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Tag: Why have a Facebook Group when you have a page

Where Do I Start Marketing My Business on Facebook?

The coronavirus shutdowns present an opportunity for you to do a lot of the groundwork for you to grow your business, while you are staying home. With so many people working remotely, they likely have more free time these days. Many in the service industry are not working at all.

The thing to be thinking about how to start building your brand online. Previously, we’ve pointed to Facebook being the most important social media platform that there is right now. Currently, many people look to a Facebook page as a sign of legitimacy, almost as much as they do a website. They are looking for information about you, and by having a presence, even if it is just filling out a page’s information, having a few fans, and having a bare minimum of content, you share that your business is legit.

People want to be able to find you online where they already are. They want to be able to find out your hours or your location, and they look to Facebook, because they are already there. In 2020, it remains the most popular social media platform. Your community is there, and you should be too, even if it’s just to share basic information.

So, while you have this spare time, with the time that we’re spending at home, not going out to the beaches, going to concerts, as more and more businesses and activities close, we no longer have a lot of the distractions away from work that prevent us from making this effort. This is an opportunity here to make the best use of your downtime. You can maximize it by starting to build your brand online.

When you have a presence, you also have a great way to interact and engage with your customers. If you’ve already done the work to build page, it may be that this is the time that you start a Facebook group, centered around what you do. It may be that this is a time where you spend a lot of time working in local groups, in small business groups, and in industry-specific groups to interact with others. By engaging with the people in these groups you help establish yourself as an authority in what it is that you bring to market.

So, if you don’t have a Facebook page for your business yet, that’s the place to start. If you do, make sure you are posting consistently with the five areas of focus for your business and interacting with the community you’ve already built. You might also want to create a Facebook group to deepen the connections you’ve already made, but most likely you’ll see the best results from heavily investing in engaging with groups that are local, industry-specific, or small business-centered that already exist to help you brand yourself as an expert in what you do.

Create a Facebook Group When You Have a Facebook Page?

Adapted from Hustleburg Episode 12.

What Are the Benefits of Creating a Facebook Group in Addition to Your Business Page?

When it comes to Facebook, you have a lot of options when it comes to creating a community around your business and communicating about your brand. Obviously, with the noted distinction between a personal profile and a business page, you should have a Facebook page for your business in 2020. We know that the page is a communication tool to share with those outside the community you’ve already built. It’s essentially a digital storefront on the largest social media platform. It has the basic information about your businesses, about your hours, your location, any special deals you might have. It rivals your website in terms of importance, and it ranks higher in the search results than many business websites.

Your Facebook Page is a great tool for people that are looking for you already. It’s the social media version of your website that allows you to have a touch of your personality on display. We’ve previously shared the strategy about utilizing your page to share the five focus items:

  1. The main thrust of your business or brand
  2. One thing related to the main thrust
  3. Another thing related to the main thrust
  4. Something personal that shows your brand has a personality (not necessarily business-related)
  5. Another something personal that shows your brand isn’t an emotionless robot (again, not necessarily business-related)

Sounds Great! Why a Facebook Group Then?

Facebook groups present you with a unique way to build deeper relationships with your community. These are the true fans you’ve created around your business, not just passersby. Your group is where you’re going to engage in in-depth discussions, generate and foster engagement with the people that are already associated with you, and build the relationships necessary to have evangelists of your brand or your business. While publicly visible, your page is only an opportunity to build many shallow connections, like the depth of a bathtub, but a group gives you the ability to build ocean-deep connections with people who are committed to you and your business. The people that you engage with in these groups are your raving fans, or they’re going to become your raving fans.

Additionally, groups offer a place for you to really let your personality shine online. In addition to the five focus topics outlined above, you can share more of your personality here, as you’re building relationships, not seeking transactions. You will be able to get to know your customers and you can truly connect with them in the environment of a group. In a group, the interaction of real conversation goes deeper just a post on your page and maybe a comment here and there. These relationships turn into a tribe of people who will evangelize for you online as well as in the real world. They are your best marketers, and their efforts are going to be way better than yours, because they are a real-world example of how your business solved their problem and can solve others’ problems. They will enthusiastically recommend you to others and devote themselves to you and your brand, because you have made these ocean-deep connections. It doesn’t take very many of these connections to earn these fantastic marketers and their valuable word of mouth buzz for your business.