Finding and Building Your Community with Facebook Groups

As everyone continues to social distance, we have to find new ways to connect and find community. Facebook Groups may be one solution. A Facebook Group is a forum where people with similar interest can share, post, and talk. Anyone can create a group about nearly any interest. There are groups for fishers, Star Wars nerds, quilters, book clubs, and so much more. If you have an interest that you would like to share and find a community in, how do you go about building that Facebook Group?

Setting up a Facebook group is quite similar to building a Facebook profile or business page. You will need a catchy, relevant name. You can make your Facebook Group as public or private as you would like. It is recommended that you make your Facebook Group public enough that anyone can find it, but private enough that you have to approve anyone who wants to join.

Create an approval process for your Facebook group using a series of questions. While setting up your group, you may ask users to request access to the group following the completion of a questionnaire. For a film group, you may ask what someone’s favorite movie is and why. You can ask as many questions as you wish. Most importantly, the questionnaire is in place to force any prospective member to read the rules of the group.

The group’s rules establish what is allowed and not allowed in the group. Facebook provides recommended rules, but you, the admin, are able to add or subtract any rules you see fit. Many groups include language addressing hate speech and trolling, inclusivity, spamming, and repercussions for violating the rules. With the completion of the rules and questionnaire, you are ready to start inviting others to your group.

Being a part of a Facebook Group, as a member or admin, is a perfect way to find community in your private life. It is also a great opportunity for businesses. Connect with other leaders. Find groups that share interests that pertain to your business. For instance, if you own a tea shop, there are groups for tea enthusiasts. Think of them as potential customers. Without having to directly promote your products and services, you can build a rapport with people who could become your customer. All of that work builds trust and credibility for you and your business. How does that work translate into sales? If your personal profile is public, other group members will be able to see your page when they click on your username seen in every post and comment that you share with the group. Making your place of employment visible on your profile is vital in this scenario. Additionally, the group may have a designated day that they create a thread (a post asking you to comment) where anyone can share their businesses, Etsy pages, and other work that would normally be labeled as spam.

We can be just as connected, if not more so, using platforms like Facebook Groups. Join a group today!