Understand Your Customers Using Social Media Groups

Social media groups can be a great place to connect with existing and potential customers. Find out how to use them best.

As a business owner, getting to know your target customers is important.

Finding out what motivates them, what their worries are and what makes them happy, can help make sure your product or service matches what they’re looking for – improving the chances of them choosing you over a competitor.

One way you can do this is by joining social media groups – such as on Facebook or LinkedIn – that are relevant to your business. Say you own a dog grooming business, for example, you can join groups for dog lovers and dog owners in your local area. Once you’ve found the ones where potential customers are, these tips can help you get the most out of them.

Become an active participant 

Once you’ve been accepted into a group, remember that they’re all about being a part of a community, so get stuck in! We recommend being as active as you can in the conversations taking place in the group, or even asking questions to get discussions going. Top tip: avoid being too salesy and position yourself as the expert in the space. No one likes a hard sell – and keep in mind that a lot of Facebook Groups have rules against making sales. So, make sure you read the rules before joining.

Listen and learn 

Pay close attention to what’s going on within the groups you join. This means looking at how people engage, and which posts get the most people talking. See if you can spot any patterns that tell you which are the most important conversations, as well as what their pain points, problems and needs are.

Here’s an example for the dog-grooming business we spoke about earlier. If you saw people in the local area discussing how to deal with fleas in a LinkedIn Group, you could introduce a monthly anti-flea treatment that gets mailed out to customers.

Immersing yourself in your customers’ online communities can give you inspiration for ways you can help solve their problems with your product or service – and it can help with inspiration for your social media posts and marketing too. 

Where can I join social media groups? 

If you like the sound of getting involved in social media groups and want to get started, Facebook and LinkedIn are the best places to look. Just remember to be an active member of your community by listening and learning – no hard sales needed.

You may have already spoken to one of our V-Hub Digital Advisers, but if not and you're looking for more support you can get in touch here. Our Knowledge Centre is also packed with information and tips to help you on your digital journey.