The Benefits of Facebook Groups

Are you using all of the social media tools that are waiting at your fingertips? Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, and the like might be frustrating. But once you dedicate time to any of them, you'll find a plethora of amazing advertising tools that you can use for free. You just have to keep looking and find what works for you. 

Hello friends! We've made it to fall, and we can't surround ourselves more with pumpkin spice and everything spooky. This week's blog will be focusing on the benefits of using Facebook groups for your small business. I can feel the perpetual eye roll, I understand that Facebook can be a beast to use and an even bigger beast to advertise on. But it's a fact of life that you need it, and if you give it enough time this tool can help you and your company grow in new and exciting ways. But you can't just create something and not nourish it. Creating a Facebook group and just letting it sit there is not the end all be all that will allow your company to grow and flourish without putting a little effort into it. You have to put work into it like you would any other part of your business. I'm sure that you know, that any business no matter the size, needs to have a strong presence on social media. This can all be rooted, cultivated, in a well-loved and well designed Facebook group. 

A Facebook group gives you a human connection and removes that big box store feeling and disconnect from your customers. It is a reminder that there is a living breathing human working behind the computer screen. As a business owner, you need to constantly have a presence that's engaging, real, and driven towards your target audience. Thankfully, even though there are some elements of business when running a Facebook group, it can take away the pressure Facebook can put on a business and help create an engaging platform without pushing too hard. 

• A Facebook group allows more personal engagement between the company and its target audience and followers. Comments and discussions about your products and services that your company offers can thrive in the world of a Facebook group. People feel safer to share their thoughts and opinions in a group, as it is more unlikely to get trolled or attacked in this controlled environment. It allows you to become the face of the group and your business and not just be a fancy name or logo. 
• You can use a Facebook group to show support and love for other similar groups, businesses, and followers that support you. 
• Call to actions can be made loud and proud with welcome. If you remain focused on your values and aren't overly spammy when it comes to selling your products, you can gain more members to the group and gain more traffic to your content. 
• You can immediately get feedback, opinions, and know the needs of your followers right away with the use of polls that Facebook offers or by creating your own. You can begin to understand what your clients want and need from your company. This also allows you to begin a safe conversation around any topic. A Facebook group is the rawest and most honest immediate feedback you can receive from your followers. 
• You can use Facebook groups to mentor, teach, and help grow together as a group. 
• You can use a group to announce offers and use the group as a form of free advertisement. You can announce sales and offers ahead of time and get your clients and audience excited about these offers in advance. 
• You can use a Facebook group to build trust and a relationship beyond just being a seller and a consumer. You can use value to show the humanity and venerability behind your business that anyone could and does experience and can relate to. You can share first-hand experiences, answer any questions first hand with tools like going LIVE or by holding a question and answer session. If you take the time to read the comments, questions, and ideas left by your group members and respond to them, it shows that you respect your followers' opinions and that you are listening to them.
• You also don't have to create a group just for people who want to buy something for you or to use your services. You can create a Facebook group just for your employees as a safe place for them to share, ask questions, give their opinions, and keep everyone updated with their lives. It's another outlet for them to feel heard and to be appreciated by those who employ them and those who work with them. 
• You can use a Facebook group to network your business. 

We hope you walk away from this blog with a better opinion of Facebook and how to use the tools it offers. Don't be afraid to use them, your following and target audience is there waiting for you. Don't lose out on a wonderful way of communicating, connecting, and promoting who you are as a person and a business!

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