If you have your own business, know that this is a great channel to find and attract potential leads.

Facebook groups: why participate?

With more than 1 billion active users per day, Facebook is undoubtedly the most used social network at the moment and not to lose that leadership, the investment in updates and news does not stop.

Last year, fueled by the success of the groups, the social network introduced new resources for groups to build communities, a trend that is steady and strong this year.

Facebook groups have considerable advantages over business pages when it comes to promoting a business.

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The pages are intended for public figures, companies and other entities. A page is public by default and serves primarily to keep your audience or your followers informed about your business.

Facebook groups have different dynamics when compared to a page and are better suited for building a brand.

A group is created with the intention of encouraging communication among a small core of people.

It serves as a place where they can share their common interests and express their opinion.

Groups allow individuals to come together with a common cause and thus promote a high level of engagement.

This means that if you join Facebook groups related to your business, you have a better chance of identifying and interacting with your target audience.

This is a great way to find out what your audience wants and, therefore, what you have to offer.

Considering that the main purpose of a company is to have a highly segmented audience to facilitate conversion, Facebook groups are the right mean for this.

Facebook Groups: advantages to your business

As explained, when it comes to expanding your business, Facebook groups offer some very valuable resources, such as:

Community

Creating a group is a great way to get together and interact with a set of individuals with similar ideas.

If you make it a habit to engage in a healthy discussion with your group members, they will often participate to take advantage of the content you are offering.

High level of engagement

People want to interact with a person and not with a company or brand. That’s why business pages do not get the expected level of engagement.

If you have a group for your business, you should be the face of it. Your audience will feel more comfortable sharing their wants and needs with someone they can identify.

Relationship

By interacting frequently with your audience, they will feel more connected to you.

By answering their questions and solving their problems, you will be perceived as an expert and therefore the best candidate when they need help.

This creates trust, which is the basis of all business transactions. Participating in a group allows you to demonstrate your experience and help people, thereby creating a strong relationship with them.

Fast feedback

Who owns a business constantly needs feedback on their products and services.

Through Facebook groups you can conduct surveys, ask questions and receive feedback in a short period of time.

Facebook Groups: how to set one up for your business

Before making a group, it’s best to create a page for your business if you do not already have one.

Facebook does not have the option to publicly promote groups. This is where your business page will be useful.

But let’s start with the step by step you need to follow to create Facebook groups.

1. Open Create Group window

Open your profile and click the drop-down menu in the right corner of the menu bar. Then click Create Group.

If you have a business page, the Create group option is available in the lower left corner of the cover photo.

2. Choose a name

Choose without fear, you can change it later if you do not like your first choice.  

When choosing a name, make sure it provides a clear picture of what the group is. Preferably give the name of your business or product.

3. Set privacy settings

When you create a group, Facebook lets you choose from three privacy settings: Public, Closed and Secret.

It is important for you to know that for a small group, the administrator can change the privacy settings by going to the Edit – Group Settings menu.

However, for a group with more than 5000 members, you can only change the privacy to a more restrictive setting (Public to Closed or Closed to Secret).

4. Customize your image

Your group is created, now it’s time to make it attractive.

Add a cover photo, description, tags and location. Choose an image that fits your group, it does not necessarily have to be your brand or company.

5. Start posting content

Time to start sending content. The key is to follow a schedule and post regularly. Always keep your group active.

You’ll see more involvement in each post and everything starts to develop naturally.

Facebook Groups: tips for increasing engagement

Once your group is up and running, it’s the things you do on a day-to-day basis that will make a difference.

Here are some tips to help increase engagement.

1. Be there

Initially, your group will have only a few members. This means that it is up to you to start the discussions and interactions.

Be sure to comment on all posts and answer the questions. It is important for people to know that you are there when they need help.

2. Set guidelines

To create a healthy community, you need to keep the group free of spam.

To avoid this, you can create a post that clearly explains the Rules and Guidelines that members must follow to be part of the group.

3. Promote your group

No matter how good your content is, it will have no value if you do not make people notice it. The same goes for Facebook groups.

A group has the potential to grow much faster than a page. But that does not happen overnight. This requires you to invest a significant amount of time and resources in the process.

There are many ways to promote your group, such as:

• Disclose in other groups

You can search on Facebook for groups similar to yours.

Before you start releasing, though, it’s best to introduce yourself to the administrator and understand the rules of the group. You do not want to look like a spammer and end up being blocked.

Spend some time in the group and be a valuable contributor. Once you gain credibility, you can start promoting your content and your group more naturally.

• Encourage influential people to participate

A simple way to attract the attention of those you consider influential is to share their content (what you find useful) with your group members.

When you do this, be sure to bookmark the person to let them know that you are promoting their content.

This often encourages them to join your group on their own, without you having to push yourself too hard.

• Use paid ads

It is true that there is no option to promote Facebook groups through paid ads, but that is why you have a page.

Copy the link to your group with a short and relevant description and post it on your page.

Then you can promote the post to reach more people and attract new members.

Facebook Groups to promote Online Courses

With all this information, you are officially prepared to create a group for your business and eventually expand it to attract more people who are looking for what you have to offer.

If you want to see concrete results, then treat your group as a priority and put your time and heart into it.

For those who create online courses, Facebook groups are a perfect place to meet potential students, people who have an interest in your content and want to learn more.

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With a brief survey on the social network you will soon find several communities that approach the same theme of your course, and it will be easy to interact and call attention, considering that you are an expert on the subject.

Take advantage to prove your authority, create relationships and slowly bring these people into your own group.

Remember that everyone is potential customers and your best chance of conversion.

Creating these bonds takes time, patience and constant nurturing to see results.

But it can also be fun. Take every step of the process and focus on creating a valuable asset for your company.

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