A member packed group in your Facebook account thrills in anticipation for a buzz of ecommerce marketplaces and sales. Yes, you read it right- ecommerce marketplaces and sales. Ecommerce sellers and marketplace vendors advertise their products on television, YouTube, and any other internet feed available. Whenever there is a fevered buzz on social media platforms, Facebook groups are always on the menu.
Ecommerce pundits talk about amping the sales using Facebook groups and their minds are quite attuned to their sense of grounding. Dear darling readers, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the write-up on ‘How to get more sales using Facebook Groups.’
It is imperative to understand that ecommerce sellers should latch on to larger moving trends that bring long-term benefits and in essence, using Facebook groups to get more sales is indisputably one such trend. Here is some wisdom from the pioneer of ecommerce strategies on using Facebook groups for getting more sales:
Why Facebook Groups?
Well, why should our sales hinge on the members of Facebook groups? The reasons are aplenty and I have mentioned a few:
Matter of Minutes:
Facebook groups just like Facebook pages can be created just in minutes. You do not require any technical stuff or brainy stuff to create a group. Facebook is user friendly and self –explanatory. Moreover, it is not at all tricky.
Visibility:
Members in a Facebook group generally outnumber the members who have ‘liked’ your Facebook page. Even if it were for otherwise, the visibility of your posts on Facebook pages is always a scenario of ‘hit and miss.’ Only a small fraction of the people end-up seeing your post and replying it to the same. If you are not active, your page may become the root of your own frustration. On the other hand, members of Facebook groups can see posts on the walls. It is thus no longer a scenario of ‘hit and miss.’
Better than emailing:
Rather than building an elaborate emailing list, you can always bank on the members of Facebook groups. It is less time consuming. Moreover, you will be in touch with your target audience every day while email campaigns are more often than not organized once a month. Also, newsletters are sent via emails once in a week. Contrary to this, Facebook groups allow you to keep your target audiences in the loop.
Facebook Offers
If your Facebook world is ready to hear your message and appreciate the unique gifts that you bring to the group members, it is important to create Facebook Offers. It so happened in the year 2013, (and to mention the exact date, it is February 11th, 2013) Facebook created this ‘Facebook Offers’ feature. Facebook observed that users interacted a lot more with newsfeed content than the so-called standard advertising. Thanks to this Facebook Offers feature, businesses of all sizes- small, medium and large can sell and practically promote ebooks, content, products, coupons, tickets, discount offers etc. It has to be kept in mind that all such promotions and sales should come under the ambit of Facebook’s Terms of Service (TOS) and sellers should abide by the rules. Well, you do not require any third-party apps or websites to deliver such promotional offers to your page fans’ newsfeeds as well as intended Facebook users. You can do it directly.
The Process
Define your business goals. You ought to define your business goals clearly. When you have decided to use Facebook groups as an avenue for sales, have a clear stand on your paid offerings. Have a clear stand on the Facebook Offers campaigns and include offers such as ‘A limited Facebook-only discount coupon’. It is important that your offers are rare. Rare offers generally create a sense of urgency and people appreciate rare offers. If you are offering a service such as ecommerce marketplace website designing, it is better to include an image that depicts your service.
Define your rules and boundaries
There will be a few members who try to cross all the professional boundaries. It is thus important to define your rules and boundaries and enforce them in both letter and spirit, policy and execution. Thanks to spam posts and obscure posts, members may leave your group. Also, overly self-promotional posts should not be encouraged. Ensure that the defined limitations and restrictions do not inhibit conversations and interactions. Your Facebook group should ideally resemble a community of users with ‘two way interactions’ and ‘soul searching conversations’
Create “Get Offer” buttons
Once you create an offer, it is indispensable to create “Get Offer” button as well. “Get Offer” button lets your group members claim your offer. When interested users click the button, Facebook sends them an email where on ‘how to redeem the discount offers’ will be furnished. When Mario, one of our many loyal customers who also happens to own a real brick and mortar business, created an amazing Facebook Offer in one of her groups. Customers who wanted to avail the offer clicked “Get Offer” button and obtained an email from Facebook. Customers took the printout of the emails and brought to her store for redeeming the coupons.
Ad Copy
It goes without saying that images should be attractive and illuminative. Apart from the product images, it is important to have an ad-copy that can better your success rate. Ensure that your Ad-copy has a clear headline that clearly specifies a call-to-action button. Apart from inserting a crafty headline, Facebook also lets you elaborate your offer by inserting 90 text characters. Use the 90 text characters to succinctly mention the advantages of availing your offer. For example, if you are SaaS service provider, you can come up with some catchy sentences such as ‘Free Web Hosting and Domain maintenance for 1 year’
Motivate your group members
Chances are that your group members may be facing some issues in their own businesses. Ask them if they need any help. Of course, it is impossible to ask each and every one whether everything is in fine fettle or not. Rather, schedule a day in every week and create an event “Open heart with group members.” Interested members will be more than willing to participate in such events. Once you resolve their issues or offer a valuable piece of advice, ask them to spread the good word. Suggest them to invite new members.
Terms of Service
Facebook lets you fix an expiration date to your Facebook Offers. Apart from this expiration date, you can specify Terms and Conditions feature. In this Terms and Conditions section, you have to clearly communicate and consistently enforce the boundaries and restrictions.
Landing Page
It is a good business practice to use your perfect landing page in conjunction with your Facebook Offers. Perfect landing pages are used for generating countless leads and let you stay focused on the offers at hand. Click-through landing pages increase your conversions while lead generation landing pages generate leads. You have to set a threshold on the minimum number of people who can click your landing pages and avail your offer. This creates a sense of urgency and soon, you end-up with a good number of orders.
Start with one or two products
You should always start with one or two products instead of one hundred products. If you are particularly new to marketing on Facebook Groups and want to see if your target audiences are reacting well to your products, then it is recommended to start with one or two products. If your target audiences are not reacting favorably, then you make a come up with a few changes and proceed accordingly. Also, if you have embraced a strategy such as ‘I do not have any debts and I do not wish to have any debts’ and want to play it safe, always start with one or two products.. Once you are confident that your audiences are buying your product, start with an inventory size that eventually guarantees breakeven and subsequently a profitable Return-On-Investment.
Small $10 giveaways to grow your own Facebook group
Once you find your audience, and if you are thinking about scaling your business, you should promote your business on other industry related Facebook groups as well. Sometimes, the group administrators may not promote your offers on their groups. Tell them that you are going to offer $10 for every successful Facebook Offer. Take the permission of administrators and drop a post such as “Join this group for insights on Ecommerce Trends, case-studies and inspiring stories”. Drop a link to your group.
Track your results
Ensure that you always track your offers and Facebook marketing campaigns. Strive for excellence and thrive on success. Learn your lessons, learn your ropes and get started!
Let us Talk
Drop your opinions on ‘How to get more sales on Facebook Groups’ in the comments section. We would like to hear from you. If you wish to gain some insights on Facebook marketing tips and strategies drop a mail to Steve@ecommercemix.com . By the way, we can help integrate social media into your marketplace platforms. Feel free to reach Steve Watson on his WhatsApp number +1.302.525.8125. Watch this space for informative stuff. Cheers!
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