Facebook Group Marketing: Why I Don’t Recommend it and What to do Instead

Facebook Group marketing used to work, and for some people with endless amounts of time and serious patience, it could possibly work.

But, here’s the thing business and marketing shouldn’t be hard and it definitely shouldn’t be that time-consuming.

If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed with the need to come up with fresh content daily and schedule 10-15 minutes to engage in Facebook Groups.

Struggle to find Facebook Groups where your ideal client is genuinely engaging and not just there to pitch their services as well.

Feel a bit defeated that the strategy that seems to work for so many ISN’T working for you.

Keep reading because I’m about to save you so much time and energy.

FACEBOOK GROUP MARKETING

Back in 2016, I started my first Facebook Group. I wanted it to be a place for my ideal customers to come together, share my content and expertise, build trust, and of course sign clients.

I freaking loved it, but in 2020 I closed my group due to changes in marketing and the new and more advanced platforms available to me.

Plus, even though I started my Facebook Group in 2016, as a way to build the community I didn’t neglect my email list. They grew together in size and as I started to pay more and more attention to conversions I saw that my email list converted better than the group AND didn’t take as much of my precious time.

Facebook Groups (i.e. having your own as a way to build and form a community) still works, but don’t neglect to build your email list as well.

But, having your own Facebook Group is not what this is about - it’s about plopping yourself in other Facebook Groups, owned typically by entrepreneurs or organizations, and pushing your content out.

CLIENT ATTRACTION MARKETING

The reason this marketing strategy doesn’t work comes down to two reasons.

Reason #1: Facebook Groups have changed. While you use to be able to engage, post your own content with links to your website, share your videos and your freebies, it’s typically not allowed anymore.

You find yourself creating content to build trust in a community that really isn’t there for you, posting your freebies and offers on a Share thread every week in the hopes someone might message you, click your profile, and land on your website.

Reason #2: Facebook Group marketing is a push strategy, rather than a pull strategy.

Push means blasting your information, your story, and your expertise onto people. People who may or may not be your ideal customer. It’s like casting a line into the ocean and hoping you catch the right fish that will pay you for your services - the odds aren’t great.

Pull strategy (or client attraction marketing) is about pulling in the people searching for your services, products, and expertise. Not only do you experience a higher conversion rate, but it’s easier on you!

4 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY

So what do you do, if you’re not posting multiple times a week in a Facebook Group and carving out 10-15 minutes daily to engage, how do you grow your email list?

Here are 4 things to consider when choosing your marketing strategy:

1. FOCUS ON GETTING IN FRONT OF YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER

As with all marketing you want to make sure you’re putting your efforts (i.e. content) in front of your ideal customer. This is why ideal client work is so important and one of the key pillars I teach inside of Roadmap to Freedom.

Choosing your platforms for marketing is about where your audience is hanging out. And I don’t mean just where they are looking for your services, more on that later. I mean where do they spend their time? With the right strategies, you can reach them!This is why I love Pinterest. Pinterest has 416 million active monthly users on its platform and while most people are using it for fun, it’s one of my favorite ways to land content in front of my ideal customer.

Pinterest counts for 90% of my website traffic and last month that was $18k individuals.

2. GO WHERE THEY ARE SEEKING YOUR SUPPORT

Another thing to consider is where people are looking for tips and tools as it relates to your industry. This is why it’s so important to put your content on a search engine optimized platform (think Google/ Blogging, Pinterest, and even YouTube).

When people are searching for your information, it means they are further along in the buying process. They understand they have a problem and are in the process of exploring options to fix the problem.

This is why every entrepreneur needs to be showing up on a search engine optimized platform!

3. DON’T NEGLECT THOSE READY TO BUY

Speaking of the buying process, do you have marketing measures in place to get in front of people seeking our services specifically? 

If not you are missing out! This is where sitewide SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes into play and is necessary for every single business, no matter what you sell.

When you correctly optimize SEO you’re able to rank on page one for your industry and your products, therefore bringing in people who are ready to purchase.

Google ranking is the reason my 1:1 services have been booked for an entire year and why I teach my clients how to do it as well inside of Roadmap to Freedom.

4. BUILD STRONGER BRAND AWARENESS

Aside from the amazing tips above, most of which revolve around search engine platforms, it’s important to take into account brand awareness and longevity. 

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram have content that expires too quickly. You’re lucky if your content shows up in the feed after 24 hours, and if we’re talking Facebook Groups it’s more like 15 minutes.

When you’re taking the time and energy to create content, don’t you want it to last?

When you focus on the platforms I’m sharing below, your content can last years! 

Seriously, I have blogs that are still getting consistent traffic from Pinterest and Google since 2017.

In order to create a sustainable business, you need to think about the longevity of content.

MY TOP 4 WAYS TO BUILD YOUR EMAIL LIST AND INCREASE REVENUE

Maybe you’ve already caught on to my absolute favorite marketing platforms, but let’s recap.

1. Google (SEO + Blogging): Your site needs to be set up and optimized for the Google search engine as a way to attract ideal customers who are further along in the buying process. The beautiful thing is with site-wide SEO you don’t need to keep updating it!
   
   

2. Pinterest (Blogging): This combination is my favorite, seriously I’m in love. Writing a weekly high-value blog post and sharing it on Pinterest is a great marketing strategy. Not to mention it takes less time and energy than posting daily in groups or on social media.
   
   

3. Youtube: As I mentioned before Youtube is a search engine platform featuring videos. If you’re a video person, using Youtube to get in front of your ideal customer can be huge for business. Don’t forget as with all these strategies optimizing for search is essential, you have to know what titles, keywords, descriptions, and more work to see a return.
   
   

4. Instagram Video: I couldn’t do a blog on marketing and not speak about the awesome changes to Instagram within the last year. Now, while I don’t recommend Instagram being your main platform, it’s an awesome way to build brand awareness, specifically with video. Video content (think IGTV, Stories, and Reels) has a longer lifespan with the algorithm, and with Instagram’s desire to increase watch time, more likely to end up on the Explore page or be discovered via hashtags.

CONCLUSION

If you’re not already using one of these platforms it’s time.

If you’re currently feeling overwhelmed with content creation, growing your list and marketing in general...it’s time.

And the good news is you don’t have to do it alone. You can learn all of these strategies, the tech and how-to’s inside of my signature program Roadmap to Freedom.

Learn more at brandmerry.com/freedom!

PS: Roadmap to Freedom doors are opening soon! This live group program will help you create an online business that allows you to create a life of abundant experiences and impact.

This high-touch program helps you simplify the process so you can make more money on your terms. And, the 2023 cohort is going to be better than ever with updated content, lifetime access, new bonus content, and more! Join the waitlist and be the first to join in January 2023.

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

How to Improve Your Conversions With Facebook Ads

How to Improve Your Conversions With Facebook Ads 

When I first started my business, I knew nothing about Facebook ads. It took me about 10 months to use Facebook ads after I had started my business, and the reason I started was so I could grow my list and community without having to show up in Facebook groups every day.

However, I didn't have the budget to put towards hiring somebody AND paying for the ads. But, at the same time I was throwing away money on these ads because I didn't know what I was doing. So I had two options: pay someone or teach myself everything there is to know about running Facebook ads in this industry. 

To this day, I am the only one that has ever run and set up my Facebook ads. Now, in the beginning when I was basically throwing hundreds of dollars away and now I'm spending anywhere between $1,500 to $2,000 on advertising a month depending on what's happening and my ads are converting under industry standards which is under $2 (I even have ads converting under .90)

I've learned the things that I needed to learn in order to make this a profitable part of my business. I have some really cool pieces hooked up on the back end of my Facebook ads so that my ad costs are covered (i.e. Tripwires).

And then the women who are joining my community and my list, who I am nurturing through time, are heading into Roadmap to Freedom or going into one-on-one or buying Brand New Adventure. So it's a really, really great return on my investment.

But, you need to be really strategic with the setup process, who you're targeting and paying attention to your numbers so that you don't do what I did in the very beginning (i.e. throwing away money).

So let's chat about some of those key pieces!

1. Audience 

When you're creating a Facebook ad, or any sort of paid advertising, they ask you who do you want to target? And if you're not specific with who you want to target, they will basically take your money and just put it out there in the hopes that people will respond. 

When you do ideal client work with me, I ask you age, I ask you gender, etc... It's because then when you go to create a Facebook ad, you already know that stuff. When you go to create a Pinterest ad, you already know that stuff. When someone asks you who's your target market? Does this fit within your audience? You know these details.

One of the things advertising asks you when you're setting up your audience is how old are they? What is the age range you want to target? And think about that - there are tons of people on Facebook, so you don't want to just open this up to everyone. The more narrow you are, the better your conversions will be and you'll be getting those ideal clients on your list.

These are the details that are so important, not only with the branding process but also with the marketing & advertising process. So number one is really who are they, right? How old are they, what's their age range, what's the gender, where do they live?

The next thing you want to think about when it comes to audience is who are they following online? This is the stuff that I teach my clients and in the beginning they're like, "Why am I doing this? This doesn't matter."

It does matter; and here is why. When you are running a Facebook ad, you can target specific pages. So for instance, I know that a lot of the women that I want to attract to my brand and my business follow Marie Forleo, so I know that by targeting her, I'm narrowing my audience to people who are more likely to convert which ultimately lowers my ad cost. 

2. Conversions

I always run my ads for conversions. The point of running an ad is to get people to convert. So, ideally you would run an ad to a free offer and then once they put in their email you would count everyone that lands on the thank you page as a conversion.

In order to increase your conversions, so that you don't waste your money, you need these 3 things: 

1. A killer offer. You have to know that the audience that you're targeting really wants what you are offering them. 
2. Ad image. Your image with your ad needs to be something that your audience responds to. You always do a lot of testing with ads and this is something we cover in, Roadmap to Freedom where you test an image with text on it, one without text on it, stock photos, photos of you, etc...until you find the ad that is performing best.
3. Copy and messaging. Your messaging better be spot on if you want to keep your cost down. The single most important piece of messaging is how your audience benefits from whatever it is you are offering. Think about what will they get from what you are offering. Can they already identify that in a title? And if they can't identify that in your title, then you better give them some amazing bullets.

I know with all things marketing, we always want to talk about how do you do that? What's the sexy part about it?

But there are so many pieces that go in before all of that in order for it to work. The more attention you give to the foundation and set up the better your impact on your audience and the lower your ad costs. I know that if I start an ad, it's going to convert, because I know my audience, I know who I'm targeting.

I know all the key pieces and now I'm just testing to see how low I can get my conversions.

You can watch the whole video for a more in-depth version of this and several bonus tips below!

Head over to my Facebook Page and be sure to like and comment on the video while you are over there to help more people see this information ↠ https://www.facebook.com/brandmerrycoaching/

And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!

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Michelle Knight is a Branding and Business coach for female entrepreneurs who are struggling to gain visibility and traction to take their business to the next level. She works with her clients to dive deep into their story so they can create a brand and message that positions them as an expert and allows them to create their desired income to free up time in their schedule for what matters most. Learn more >>

How to Use Facebook Messenger Bots For Your Brand {Video Inside}

How to Use Facebook Messenger Bots For Your Brand

In today's video I'm going to be sharing with you three simple ways to use Facebook Messenger bots, specifically mini chat, to not only grow your audience, but also increase brand awareness, and more importantly, engagement. But before I dive into those three simple steps, I want to share with you an upcoming masterclass that I'm hosting on how to create an authentic brand that allows you to grow your community with ease and leads to more clients. You can find an upcoming time and all the information in the link below.

But before I jump into those three simple steps, I want to go ahead and invite you to an upcoming training that I am doing. I'm going to be sharing five steps on creating an authentic brand that grows your loyal community and leads to more clients. You can join here: https://brandmerry.com/authenticbrand 

1. Using Messenger Bots for Live Video Notification

This has been so much fun for me in my brand and business, and I'm so excited to share it with you, because it has really not only increased live viewers, but also increased engagement, which is so important with the social media algorithm. We want people not only showing up to watch, liking and hearting your content, sharing and commenting. All of those pieces are really, really important.

So the more people that you can get on the actual live video, as opposed to watching it on replay, is going to help you stand out online. So how do you do this with mini chat? So there's so many different ways to use Messenger bots, but I absolutely love creating a really simple form in Manychat for an upcoming live video that you are hosting. Maybe for you it's a live video, a live training, a challenge, or a weekly or biweekly segment, like Mondays with Michelle, which I do biweekly on my Facebook business page.

Creating a really simple opt in form using Manychat, putting a cool little title telling them if they sign up they'll get a notification right in their Messenger box, so they don't miss a single thing. Then, when they sign up, you can schedule a broadcast to all of the amazing women and men who have signed up to get the notification, and send them a really cool notification that says "Oh my gosh, we're live." They can click the button and join you live right there and then.

It's also a really cool idea to follow up with any posts afterwards asking if they have any takeaways or questions, or reminding them about a special offer that you mentioned on the live video, which they will hopefully be live on, with that really awesome reminder.

It takes the guess work out for people wondering "When is that person going to go live? Do I have to set a reminder?" And what if they forget, because life gets in the way. We are all by our phones most of the time, so it's really cool to have just a little Facebook Messenger pop up and say "Oh yeah, I'll watch right here on my phone."

2. Using Messenger Bots for Pre-Enrollment to a Launch

So maybe you're rolling out a new course, or a new program, and this is a strategy that I absolutely loved doing for my signature course, Your Brand New Adventure. And it worked really, really well. So what I did is I created a wait list on my website, by embedding a Manychat form onto my website, so that they could go to my website, to the sales page, and click to get a messenger reminder when the cart opened.

Then about a week before the cart opens, I sent a Facebook message to them, just letting them know that they had signed up to join the wait list, and the offer was now available. It was so powerful, I had 50% women buy on the very first day, and the other 50%, yes 100% conversion on a wait list, signed up before the cart closed.

And all I needed to do, because they were an engaged audience, is send them a reminder message mid way through, just letting them know that that special pre-enrollment offer was ending, and then again on the final day, saying "Hey, now if you're interested, here's the information to learn more."

It saved me a ton of time when it came to pre-enrollment for my launch, I didn't have to send out a ton of emails. It was just three simple Manychat messages, and I was done. So it's a really cool tool to use in your arsenal.

One thing to keep in mind is that Manychat and other messenger bots do not allow sole promotion. So you want to make sure that the people who sign up for your wait list are engaged before you actually promote a free order. In order to do that you can add a couple of questions like "Are you still interested in the Brand New Adventure that you signed up for. Click yes or no." And once they respond, they will be considered an engaged audience.

3. Using Messenger bots to Announce a YouTube Video or a Blog Post that just went live

This is really important, especially when it comes to YouTube, because Google wants to see that people are responding to the video shortly after it's published. And the same goes for your blog post.

So the more eyes that you can get on that content right away, the better. So using Messenger bots to send reminders to your audience when a blog post is published, or a YouTube video is live, is really, really powerful. You can create a simple signup using something like Manychat, where they can just sign up for notifications, and then every week, or biweekly, or whenever your schedule is for your blog, or your YouTube channel, you can send a little reminder to their inbox saying "Hey, here's today's topic. I'd love for you to head over to the website, or YouTube. Hit like, write a comment, and let me know your feedback."

It's a great way to get instant feedback, and instant eyes on the content you're creating. Messenger bots are seriously exploding, and I'll share with you my personal favorite, which is Manychat. It's free to use, it's a really, really great tool to add to your online business. But it's really important because it improves engagement, and engagement is so important with the way Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, basically every single algorithm, is functioning today.

So the more people that you can get onto your live videos, or into your programs, on to your blog posts or your YouTube video right away, the better it is going to be for you and your brand. But here's the thing, I shared with you three simple steps today on how you can incorporate Messenger bots, but if you don't have a clear voice for your brand and your business, none of that stuff, that fancy stuff, makes any sense.

Which is why I'm really going to encourage you one more time to join me for my upcoming masterclass on five simple steps to create an authentic brand that allows you to grow your community with ease, and leads to more clients. You can click the link right here https://brandmerry.com/authenticbrand to sign up at the time that works best for you.

You can watch the whole video for a more in-depth version of this and several bonus tips below!

Head over to YouTube and be sure to like and comment on the video while you are over there to help more people see this information ↠ https://youtu.be/zc19LlZCIu0

And as always please share and comment on this blog post, I love connecting with you!

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Michelle Knight is a Branding and Business coach for female entrepreneurs who are struggling to gain visibility and traction to take their business to the next level. She works with her clients to dive deep into their story so they can create a brand and message that positions them as an expert and allows them to create their desired income to free up time in their schedule for what matters most. Learn more >>

How to Rock Your Facebook Lives for Maximum Exposure

HOW TO ROCK YOUR FACEBOOK LIVES FOR MAXIMUM EXPOSURE

I swear live video is the best thing to happen to online marketing! I embraced live video early on in my entrepreneur journey and I've seen it convert clients effortlessly every single time.

When I started live streaming I would stress so much about what I was wearing and what my background looked like, it stressed me out so much I often forgot what I was even doing a live video for in the first place.

I quickly embraced my beautiful life of zero makeup, a baby on my back or in my lap and focusing on the main reason live video works in the first place - BUILDING TRUST AND GIVING MASSIVE VALUE.

Today's blog and video is all about How to Rock Your Live Streams Again and Again for Massive Exposure.

I'm be dissecting my own live stream to share with you:

1) The structure to follow for your live streams to leave your audience complete and full of actionable knowledge (aka no overwhelm).

2) How to increase engagement on your live streams to beat the algorithm.

3) How I lowered my ad costs by over 50% by using live video!

Want more live videos like this from me popping up in your newsfeed every week?I go live every Monday for Mondays With Michelle over on my Facebook Business Page.

FOLLOW Brandmerry Coaching HERE ↠ http://facebook.com/brandmerrycoaching

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Michelle Knight is a Branding and Business coach for female entrepreneurs who are struggling to gain visibility and traction to take their business to the next level. She works with her clients to dive deep into their story so they can create a brand and message that positions them as an expert and allows them to create their desired income to free up time in their schedule for what matters most. Learn more >>

Grow Your List Using FACEBOOK Lives + YOUR Free Offer

GROW YOUR LIST USING FACEBOOK LIVES + YOUR FREE OFFER

Facebook Lives (well any live video really) have transformed my business and since we are all about visibility here at Brandmerry I want to give you the tools you need to feel confident in sharing your freebie via live videos.

FB lives are two-fold: an excellent way to grow your online visibility and build trust with your audience PLUS grow your list of community.

Today, I'm sharing with you 4 simple ways to start using your Facebook lives to their full advantage to grow your list!

1. CREATE A FREEBIE SPECIFIC VIDEO

An amazing tool to grow your visibility and get the message out about your free offer. Create a FB live where you introduce yourself and then talk up your free offer. Be sure to share the title, some super descriptive bullets or talking about about the benefits of the free offer (exactly what they will learn), why you created and how they can access it.

Once your video is created share it out like crazy, pin the post in your private community and your business page AND if you have a little extra cash you can boost your video so more people see it (be sure to create a custom audience and don't just throw money at it).

2. INTRODUCE YOUR FREE OFFER

You are already going live, and if you aren't you should be, so why not share your free offer with EVERY SINGLE video. I always encourage my clients to pitch with every video, and this doesn't have to be just paid offers it also includes your free workbooks, trainings, challenges and more. There are two places to share your free offer:

Beginning: After your introduction at the beginning of your video share your free offer and how they can get there hands on it (i.e. give them a specific link).

End: Once your video ends remind them of the free offer, talk a little more about the benefits of your offer and how they can get their hands on it. 

3. UPDATE THE DESCRIPTION

If you are not doing this you are missing out on a golden opportunity! The #1 thing I recommend ALL my clients do is go back to update the description of their live video to give tons of value and information that entices your audience to watch the video. Remember, your video doesn't matter if no one is watching it. 

After your video is complete be sure to give the title of your free offer, your descriptive bullets and the link to access it. Accessibility is super important so make it easy for people to click, give their information and go.

4. BONUS TIP: PIN YOUR LINK IN THE COMMENTS

Another great FB live addition is the option to pin a specific comment or link to the top of your video. With most videos, unless changed, you will see the comments in realtime, so when you pin the comment you guarantee that no matter when someone starts or stops watching the replay they will have access to the link.

Want a little more information on creating free offers (aka lead magnets)? Check out my blog on Four Steps to Create Your Next Free Offer here ↠ 

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Michelle Knight is a Branding and Business coach for female entrepreneurs who are struggling to gain visibility and traction to take their business to the next level. She works with her clients to dive deep into their story so they can create a brand and message that positions them as an expert and allows them to create their desired income to free up time in their schedule for what matters most. Learn more >>