As marketers, we have found that organic reach on a brand’s FB Business Page continues to dwindle.  According to DigiDay, “the social network is changing its news feed to prioritize what friends and family share, which will reduce the amount of content that users see from brands and publishers. Agencies believe brands will have to spend more on paid ads on Facebook in order to get the same number of views — further lining Facebook’s pockets. This is just the “final nail in the existing coffin” of organic reach, said Doug Baker, director of strategic services at digital agency AnalogFolk.” While ad rates have risen 35% (so the price of advertising has gone up) due to demand (and let’s face it, need) to promote content, this means that organic/unpaid content will fail to be seen.

What are some great tricks to find “loopholes” for getting content “through” the algorithms?

• Creative authentic and human-focused content that is touching and engaging
• Plan social media scheduling, promotion and campaigns accordingly
• Creating valuable content that therefore increases credibility is key

For brands without #socialmedia ad budgets, it can be practically impossible to get organic content in front of even a small percentage of your own #Facebook community at this point (and even harder to get it in front of NEW people!). Facebook groups have become a sort of natural work-around for marketers to get the message out. Buffer has noted that 1 Billion people use Facebook groups, and for various reasons: community connection, interest-based activity, information on events, neighborhood watch, travel advice, childcare assistance, sports updates, moral support, etc. So, within these groups, exists warm community members that are there with reason, to feel connected, to stay up-to-date.

Let’s step back: you may be wondering: what’s the difference between a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group? The key difference is this: a Facebook page is something “proprietary” that you own, can administrate, manage, publish content, buy ads/boosts and cultivate a following. It’s a unique space just for your brand that you can manage, create content for, and share information on. A Group is something that you can also own, but it’s a community with a targeted focus that, per the settings, certain people (or everyone) can join. This also means that other people have the capability to share their own content. However, the beauty of Facebook Groups (as compared to Pages) is five-fold:

1. A brand’s organic reach is explicitly hindered because Facebook is pushing paid content ahead of it
2. The opportunity to expand beyond your own followers by posting inside a Facebook Group is exponential –> they don’t have to like your page to see your content
3. You can cultivate a new following
4. Facebook Groups become another marketing channel and distribution point for your content
5. There is a human element, as when you share into a Facebook Group, you share the content as an individual instead of brand, so the content has a more authentic feel; the concept of influence exists here: if someone I know and trust shares something into a shared Group, I may be more likely to engage with the contentThe benefits of Facebook Groups are actually incalculable so we could keep going,

There are more benefits, like being able to use polls and the ability to ask for recommendations, and we could go on and on. In consideration that many Facebook Pages obtain 1% organic reach, these things sound great, right? WE KNOW.

This makes our jobs easier… and harder. Easier, because we know the facts: Facebook Groups rule. Harder: this means we have to develop another stream of marketing distribution that we have to find and join or create and cultivate… So… more work! We then have to keep it top of mind to use it, and strategically. It means that, though we try to save time by scheduling, we have to be even MORE in-tune with our content calendar to know what’s up and when/where/which groups to share it in.

So the benefits for marketers is exponential. As a regular human being, the value of being a member in a Facebook Group is also great:

1. You can connect with others who have certain interest or live close by which means: new friends, new jobs, new places to visit, new products, new (and more) information, etc.
2. You can see stuff that you may have missed from your favorite brands due to the restraints on their abilities to freely market to you
3. You can see what your friends are posting about (ICYMI because your feed is full of stuff!)
4.  You can feel a sense of community and more in touch with your city and the information that you care about most

With this in mind, we’ve created neighborhood groups for Charlotte, NC that don’t exist yet, to support the promotion of our clients’ content, but also to cultivate micro-communities for our friends to enjoy.

If you live in Charlotte, plan to visit, want to move here, or just want to know what’s up, we invite you to join.

South End: https://www.facebook.com/groups/southendcharlotte/
Dilworth: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dilworthneighborhood/
Uptown: https://www.facebook.com/groups/uptowncharlotte/
Montford: https://www.facebook.com/groups/montforddrive/

The idea is simple:

For marketers: as long as the content is relevant to each community, SHARE AWAY. We want to make sure there is well-rounded and useful content (and a lot of it!) so that the benefits between brands and individuals are shared

For individuals: join and invite your friends. We hope these groups serve you to help make you more aware of the cool stuff happening around town, to help you make friends and to make your lives easier (duh, it’s really all for you).

Have questions? Send us a note: info@blackwednesday.co. We’ll get back to ya as soon as we can!

Here are a few other blogs you may be interested in:

6 reasons/ways to use Facebook Groups to market from Post Planner

How Facebook Organic Reach Has Changed by Key Media Solutions

20 Secrets That Will Boost Your Organic Reach by Neil Patel