10 Ways a Facebook Group Can Increase Lead Generation

Facebook Groups are a viable and potentially important way to cultivate digital marketing leads over time for your business. Open to all Facebook users, a Group can focus on engaging a specific niche-focused private community which considerably increases the opportunities for cultivating a trust relationship with that audience that leads to repeat sales. Moreover, Groups give you significant control. You decide whom to accept into the Group and have the final word on what members can and can’t do. Learn how a Facebook Group can increase lead generation.

And that’s just the start. Aside from putting power in your hands, Facebook Groups also:

Allow for deeper personal engagement

While social media networks, in general, allow for some form of privacy, for businesses, not many platforms provide the level of personal space Facebook Groups offer. You can even set your Group to “Secret” to keep it entirely private from the outside world to offer exclusive content to a set Group audience.

Facebook Groups typically offer greater value

Compared to public Facebook Pages, Groups provide more opportunity for personalization, which is partly the reason why many Facebook users join them in the first place. A Group focused on digital marketing, for instance, is often full of useful discussions and links/references to valuable resources. Usermes can set notifications so they are alerted to new content, and Group Admins have additional features to help them organize, upload, and display information in useful ways so that the feed is not the only means of offering value but through uploads and even lessons, much more value can be offered.

Access additional digital marketing tools

Finally, Facebook Groups also give marketers access to several marketing tools not available in public Facebook Pages. For instance, as noted, with Groups, members can get alerts and push notifications whenever new posts are published. With public Facebook Pages being impacted by the Facebook algorithms, a Group is a private community that can bypass these limitations. With regular content, you can provide a regular way to reach your audience.  This ability to have contact or “touches” regularly with your audience can help you build a valuable “Know -> Like -> Trust” pathway.

10 Ways a Facebook Group can Increase Lead Generation

Still not convinced? The following are 10 proven ways the right Facebook Group can amplify your lead generation efforts.

1.) Sense of “specialness” drives up engagement

This is why you should opt for exclusive (especially private) Groups rather than public Groups. The need to have some sort of qualification in order to gain admittance naturally builds a stronger community as members feel that they’re part of a special, elite group. This feeling of specialness is a time-tested strategy. Whenever consumers are associated with a sense of “inclusion” where they feel wanted and cared for, they tend to buy more and even spend more.

It’s what the sellers of Mercedes use to sell their high-end cars.

 Marketers can use the same approach to generate more leads with a Facebook Group. By creating a “special” Group accessible only to people who meet certain criteria, you’re appealing to these people’s inner feelings and forcing them to “invest” more to maintain their higher status. This usually leads to more signups, greater engagement, and more conversions.

2.) Use Facebook Lead Ads in Combo with your Facebook Group

If you’ve used opt-in forms before, perhaps on your blog or in email marketing, you’ll understand just how effective they can be. According to a recent study by Unbounce, gated content deliver conversion rates in the 19% to 45% margin!

Through the use of Facebook Lead Ads, you can now bring this incredibly powerful strategy to Facebook marketing. To create a Facebook lead ad for your Group sign-up campaign;

Click the triangular icon in the upper right corner of your Facebook home page

• From the drop-down menu, select Create Ads
• At the campaign level, select Lead Generation as your campaign objective
• When asked where you want to post the form, select the Facebook Page associated with your Group
• Target the right audience for your Group
• Create an inviting ad, consider video, to showcase what your group is for and what value it will provide
• Once leads come in, have them complete your Group sign-up process and get them into the Group!
• This should help you quickly capture emails and other important contact information whenever you’re recruiting a new member.

3.) Onboarding questions guarantee important new member details

Facebook added a function that allows Group administrators to ask prospective members questions before granting admittance. Located in the Group settings menu under “Ask Pending Members Questions,” this is another excellent opportunity to collect more lead information for your campaign.

There are two primary ways to use onboarding questions to generate leads. The first option is to ask for email addresses point blank if the user did not come in via a Lead Ad. A question such as “Can you please provide your email address” will certainly get a few positive responses. The second, and better, option, however, is to ask questions that would require the prospective member to go to their inbox. For instance, you can ask: “Would you like a free trial?” If the user says yes, ask them to provide an email address where they want the free trial sent.

4.) Links within Group posts are a proven lead magnet

Once the Group is up and running, there’s going to be a lot of conversations going on. You’re free to mention links to your lead generation pages whenever an opportunity comes up.

You can post the links in a reply or within your scheduled posts. For example, if you’re posting about an upcoming webinar, you can post a link to the webinar’s landing page. The same applies when responding to a question. For example, a link to a solution (one of your products) would be offering value. Just remember not to leave too many upsell offers in your posting mix. Excessive sales links can feel spammy, thus compromising your conversion potential.  You need to be providing free value in the group. Giveaway the “101” information and look at upsells for the more advanced material.

5.) Links in image descriptions lead to even more conversions

Social media posts with images generate 2.3X more engagement; we all know that. What you might now know is that images posted in Groups generate even more engagement than link posts. Since members of any Group generally trust each other, they tend to spend more time interacting with images posted within the Group and are more likely to comment, like, and share the images than when using public Facebook.

Marketers can take advantage of this high engagement to generate more leads and one option to consider is including links to your landing pages in the description of every image you post. This way, whenever members view an image directly, they can access the download link. A word of advice though – ensure to shorten the links. Long, unruly links get very few clicks if any.

6.) Less backlash encourages more sign ups

The trust among members combined with the shared passions makes Facebook Groups the perfect place to ask for feedback on your products. Since these are people who share in your dreams, they are less likely to storm you with criticism and negative feedback.

This reduced likelihood of harsh criticism is good news for brands because today’s consumers base their purchase decisions on peer reviews. If there’s too much negativity around a product, not many people will want to sign up or buy it. Groups, in most cases, shield brands from extreme negativity, thus increasing the odds of conversion.

By keeping things light and upbeat, you promote positivity in the group.  Use emoji’s and even gif’s as a way to keep the mood light. Both have been proven to boost engagement and to be received more positively than text descriptions alone.

7.) You can more confidently promote offers in Group videos

If you already use videos as part of your Facebook Group marketing strategy, you need to go one step further and start using your videos to promote offers. This doesn’t give you the license to go full promotional. No. However, there’s no harm in asking watchers to follow you on other social media networks and even requesting them to subscribe to your email newsletter.

As you approach the end of the video, ask those interested to sign up for your offers. You can do this either verbally or through text. Or, you can use both; say it out loud and show a screen with your contact information or a CTA such as “Download” or “Contact Us.”

8.) Live videos in Groups significantly boost engagement

Did you know that Facebook Live videos receive 10X more comments compared to ordinary videos? The even better part is that all this engagement comes at a lower cost compared to pre-recorded videos which require elaborate planning and near-perfection. With live videos, a little sloppiness can be forgiven.

Savvy marketers are using this advantage to ramp up lead generation campaigns in their Groups. From hosting a Q&A to showing your followers “behind the scenes” footage of your business, a Group provides endless opportunities to persuade viewers to part with their contact information. Just ensure to end with a CTA. Otherwise many viewers will watch and just leave without taking any further action.

9.) Pinned posts reach all members of the Group

Pinned posts are available even on public Facebook. However, they work much better in Groups. Why? Because the posts reach each and every member! You can even send alerts to members whenever a new post is pinned; it’s your call.

The posts can be text only, text + image, text + video, or a combination of all the three. It gets better – you can even pin a live video! Yes, so exciting. If you’re currently broadcasting a video using Facebook Live, go to settings and select the option to pin it. Once you click the pin option, the live video will be placed at the top of your Group page for all online members to see.

10.) Watch Parties in Facebook Groups

Again, the key for lead generation in a Facebook Group is to build a strong community where the community members know/like/trust the Admin team.  A more recent way you can build this is through hosting Watch Parties. Not all members will be able to catch your Live Videos but you can go back to them and host a Watch Party for that video.  By you attending and engaging, it offers that simple way to connect and interact with your audience where you can offer value and offer ideas, resources and even links to other digital products of value.

Key Facebook Groups for Marketing and Lead Generation Takeaway

Group marketing is an important opportunity to consider if you’re serious about maximizing your Facebook lead generation returns. If used alongside other digital marketing tools such as landing pages, email marketing, and blogging, a significant ROI can be had!  As always, the key is to lead with value and authenticity.

Leads are the lifeblood of business and Facebook groups for marketing and social media in general is a powerhouse opportunity that’s here to stay and one that businesses must learn. In my book, Game Plan for Social Media Lead Generation I’ll help you develop a plan for your business!

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash