The best Facebook strategy in 2020
Feb 20, 2020
Back in the good ol’ days (lol 2011) when I was a Social Media Manager we used to post on Facebook at least once a day and we would reach most of our audience. Today, not so much. Since then Facebook took away our free lunch and turned down all that organic reach to basically 0. It’s now a pay-to-play game that we’re constantly trying to hack so that we can get the most bang for our buck.
While Facebook Ads are still one of the most effective ways to get your message in front of your audience - there is another Facebook feature that is definitely worth your attention, if you are not already actively using it.
That is Facebook Groups.
While everyone has been scrambling to get attention on their Facebook Page, Groups have continued to grow and see incredible quality engagement. I post in groups quite a bit these days and I almost fall of my chair at the level of engagement I get on my post - knowing what it would be if I were posting it on a Page. The conversation is just so much better.
So what is it that makes Groups so engaging:
1. Pages are brand-centric, so only people who love the brand will choose to follow the Page. Whereas Groups are built around shared interests and passions, Photography or Healthy Eating for example.
2. On Pages, brands control the conversation. Brands post what they think the audience wants to see (one-to-many). In Groups, any member of the group can post and start a conversation (many-to-many).
3. People prefer talking to a face than a logo. It’s more human and trusted.
So, how can your business meaningfully participate in Groups:
1. Use Facebook search to discover and join relevant Groups around your subject-matter. If you run a guesthouse or Airbnb, you’ll want to find travel groups. The more niche the better your chances of reaching the right people. So if you’re running an environmentally-friendly guesthouse, you could look for Groups like “Sustainable Travel”. Choose to focus on a handful of Groups, where you can be genuine participant.
2. People often post questions within Groups, so spend some time reading through the questions (posts and comments) and provide useful answers where you can, and where it makes sense for your business. You don’t want to just post a link to your website and tell people to follow you! A lot of people do this and it can do more damage to your brand than good. It’s not helpful and it looks a bit spammy. We never want to be spammy.
3. Groups are also a great way to research and get inside your ideal customer’s head for content ideas. You could find out what are they struggling with, where are their pain points are, what are they searching for - this helps spark ideas for the type of content you should be creating for your own Pages.
You could start a Group around a specific topic where you see a gap, for example, a group for working moms in a specific area. Some brands create closed Facebook Groups for members-only as a value-added service, a space for people who have subscribed service to get exclusive content (Q&As, Live videos etc.), and learn from one another (eg. Small Business Owners who all took a specific Online Course in Digital Marketing).
