Facebook Groups make it easy to connect with specific sets of people like collectors, professionals in the same industry, or people who share a hobby. These peer to peer groups are on online community where members can interact with each other and share information and stories. Facebook has thousands of groups covering just about every interest.
Penetrating Facebook Groups for marketing is a controversial topic. The basic idea is to promote a product or auction in a group that does not as a rule accept direct marketing. For any marketer it can be tempting and lucrative to try to target these groups to reach highly specific buyers.
To keep the content interesting and relevant many administrators remove what they perceive as advertising to the group. Here are three techniques marketers are using to penetrate groups. Whether it’s spam or clever marketing, is up for you to decide.
Option one: Leading Question Post.
A “planted” third party poses a question that opens the door for a marketer to provide an answer, and in-so-doing promote their product. Since they are answering a question, and are not directly marketing, most page administrators leave it alone. An offshoot of this is to ask customer service related questions in a group when clearly they should be sent directly to the company. If the same people are always asking questions answered by the same people, be skeptical.
Option two: Paid Super Fans.
Did you know some people on Facebook are compensated to post about certain companies? Did you ever wonder why the same people post about the same service all the time? It might be a box of chocolates, a discount in price, or cash driving some posts in a Facebook Group. Super fans don’t always have the best interest of the group in mind; their goal is to promote the company or product they are compensated to promote. Don’t blindly trust what you read without considering if the source is being genuine or not.
Option three: Ask an question full of information.
People love answering questions on Facebook. Many groups are designed for informational exchanges between members. You can leverage that knowledge and add information about your auction into the question itself.
These are just a couple techniques that when done correctly can be used to penetrate Facebook groups that prohibit marketing with messages about your auctions and company or get you labeled as a spammer. Proceed with caution. Remember one important note: many people are using these same techniques in the groups you visit. Keep a watchful eye for these marketing tactics in the groups you frequent and have fun.