Social media was created to make the world a smaller place. It has brought us all closer than ever.
As the world has come more closer, Social media have come out as new forums to cater to globalization. They have become platforms to carry out corporal discussions between clients sitting across the globe.
Their unprecedented ability to connect the world, their way of harnessing the power of connecting and sharing makes them now an integral part of E-business. Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, today’s world has the largest network of people connected at a single platform. Facebook has made this world like it was never before. Facebook groups are the new game-changer. It is a catalyst to harness more earning. It is an important consideration for business strategy.
A Facebook group is a virtual forum where people who share common interests and goals are active. You might have come across many groups, might even be a part of some groups. There are more than 1 billion groups on Facebook. There are billions of Group searches every day. There are groups dedicated to many niches serving many corporal causes and purposes. You can find groups dedicated to almost every field. There have people who share common interests and goals. But creating and customizing a group that serves all your purposes is an art as well as science itself. It takes both the brain and heart to create a group and customizing it to serve your purpose.
Facebook groups provide a lot of valuable information. For example, to learn about exciting brands, get to know participants and share experiences, find a job, sell unwanted clothes, or get professional help. We are added only to those groups that are of some value to us. In this article, we’ll tell you all about Facebook groups – how to create, manage, and monetize so that they are of high value to the participants.
Why Do We Need Facebook Groups?
Facebook groups can be successfully used as part of your marketing strategy. A company can build an entire community around a brand through a group. And what could be better than gathering all the fans in one place?
You can demonstrate knowledge about the product you are selling or show loyalty and respect for your customers and gradually increase the loyalty of subscribers. Groups will help you to be open and get questions and product reviews from customers that will be available to other members.
Facebook Page and Group – What’s the Difference?
To promote a brand, you need a Facebook Page as well as a Facebook Group.
The Facebook page serves as a contact point for users who are at one of the stages of the selling funnel. It is necessary to run advertising campaigns, collect reviews and user-generated content, as well as publish updates in other content channels.
The Facebook group focuses on creating and maintaining a community. When users leave a message on the official page, it falls into a separate tab. When a user leaves an entry on the group’s page, it falls into the feed, all users see it and can comment. You can invite participants to ask questions on the group page or share tips.
The group cannot replace the official page. But with the help of only one page, it is impossible to build a community.
Features Of A Facebook Group
In 2020, Facebook released several updates that made managing the group more convenient.
- Group analytics- growth, involvement, participants. Previously was available only for official pages.
- Participation request filter. Now you can ask a question to everyone who has applied for participation. For example, why do you want to join a group? You can request a user email as an anti-spam check.
- Pending publications. Now you can put a timer on publications, just like on the official page.
- Simplified unsubscribing of participants.
- Crossposting. Similar groups may be recommended. This is especially convenient if your business has several groups. For example, in different languages or dedicated to different categories of products.
How to Create A Facebook Group?
Open Facebook.com, on the top navigation bar click- CREATE and select Group
Select a group type:
- Public group – where each participant can see other participants and administrators;
- Closed group – you can find it in the search and see all the participants;
- Secret group – you can get into it only through an invitation from a participant.
Add a description first. From it, the purpose of this group should be clearly clear, as well as who is allowed to add or invite other users.
Add tags (up to 5 pieces) under the description. Interested users can find the group by these keywords.
Do not forget to add rules to the description of the group members. For example, “Respect other members”, or “The group does not allow the use of profanity”, or “It is forbidden to copy and publish the content of this group on other sites.”
Below is the ability to add a location. Then – a cover photo that should reflect your message. If the group is created for business, add a logo on the cover.
What Type of Facebook Group to Choose?
There are 3 types of groups on Facebook: open, closed and secret. Public groups are visible to all users, while secret groups do not even appear in search results.
For businesses, it’s best to use closed groups. To become a member, you must send a request to the group administrator. Open groups are not suitable for business promotion or marketing, as bots and spammers can get into them, and moderation will take a lot of time. Secret groups are suitable for internal use in small companies.
Should I Add A Questionnaire to New Members?
It will be easier for group administrators to decide whether to add a member to the group or not if the user passes a small questionnaire along with the request for addition. You can ask to write an email or indicate experience in any field. If the user is not able to answer a couple of questions, then do not add it. Such users are generally inactive. The questionnaire can be added in the “Participants” section. Answers to questions must be no longer than 250 characters.
Learn how to convert your new Facebook members into leads.
How to Remove or Block Members of Your Group on Facebook?
Immediately block users who:
- violate the rules of the group prescribed in the description;
- spam and promote their services (if prohibited);
- offend other participants.
Content within the group is a reflection of your business. For example, if you do not want to be accused of racism or sexism, immediately block people who express such views.
To remove a participant, find him in the list. Click on the settings icon opposite his avatar. Select “Remove from Group.” To block the user and no longer receive requests for addition from him, select “Block member” in the pop-up window.
In the group menu, you can see all the users you have blocked.
Facebook Group Moderation
Create a group only when you have enough time to moderate it.
The most important tasks:
- Keep track of published content. Delete spam and posts that violate the rules of the group.
- Add or remove members. Now you can also add a filter of Automatic approval. If a user fits in specific criteria he/she will be automatically approved.
- Check content that other members have flagged as dubious. To do this, open “Settings -> Group Management -> Messages for the administrator.”
How to Add An Administrator or Moderator?
What is the difference? Moderators can approve applications for participation, delete and block users, check posts and comments in the group, pin posts in the header and check incoming messages from the support service.
Administrators can do the same. As well as add and remove administrators and moderators, change group settings, including description, group policy and tags.
Group Analytics
Group analytics is in the left pane. Only group administrators have access to analytics.
On the first screen in analytics is a general summary of group growth, level of involvement and data on participants. To download analytics, click on the button “Download details”. You can download 3 groups of data at once or each individually.
Learn how to get more insights into your Facebook group- Grytics!
Engagement
This is one of the most important blocks inside Facebook groups, it shows how interesting the content of the group is to its members. You can see the number of reposts, active participants, comments on posts and reactions to them. You can also see on what days and at what time there was maximum activity and the most popular posts with details – who published them and their involvement indicators.
How to Grow Your Facebook Group?
There are the following tactics I would suggest with my own experiences. They would definitely help you attract more people with similar interests to your group.
1. Purpose of Creation:
You won’t definitely be willing to create a group that has no purpose of its existence.
You won’t definitely want to be part of a local community or group where people share their business ideas and sales pitches.
Not only it wastes their time, but it also makes other group members more repulsive to any further posts.
All this because they just don’t serve the purpose and it might not be the place where everyone would be interested in such posts.
The group with some purpose and cause gives people purpose and cause to join that group.
So one should be clear about the niche and cause the group is going to serve.
2. Catchy Names Catch Eyes And Traffic:
There are more than 1.5 billion searches every day on Facebook.
People search for groups dedicated to a particular niche most of the time.
It might be about something which is trending on Google. Sometimes facebook searches are inspired by what is trending on google. You can know what is trending on Googletrends.com
One should 2-3 keywords in the name to convey what exactly the group is all about.
People searching about the same niche your group is dedicated to would be able to find your group as up as possible.
This helps in optimizing search on Facebook and puts groups in search results as up as possible if keywords are matching exactly.
3. Catchy Descriptions:
One can choose 3 different in the description to let people and facebook know what group is all about.
4. Use an Attractive/Cool Graphic or Picture On Your Group:
Using an attractive graphic or picture for your group would compel people to join your group.
You can also choose an attractive icon for it.
5. Use Your Group Members And Friends To Enlarge Group:
Invite your friends to join your group. Do some research and find some interested people in their friend lists. Send them friend requests.
People joining your group are often like-minded. They often know people who might be interested in joining your group.
Encourage them to invite others to join your group, tag them in your posts. Subscribe to The Morning Email. Wake up to the day’s most important news.
This often makes your group go viral.
6. Advertise Your Group:
Make a page dedicated to your group or to the niche related to the niche of your group.
Invite people to like it. Set links that direct them to your group.
Approach other group admins if they can allow you to share your group in their group.
If you sharing an interesting topic in other groups, you can ask people to join your group.
7. From Other Social Media to Facebook:
There are other social media dedicated to serving various other purposes. You can share your Facebook page link there also.
You can share it on Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and many others.
8. Show Some Examples:
You can mention the credible accomplishments of people you helped in their businesses.
It would encourage more and more people to verify and trust in your product/corporation.
This would drive them to come to join your group.
9. Let the Group Be CLOSED:
Always set your group privacy to CLOSED. If the group is opened to all, people would just don’t value it! No one values what is open for all!
Being in a group after getting verified by the Admin, creates an impression on them.
They would value the group.
10. Communicate with Everyone:
Maintain communication with each member of the group.
This helps both of you understand each other. You will help them better when you know them better.
11. Be Content Specific:
Try to be content-specific.
It is important to consider some major problems being faced by the Group members.
Content-specific to their solutions should be posted regularly.
Consider everyone’s business issues. They might be issues many others might be facing.
12. Tag people:
Tagging is a tactical tool! Tagging them in some posts helps to start discussions. One should be specific while tagging people. This helps in creating a forum for changing perspectives.
As Steve Jobs quoted “You exchange your apple with mine we end up with one apple each, you exchanged your idea with mine we both ended up with two each”.
Ideas are immortal. They are shared by discussions. Perspectives are important for growing business.
13. Hit at the Right Time:
Try to know when you can get most of the members reading your post or participate in the group activities.
Value their time as well as yours.
14. Go on:
Once you have started, just keep going. Keep growing. There would be ups and downs. Sometimes it would be a bumpy ride, sometimes smooth as skiing.
But you have to keep moving. BE innovative. Just keep finding newer ways to attract more people to your group. If you don’t find it, just create one.
How to Make A Group on Facebook useful?
It is necessary to offer users such obvious benefits that they will not receive from the official page. Emphasize this in the description.
For example, you can indicate that in a group you are actively responding to questions from participants. While personal consultation anywhere on other sources is paid.
It is also important to publish unique content, insider information, talk about the latest in your company. In this case, emphasis should be placed on the exclusivity of information in this group.
It is important to respond to all posts and comments. Each participant should feel that you value him.
Method 1
Offer to participate in the group as a bonus to the purchase of goods.
This method will not only help sell more but also add value to the product itself. You can also increase the value of the goods if you sell them together with participation.
Help other members to share their valuable resources.
Method 2
Use a group to promote your product.
If participation in the group itself is not paid, it’s okay. You can sell goods and services through a group, promoting them with useful content.
But remember that the most important thing is not to chase money first of all. Pay more attention to the group members, their questions, requests and interests.
Method 3
Share valuable content, offer free trials of your product and grab user reviews.
With the help of our growth hacking Facebook group, we managed to collect reviews from our group members and finally, we managed to close over 226 orders totalling $22K in sales.
You can grab your copy right here- The GHW Guide to Growth Hacking and Entrepreneurship!
How to Increase Activity in your Facebook Group?
The more activity in the group, the greater its value to the participants.
Here are some ways to increase your activity:
- Use different types of content. Add video or pictures.
- Invite participants to leave feedback about a group of products, add polls.
- Be as responsive as possible. Reply to posts and comments. The more active you yourself, the more active the participants.
- Ask open-ended questions. For example, ask council members what this group is missing. Thus, you can get a lot of useful tips from people directly interested in interesting content.
- Tag other members in posts. This shows that the opinion of the participants is important to you.
Facebook groups have great potential. And companies can use it to their advantage. And the more innovations in the platform, the more opportunities for the company and its promotion. Both the group and the official page will help you create an active community around your brand. Just start actively using all the features of Facebook!
Some Valuable Facebook Groups you Must Join Right Away
Credits: Luka Zuparic
My 3 all-time favourites
Badass Marketers and Founders (BAMF) – By far the best marketing & business-related group out there (and one of the few groups I visit regularly). The admin, Josh Fechter, is an absolute beast when it comes to sharing value bombs. Fechter managed to build a highly engaged community where it’s easy to drown in all the value and knowledge.
Growth Hacking Secrets – Ran by Alex Rangevik with a little help from Gilles DC, GHS is packed with actionable and easy-to-implement growth hacks. If you’re serious about growing your business, make sure you check out this group.
Alex is a true inspirator and a growth marketing expert, he’s also very meticulous when organizing the group content. You’ll find everything listed on the pinned post (or simply head over to the file section). GHS is all about a no-BS marketing approach, that will help you leave your competitors behind and be on the road to success.
Charm Offensive – aka “Jon Buchan’s charmingly offensive humour-infused temple”. If your job has anything to do with grabbing someone’s attention then he’s your guy.
Jon is a master of cold approach with email being his favourite method. Writing classes, freebies, exercises, special guests… Charm Offensive has it all, plus one of the best atmospheres of all the FB groups I’m in.
You can’t miss with these-
The Marketing Family – If you are not sure where to start with your social media, join this group and everything will be much clearer. Stapho Thienpont will take you by your hand and guide you through the magical world of social media strategies, tactics and best practices.
Lately, LinkedIn has become his favourite playground – reaching hundreds of thousands of people and sharing everything he learns along the way. Some even call him “the buff Harry Potter of social media”.
Coffee With Dan – A supporting, no bs group started by Dan Meredith to keep himself accountable, it evolved into one of the most vivid communities for entrepreneurs. As the group description suggests ”it’s a place for entrepreneurs who want to get shit done, have more fun, make more profit all while simply being themselves”. You’ll be amazed by the amount of value and support (and foul language) inside.
Traffic and Copy – Honestly, if you haven’t heard about T&C, you don’t know much about FB groups (sorry). Vin Clancy and Charlie Price grew the group from 0 to over 18k members in just over a year. It’s the home of growth hacks, cold emails, amusing copy (that sells) and interesting personalities. They also offer courses, webinars, ebooks… the whole lot. Join in and start learning.
NicheHacks.com Private Mastermind Group – A massive mastermind group around the topic of niche marketing/affiliate marketing where the ever-elusive Stuart Walker and his team reveal untapped markets and insider niche ‘hacks’. A true gem!
Stacking Growth – A group brought to you by growth wizard Justin Wu. Not everyone can get inside but when you do… Whoa! Not just growth tips/tricks/hacks but tons of valuable insights. When you get your growth in place, and it’s time to stack things up, this is the place where you ask the big questions and get even bigger answers.
SaaS Growth Hacks – Aaron Krall is a master when it comes to boosting SaaS conversions. He’s always helpful and ready to lend a hand. He built this group for SaaS people to get feedback, ask questions, get tips, help and discover new ways to grow. I once called him “Aaron the SaaS Baron” but the nickname didn’t stick (yet).
Chat Bots
Bot Academy: Facebook Messenger Marketing – As the name suggests, this group focuses on showing you how to use messenger chatbots to grow your business and get clients to pay for chatbots, but also brings tons of market insights, guides and so on. If you’re looking to jump in on the bot train, then this is the perfect place to start. Ask questions, connect with other marketers and bot-makers, and bring your bot game to the next level.
ManyChat Community – If you’re looking to build chatbots with ManyChat, then you definitely need to join this group. It’s practically their forum where you can share your ManyChat best practices, new ideas, awesome results, seek advice and get to know other users
ChatFuel Community – Same as the ManyChat group, this one focuses on ChatFuel users. It’s a place where you can ask questions, share and find insights, connect with other ChatFuel bot-makers and get help on everything bot-related.
Dream Team Instagram Secrets – A small but powerful group that will surely help you accelerate the growth of your Instagram account. Jeannette, Daniel, Len and Esther are the ones to talk to when you want to turn your followers into loyal fans & customers. Growth hacks, strategies, tools, best practices – the dream team has it all. Don’t miss it
Instagram Growth Hacks by Avenik – An incredibly active and useful group! Suitable for beginner, intermediate and pro Instagrammers.
For all your Instagram questions, this place has the answers. If you’re an entrepreneur, network marketer, business owner, social media manager, or blogger and your business relies on Instagram, don’t think twice and join this group immediately.
Copy
The Cult of Copy – Colin Theriot started this group over 5 years ago and today it’s a true copy temple open for all those that genuinely look to improve their copy and learn from others. Copywriting, persuasion, mind control and all that sneaky kind of stuff are what Colin likes to talk about. A unique no bs, no fluff group where stuff that is taboo and forbidden elsewhere is dragged out into the light and dissected here for fun and profit.
CopyMonk – The place where Danavir Sarria helps copywriters and business owners learn the simple way of writing high converting copy. Mr Sarria is an experienced digital marketer and entrepreneur that worked with 6 & 7 figure business owners for almost a decade. Learn the DOs and DONTs, the INs and OUTs directly from the expert.
The Copywriter – What I love the most about this one is its positive and constructive atmosphere. Eleanor Goold’s group is open for all those interested in copywriting (and any closely related subjects). As she describes it “it’s a happy ship” where everyone looking for help with their copy or just wants to learn more or help others, is welcome. A truly friendly and valuable copy hub!
Other
Really Simple Online Courses – If you want to start an online course – then this group is an absolute must. Pete OC is an Agora-trained copywriter, adventurer, hilarious dude and overall my all-time favourite Aussie. He’s always there to help out his community members build simple yet extremely effective courses that bring in maximum results.
Official Appsumo Deal Fans – Who doesn’t like a sweet deal? If Appsumo is your main online business tool shop, then don’t miss their official group. The group was created to build a bridge between the users/customers & founders of the promoted tools.
Sampath managed to build a highly engaged community of sumolings where they talk about upcoming Appsumo deals, run live walkthrough with founders, discuss use cases & get exclusive Tips/Tricks about the products you buy.
Grow with Logan – Logan is one of my favourite productivity and lifehack dudes. In his group, he shares all his findings, thoughts and recipes for boosting productivity. He posts mainly to challenge your thoughts, habits and everyday living.
Ultimately, his goal is to progress your life in some way or another – financially, mentally, or spiritually…
Better Photos, Video, & Editing – If you like or need to create video, screencasts or photos then this is for you. Seth Estrada’s group is for business people, marketers, and entrepreneurs that know what they’re talking about- or who want to learn.
He’ll help you learn how to convert viewers into customers, shoot better photos & videos, make any camera perform better, find the best editing software and how to use them as well as tons.
Blogging
Blogging Cage VIP – Learn Blogging and Digital Marketing
Blogging Cage is a premium group for BloggingCage.com readers. Here you can connect with many fellow bloggers and discuss your problems with them.
Once you got approved starting engaging with community threads by commenting and sharing them. You can share your content on the comments but only if that is relevant to the topics. This is a closed group.
HellBound Bloggers – This is a very popular group for bloggers, here you can share your blog if it is related to the topic, and also you can have meaningful discussions about blogging, WordPress, SEO, Internet and other stuff related to these fields. This is a closed group.
Premium Tricks by IFTISEO – If you are planning to earn extra online then this group is your one-stop source for online money-making secrets, affiliate marketing strategies, blogging tips that actually work. This is a secret group. You can drop your comment below if you want a private invite to this group.
