logo

3 Tips for using Facebook Groups for your small business

Facebook groups are a fantastic way to leverage your expertise in your local community. But how do you find relevant groups and interact with them in the best way?

  1. Create your own group

Although it does take time to set up and monitor, creating your own facebook group can have its definite advantages. Take my local community for instance: an Old Basing & Lychpit Community facebook page was recently set up by someone who happened to own a hair salon in the village. Although a LOT of the posts are about bin collections (or lack thereof at the moment), inappropriate timings of fireworks (who knew that was such an inflammatory subject excuse the pun) and inconsiderate dog walkers (the less said about that the better) – a large number of posts to the group are requests for recommendations of local businesses, which you can then be tagged in, comment on etc.

So if there isn’t already a community page for your town or area – create one! And definitely join one if it already does exist.

2. Discover Groups

Log into facebook and click on the groups icon on the left hand menu. Then click the “Discover tab”

 

Facebook will then bring up some group suggestions for you to ask to join, or alternatively you can browse different topics to find a relevant group. Once you come across a group that looks interesting where you can add value, ask to join that group.

 

3. Search for Groups

As well as clicking the “Discover” tab, you can click “Groups” (See image above) and then search according to keywords. For example I have searched for “Basingstoke” to bring up a number of results to scroll through:

Community groups, parents groups, hobbies groups in your location (e.g book clubs, knitting, woodwork, sport – anything that might require added help with vision), other small business groups, search by location, and any other keywords where you think your audience might be a part of.

 

Once you have your network of groups, you can monitor and contribute but don’t go for the hard sell and self-promotion. Look for an opportunity and comment to gain respect and trust.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *