Don't Give Up Your Business On Facebook; Let's Re-Group with Facebook Groups

There is a grim reality every Digital Marketer and Social Media Manager is waking up to. Their favourite social media channel is turning on them, and there's very little they are able to do about it. Organic reach of Facebook pages with millions of followers now reflect that of a mildly enjoyable concert. Traffic from social media is now largely driven through advertisement rather than good old content. The exception to the rule being modern media houses like Buzzfeed worldwide or ScoopWhoop in India, or video content producers such as Lad Bible, 9 Gag worldwide or AIB and TVF in India, who are gaining large, yet un paying followers.

Facebook is a Quagmire of uncertainty

Facebook's never ending pursuit of more engaging content that also makes, nay, forces users to visit the app at least 20 minutes a Day, has resulted in constant app upheavals. The algorithmic move to push content that's Text to Photos and now to Videos has been rather quick and content creators as well as Digital Marketers are still reeling with sweeping changes every day. Take for example the decision from Facebook to make the Newsfeed focussed more on Friends and Family than Public content. or evident changes in the Video platform through continuous playlists from multiple sources, or increased focus on pushing new features to push more user engagement, such as Polls, List posts, recommendations feature or even the Questions feature, which frankly is more Match.com than Facebook.com (probably why Facebook is now getting into dating). I'm not even going to address the Plane reaction button that lasted 20

The Problem of Facebook

The point being, Facebook is changing everyday, and for marketers that are looking at driving businesses through Facebook, that is a Nightmare on Steroids. Probably why most companies in India, are now looking at social media as a good to have and not a must have. Very rarely do you hear of companies that are pushing content consistently on Facebook or Instagram and Twitter and gaining followers as actively as they once did. Companies are slowly moving towards using Facebook strictly as a Customer Acquisition platform, not necessarily a Customer Engagement platform.

The Sad State of Indian Brands on Social Media

Take the biggest brands in India, Flipkart, Ola, Paytm etc. You see a graveyard of content. The odd promoted video during festivals or sales aside, the content in these pages have largely become about Offers, the odd video or post about an achievement or press release. That's it.

The only exception to this sorry state and my favourite still remains Zomato. The folks have found a Punny yet Promotional approach that was last used effectively only by Amul in offline marketing.

It's helped Zomato stay relevant to its target audience. The SimilarWeb data on Zomato shows 1% of Zomato's 32 million monthly visitors come from Social Media. This, from a page that has only 1.9 Million likes as opposed to Flipkart's whopping 9 Million. (Flipkart has a higher traffic in real terms however at nearly 4 Million).

The Bottom line; content isn't being generated by brands as enthusiastically as they used to be for Facebook and content isn't being consumed by users either.

Facebook Groups are Growing

At the moment, the solution, for a brief period, before it is taken away by Facebook Lords is Facebook Groups. Facebook's growing desire to build community and grow it's footprint in the business of networking and match making has brought with it a rare opportunity for Digital Marketers; To build thriving, engaged community of users and potential clients. There are very few examples I am personally familiar with of consumers being urged to join a Facebook group in the business world. But the examples of Groups such as Spread the Word, a community of almost half a million Hyderabadis who talk and interact on various topics, Tribe of Dardnaak Jokes, a closed community of less than 55000 users who have created a Facebook meme page of over 200,000 likes, or Squats, a community of over 400,000 fitness enthusiasts and weight watchers, show that Facebook Groups can build thriving, engaging groups.

Let's Regroup

The key challenge for your business now is to find ways to create these communities with your users. Be it an e-commerce company, creating groups of people interested in Tech, Fashion etc, a pet food company opening a group to cater to Pet owners, or a Co-working space provider opening a group for it's members to interact with each other and then share insight. Groups on Facebook are a great, low cost alternative to working on an in house social network. It has low barriers to entry, easier access for users and has a higher scalability than Whatsapp groups. There is also a great deal of push from Facebook for Groups, with a separate window on Apps to access all your groups and stay updated on them separately. Group posts have significantly higher reach too at the moment (although we are seeing this dwindle).

Bottom line: If you have your potential market sitting and talking to each other at one place, wouldn't it just be easier to reach them?

Epilogue

I will end this article, with a short list of why groups should revive your Social Media pages.

1. Niche audience with established interest in your product or offering.
2. Ready source of content, that can be repurposed for your brand. Puns for your Meme page, Listings for your marketplace, Business articles for your co-working business etc.
3. Ready source of customer feedback. An official group of customers who are engaging with you constantly and giving you proper feedback.
4. Auto Evangelism- Communities have always acted as the best source of conversion. Think Network effect but at a much larger scale. Users with similar interest, driving other users to join them and engage on the same cause.
5. Facebook's Backing: Facebook is trying to build communities and helps people find groups on suggestions, has provided a separate section on the app as well as increased reach on group related posts. Use it while it lasts.

If you don't want to bother with starting a group, perhaps you can engage an existing group on Facebook to promote your services or content but Groups are, for now, the best way to revive your social media strategy.