Do you have a Facebook Group? Facebook Groups are a great way to connect with your community on a closer level than the feed, and they’re a place where you can update your audience with much less competition from other account’s feed posts.
Before starting a Facebook Group just for the sake of it, ask yourself the following questions:
- Does this group add value to your store or your community?
- Is this exclusive or is this group for everyone?
- Is your customer interested in being a part of an exclusive group?
If you answered those questions and you feel you have exclusive content to share with a more exclusive group of people versus your entire list of followers, then I would dive in and create a group for your community! Whether your group is meant to be an extension of your store or a space for your niche community to gather, make sure you create a positive group full of value! I have seen pet stores create a group called “Dog Owners of [Insert Town Name]”, and also a Toy Store creating a group called “Parents of [Insert Town Name]”, or you can do the traditional route of “[Your Store Name] Insiders/VIP”!
To get started, I would suggest creating the Facebook Group and making it private. Then, create a Facebook Group Cover in Canva using your branding (logos, colors, and fonts) to welcome members, and share what the group is for. I would suggest that you “Invite” members from your rewards program to join. You can select the “Invite” button on the top right of your FB Group under the banner once you’ve created it. You can either invite them through FB or through email (you likely will have an easier time with email).
Next, I would create a heartfelt post in the group, sharing a picture of the storefront with the owners/team standing in front. Thank them for their loyalty, and share how you want to further reward and celebrate your community – and have a little fun while you’re at it! Be sure to sign off at the end with the store owner’s name! After this, you’re all set to create a close-knit community through a Facebook Group!
Consider Posting Exclusive Content Such As:
- Posting the dates that new merchandise is coming out on
- Restock alerts to the FB Group before the general public
- Hosting at least 1 special event for group members per year. I used to do a “Preview Event”, where we would decorate the store for a new season and stay open late one evening for our club members to come checkout the store and products with an exclusive invite! They were also allowed to bring a friend (which helped to grow our email list and social following).
- Posting sales earlier in the group than to the public
- Asking group members for their input before you go to wholesale markets. You can make posts dedicated to them saying “You are our most loyal customer group so we want to make sure we are buying things you LOVE! Share ideas, styles, trends and products you’ve been loving and have been on the lookout for”.
- Hosting website “Easter Egg Hunts”: Hide discounted items on your website and let your VIP members know you have a bunch of items on sale, but they have to be found on the website product pages like a treasure hunt!
- Posting bloopers in the group for fun!
- Posting community and local updates! This could be a fun bonus. Post things like when other local stores are having a sale. Or if a grocery store has a great discount on a certain product, that could be fun to post about to grow trust and engagement!
Other Facebook Group Best Practices
- Post consistently and do not ignore the group! Be sure to be an active member.
- Reply to other people’s posts and position yourself as the group moderator.
- Remove unfriendly or harmful comments and posts from other members of the group.
- Post lots of videos and images to keep the group visual.
- Lastly, try not to use the @everyone feature too often. As a group admin you have the opportunity to tag everyone who is a member of the group once per day. This will send a notification to group members that you tagged them in a post. We have been seeing a lot of members be frustrated and leave groups that are mentioning @everyone too often. I would limit this to really exciting and worthy posts, no more than once per month or once per quarter!
What I Want You To Take Away From This Blog:
- Create a group for your community
- Post exclusive content that is made just for them
- Keep a close eye on the group and reply to posts and comments regularly
Okay, over to you…
Do you already have a Facebook group? Let us know the name in the comments below!
Comment via Facebook