Facebook Groups ‘Could Change Social Media Marketing’

A decade ago, social media marketing was just in its infancy, but these days it is an essential publicity tool that every brand, politician, celebrity and product uses to keep itself known by the public.

Indeed, while Twitter only launched in 2006, it now has 330 million monthly active users, according to Statista.com.

Facebook’s figures are even more impressive, with the social media site having amassed 2.41 billion monthly active users over the last 15 years.

Therefore, having a social media presence is essential to be able to tap into these huge markets and attract attention for your goods from all over the world.

To stay relevant, however, social marketers constantly have to change the way they use the networking sites so users do not become frustrated or bored at how they are being targeted, so the whole advertising process remains fresh and organic.

AdWeek reported how Facebook Groups could be the latest social media marketing tool that could produce great results.

At Facebook’s F8 developer’s conference earlier this week, Facebook Groups were prioritised over other uses of the site, as founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wanted to make user experience the most important aspect of the social network.

Facebook claims more and more people – 400 million and counting – are now favouring the site’s Groups, as this enables them to share information to a community of people in a private space.

Instead of putting a comment, thought or question on your news feed, which is then shown to all your friends and potentially the general public, users can post in their private groups and only those who are members are able to see it.

As they provide more privacy, members are able to be more honest and open, and therefore, are likely to engage with others more often, checking and responding to their groups with a greater frequency than their news feeds.

By enabling users to have this privacy, Facebook is allowing for more organic conversations to take place, which, in turn, is encouraging them to use the social network.

Therefore, brands that want to use it in the most effective way should try and utilise Facebook Groups to their own benefit.

However, the article emphasised the importance of Groups needing to serve a purpose without just being the reason behind an advertising campaign. It stated the key to success when using Facebook Groups as a form of PR is “figuring out what kind of space they need, setting it up and getting out of the way”.

This will encourage people to search for and use the group without believing it has been established as a marketing tool, but simply as a way to allow a community of people with similar interests to talk to each other.

Of course, this is a far cry from how PR developed 50 years ago, with public relations initially being used as a tool to improve the reputation of politicians and the actions of government, according to PR Week.

Since then, social media has taken on a life of its own and is responsible for creating some of the biggest names and brands in the world. Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, for instance, has more than 184 million followers on Instagram , making him the most popular person on the site.

This, no doubt, has helped the star secure sponsorships with Nike, Tag, Heuer, Sacoor Brother Suits and Monster headphones, among others.

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