If you are up-to-date with the latest trends, then you probably know that a direct sales Facebook group is the best way to keep in touch with your best customers and attract new ones. But, unfortunately, it seems like your posts are not working as well as you’d like them to.
Luckily for you, there are some tips you can follow to solve this problem. Here are five ways you can grow your direct sales Facebook group. (These tips can also show how to grow a Facebook group not directly related to sales, too.)
How to Grow a Facebook Group for Direct Sales
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1 Personal Branding
Personal branding is becoming the standard for many small businesses of different kinds. After all, branding your online shop will help you achieve an understanding with your customers and establish better customer relationships in general. In addition to that, the main benefit of using branding tools is to increase profits which is probably a relief for those who think branding is a waste of time.
In order to create a personal brand for your business, you must first find a style, your individual voice that will set you apart from other entrepreneurs just like you. Instead of switching your partner companies every once in a while, stick to one or several of them. Then, build your brand around theirs.
Here are some ideas on how to make personal branding work for you:
- Be Constant: By changing your partner companies, you only show that you are unable to commit to anything and that you are simply looking for your next big ticket to easy money and success as fast as you can. Try to be constant. Experiment a little if you need, but then make your choice.
- Create A Story: Stories are what makes you look real. They help you establish yourself as a unique individual. Stories can work wonders for brands, so make sure to create a story that shows what you are about.
- Personalize Content: Your content is your means of telling your story. By using colors and fonts that reflect what your business stands for, you brand yourself as a certain entity. Create content that will resonate with your name and what you provide. People must remember you in order to come back later.
2 Providing Value
This is perhaps the most important tip of all, yet direct sales consultants always seem to forget about it. Everything you do, everything you post, all your actions must provide value for your loyal clients and potential customers.
Your every post must be either one, two or all of the following:
- Educating: Your post provides your group members with useful information they didn’t know before. It educates them in a way that will solve their problems or teach them something they might need to use at some point in the future.
- Entertaining: Your post is interesting and entertaining. It is fun for your group members to read or watch the content in it. Its purpose is to help your customers relax and have a laugh rather than learn something important.
- Inspiring: Your post is inspiring and motivational. It makes your group members think about something deep or simply lifts their mood when they feel down or uninspired. Its aim is to provide your customers with wisdom.
These qualities can be combined in most of your posts in order to add even more value to them. By providing value to your group members, you make them keep coming back to you. Otherwise, they will simply leave.
Your potential customers must know that they will find something in your group that they will find useful. If your content is always or very often trying to sell something and looks like spam, nobody will want to join and stay in your group.
Some ideas for content that you can create include tips and tricks articles, how-tos, top 10s, opinion pieces, reviews, and more. You don’t necessarily need to create written content; make funny videos, infographics, and illustrations. Remember that you are selling “you”, not your products.
3 Consistency
One thing that gets overlooked almost as much as providing value is being consistent. Inconsistency is a very common problem both for small and big businesses. And while large companies have the financial resources to solve it quickly, independent entrepreneurs should make do with what they have.
Being consistent is important for several reasons. First, it shows that you are dedicated to what you are doing. You are willing to spend your time (and maybe money) on posting regularly and providing your readers with high-quality content.
Second, consistency helps you get a steady flow of new group members. When people see that you are constantly making good content, they will be more likely to join your direct sales Facebook group.
Lastly, posting consistent content and optimizing it for searches with appropriate hashtags will give you additional exposure. This will make you more discoverable to wider audiences depending on the kind of content you post.
In order to post consistently, create a schedule for when, what, and how much you post. It is a good idea to adjust your content to be posted at certain times of the day as Facebook users are more active, say, in the evening than during the day.
Another thing to keep in mind is the type of content you post. Motivational Monday morning posts are great as a simple inspirational image, while Friday evenings can be filled in with several funny videos.
The frequency with which you post is also important. Depending on the complexity of your posts and how much time it takes for your readers to go through each of them, decide on how often you will be posting.
4 Press That LIVE Button
Did you know that brand audiences prefer live streams over blogs? It turns out that that LIVE button is actually way more useful than you thought.
In order to connect with your audience, they have to see you. When they realize that you are a real human being just like them, they will be more likely to find something in common with you and will relate to you easier.
There is no reason to be afraid of going live. If you have been sending out the right message by this day, then there is no way somebody will be disappointed by what they see going behind the scenes (aka you).
After having regular live streams, you will see several changes:
- Connection: Your customers will be more connected to you. Your customer relationships will improve dramatically.
- Loyalty: And your customers will become more loyal to you and your brand. They will come back to shop more from you.
- Engagement: Your customers will be more willing to engage with you through comments and giving feedback when you ask for it.
When going live, don’t forget about the fact that most people will watch the recording rather than the live video itself, so you shouldn’t panic if there are not that many viewers.
Try to schedule your live streams for a certain day and go live regularly. You can spend as less as 20 to 30 minutes every week doing a live stream and it will be enough for your customers to like you more.
If you are unsure of what to do or say in your live streams, improvise! After a few times, you will figure out what works for you. A good idea would be to thank your customers, announce the customer of the week, answer questions, tell a story, give your review of your products or announce new ones.
5 Get Personal, Be Real, & Ask
It’s a fact that a lot of sales leaders focus on customer relationships to improve customer retention. And there is no better way to improve customer relationships than to get personal, be real, and ask.
If you pretend to be someone you are not, people will see right through it. While it’s okay to be different online from who you are in real life, you should still remember that you mustn’t create a completely different personality.
You must stay true to your values and take the time to make your community trust you. As mentioned in the very first tip, you are building a brand around yourself, not around your business. This is why it is so important to be real.
A call to action is still important though. The thing is that if you phrase it correctly, it won’t sound like you are trying to sell something or make your group members complete an action and increase engagement.
Instead of captioning your latest photo with, “Loving my new outfit,” caption it with something like, “What do you think about my new outfit?” It will look like you are speaking directly to your readers and want to know their opinion.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. You won’t sound desperate; you will sound like someone who is looking for a hero and sees a hero in their audience. You need engagement, so what’s the problem?
Conclusion
To sum up, if you follow the advice in this article, you will surely be able to grow your direct sales Facebook group. Eventually, you will realize that your customers have become more dedicated, your sales have grown, and your social media metrics are much better than they used to be.
