There are more than 2 billion people on Facebook right now.
Forget the zero’s, lets count the commas in 2 billion.
2,000,000,000
It takes 3 excruciating commas to separate the zeros in 2 billion.
2 billion means the entire population of India including half of China’s.
And if you are planning to jump headlong into this community to sell your stuff, then best of luck. There are others too who hope to make a quick buck on Facebook, but most of them are like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.
No strategy!
But if you are indeed serious to profit from this platform, then there are tools and strategies for your assistance. Unfortunately, many people tend to use Facebook to exchange jokes and gossips and don’t bother to imagine a world beyond that. There are many small businesses that have used Facebook to not just draw website visitors, but also generate tonnes of money.
Facebook Groups - Your Partners to Progress
Facebook Groups are to you what target audiences are to advertisers.
Confused? Okay, let’s further detail this one.
If you want to attain website traffic from Facebook but don’t have the advertising monies, here’s what you can do:-
A simple answer to a vexatious question - Join one or many Facebook Groups.
Your next question would be - Why can’t I create one?
Because you will spend a lot of time creating one with no assurance whether your actions will fetch adequate results.
Having accepted the answer to the above question, let’s identify which Facebook Groups to join.
Travel, E-Commerce, Etsy, Shopify…which one…?
The next step is to identify which group or groups to join. If yours is travel related business, then, it doesn’t suffice that you should join just any other Facebook Travel Group! Perhaps you specialise in travels and tours for solo women travellers.
In that case, use the Search bar of the platform to find out which Groups come very close to your audience description. If you do find some then be ready to take the next step.
Ask the Admin
Most Facebook Groups have an automated system for approving requests to join them. This system stops bots from spamming the community by encouraging you to answer some simple questions. You would do well by sharing your website URL to smoothen the feathers of the Admin.
Once you are in…
In most cases, the admin lets in the new members. But now that you are in, do read the laundry list of do’s and don’ts. It would definitely assist you from getting in a spot actually. Stick to the rules and assume a low profile in your new ‘home’ for a few weeks. Make friends with others by liking their posts and commenting on their content. It helps if your comments are genuine, not rude or patronising and are friendly in nature.
Once a few weeks pass by, impatience begins to creep in and you are really looking forward to promote your own content, aren’t you?
At this stage, you will have to bear a few points in mind.
One, does this group have a calendar? Say, does it allow its members to post their contents according to a time table? For e.g., a particular group offers a Vendor’s Wednesday wherein vendors can display pictures of their new collections only on a Wednesday. If yes, then stick to it. You wouldn’t want to piss off the admin.
Two, are there any rules in your new group that compel every participant to respond to everyone else’s thread?
For example, have a look at this Facebook Group, Traffic Booster, managed by Alexander Todorov. The rules for engagement are very simple. The main objective of this Group, which has a membership of 5,000 plus members, is to drive traffic to each other’s sites. This means if you are participating in a thread, then you ought to click open other members’ websites while expecting them to click yours.
Traffic Booster
But what happens if you don’t return the favour? Nothing. You just risk being ignored by others in future threads and campaigns. The loss will be entirely yours.
If you want to build a great engagement with others via Facebook Groups, then here is another one - Real Travel Blog Promotion and Interaction. Run by an enthusiastic bunch of administrators, this Facebook Group helps you drive traffic to your travel related website. If you want to build a substantial chatter that helps you build your trustworthiness, then this FB Group is just the right one for you. Video sharing, likes on your website, comments, sharing of your content, anything that promotes your website can go on their wall.
Real Travel Blog Promotion & Interaction
A word of advice - Please go through and obey the rules of this amazing community, less you be banned from here forever for violation of any of the rules.
Going Niche!
Facebook is like the magic lantern of Aladdin if only you learn to ask the right questions.
If you want to explore a niche topic, say on lawnmowers, and do not really know how to draw traffic to your website, here is one Facebook Group that is a delight for many niche hackers - Nichehacks.
NicheHacks Facebook Group
Welcome to this awesome Facebook Group that has more than 45,000 members and is still growing. It being a closed group, admission is restricted. You need to know someone who in turn is a member of this Group in order to join it.
But once you become a part of Nichehacks, you get the feeling of having enrolled into a university. Anyone can ask any question as long as it is related to growth hacking for your online business.
Learn the art and science of becoming Amazon affiliates, making sales funnels, having tons of e-mail subscribers and much more.
#Hashtags anyone?
Until a few years back, online businesses were obsessed with Facebook pages. Hashtags were the norm of the day and it was expected that these keywords would bring in a lot of traffic.
Those hopes were dashed by Kevin Lee when he made this statement;
"Facebook posts without a hashtag fare better than those with a hashtag."
To recap, the best way to hack your growth is find a relevant Facebook Group that mirrors your business. Creating a new Group may anchor down your time in building member portfolio. Hence, join that group, engage with other group members, learn from them and promote yourself while adhering to the rules of the group.