What is the best way to grow a Facebook community?

Facebook Groups are nothing new – they have grown to 1.8 billion users since their launch in October 2010 and became even more focused during the global covid pandemic. So how do they differ from a Facebook Page and what does that mean to you and your business?

A Facebook page was the space for everyone from major brands to local businesses and even celebrities to showcase publicly on Facebook’s Social media real estate. Whereas groups have always been more focused and often closed communities rather than open to the public. With Mark Zuckerberg’s focus on growing groups becoming more public over the years, he believes they are the way forward so given the money being invested it would be rude not to take advantage and add a group to your digital strategy.

““ There is a real opportunity to connect more of us with groups that will be meaningful social infrastructure in our lives ” Mark Zuckerberg

So how can you grow your Facebook group and why would you? The why is simple – many facebook algorithm tweaks over the years have shown more personal  and less commercial content to its 2.9 billion active monthly users. So even by spending sizeable budgets on facebook advertising brands and businesses were struggling to get a return on investment and now need to migrate to a new roi – return on interaction.

The HOW requires a strategy of who you want in the group and why. With one in 7 users belonging to a meaningful group in 2018 that has grown significantly since covid. What group can you create for your business or brand? Cult status programmes are simple – keeping followers up to date with behind-the-scenes secrets and teasing upcoming episodes will keep your audience tuned in but for businesses, you will need to spend some tie creating a strategy of what will make them feel they are in the right place.

Here are just a few ideas that may help you with growing your group:

1. Create a plan of who your ideal member is and what your ideal outcome is
2. Set ground rules
3. Create a pinned post that gives loads of info or something that will help
4. Welcome all members
5. Showcase what members do
6. Tease what is coming
7. Education – how to do something
8. Offers – try to add value rather than discounts – or they will always expect discounts
9. Polls are VERY powerful – you find out about your members
10. Post at times that count – check the insights for engagement times
11. Remove spam quickly
12. Create same theme posts regularly – like Saturday spotlight
13. Always offer value
14. Don’t take your audience for granted
15. Don’t neglect them – post at least 3 x a week
16. Don’t overdose them – multiple posts daily is a quick way to lose them
17. Encourage them to post themselves -rewards creators
18. Encourage them to bring people like them
19. Listen to your members and respond
20. Be consistent – it grows trust