A savvy freelancer should always be on the lookout for new ways to market their services. Sometimes, it’s about finding fresh clients. But it’s actually a lot easier to get repeat sales from existing clients (if they had a good experience with you).
In this post, we are going to examine 6 strategies to use Facebook groups for business to turn one sale into an endless opportunity to market yourself to your existing client base.
Why Should a Freelancer Start a Facebook Group?
Adding one more thing to manage every day is probably the last thing you have on your mind. But if you take your Facebook group seriously, it will be worth the effort. And if you approach it with the right attitude, it won’t feel like work at all.
The basic idea behind a Facebook group for your freelance business is to pose yourself as an industry leader. As clients engage more and more with your group and come to see you as a wealth of information, they will be more likely to hire you again and again.
Plus, since you are in their feed now, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to advertise to them for free.
6 Ways To Market Your Freelance Services in Your Facebook Group
All it takes to grow a Facebook group for business is to invite every new client to join. After completing an order, just include a link with a gentle (non-pushy) invitation. It may help to mention that you regularly share exclusive deals with your group members.
Then, once your group starts to grow, you can use these 6 strategies to keep it a lively source of regular sales.
#1 Post Regularly
First, if you want to beat the Facebook algorithm and keep your audience engaged, you’ve got to post new content regularly. It doesn’t always have to be top shelf stuff. Sometimes just sharing a funny (and relevant) meme is enough.
The important thing is to be consistent. At a bare minimum, post once per day. As the group grows and you become more comfortable managing it, you’ll find that increasing your post quantity comes easily.
#2 Offer Valuable Advice
Resist the urge to constantly be in salesperson mode. Nothing will have people hitting that “Leave Group” button faster than spam.
Instead, find ways to offer expert advice that your audience will actually find useful. This is going to be very different depending on what type of services you offer. For example…
- If you do logo design, you could share information about color contrast theory in web design. Likely, many of your clients design websites, so this is the sort of stuff they are interested in.
- If you are a freelance link builder, you could offer advice on how to limit PBN footprints, or the role of on-page SEO in ranking.
Don’t share this stuff with the intent to sell. Just share it to help your clients out. If you are genuine in your care for them, they will return the favor in the long run.
#3 Share Case Studies and Results
Sharing the results you have had with clients is often good meat for your Facebook group. Always get their permission first, of course.
A freelance SEO might share screenshots of a client’s ranking gains, for example, and a video production specialist could share a behind the scenes look at the work in progress for a client’s Kickstarter campaign.
Try to frame this content as a celebration for the client. You don’t want it to feel like you are just showing off in hopes of getting more sales.
#4 Run an Ask Me Anything Event
People love AMAs. There is something about the spontaneous nature of them that just attracts engagement.
If you aren’t familiar with the concept, an Ask Me Anything is when you invite your audience to ask questions that you will answer in detail. You can set ground rules so that the conversation remains relevant, but don’t be surprised if your members are more interested in your productivity habits than your industry knowledge.
On Facebook, most people will run an AMA as a live video event. If you are camera shy, though, it’s perfectly viable to conduct yours through text.
#5 Moderate the Group
You need to be sure to keep your group members in line. The anonymity and distance provided by social media means that Facebook groups can become quite toxic if left unchecked. And if your group becomes a hotbed for controversy, debate, or just irrelevant discussion, then people are going to start leaving.
Here are a few tips for how to moderate your group:
- Facebook allows you to create group rules and require new members to agree to them before joining. Take your time to think of rules that will foster the sort of conversations that you are hoping for and curb the behavior that you want to avoid.
- Monitor the posts that your members are making. Don’t be shy about banning people who are causing trouble. This is your group, and you should not have to spend your time and energy coddling trolls.
- As your group grows, consider appointing a few of your loyal and active members to admin status. Not only will they take some of the moderating duties off of your hands, but they will probably grow in loyalty to you as a result.
#6 Offer Exclusive Discounts
One way to make your group members feel appreciated is by offering them exclusive discounts that you don’t share anywhere else. On Legiit, you can create a coupon code for individual services or for everything you offer. This is an easy way to market yourself in a way that users will appreciate.
Another strategy that is perfect for Facebook groups for business is to run a flash sale. Make a post at the beginning of the day sharing a coupon code that will expire in 8 hours, for example. This creates a sense of urgency that will spur customers to buy so that they don’t miss out.
Just be careful to use promotions like this sparingly. Remember that you want about 90% of your content to be genuinely helpful, fun, or engaging. Otherwise, all the promotional posts will get lost in the noise.
Related: 7 Post Purchase Marketing Strategies For Freelancers
Go Out and Start Marketing
If you already have a Facebook group for your freelance business, now you’ve got 6 more ways to make it work for you. If you don’t have a group yet, what are you waiting for? The time to take action on your freelance dreams is always right now.
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