationship with the exclusive access to your company that a Facebook Group delivers, along with unique content or privileges.
Read Also: Collaboration for Growth: Partnering on Facebook for Share
Increase your organic reach
The organic reach of your Facebook Page may only be holding around 5%, but your group’s reach will be much more elevated.
Facebook prioritizes posts from groups in a user’s newsfeed, so you have a high probability of showing up, specifically compared to your Page posts.
Learn useful market research data
Outside of a methodical marketing study, where else can you have direct access to your target audience and get your queries answered by genuine customers?
Being able to test new techniques and ideas in this small focus group will give you a lot of data. As a bonus, your super fans will admire being “in the know.”
It’s a win-win. Oh, and did I say it’s free? Anyone from a brand-new bootstrapped startup to mega-corporations can help from this data.
Different types of groups on Facebook
Facebook presents a diverse range of group classes, each catering to various needs and interests, providing users with multiple options to connect, share, and engage within their best communities.
Here are some of the most famous types of communities on Facebook.
- Public groups: These groups are available to anyone. The content is visual to the public, and anyone can join without permission.
- Closed groups: These groups are visible to the public, but only members can visit and participate in the group. Members can enter via admin permission.
- Social learning groups: These groups are created for educational purposes, with structured content for teachers and trainees.
- Buy and sell groups: These groups enable the buying, selling, and trading of goods and services.
- Support groups: These groups function as safe spaces for individuals with shared challenges or incidents to seek advice and emotional support.
- Interest-based groups: These groups are concentrated on specific hobbies, desires, or topics, and members can transfer their experiences and ideas here.
- Professional groups: These groups are for networking, career development, and industry conversations among experts.
Read Also: Timing is Key: Finding the Best Time to Post on Facebook
With that covered, let’s see how distinct businesses can operate Facebook marketing to build a community of followers.
Steps to Create a Facebook Group
Now that we’ve shown how important Facebook Groups are for your business, it’s time to get technological. Obey the steps below to build your first Facebook Group.
Step 1: First, make sure you’re logged into your authorized Facebook brand account. It’s crucial to confirm that the group is created as your brand so that your brand name displays up in the “Group by” field on the top of the Group name.
Step 2: Go to your Facebook homepage and click on the menu button at the top of the page. Then choose “Group” in the Create drop-down menu.
Step 3: Add a name for your Group and select the privacy setting. You can always modify your privacy settings later on, so this selection isn’t last. As for the Group name, it should be recognizable and comprehensible to ensure that people can immediately associate it with your brand’s official Facebook Group. Then choose “Create” and that’s it–you’ll now have a Facebook Group for your brand.
Read Also: Cracking the Code: How Facebook’s Share Algorithm Works
Step 4: While the Group can be operated as is, it’s important to customize it a little to make it yours. This would contain uploading your community image, adding Group controls, and setting approvals and roles. You can also invite a few mates to get the community going. Invitations can either be sent to your Facebook friends or through email to your email subscribers.
With that covered, let’s see how distinct businesses can operate Facebook marketing to build a community of followers.
How to Grow Your Facebook Community?
Now that you have made a Facebook group, make sure that you share it with the individuals you like to invite. For a business, there are numerous touchpoints you can tap into, to let your users know about your Facebook community.
Here are some tested tricks that will help you get more individuals to join your group:
Turn everyone to your Facebook group
Rather of sending people to your page, where at best only 2-4% of them will notice what you post, link your group rather. Whenever you put up the Facebook logo, whether on posters, your website’s landing page, emails, cards, packaging, etc., let the connection take them to your Facebook group. Even add your group’s link on your other sociable channels like your Instagram bio.
Read Also: Storytelling Magic: Leveraging Facebook Stories for Shares
Do an email blast
Send out emails to your current users, followers, and subscribers and inform them about the value they can get by entering your Facebook community. You can also add links to your Facebook group to monthly newsletters, blog emails, etc.
Link your Facebook page to your group
Don’t forget to link your Facebook group to your business page. When you accomplish this, a button pops up on the top, left side of your page that states ‘Visit Group’. You can now creatively utilize arrows on your cover photo or video to get people to click on that button.
Needle exclusive content on your Facebook page
Post routine call-outs on your Facebook page to inspire people to join the group for exclusive content. You can inform them 3 reasons (each value-adding to your user) to join your Facebook community or tease exclusive content that you learn is something that they require.
Speak about your Facebook community on social media
Operate your social media channels like Instagram and Twitter to speak about your Facebook group and the exclusive content it offers. If you have a YouTube channel, make sure you regularly speak about your Facebook community and how it can count value to their lives. Don’t forget to add your group’s link in the cards and description.
Promote your group on other Facebook groups
Cooperate with other groups by reaching out to their admin and producing content for your audiences together. Don’t be sleazy and just post on their group about what you can contribute. Instead, speak to the admin and propose ideas that can help their group.
Conclusion
This method works for any kind of brand community your organization might create. Support forums, vision exchanges, message boards. Every community requires a core group of members who are positively engaged and will create value for the rest of the members. This is how you get it begun.
