by Dean Valerio
IT’S frustrating, isn’t it?
As a small business owner or marketer, you work tirelessly to get more traffic.
Without a regular stream of visitors coming to your site, your lead generation strategy will fall by the wayside and collect virtual dust.
So, what can you do to drive traffic to your website that doesn’t cost a lot of money, is simple to do, and doesn’t seem like actual work?
It’s Facebook. And more importantly, it’s Facebook groups.
With this social platform you can send a ton of traffic to your site and get your content in front of targeted groups of your ideal customers or clients.
But, why Facebook?
Facebook is Number One Everywhere
With over 1.5 billion users, Facebook is the number one social network in the world.
And if you think that all Facebook users ever do is post pictures of their children or wedding, think again. A report from Shareaholic says that Facebook drives up to 25% of all traffic to websites.
There’s definitely an untapped resource waiting for you on Facebook.
Your ideal customer is spending time on Facebook multiple times a day, messaging their friends, hanging out in groups and posting new updates.
And while you may think you need to pay to get in front of your ideal audience, there are many free ways to go about it, especially if you use Facebook groups.
Here are the steps for generating mounds of free traffic from Facebook groups.
Step 1: Find Relevant Facebook Groups
There are so many Facebook groups for any niche that it’s easy to grow your audience and traffic.
Why are Facebook groups great for traffic generation? Because they offer more visibility.
Some Facebook groups have thousands of members. For example, here’s Pat Flynn’s Facebook group, The Smart Passive Income Community. He currently has over 25,000 members.
When you become part of such a group, you are in front of all those people when you make a post to the wall or reply to someone else’s comment.
One thing to remember is that when you join a Facebook group, you can’t join with your business page. You have to join with your personal Facebook profile instead.
Here is Blogging Wizard’s Adam Connell’s response under his name in a Facebook group:
But you can use your personal Facebook profile for your business easily.
The simplest way is to set up your personal profile and list your business site under your work experience.
With that out of the way, how do you find relevant groups to join? By searching on Facebook using keywords. Here’s how to do it:
Once you log in, use an industry-related keyword in the Facebook search bar. For example, here’s the result for “entrepreneur.”
Click on groups and see what’s available.
Look for groups that are active and have a lot of members. You may not know the activity level right off the bat since a lot of Facebook groups are closed.
What this means is that you can’t see any threads or postings in the group. But you can always request to join, check it out and if the only activity is the group owner, it probably won’t help in bringing traffic back to your site.
Choose between 5-10 Facebook groups to start off with.
When you are accepted, read the group rules and guidelines. And as a good practice, remember to add value and give to each group before you link to any of your own content.
One of the first posts you should post in a Facebook group is a get-to-know-you post. Introduce yourself, who you are and what you do.
It’s almost always okay to provide a link back to your site, but double-check in case it isn’t.
Once you introduce yourself and offer your help to the group, there are two ways to bring traffic to your site:
1. Find Out The Group’s “Promo Days”
By far the most effective strategy to get people to your website is to participate in promo days. The owner will usually tell you what days they allow promotions in the group description, or in a pinned post.
For example, Daniela Uslan’s Facebook group, Blogging on Your Own Terms, lists what each promo day is:
The easiest way to keep track is to use a spreadsheet to list out all the promo days for each of your groups, and then start promoting your content on those days.
It’s true – you should spend 80% of your time promoting your content and 20% on creating your content if you want to generate more traffic.
2. Repurpose Your Content
Typically, in a group, you’ll also have non-promo days.
You might be tempted to avoid groups on days that aren’t promotional. This is a mistake.
You can still promote your content on these days, but the key here is to do it strategically. And one great way is to repurpose your content into a Facebook post.
Having content-rich posts immediately alerts people that you’re credible and useful because you bring value each time you post.
And some professional bloggers have predicted that blog commenting is dead or dying because people want to consume and interact with content on social media.
So, to get the most out of Facebook, start repurposing your blog posts into Facebook posts.
You can do this by:
- Summarizing your findings or key strategies from your blog post
- Offering insight into what you talked about in your blog post
- Mentioning new tips and strategies that aren’t in your blog post
The trick is to make sure you link to your business page or fan page in your personal profile. So, when someone reads your Facebook post in a group and clicks your name, they will see your business page.
And what will they find once they click to your business page? Your latest blog post that elaborates on your Facebook group posting!
Step 2: Form Your Own Facebook Group
When you create your own Facebook group, you show people that your brand is worth following.
To get started, under the arrow in your main menu, there’s an option to create a group. From there you can name your group, add at least one member (you can remove them later), and set your privacy settings.
It’s best to keep your group exclusive by making it a closed group. This lessens the chance of just anyone joining and makes your group feel like it has value.
Here are the steps to get your group up and running:
1. Create a Facebook Group Cover Photo
When creating your Facebook group cover photo, don’t just get any stock photo. This is a great place to brand your business.
For example, here is what Caitlin Bacher has done with her Facebook group cover photo.
She makes sure to include her Facebook group’s name, her website name and she uses her brand colors and style.
2. Write Your Description
The description tells people what your group is about – your main topic and how you can help or benefit them.
You can also direct people to your site or lead magnet.
Here’s and example of part of the description for Dre Beltrami’s Facebook group.
Notice how she directs visitors to join the group. She’s sending them back to her website to sign up to her newsletter, effectively driving more traffic to her website and building her email list.
3. Make a Pinned Post
In Facebook groups, you can “pin” a post to the top of your page so that this is the first thing your new members will see.
Use this as an opportunity to drive traffic to your site. Welcome everyone to the group and link back to your website before the “see more” cutoff occurs.
For example, here’s Lizzie Davey’s pinned post and welcome message for her group:
Go ahead and ask people to visit your site to get the latest info in your niche.
With your group officially up and running, you now need to grow your membership. There are three main ways you can do this: advertise your group on your website, mention it in your newsletter and promote it on social media.
Now comes the hard part – how do you continually drive traffic from your group to your website?
We’ve already talked about three ways to get more traffic from your group – displaying your website name in your Facebook group cover photo, mentioning it in your group description and also mentioning it in your pinned post.
Here are some other ways you can bring traffic to your website from your group.
Post Highly Relevant Content
As the group owner, it’s your responsibility to set the tone and direction of your group in the beginning. You can do this by regularly posting relevant content.
For example, some types of content that will help out your group members are:
- Motivational posts – For example, find a quote and apply it to your business. This creates discussion and builds your reputation as a thought leader in your group.
- Personal posts – Include a personal message that’s just for your Facebook group. Give a behind-the-scenes look at what’s going on in your business. This helps establish your brand and can send some traffic – indirectly – back to your website.
- Informational posts – Provide exclusive tips and strategies and relate that to a blog post or free guide you can offer your group members.
Promote Webinars or Video Training
Because this is your own group, don’t feel hesitant about promoting your own content. If you have a webinar coming up or free training, tell your group all about it.
For example, in Melyssa Griffin’s Facebook group, she often posts about free training that she’s doing. Then she provides the link and an image in her post.
This post generated over 30 comments and over 100 Likes, helping her bring traffic to her website and awareness to her training courses.
Use Facebook Live
Facebook recently unveiled their live-streaming option called Facebook Live. You can jump on at any time and start broadcasting to your group.
Members can tune in and comment live. You can use this “soapbox” to do a live Q&A, give a mini training session or promote a new course, new content or content upgrade.
For example, Caitlin Bacher does Facebook Live presentations and in her post, she links to a lead magnet. During her broadcast, she makes sure to mention her lead magnet one or two times.
Using live streaming or video is a great way to build a closer relationship with your audience.
When members see the “real” you, they form a stronger connection and loyalty to your brand.
It’s Your Turn
There’s no doubt you’re probably on Facebook multiple times a day. But, instead of posting funny videos or memes, use Facebook – specifically Facebook groups – as a traffic generator.
By finding relevant groups, you can join a community, provide value-rich content and ultimately drive traffic back to your site. And by repurposing your existing content, you not only save time but also promote your content in a new way.
Creating your own Facebook group can grow your brand, email list and traffic. By helping your members and offering relevant content that’s specific and tailored to the group, you’ll win a lifelong audience.
Your own group is also the perfect place to promote your webinars and training, further showing members your expertise and knowledge. Finally, to help drive even more traffic, use Facebook Live to promote your lead magnet and blog posts by posting relevant and useful videos.
Over to you – as a marketer have you considered using Facebook groups to help drive traffic to your site?
If you haven’t, get started with a Facebook engagement strategy today to bring more awareness to your brand and products!
In the meantime, please like and share the article across your social media. Not only will you help get the word out for friends who many benefit from the info but (as we discussed earlier) sharing informational posts is a great way to generate your own free traffic!
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