Blog about social media topics to make your life easier

Having a Facebook page for your business is a given. There are loads of great tips for making Facebook work in terms of online presence and generating work. Did you know that the Facebook Groups feature has a ton of potential as well?

As with any great marketing tool, your group shouldn’t be used strictly as a place to promote yourself. A successful group gives its members a reason to visit, interact and engage with one another. It’s an avenue for building connections and relationships. The ways you make your social media platforms thrive is the same approach you should have with groups:

Post frequently
Use images whenever possible
Engage the audience
Announce upcoming events
Share the work with someone else. Collaboration can be amazing!

With that in mind, here are some additional ways to use utilize Facebook Groups to support your business.

Give It a Purpose

Don’t assume that people will join your group just because your name is attached to it. This might work for successful influencers but even then not having a game plan isn’t the best tactic. Come up with a purpose and a set of goals you want to achieve with the group. As with any new venture, being strategic and developing a plan is the first step to take.

Write these goals in the group description so anyone who visits can see the purpose of the group. This will ensure that those who choose to join are like-minded participants.

Give Them Something Valuable

This could be offering discounts or free items to members. It could also mean saving some of the best content just for the group. Perhaps hold a regular contest.

Or, It could be that members have the opportunity to network with one another, or that it gives them better access to you. Make members feel rewarded and special.

Build a Sense of Community

Remember that a group is only as good as its members. Find ways to introduce them to one another. Get creative in making sure they engage. Give them a regular opportunity to show-off, ask questions, or share content. Regularly ask for group participation, input, and sharing.

Make Members Part of the Team

Often, many of your group members will be invested in you and what you do. Test new ideas or concepts within the group first. Ask for their opinions. Encourage them to test drive new programs.

Once you find the sweet spot you will notice that a lot of the engagement happens organically. You are still the central piece of the puzzle. However, it will mean less work for you and more growth as people start asking YOU if they can join up and participate.

Side note: Facebook Business Pages vs. Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups supplement your business fan page. So even if you create a Facebook group, you’ll still want a Facebook page for your business.

Anything you share on your business page shows up in the news feed for fans to see. When fans engage with your content, it increases your visibility to others in their network.

However, updates from Facebook groups only show up in the news feeds of members. When a member engages with the content in a group, it doesn’t show up in their friends’ news feeds.

Once you have a Facebook group and a business page, make sure they work in tandem. Actively promote your group to your fans. This way, you can leverage your group and your page at the same time.

Please meet my guest blogger Beth Johnston.

About Beth

Beth Johnston is a Certified Professional Social Media Manager, and Founder/CEO of Social Bridges.

She and her team are dedicated to providing results-driven social media marketing strategy and services to busy business owners and entrepreneurs, so they can connect their brand to their audience through the proper social network(s).

Additionally, Beth provides classroom and individual instruction, coaching, and strategy consulting services.

Welcome to my Thursday feature. Here’s where I link three useful and interesting articles from excellent information sources that deal with social media and marketing subjects.

As you know, changes are always happening in the world of social media. We have a lot to keep up with!

Google is back in the social media game. A recent patent reveals the search engine giant’s interest in using email as a bridge to social media. Check out Marketing Land’s article Google Files Patent to Replace Social Media Marketers to find out more about how this company wants to change the social media horizon.

Social media isn’t in its infancy anymore. Case in point, government agencies are finally getting on board with how social platforms can help them become more connected and productive. The Huffington Post just posted 5 Ways Social Media Is Changing “Business As Usual” for Governments demonstrating a new municipal point of view.

As social media becomes more a part of our lives, how we come together in mourning is also important. Convince & Convert posted an article about the 3 Social Media Rules for Death and Tragedy to help social media marketing ride that line between being sympathetic over promotional.

See you next week with another edition of Top Three Thursday: Social News You Can Use.

Melody Jones is your social media aspirin. She helps take the pain out of social media for you! Check out her services and see which one can reduce your social media pain the most.