HOW TO USE FACEBOOK GROUPS TO CREATE A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

Everyone’s talking about F-commerce. Yes, selling through Facebook. That brings me to a great option tried and tested by myself – Facebook groups.

As an alternative or addition to selling products on your website, Facebook groups have proven to be the next best thing that entrepreneurs world over have taken to. However, speaking with a number of women entrepreneurs in India, I was surprised to hear that they hadn’t got the hang of it.

Well, only because most of them seemed to have started on the wrong foot. Using Facebook groups for sales is as simple as finding the right selling-buying / shopping groups, figuring out the authentic from the spammer group and doing the right thing once you’re on the right groups.

Wondering why must you sell on Facebook groups? Here’s why:

1. It is an avenue to find potential clients when you’re starting off.

2. You reach a targeted audience. The groups are a platform to find like-minded people for buying and selling.

3. A large pool of people, over 1.94 billion to be precise! Now imagine how many eye balls your products can attract.

4. If you’re just starting off, this is where you can test the waters.

5. Network with other sellers, collaborate and spread word.

6. Increase traffic to your business Facebook page or website.

How to use Facebook groups for selling your products?

1. Assuming that you have created a separate Facebook page for your business… if you haven’t, create it right now! And share your posts on various shopping groups. This will bring traffic to your page.

2. Join the group. Follow the rules of the group. Start posting your products.

3. Add a good description to the products with benefits. Give as much information possible.

4. Be consistent in posting. This will help in regular shoppers get familiar with your brand and the products.

5. Facebook’s ‘buy and sell’ feature has made it easier for sellers to sell. Make use of the feature.

6. Try to post on the group during active hours, so that your post reaches the maximum number of viewers. I have found 1-2pm the best for weekdays and 11am-1pm on weekends.

Look for the right shopping groups

1. First things first, go through the rules of the group. This will help in narrowing down your options. All the groups might not be suitable to your product, geographical reach or business profile.

2. Observe how active the group and the members are and go for the groups that are most active.

3. Look for groups that have a large membership. More members equals to larger viewership of your products.

4. Lastly, you are the best judge for your business.

(coming soon: list of facebook groups that I use myself)

Dos

1. You are the sales person here. Post attractive content, photos that wow (can’t stress this enough) and product descriptions that make buyers click buy without a second thought. Share as much information possible in the product description.

2. Make it a PR tool. Respond to every query and comment. Not tomorrow. Right now!

3. Get creative with your sales pitch. The Internet is all about great content. Create some with your products.

4. Include keywords in your description, hashtags and all relevant words.

5. Share other relevant content aside from product posts – if you got featured in a magazine or a blog post you wrote. These do get a lot of engagement.

6. Post to atleast 20-30 groups every day.

Don’ts

1. Don’t post all products in one go. Space out your posts.

2. Don’t break the group rules. The admin might block you.

3. Don’t post to all facebook groups in one go – break it up into slots –  It will help you reach more people. It also prevents your friends from getting bombarded with notifications about your activity (wish there was a way around this). Most importantly, it will ensure that facebook doesn’t block your account (i have learnt this the hard way)

Pro tips to save time:

Posting to facebook groups is an extremely time-consuming process. Here’s what you can do to save time:

1. Share product posts directly from your Facebook page instead of manually uploading products on each group.

2. Create your own Facebook group and invite people to join you for regular updates. It also gives you more control over the group.

3. Create your posts beforehand and get a family member to post them on your behalf (This is what I do :-))

There! You have access to an incredible toolbox from anywhere you and your phone happen to be. So what’s stopping you from using it to up your sales? 

#facebook #facebookgroups #marketing #smallbusiness