How to Make Sales by Sharing Value in Networking Groups

In today’s blog post, let’s talk about sharing value vs. self-promotion as you participate in Facebook networking groups. This is also known as sharing vs. selling, or relationship marketing. Whatever you want to call it, the logic is that offering value as you are networking with colleagues and prospects will get you a whole lot further into your sales process than hard selling.

Keep reading for my top “do” and “don’t” tips so you can make sales by sharing value in networking groups!

How online networking can be effective

I started my business in July 2019, and I can say without hesitation that networking online in Facebook groups has been the absolute most effective marketing tool for me. I would say about 75% of my clients are small business owners whom I have met and developed relationships with through Facebook groups.

My original goal with my business was to help local small businesses in rural Minnesota with their digital marketing needs. In December 2019, I created a postcard mailer and spent HOURS gathering potential client contact information into a spreadsheet until I had ONE THOUSAND contacts on my list. We are talking HOURS of work here, plus the time it took to design the postcard, the cost of printing it, and the cost of postage. So, 40+ hours of labor + $500 in printing and mailing costs, guess how many leads I got from it?

I’m not proud to admit this, but it is what it is, and I got ZERO leads.

Maybe my postcard design was off, maybe the timing wasn’t quite right because I mailed it in December and it got lost in the holiday shuffle. But the bottom line is that it was a big, fat waste of time and money. Now, I do help some local businesses, but what I discovered shortly after my failed postcard mailing is that there are people everywhere online who need my help. I simply needed to cast a wider net.

There are TONS of Facebook groups for small business owners, and many of them have networking and sharing opportunities. Join them. Share value. Meet people. Do your thing. I promise it will pay off.

I ended up creating my own group for small business owners in 2020 as well. In my group, just like in many others, VALUE-based posts and business and marketing questions were always welcome, and we had daily share threads that allowed members to promote what they were offering. Unfortunately, I made the difficult decision in October 2022 to close my group, because it’s a natural part of business evolution to adjust your marketing plan.

Why do so many groups have a no self-promotion rule?

Once, in my group, someone requested to join and I accepted her. Within an hour, she went to every post I had ever made that was archived in the Units section and pasted the exact same pitch on every single one.

Not only was this entirely against the rules of the group, but it took me almost an hour to go behind her and remove every single comment. I could have just left them there, but … we are all business owners, and everyone else follows the rules, so it’s hardly fair if I leave her 100 comments about her business on every single thread I’ve ever posted in the group. (Sigh.) Anyway, her actions that day prompted me to want to share a bit more about this.

I read something recently that said, “Would you walk into an in-person networking event and shout into the room full of people your name, what you do, and your website?” You wouldn’t. So, why would you do it in a Facebook group? You shouldn’t.

Every day, we are overloaded with online ads.

Generally speaking, we all see so much content on social media in a day, that we are basically accustomed to ignoring ads. Unless it’s from a brand we know and love, or something about the ad really catches our attention, it’s more likely that we will scroll right past. What catches our attention instead? Photos and videos of people, personal stories, funny things, etc.

Now, just imagine if every person in every Facebook group you belong to was allowed to post an ad-type post every day in the group. What would your Facebook feed look like? If all you ever saw from a group were ads, would you leave the group? Unfollow it? Perhaps be tempted to leave Facebook altogether because “all you ever see is ads?”

The algorithm knows all of these things, and it pays attention to what you like (and what you ignore.) Over time, it shows you more posts from the people, pages, and groups that you engage with … and less from those you don’t. So, if you are sharing value in networking groups by providing engaging, helpful, and/or personal information, then everyone is going to be more likely to see your posts in their feed anyway, and isn’t that the point?

So, what’s the difference between value posts and self-promotion?

Essentially, sharing value in networking groups includes posts that involve: initiating a useful business-related discussion, sharing helpful expertise without a sales pitch, or asking a question if you need help/advice about something.

Do

• Initiate discussions with fellow business owners.
• Share information showcasing your expertise (accompanied by a photo of you!)
• Participate in each group’s share threads. This is time well-spent, I promise.
• Ask questions if you need help with something related to your business.
• Answer questions asked by others – this is also a great way to share your knowledge. It’s also usually okay to share about your business if it’s related to the question being asked in the group. In some Facebook groups, no links of any kind are allowed though, so even if you are sincerely asking for feedback/advice, make sure it’s okay to post a link before doing so.
• It’s always a good idea to ask on the group thread before messaging a fellow member privately. Many groups have rules against messaging without permission.
• Make sure your personal Facebook profile is optimized with your business links. People will like what you are sharing and click over to your profile to see more about you. If they can’t tell from there what you do, you missed an opportunity. This is perhaps the most important sentence in this blog post, so let me say it again. Make sure your personal Facebook profile is optimized with your business links.

Don’t

• Share posts directly from your business page into the group
• Market research is acceptable, but do not pitch the people who reply
• Drop your website, social media, etc. links in the post
• Use hashtags that include your business name or other hashtags you always use for your business
• Remember, if it feels like it might be self-promotion, it probably is.

Here a few examples:

Example #1

Self-Promotion: Asking a question with the sole intention of pitching to the people who answer it.
ie. “What is your biggest struggle with managing social media for your business?”
–> It’s possible this could be a conversation starter. It’s more likely the poster is going to try to message those who answer to pitch social media management services. Don’t do this.

Instead, Offer Value: Ask a question to prompt a helpful business-related discussion, ie. “What has given you trouble with social media lately and how did you overcome it?” Questions that are asked for market research for your business or to get advice/feedback on something you are working on are not considered self-promotion.

Example #2

Self-Promotion: Sharing a post from your business page that has a direct pitch about your services and/or links back to your business page or website. Even sharing a VALUE post that originated on your business page could be perceived as self-promotion, because of the visibility it gives to your business page.

Instead, Offer Value: Post your text and a photo in the group that shares knowledge/value about your industry to HELP your fellow business owners. Questions/comments on your post can often lead to potential customer inquiries, but you need to initiate it in a real and helpful way – not as an intentional sales pitch.

Good luck and happy networking!

I encourage you to consider these tips as you network in ANY Facebook group. Sharing value will likely prove to be more effective for you than direct selling. It’s also a great concept to keep in mind as you are creating your regular social media content, too. Of course, you will post sales pitches to your social media pages, but be careful that every single one of your posts isn’t a sales pitch. Offer value on those accounts, too!

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Check out this post for even more insight from me about the importance of business networking!