How to Use Facebook Groups to your Advantage as a Small Business Owner

Chelsea:
Okay, Vivian, today we are talking about an underutilized tool that I feel like small business owners could really be taking advantage of and guys, it's free. We're talking about Facebook groups. Before you say it, Facebook is still relevant. According to similar web, which is a website that ranks all of the websites worldwide, Facebook is the third most visited website in the world.

Vivian:
That is shocking to me.

Chelsea:
Google is number 1, number 2 is YouTube and then Facebook is third. Facebook also hit three billion users in 2023. I don't want to hear anyone saying that Facebook is not worth your time. Look, if your target audience specifically does not use Facebook, then fine, I understand. But if your target audience is a little broader than that and you can't narrow down specifically a social media that they're using, Facebook is definitely still something that you should be considering.

Vivian:
Chelsea, I'm gonna tease you a little bit as an older sister. So I don't know if you remember this conversation. I'd like to think it's way back in the day that you were a baby marketer. We had a very important conversation and it was regarding social media platform usage. I remember you specifically telling me, I don't like using that platform, like I don't care for it, right? What did I say to you?

Chelsea:
You probably told me I'm not my target audience.

Vivian:
Yeah, so to hit home what Chelsea just said to y 'all is if you do think that Facebook is a good match for your business because a lot of your target audience is utilizing Facebook and maybe I would sometimes boil this down to age demographic, but that's not the case anymore really, right? Because now you're finding older adults on TikTok and all of that stuff. So I would say if you do know that your target audience is actively using it, then I encourage you that even if you don't like Facebook, at least maybe look into it and think, could I possibly elaborate to get brand awareness, to get people through my doors to purchase from me.

Chelsea:
Absolutely. That goes for any social media platform. I'm going to be honest. I also don't like TikTok, which I know makes me a very weird Gen Z, but I just can't get into TikTok. We're still on TikTok though.

Vivian:
Yes. All right. So Chelsea, let's go ahead and talk about the different avenues to Facebook groups. So here's the thing you guys, if you're thinking Facebook group, as far as like, I have to create a Facebook group. That's not necessarily what we're talking about here. So Chelsea, let's divide it up. Do we have two categories that we're going to be talking about?

Chelsea:
Yeah. So the two groups of thought that we're going to be talking about specifically relating to Facebook groups is going to be creating your own group, whether that's a private or a public group, and then also interacting with other groups that have already been created. Before we get started, let's just define what a Facebook group is. It's literally a group on Facebook that you can interact with like -minded individuals to talk about whatever the topic the group is about. So really popular ones are free items in Summerville or moms of Daniel Island, that sort of thing.

Vivian:
Yeah, so you guys may be using some of these personally, and maybe you haven't thought to leverage this for your small business. Like Chelsea said, some of the more popular ones are where people are on there trying to get rid of extra stuff in their house. Very similarly, they have groups that are specific to small businesses. Now here's the thing is there are a couple different ways to leverage Facebook groups when you're looking to join them or to be a member of them. So for example, you could easily join a industry group, that way you could get ideas and really make points of contact with people within your industry. As a business owner, you can also join a group that's not related to your industry. So that way you could be maybe the first or one of the few people within that industry in that group.

Chelsea:
the first or one of the people within that industry with that group. Yeah. I'm glad that you bring that up because I want to say, I see this all the time, small business owners will join small business groups and then try to promote their small business. I'm not saying that that doesn't work. It's not going to be as impactful or as useful as you joining a group where your actual target audience is.

Maybe your target audience is small businesses. For Vivian and I, that makes sense because we're all about helping small business owners. It makes sense for us to share our content on a small business group. But if you're a vinyl record store and you're promoting your records on a small business group, they might be into records and they might not be. It's not the right niche.

Vivian:
Let's take that example one step further. So let's say you're a vinyl record store, right? That's what you do, you sell vinyl records. You could leverage, like you're saying, a better group for you to be a part of, maybe a group that's rare vinyl record finds. That group is geared towards people who are collectors. They're people that are looking for rare vinyl records. Then you could contribute to that group. Before you join these groups, read the description because the groups sometimes have very strict rules about promoting businesses. They don't want it to be a spammy type of group. So sometimes what they'll say is like, hey, you can only promote your business on Tuesdays, right? But you can always add value to the conversation, you just can't be on there posting your stuff every day of the week. The other thing is the contribution part of it. You're going to get a lot more out of stuff if you actually show up as a member. So don't just be joining groups and then not contributing anything.

Chelsea:
Yeah, don't just join a group and then spam all of your posts on there. Definitely look at the rules. You don't want to get kicked out of a group because then that's also going to look kind of bad. Especially, 100%. They will kick you out of a group. I want to say, another good group example for our record store could also be "businesses in Summerville" because that's specifically that geographical area. People are more likely going to join it to actually interact with the stores that are in Summerville. You're part of that local geographical community, you definitely want to interact with those business owners.

Let's also talk about the fact that a lot of people will go on these groups and ask for recommendations. So this is a great organic way to promote yourself. You can say, hey, you're looking for someone who does this. I actually do this so I can help you.

Vivian:
Sometimes the call to actions on there or the request for information can be very specific. I'm a part of a Charleston women in business Facebook group and they are really great about when they're needing somebody, like a graphic designer, they'll go on there. I've seen that when some people have projects that they need printed locally and they're like, hey, what local printer do you recommend? Have you had experience with? Then people can go in there and toss recommendations. Well, if you're a local printer that's in that group, then obviously you toss your name in the hat. You can include your website in there or can have your list of services and everything that you're able to do. Or some people would just simply comment on there and say, sent DM or something like that. So they know to check their direct messages. I think the other part that it helps with Chelsea is, I know for us, part of our business model is that we do spend a lot of time in our content marketing. We spend a lot of time trying to put together YouTube videos, podcast episodes with relevant topics that small business owners are thinking about. That is a great place for us to go to in order to see what types of questions people are asking and if we can turn that into some type of marketing or content piece for us in the future. When we talk about leveraging Facebook groups, sometimes there's not a monetary value to it. You can use it for other purposes. If you guys are doing Instagram reels or you're just having a hard time coming up with ideas for sharing content with your audience, go into these Facebook groups and see what types of questions people are asking that are relevant to your target audience.

Chelsea:
I love that recommendation and I'm so glad that you brought that up. Yeah, you don't have to only use Facebook groups to sell your business. You can also look at what other people are interested in and what questions they have. Maybe you get an idea of a new service that you could offer. Maybe you hear someone complain about a competitor and something that they did, and you can say, let me make sure that I'm not doing that too. You're not necessarily looking at what your competitors are doing. You're looking at your community and how they're interacting with your industry.

Vivian:
I love this. The other thing I think is you can also have it help you with some of the initiatives that you have going on. So take for example, there's a girl here locally that hopefully Chelsea will reach out to her and have her on the podcast at some point, but she's a social media marketing person. What I've seen her do is she will actually go into these Facebook groups when she has a new business that's on board that she's creating reels for or Facebook posts for, sometimes you need models. Sometimes you need people that are going to fit the particular clothing or a jewelry store. She actually uses it to put a call to action out there saying, hey, if you're free on this date and at this time when I'm shooting my content, if you want to be a model for this particular business, then here's my email address and here's what to send me. That way she gets people that want to be out there doing that stuff and she's not having to be the person doing it. I think Facebook groups help for a lot of different reasons.

Chelsea:
Yeah, that's really great. Now, right now we're talking about Facebook groups that have already been created that are either public or private, so you do not create them. Now, if you want, you can create your own Facebook group. It could be public or private. This is a great marketing initiative. I do want to say that this is going to take effort. You're going to have to put in time and effort into a Facebook group if you want it to be effective. I just want to say that this is going to take effort. You're going to have to put in time and effort.

Vivian:
Yeah, and Chelsea, we'll use a personal example. We actually created a Facebook group for The Seasoned Marketer and we haven't been on there. I'm going to admit it. We have not been on there massaging that relationship or inspiring people to show up and comment and all that. That's something that we can do better or we have to at some point make a decision and maybe say, Hey, let's take that off our plate and instead substitute it with this. Instead, this is where we build our community, which I think we will do that. That's the thing where even as marketing people ourselves, we all who have different initiatives going on, having a Facebook group that we have to show up on on the daily in order to kind of probe people to interact and build community is hard.

Yeah. The people that I have seen do this really well though, Chelsea is they don't do some of the other stuff, but they focus their efforts here. So please, I just want to hit home to you guys. We know you are running a business. Prioritize your initiatives. Where do you get the most bang for your buck? If a Facebook group is going to be that place that you want to dump your energy into, maybe some of the other stuff you do isn't as important. You make that decision.

Chelsea:
Absolutely. I just want to be very clear and very transparent about Facebook groups. If you're going to build your own community, it is going to be a lot of work. Yes, it's a great place to share special promotions and to share your sales and stuff like that. That can't be the only thing that your Facebook group is for because people don't want to see just another ad.

Vivian:
Yeah, you're absolutely right. The key there is I think the Facebook groups that are truly effective are the ones that engage people. That have people that will communicate on their own outside of just the administrator having to post stuff. You guys just have to figure out a way to jumpstart that and to get that going. There are people that have done this super successfully. Then the Facebook group actually serves as a lead magnet into their products or services or into their business. That I think is the key. It's like, okay, what type of value is that Facebook group bringing into your business?

Chelsea:
I'm not saying don't post any of your promotions or anything like that. You just need to find that sweet spot between building loyalty, building a community, and also sharing, hey, I have this special discount for you guys because you're in my Facebook group. I want to mention this before I forget, a great use of your Facebook group could be getting feedback on new products because one, they feel important because you're asking for their opinion Okay, you're also getting your customers opinion so it's a win -win.

Vivian:
Yeah, and I've seen recently somebody do this. He was attached to a big YouTube channel and then he went out on his own. So he didn't have as big of a following as the YouTube channel he was attached to, but he was building from scratch and people already recognized his name. They knew he was really good at what he did, so people started following him. What he did was he utilized it to get people that were interested in his products. He did utilize it in his group. He said, hey, I'm about to launch this new product or this new service, and I'm gonna grandfather you guys in if you're like a founder. So if you buy it within this timeframe, you're gonna get a special pricing for it because I'm going to increase the price the next go round I do this. You also get a couple other perks with it, but it's a great way to not only get the feedback that you need, but it also incentivizes people to be like, we're the first batch of people, the community they have or you have, it's the first group of people that get a chance to see this new thing. It's not even out there for others to join or to buy yet.

Chelsea:
Yeah, there are so many ways that you can use a Facebook group to, I want to say again, build a community and building community is so important specifically for small business owners. That's going to be what sets you apart from these big brands, right? People don't want to shop with these big brands anymore because it feels so sterile. They want to have a connection with you and the small business. So Facebook groups are great.

Vivian just thought of this, a great tool you can use for Facebook groups is going live.

Vivian:
Yeah, and Chelsea, actually one of our friends, Jordan Ilderton, who has been on our podcast before, does this really well. Her Facebook group, I'm reading it so I don't mess this up. Her Facebook group is called "Savvy DfY Service Providers". Okay. What she does is every Tuesday she goes live at a very particular time. So what this helps with is when she's on schedule, it works for her, but also it gives her community a chance to just know what to expect on a weekly basis. Every week that she shows up, she covers a different topic and sometimes she invites people to go live with her. I think this is a great way to leverage what we talked about. Those lives can really be an opportunity for you to go in there. And some people I've seen some people go in there and what they'll do is they'll answer questions. Like they'll be like, hey, chat, know, comment in the chat and I'll answer questions as we go. So however you want to set it up and whatever makes sense for your community it's definitely something that you'll want to look into or even just consider.

Chelsea:
I do want to say you can absolutely go live on your Facebook page. You don't have to create a Facebook group. A Facebook group is specifically going to be more for the people who are really invested in your brand, right? They're going to be the brand evangelists. So just keep that in mind. The type of lives that you're going to do in a group should be more exclusive. It's going to be more interactive than a live that you're going to do on your Facebook.

Vivian:
Because we are sisters and every once in a while we like to argue around here. I'm going to play devil's advocate to what you just said. So I'll give you another example. Lounge With Us. If you guys have not looked them up, Lounge With Us is a Charleston based company, but you can buy from them online. She actually does what you're talking about, but she's embedded the selling live into her Facebook group. So the pitch that she basically makes to people is hey, if you want to be able to purchase on a weekly basis or to see the newest things I have coming into the store, then join the Facebook group because that's where I go live once a week and that's where you can purchase some of your stuff. So I do think, but, then like cotton, go

Chelsea:
Does she do live sales on her Facebook page then?

Vivian:
I don't think so. Yeah, I think it's just in her Facebook group. She's trying to keep the content in the group very exclusive. If you want to buy then you join the group and that's how you get access to all of the latest stuff that's released. Now, on the other hand, our friend Melinda over at Cotton Down South, does it on her Facebook page. Okay. So she doesn't have a separate group for sales, but like you said, whatever works best for your small business. I would sit down and think about it though. Like Chelsea said, do you want to keep that Facebook group filled with exclusive content and that way you're able to tell people, in order for you to get X on a weekly basis or in order for you to get the Q and A session, then you need to join the Facebook group.

Chelsea:
Yeah. People need to have an incentive for joining your Facebook group. If you just make a Facebook group and it's a place where you're going to share your promos and stuff like that, that's not going to work.

Vivian:
It's a little repetitive, right? Think of your Facebook business page like this, and really your small business too, it needs to be a two -way conversation. All right. Each one of your marketing initiatives needs to have a very specific purpose. So what you do on your Facebook group needs to be very different so that it provides that added value to your target audience. All though, Chelsea, maybe the group isn't always related to your business so closely. So what I mean by that is let's take the vinyl record store example. Maybe if you wanted to create a Facebook group around that, it wouldn't be so much to promote your records, but maybe it would be a source of building a community within that vinyl records niche. That way it's not like, hey, I have to be promoting my business all the time. Maybe once in a while I toss it out there that I also happen to own a vinyl record store.

Chelsea:
Yeah, that's a really great point and I don't want to move too far away from the topic, which is Facebook groups, but I do want to say social media marketing overall, this is what it's about, right? It's creating community. I want to go back to something you had said, which was you need to have very clear distinction of what you're doing between your Facebook page and your Facebook group. Take it one step further. You need to have a very clear distinction for all of your social media platforms. We've had this discussion before on this podcast, but for example, for our social media, our TikTok is very education oriented. It's snippets of information that you can save and apply to your small business. Our Instagram is more focused on building a community and connecting with our fellow small business owners. They are two very clear, distinctive, very different things, right? Very different goals. That changes the content that we're posting. It changes the way we interact with people. It's very important.

Vivian (37:52.387)
Yeah, and it gives you an opportunity to cross pollinate, right? Taking the people that follow you on TikTok and being able to say, Hey, we offer something just a tad different on Instagram or the same thing with Instagram and Facebook. Hey, if you've not joined our Facebook group yet, but you're on Instagram, then that's something that you can promote on an Instagram story to say, hey, if you're looking for even more exclusive content or if you didn't know, we show up live every Tuesday in our Facebook groups. If you're not there, go join now. I think the idea of cross pollination is something that I really like.