How one can construct a Fb group
Facebook now has over 2 billion active monthly users. Almost 1 billion of these users participate in Facebook groups.
Creating your own group is an inexpensive and effective way to reach your target market.
If you are new to Facebook groups, it is essentially a community within the Facebook platform that users can join, and participation is recommended. Groups are based on common interests or goals like cooking or running, but there are also many business-oriented groups.
In this post, I'm going to cover everything you need to know to start and grow your own successful Facebook group, and how to use it to market your business.
In the end, you know more than most Facebook marketers how to turn a Facebook group from nothing into something spectacular.
Let's begin.
Who is your Facebook group for?
The first thing to find out about your group is who it is for.
If your group's goal is to generate leads for your business, your group should attract your ideal customers.
Say you're a graphic designer looking to work with small businesses or startups. Your group should provide valuable tips to small business owners on how to make their brand stand out.
It's important to have a specific target market in mind for your Facebook group.
There are several reasons for this.
First, you can describe your group more effectively if you can specify who you want to help. If you can clearly communicate how your group can benefit others, you can easily attract new members.
The biggest benefit of clearly communicating the benefits of your group is that it will be filled with your ideal customers instead of random people.
For example, imagine you wanted to start a group to provide "Dog Training Advice for Labrador Owners."
Which group do you think your target audience would most like to join?
A group called "Dog Training" or a group called "Dog Training for Labrador Owners".
I bet you chose the second right?
That's because the second is more tailored to the needs of someone who has just adopted a Labrador and needs breed specific training advice.
The sense of community in the second group is also likely to be higher, as the community also increases. People join groups to be with others like themselves.
This is one of the reasons you need to be precise when setting up your Facebook group.
The second reason is that it will be easier for people to find your group.
One of the most important ways new people can find your group is by searching on Facebook. There are 2 billion daily searches on Facebook.
Giving your Facebook group a specific, keyword-rich name will make it easier for users to search. In our Labrador example above, it will likely appear for the term "Labrador Dog Training", but it can get lost in thousands of search results for "Dog Training".
How to create a Facebook group
First, log into Facebook. Then open the + icon to display the Build menu.
Select Group and provide some basic information about your group.
Create a "group name" based on the principles we just covered. You may also want to click Pin to Shortcuts. This will ensure that the group can be found in the left sidebar of your Facebook profile.
Next, select the privacy level. I suggest setting the group to "private" so only people who join can see your content. This makes the group exclusive and gives people a reason to actually join (so they can access your content).
You can check out people who are joining to make sure not everyone with a social media account comes in. Remember to keep your group high quality. It has to be informative and not "sellable".
Next, choose whether your group is visible (anyone can search for it and ask to join) or hidden (only members can see the group exists). I suggest being visible so people can find your group when they search.
The final part of setting up your group is adding a friend. This is optional, but a good place to start.
The best way to work around this is to add just one of your friends. You can always delete them from the group later.
If they're a good friend, they probably won't mind!
Click on "Create". You will be taken to the page where you can update your selected image, manage posts, schedule posts, and add a description.
First we need to give the group a description. Click on "Add Description" on the right.
This is what potential members will see when they find your group. Make sure the description is clear and entices people to join.
Here's what I came up with.
Then click on Add Tags (also on the right) to choose up to 5 descriptive tags for your group. I have selected the following:
We then need to give the group a cover photo.
If you don't have a great photo that would fit your group, you can go to Flickr and find one. Look for something related to your group topic.
I was looking for "Labradors".
On the search results page, click "Any License" in the upper left corner and select "Commercial Use and Mods Allowed". This means that the photographer agrees that you can use it to promote your company or, in this case, a Facebook group.
Here is a cool picture that I found.
If you want to download an image, click the arrow icon in the lower right corner and select "Original".
Return to your Facebook group page and click "Upload Photo".
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Click and drag to reposition it until it looks good.
These are the basics for setting up your group.
There are a few more things we can do to increase the chances of being found in Facebook Search.
Scroll left in the Manage Group bar and click Settings.
You will then see this page with some additional settings.
First select a group type. I choose "General" because I don't need any other functions such as templates or the management of sales items.
If you're trying to attract people from your area, add a location for your group.
You can also require people to answer questions before joining. This is handy for learning more about your members and determining if they are a good fit for your company.
Let's examine how you can expand it now that your group is set up.
Create a Facebook page for your group
You might be wondering why you need a Facebook page and group.
You don't necessarily need a page for your group. However, if you want to promote your group with ads or public social media posts, you need a page to do so.
Your group is a private space where only members can view and discuss content.
A Facebook page is a public profile where everyone can see your content. They can "like" your page, which means they will see your posts on their personal Facebook feeds.
There are two main advantages to having a public Facebook Page:
- You can use it to run ads promoting your group (more on that in a moment).
- Also, you can freely promote your group through public social media. People who stumble upon your page may also find your group interesting and join them.
Setting up a Facebook Page is similar to a group. In the menu next to your profile photo, click the + symbol and select "Page".
Then you need to choose a page type to create. I chose cause or community because I want to create a community of Labrador owners.
Enter a page name and click Get Started.
Like our group site, you want to spend a few minutes setting up your site. Add a profile photo and cover photo. You can use the same as your group.
In fact, you should use the same photos to clearly identify them. When a visitor sees them, he knows that the page and group are connected.
Then you want to add a description and a little more information. Click Info in the left menu, then click Edit Page Info in the top right.
You want to add relevant categories for your page and a description. Promote your group in the description and add the link to it to encourage attendees to join.
In addition to listing your group in the description, you'll want to have a pinned post on the page promoting your group.
A pinned post is just a normal post that an administrator has pinned or pinned to the top. So, it's the first thing everyone sees when they visit your page.
To create one, post a regular post on your page.
Press Publish. Click the down arrow in the top right corner of the post, then click Pin to Top of Page.
This will keep the post at the top of your Facebook page for everyone. When new visitors check out your page in your ad, the link to your group will also appear.
Let's explore how to use your Page to grow your new Facebook group.
Add ads to your Facebook group
One of the easiest ways to get people to join your group is to run targeted Facebook ads. As mentioned earlier, running ads requires one page.
When you are happy with the look of your Facebook group and page, head over to Facebook's ad manager.
In the upper right, click the green Create Ad button.
Then select Engagement from the list of ad options.
Pick a name for your ad campaign and make sure you target "Page Likes".
Click Next to go to the next section.
I will now focus on showing you how to create a unique audience of Labrador owners. You're targeting your ad to that audience so you can direct lab owners to your page where they can discover and join your group.
Enter a name for your ad set. I chose "Labrador Owners". Then select your Facebook page from the drop-down list.
The audience area is really important.
Here you determine who should see your ad.
Since we are promoting your Labrador training site and group, we obviously want to attract Labrador owners, right?
First, enter the locations you want to target. I picked Canada, the US, and the UK.
The Detailed Targeting section is the most important. Here you can define interests and hobbies. Facebook will show your ad to people who match this description.
Type in "labrador" for a list of related interests.
Here's what I've chosen for the interests of my audience.
You can also click Suggestions on the right-hand side to identify interests that Facebook deems relevant to your audience. This is a great way to find new ones that you haven't thought of yet.
Facebook picked a few good ones for me, like Golden Retrievers, Dog Owners, and I Love Labradors. I've added these to my audience profile.
Click "Save Audience" and you're done!
Now you have a defined group of people that you want to target with your ads.
If you target an ad specifically to people interested in Labradors, there is a good chance you will get them to join your group.
There is a lot more involved in setting up a Facebook ad, such as: B. Writing content, setting a budget and much more. For full details on how to create effective Facebook Ads, please refer to this post. I wrote all about it.
Another method of advertising on Facebook is to promote a post on your page called "boosting".
You will notice this button in the lower right corner of all posts on your page.
If you have a small advertising budget, there is no harm in experimenting with these tactics.
When you click the button, you'll see a few options to set up your ad right away.
Adjust the budget and time frame to your liking, then hit Boost.
Since this is promoting a post on your page, it's a good idea to improve a post that mentions that you are joining your group.
Many factors play a role in a successful Facebook ad, from the visual appearance to the written content and especially who it is addressed to. You will most likely have to experiment with a few different ads and targeting strategies to get the results you want.
After you've spent around $ 50, you'll know a lot better whether this strategy works or not and whether or not you should keep increasing the number of posts.
Once your Facebook Page grows, it is a good idea to promote some of your favorite Facebook posts to see if there is a "trickle-down" effect.
This effect occurs when people see your page in an ad, see the pinned post to your group, and jump over and join the group.
Promoting your Page and using a pinned post are two effective and relatively inexpensive ways to grow your new group on Facebook.
But you don't have to spend any money to grow your group!
Now I'm going to go over some totally free ways to market your group.
Expand your Facebook group without ads
More than 1 billion people visit Facebook pages every month, and there are an average of 4 million "likes" per minute! That adds up to 250 million likes per day.
You only need to get a small portion of this action to see the results for your group.
An easy way to do this is to have your group featured on your Facebook page from time to time.
Don't just use your page to drive traffic to your group. The site must also offer valuable and interesting content for visitors. Otherwise, they won't "like" the page or it won't update.
You already have the pinned post at the top of the page for new visitors to see. So I recommend waiting until your page has around 100 followers (or “likes”) before mentioning the group again.
This is because your page fans will have forgotten the pinned post by then, but will see your new post in their timelines. Don't be too pushy or spammy. Just tell people what to expect from your group.
Here is something I came up with.
Posting through your group shouldn't be done more than once a month so you don't start annoying people who just want to follow the content of your page but don't want to join the group.
An easy way to post links to your group every month without even thinking about it is to use a social media planning tool like Hootsuite.
Hootsuite has a plan that lets you post to three social media profiles as often as you want. And the best part about it? It's 100% free!
Visit their website and log in.
After signing in, add your social media accounts.
After signing in to your Facebook account, select the Facebook Page you want to post to and click Done.
Move your mouse to the top of the page and the post box will appear. Write a promotional message for your Facebook group here.
Click the calendar icon in the lower right.
You can either schedule your post automatically or choose a specific date and time to post it. AutoSchedule is great when the date doesn't matter because Hootsuite will pick the best time to post your message.
In this case, we would like to set the date and time ourselves to ensure that our group advertising messages are deleted.
After you click Schedule, your post will be sent on the date and time you specify.
Just repeat this a few times to build months-worthy of sales in just a few minutes.
Make sure you schedule them every month or so so it doesn't look like you're spamming your page with requests to join your group all the time.
If you have an email list of subscribers from your blog or website, you can also send them a note to let them know of your new group.
This is a very effective way of attracting new group members as these are people who are already interested in what you have to say.
Grow your Facebook group by promoting it in other groups
Another extremely effective strategy that can be used to grow your Facebook group is cross-promotion.
There are over a billion groups on Facebook, so there are likely a few similar to yours.
Cross-promoting your group in other related groups is a great way to grow it quickly. However, you also want to follow each group's self-promotion rules.
In many groups, you can't just stop by, post about your own group, and leave. It's disrespectful. So make sure you don't just spam these groups with your link.
You don't want anyone in your group to do that, do you?
To find a group to advertise your group in, search Facebook for topics related to your group.
I went to my Labrador training example and typed in "dog training tips".
Find a group with at least 50 members.
Here is one that is very popular with over 1,500 members.
Join the group and add value in at least three to five posts before talking about yourself. Look for questions from others that you can answer and leave a thoughtful, real comment.
Remember, there's no point just walking in, deleting the link and walking out. People will switch off thinking that you are only there to benefit yourself.
Take some time to be helpful first, then nurture your group.
Some groups have strict rules for promoting themselves, saying that not only can you post on the group page, but you can only post as a comment on a weekly promotional thread such as "Promo Friday".
The group rules are usually written in the description. So do take a look before you post.
Groups can also have a pinned post at the top of the page listing their rules or links to them, like this one:
Make sure to review the rules and post accordingly.
Here is something I posted to promote my Labrador group.
My goal is to ask the group a question instead of just saying, "Hey, I have a group for Labradors, come with me!"
You can also promote your group to one another by contacting the group admin and asking them to help market your group. In return, you can also link from your group to yours.
Not everyone will bring you up on this, but it is worth a few minutes of your time to try!
Most groups list the administrators in the description as follows:
I'm assuming Sally created the group since it was first listed. I'll send her a message.
Click the Members tab on the left.
Then click on Admins.
Scroll through until you find Sally (or look in the top right!).
Click on their name and you will be directed to their profile. Click on Message.
I wrote a short but nice message to Sally about mutual promotion and added a link to my group. It only took a few minutes and could get a lot of exposure to my group if they agree to promote it.
Chris at STB Collaborations used this strategy to grow his Facebook group by 923% in just three days!
He left a post promoting his group for living in Asia in other large groups in his niche. He attached a nice note to the group admin that he wouldn't have harsh feelings if he deleted his post.
Some deleted it, others were more than happy to help Chris promote his Facebook group.
Chris also used his "Super Fans", the highly committed members of his group, to attract new members. He created a private chat with his top 25 fans and asked them to help grow the group.
He says this was critical to growing his group so quickly and for free.
His superfans ensured that posts welcoming new members were posted frequently, offensive posts were not seen, and helped quickly approve requests from new members.
This leads us to another easy way to grow your group.
Encourage existing members to promote your group
Like Chris, you can use the existing members of your group to attract new members.
How exactly you do this depends on what your group is about and how many members you currently have.
As a good first step, you can just write a post in your group and ask people to share it. Let them know that you want to make this group the best and most popular for your topic and you will need their help to do so.
People like to feel helpful.
A study conducted by the New York Times found that people shared content on social media for five main reasons:
- Reveal valuable and entertaining content to others.
- Define yourself to others.
- Build and maintain relationships.
- For self-realization.
- To publicize brands and causes they like or support.
Appeal to your group members' emotions by letting them know how much their sharing is contributing to the growth of the group and how much you value it.
Another way to get your members to share the group is to hold a contest.
Competitions are very effective for obvious reasons. Everyone likes to win!
Your contest winner could be the person who gets the most new members to join the group. At the end of the competition, have everyone who invited others mark who they have included in the group in the comments section of a post.
In addition, you can hold competitions for each milestone the group reaches.
So, for my Labrador group, I could say that for every 100 members that join, I make a $ 100 giveaway in dog-related goodies.
In these posts, I could also ask members to invite people they know to join and participate in the giveaway.
According to Facebook, the average user has 155 friends.
Surely your members will think that at least some of their family members and friends would like to join your Labrador group and win some dog products.
Encourage influencers to join your Facebook group
Another way to grow your group is to get influencers in your niche to join.
This can be hard to find for certain industries like my Labrador example unless I can attract a top dog trainer like Cesar Milan or someone of his fame!
The main idea is to promote some of the influencer's content and then tag them when they promote their item.
You should do this on your Facebook page as what you post here is public. The influencer will see that you've tagged them on a post and can comment on it or share it with their audience.
If you have marked an influencer in your Facebook group, it will only be shown if it is already a member.
If you flag them on your public post, the influencer will be notified and may review your group. Hopefully they'll join too.
If other people see that the influencer is a member, they can just join your group out of curiosity. Your thought process is that if the influencer is a member, the group must surely be good!
This is how the tactic worked for Ryan Stewart, who managed to get Matthew Barby to join his Facebook group.
Ryan made a post on his Facebook page and shared one of Matthew's articles. He also tagged Matthew in the mail.
Then Matthew became a member.
If you're not sure how to find influencers, take a look at people in your niche who have lots of social media followers.
Influencer marketing can have a huge impact on your group's growth, especially if you're just starting out.
For more information on using influencers in your marketing strategy, check out my step-by-step guide on how to reach out to influencers.
Promote your Facebook group on other social media platforms
Your target audience isn't just on Facebook. Promote it on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. You have the idea.
Facebook is still king when it comes to user engagement, but Instagram is growing fast.
This means that many of them visit Facebook at least once a day, even though they may be using a different social media channel.
Why don't you make these people check Facebook to see what's going on in your group?
Make sure posts promoting your group are included in your regular posting schedule across all of your platforms.
Sie können sogar andere Influencer twittern oder erwähnen, um sie wissen zu lassen, dass Sie eine Gruppe haben, die für ihre Anhänger von Interesse sein könnte. Im Idealfall wird Ihre Gruppe auch für ihr Publikum von Vorteil sein, anstatt dass Sie mit ihnen konkurrieren.
Wenn Sie Schwierigkeiten haben, Personen dazu zu bringen, sich auf diese Weise Ihrer Gruppe anzuschließen, sollten Sie einen Ansatz für gated Content in Betracht ziehen.
Der Ansatz für gated Content bedeutet, dass Sie möglicherweise nicht über die Gruppe selbst twittern, sondern über einen Inhalt posten, der nur in der Gruppe zu finden ist.
Der Inhalt könnte ein kostenloses Videotraining, ein Leitfaden oder eine PDF-Checkliste sein. Sie nennen es. Für meine Labrador-Gruppe könnte es ein Video sein, das Ihnen zeigt, wie Sie Ihren Hund zum Holen trainieren.
Sie würden dann die Leute wissen lassen, dass darin einige großartige Inhalte verfügbar sind, und sie sollten beitreten.
Ich stelle meinen Podcast häufig in meinen sozialen Kanälen zur Verfügung, um den Verkehr dorthin zu lenken. Gleiches gilt für eine Gruppe.
Wenn Sie auf spezielle Inhalte verlinken, die nur in Ihrer Gruppe enthalten sind, müssen Sie diese in Ihrer Gruppe speichern.
So geht's
Gehen Sie zur Seite Ihrer Gruppe und bewegen Sie den Mauszeiger über den Text "Mehr" im Bereich "Posterstellung".
Klicken Sie auf Datei hinzufügen, um eine PDF-Datei oder einen anderen Dokumenttyp hochzuladen. Sie können auch eine Notiz über den Artikel hinzufügen.
Die meisten Leute wissen nicht, wo sich die Dateien in einer Gruppe befinden. Daher ist es eine gute Idee, Anweisungen in einen angehefteten Beitrag oben in Ihrer Gruppe aufzunehmen.
So machen Sie Ihre Facebook-Gruppe erfolgreich
Bisher haben wir erläutert, was Sie tun können, um Menschen dazu zu bringen, sich Ihrer Gruppe anzuschließen.
Wichtiger ist jedoch, herauszufinden, wie Sie Menschen dazu bringen können, in Ihrer Gruppe zu bleiben und aktiv teilzunehmen.
Wenn Sie herausfinden können, wie Sie Menschen einbeziehen können, wird sich Ihre Gruppe selbst erhalten.
Als Erstes müssen Sie berücksichtigen, wie Sie mit Spam umgehen.
So verhindern Sie Spam in Ihrer Facebook-Gruppe
Spam kann eine Gruppe schnell töten. Niemand mag es, Nachrichten zu erhalten, die für ihn nicht von Nutzen sind oder die nur übermäßig für sich selbst werben. Lassen Sie Ihre guten Gruppenmitglieder das Schiff nicht wegen Spam verlassen.
Wenn Sie sich für die Einrichtung einer "geschlossenen" Facebook-Gruppe entschieden haben, sollte Spam kein allzu großes Problem sein, da Sie neue Mitglieder genehmigen.
Es wird jedoch immer ein paar Spammer geben, die es schaffen, durchzukommen, indem sie zunächst normal erscheinen.
Wenn Sie jemanden sehen, der etwas veröffentlicht, das Spam ähnelt, senden Sie ihm eine direkte Nachricht und teilen Sie ihm mit, dass das, was er tut, gegen die Gruppenregeln verstößt. Wenn sie die Regeln weiterhin missbrauchen, werfen Sie sie raus.
Es erfordert ein wenig Überwachung, um Ihre Gruppe für alle angenehm zu machen, aber es lohnt sich am Ende. Um Ihre Regeln wirklich offensichtlich zu machen, empfehle ich, einen angehefteten Beitrag zu erstellen, in dem alle Regeln ausführlich erläutert werden.
Dann gibt es keine Entschuldigung für Leute, die nicht wissen, wie sie sich in Ihrer Gruppe verhalten sollen.
Sie können sogar die Regeln in der Beschreibung erwähnen, damit die Benutzer diese Informationen bereits vor dem Beitritt kennen.
Hier ist noch einmal ein Beispiel von Ryan Stewart mit seinen Gruppenregeln.
Wenn Sie zufällig jemanden verbieten, ist es möglicherweise eine gute Idee, eine öffentliche Erklärung abzugeben, warum Sie diese Vorgehensweise mit einem bestimmten Benutzer durchgeführt haben.
Dies wird die Leute wissen lassen, dass Sie fair waren, aber es wird auch als Warnung für andere Leute dienen, die möglicherweise daran denken, auf ähnliche Weise zu handeln.
Wenn Sie wirklich gegen Spam vorgehen möchten, sollten Sie es so gestalten, dass jeder einzelne Beitrag innerhalb der Gruppe von einem Administrator genehmigt wird, bevor er öffentlich veröffentlicht wird.
Sie können diese Einstellung in den "Gruppeneinstellungen" in der rechten Seitenleiste der Seite "Gruppe verwalten" anpassen.
Das mag nach einer guten Idee klingen, aber es könnte mehr Ärger geben, als es wert ist.
Potenziell engagierte Benutzer finden es möglicherweise abstoßend, auf das Erscheinen ihres Beitrags warten zu müssen, und die Überwachung und Genehmigung jedes einzelnen Beitrags wird viel Zeit in Anspruch nehmen.
Wenn Sie jeden Beitrag genehmigen müssen, wird der freie Gesprächsfluss gestoppt, den Gruppen herstellen sollen.
Schließlich können Sie einen Moderator einstellen, der sich bei Bedarf um die Verwaltung Ihrer Gruppe kümmert.
Meistens gibt es jemanden in der Gruppe, der dies gerne kostenlos für Sie erledigt, weil er es als Autorität innerhalb der Gruppe ansieht, indem er hilft.
Ein gutes Beispiel hierfür ist das jüngste Phänomen der „Buy & Sell“ -Gruppen.
Hierbei handelt es sich um hyperlokale Gruppen, die häufig nur ein Viertel oder eine Stadt abdecken, in denen Mitglieder Artikel zum Verkauf anbieten und auf Artikel zum Kauf bieten können. Ein bisschen wie ein New Age Flohmarkt.
Diese Gruppen entstanden organisch durch Menschen, die Gegenstände verkaufen und kaufen wollten. Aufgrund ihrer Beliebtheit führte Facebook den offiziellen Gruppentyp "Kaufen & Verkaufen" ein, der Gruppen zusätzliche Funktionen wie Preise und Verkaufsangebote bietet.
Es gab Fälle, in denen Personen Beiträge betrogen oder gelöscht haben, wenn die Käufer in einem Beitrag mit dem besten Angebot nicht genug angeboten haben.
Um dem entgegenzuwirken, haben große Gruppen oft 20 oder mehr Administratoren, die Posten überwachen und die Dinge fair halten. These large groups, often with 50,000 members or more, function like small cities, and the admins are the court justices and police officers keeping them running.
Finding at least one person who is able to help you moderate a group is a good idea once the group gets to a certain size, usually around 1,000 members.
Freeing up your time managing it will allow you to be more active in conversations and creating useful content.
Other than dealing with spam, there are other actions that you’ll need to take to ensure that your group is a place worth hanging out in.
Encourage Engagement
An important role you have as a group owner is to encourage interaction and participation.
You can do that by asking some questions that help you engage with your members. If you know your niche well, coming up with great questions shouldn’t be too hard.
However, if you’re dealing with a new niche, you might need some help when it comes to forming engaging questions that will get your group members talking.
One tactic you can use is a simple Google search.
Search for a question relating to your niche, but make sure to use words like “why,” “how,” or “are” at the beginning.
Here’s an example of how that can work.
Here’s what came up when I used the word “are.”
As you can see, there are some interesting topics here that I can use to prompt discussion in my group.
One of my group goals is to get people telling personal stories.
For instance, I could ask my group members, “What’s the most intelligent thing your Labrador has ever done?”
Or, “Do you have any funny stories about your Labrador obsessing over food?”
When doing this, share some of your own stories to get the discussion going.
By encouraging discussion, you’ll increase the odds of the group becoming self-sustaining as people begin to know each other better.
Use Polls to Drive Facebook Group Engagement
You can even create some ‘Polls’ using the questions you find in your Google searches.
To do that, start a new post on your group and hover over the ‘More’ text, then choose Create Poll.
Then go about asking a question and providing some options.
Once it’s done, here’s what the polls will look like:
Your members can click an option to answer the poll, or leave a more detailed comment on the post.
You may also want to introduce each of the members that have joined the group that week and request that they share some information about themselves.
For my Labrador Group, I might ask that people share a picture of their beloved Lab when they join. People love sharing photos of their pets, so it’s a pretty easy thing to ask them to do.
Use Theme Days
You can also encourage participation by having themed days in your group.
These are posts you make on the same day of the week about a certain topic. In the post, encourage users to weigh in with their thoughts or contribute in another way.
In the popular writing group, The Copywriter Club, the group admins have set Tuesdays as a promotional day and called it “Tuesdaytacular.”
Having a weekly theme gets your members into a routine. They know that they’re allowed to share self-promotional stuff on Tuesdays, so they’ll save up content to post on that day.
Some groups even have a theme for every day of the week!
Themed days may not work for every niche, but it’s worth trying out to see how your members respond.
Offer Exclusive Facebook Group Content
Another way to encourage participation in your group is to offer exclusive content.
This is similar to the approach you’d take with gated content that I mentioned earlier. However, instead of having a post that leads to your group, you’re producing content to improve retention within the group.
The goal is to retain and engage existing members, not attract new ones.
That doesn’t mean that the same kind of content can’t be used to do both jobs at the same time.
Exclusive group content could include PDF guides or free eBooks that you’d otherwise charge for but are giving away for free in your group.
If you’re struggling to come up with good ideas for content, why not just ask people within the group what they’re struggling with? Create a poll for your members to answer.
Then, create content based on the answers people tell you.
There’s really no better way to find ideas for content than to just ask the people you’re creating for. It sounds simple, but it works.
Videos in your group are also an effective way to drive engagement, which I’ll cover next.
Grow Your Facebook Group Engagement with Live Video
Facebook introduced live videos back in 2016, and it’s taken off extremely well since then.
Known as Facebook Live, it allows anyone to start broadcasting live video on their Facebook profiles, pages, and in groups.
An interesting statistic is that users watch live videos 3 times longer than they would watch a recording, signaling that people get really invested in what’s happening ‘in the moment’ and want to find out what happens next.
If your Facebook group is for your business, live video is the next big thing to use to attract new leads and clients.
A study found that 80% of users would rather watch a live video than read a blog post.
Maybe I should make a video about live streaming instead of writing this, huh?
Melyssa Griffin, a popular business blogger, and teacher uses live video a lot in her Facebook group for entrepreneurs Online Business BFFs.
She delivers valuable content, with many videos exceeding 20 minutes in length, and answers her members’ questions in real time. She also does a good job of linking over to her website to encourage new registrations.
Live videos don’t always need to be about pushing a product or service though. You can use them just to build good rapport with your members and encourage discussions.
Melyssa also does a lot of that by sharing some of her personal stories about entrepreneurship without selling anything.
These videos are simply a way to engage with her very loyal audience and inspire them.
Video goes a long way toward establishing trust. When your audience can see you, especially live, they are much more inclined to connect with you and see you as a credible and trustworthy person.
Conclusion
Running a Facebook group can provide a great source of leads for your business, or just be a fun place to connect with other like-minded people, depending on your goals.
However, you can’t just create a Facebook group and then expect it to automatically thrive. You can’t expect leads to roll in immediately, or thousands of members to join in.
You need to work hard to market it in the beginning to get it going.
Once you can be found in Facebook’s search and become known for exclusive content, your group will start to grow organically without a lot of effort.
To stay successful, however, you need to keep high-quality conversations going. Engage your members, respond to their posts, provide real and insightful answers to their questions.
Maintaining a group can take just as much time as marketing it in the beginning. You’ll have to deal with approving members, monitoring and deleting spam, and enforcing group rules.
Eventually, you will be able to hire someone who can take care of all of these duties for you. This will free up your time to create awesome content for your fans to ensure they remain loyal fans.
Do you already have a Facebook group? What have you found to be the best strategies to grow your members and engagement?