The biggest opportunity with Facebook is joining and participating in groups where your niche congregates. This gives you the opportunity to interact with your niche directly. It can also give you insight into what your niche is thinking.
While it is highly unlikely you will generate leads from Facebook groups, you will start to generate name recognition in your niche. That name recognition will lead to other opportunities that can generate leads.
Tips for Joining Groups
You must join Facebook groups under your individual profile. You cannot use your company page.
Search for large groups (at least 500 members) where your niche congregates.
Look for groups that are active (multiple posts per day).
Private groups will be higher-quality experiences (i.e., less spam) than public groups. However, to join a private group, you generally need to be part of that niche. For example, it would be easy for a female financial advisor to join a professional women’s Facebook group, but it would be difficult for a male advisor’s request to join the group to be accepted.
As an example, the Facebook groups below would all be good ones to join if your niche is widows. The groups are private, have a significant number of members, and are active with more than 10 posts per day.
How to Interact in Groups
When participating in Facebook groups, come from the mindset that you are there to be a resource. You are not there to self-promote. Do not create a post in the group that highlights your blog, video, podcast, or another link. This is a surefire way to get kicked out of the group.
Instead, read the posts that are already on the group, and comment on those. Is there a way you can add value while showcasing your expertise at the same time? Read the group rules first, but it should generally be OK to post a link to one of your blogs, etc., if it specifically answers the question you are responding to.
Let’s look at an example. Below is a question someone posted on the XY Planning Network Facebook group.
This is exactly the topic I help financial advisors with, so I decided to respond in the comments. While I wanted to add value, I also wanted to promote my business. Here was my response:
I start out by establishing credibility by stating why I’m the right person to answer this question (i.e., I have worked with various advisors on their marketing for more than 15 years). I include an excerpt of content I already created to show that this is something I have thought long and hard about. I’m not just giving them off-the-cuff advice. Another option would have been to include a link to this blog on my website so I could direct people to my site. (Note: I did not do this because my current strategy is to premarket my book, not send people to my website.) I could also include a video on this topic if I had one available. Or I could direct them to a podcast episode where I discuss this topic.
Tips for Success
Social media can be a huge time suck. While there is value to participating on social media, you need to be strategic.
Instead of reading every post, use the search feature to find the questions you are most likely to answer. For example, I search for “niche” and “marketing” in the financial advisor groups I’m in. You may search for things like “taxes,” “investments,” or “money.”
Limit how much time you spend doing this each day or each week. For example, budget 15 minutes per day to search each group for key terms and respond to only those posts. When your 15 minutes are up, do not spend more time on Facebook groups. Going back and forth on comments throughout the day will not improve your results. If you do receive comments, you can respond to them in your next 15-minute session.