At this point, many of you have started your own Facebook group. And by now, I’ve started to catch on to a few patterns.
And by ‘patterns’ I mean MISTAKES and by ‘a few’ I mean EVERYONE.
Don’t feel bad. I made the exact same boo-boos when I started my Facebook group 18 months ago.
Once I realized the error of my ways and implemented a few new things, my group started to get major traction.
Want to get ahead of the curve and dodge some common pitfalls?
Then keep reading my friends!
Mistake #1: Trying to help too many people.
If you try to make a group that appeals to every single person in the whole wide world, you will fail.
Just like your blog, your branding, and your biz, you’ve got to appeal to a niche. It’s just sort of the #1 rule of the Internet.
The purpose of running a free group is to attract your IDEAL customers, rally their interest, earn their trust, get them on your email list, give a ton of value and THEN offer your paid content.
So if the end game is to put $$ in your pocket then why advertise to folks who will never help with that goal?
Building a huge group of people vaguely interested about a topic is a CLUB, not a business.
Clubs are fun, but you’re running a business.
Spend some time developing a unique value proposition. That’s fancy-talk for “give your ideal customers a reason to join.”
For example:
Sally sells info products to moms who homeschool their 5-7 year olds. She has a blog filled with useful tutorials that appeal to her ideal customer.
Sally’s unique value proposition would be to provide a community where homeschooling moms of 5-7 year olds can trade homeschooling ideas, resources, and strategies.
Yet, her Facebook group is for ALL THE MOMS? No. This won’t work because she will end up with a group of moms with kids aged 0-102 that don’t even homeschool. And a HUGE percentage of her following will not be interested in what she’s selling or what she has to say.
I get it, growing a big group is tempting. It makes you feel super popular, but you need to focus on quality members over quantity if you want to make a difference in your biz.
Growing a Facebook group takes serious work so you need to make it worth your while. Build a group of ONLY people you can help.
Mistake #2: Your group is pretty, but useless.
Your group is decorated with beautiful graphics that perfectly brand your biz. But you know what they say about beauty? Yep, only skin deep.
Look, having a professional looking group is SUPER important. Facebook has become increasingly visual and to cut through the noise you need pitch perfect images!
So yes, you do need beautiful graphics and quality branding. But you can’t stop there.
Your graphics need to direct your members to TAKE ACTION.
An engaging graphic should excite your members to subscribe to your list, comment on a prompt, or read your latest blog post.
For example: You can direct folks to that TINY ‘sign up’ button by adding an arrow to your Facebook cover image that helps folks see the button and encourages them to click!
OR
Make sure all your post and prompt graphics also encourage your audience to DO SOMETHING, read a blog, answer a question, sign up for a webinar. SOMETHING, so they know exactly why they should click!
Life is so crazy and confusing already, people honestly just want to be told what to do.
Make it easy on them.
Mistake #3: Your promotion efforts for your Facebook group are best summarized as: ONE AND DONE.
On most social platforms your audience will only see a very small fraction of what you post. It varies platform to platform and depends on how engaged your audience is, but for most people it hovers around 2-5% for organic reach.
Does that sound SUPER low? It is.
If you really want to get the word about your Facebook group you need to promote it consistently.
I actually suggest promoting twice a day on Twitter, once a week on Facebook, and three times a week on Instagram.
I know this level of promotion can sound overwhelming but you can make it easy by pre-scheduling these kinds of posts.
My personal fav schedule service is MeetEdgar but there are lots of scheduling programs out there that can help schedule your promos to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
Trust me, you’ll want to automate this process so a) you actually do it, b) are consistent with your posts, c) you save mega time.
Hopefully these tips will help you launch your group on the RIGHT FOOT and avoid the big mistakes I see all too often.
Facebook groups are THE best way to grow your list and expand your biz, but you gotta know how to do it right. Luckily, I’m here to help.