Why CMOs should care about Facebook’s new “group” strategy

EARLIER this year, Hootsuite reported that there are 3.484 billion active social media users across the globe.

With this figure steadily rising, social media is cementing its role as a way to reach the right audience. However, social media marketing is an ever-changing game.

Recently, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced updates to the platform to zoom in on its groups.

Facebook aims to make it easier for users to find communities (groups) that relate to them and how they consume community news (via the group tab).

This puts groups in the spotlight and allows brands to leverage the personalized feed to flex their engagement even further.

While many brands already have a Facebook Page to solidify their digital presence, groups are not the most popular tool.

However, with the latest platform overhaul, groups are in the limelight. Here are three Facebook group updates that matter to CMOs:

#1 | Groups get more attention

The good news is that groups will have its very own tab on the mobile interface. So, content on the platform is less likely to be buried in the user’s personal news feed.

Despite that, brand content will compete with other groups for attention and eyeballs.

The saturation of a singular brand’s content on the user’s tab will depend on how active the brand is on its group.

So, this will be a great time for brands to stick out and engage with customers.

Brands can consider adopting hashtags to round-up brand content as well as posting materials that are strictly consistent with the brand design.

#2 | Content gets easier to identify and recommend

One of the overhaul focus is to help users find communities that better relate to them.

For algorithms to achieve this, brands must be sure that the group’s name is as specific as it can be.

Instead of naming a group ‘Hollywood Spice’ only, it can be ‘Hollywood Spice Entertainment News’ to help others find the community they all care about.

This way, it helps other users be clear about the subject matter and the purpose of the group before joining it.

This means to say that engagement that happens within the group will be much more relevant.

#3 | How to direct more audience to Groups

Facebook is an ecosystem for brands to really expand their marketing impact.

Putting Groups in the spotlight doesn’t mean that pages take a backseat. After all, the two features on the app serve different business functions.

So, the two can actually complement each another in marketing campaigns to drive engagement.

For example, when a page hosts a campaign live video, the brand can direct discussions to a group that is connected.

This way, brands will be able to get firsthand insights from the audience on top of growing a brand community.

In the end, engaging with the audience means everything to marketers.

To stay ahead in this digital era, marketers need to always be sharpening their digital know-how and understanding their tools as they change.

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