So you've finally started your new Facebook Group! Awesome.
Now what?!
Once you’ve started a new Facebook group, it’s time to recruit your first members. You’ll want to begin by personally inviting people who will be interested in your niche.
Send a private message to friends and followers that love your content. Ask them to join and give them a link to your group. It's important to only add people who will be interested and engage with your content.
The number of people in your Facebook Group is far less important than the number of people who engage and interact regularly in your Facebook Group.
But don't stop there...
Here are 8 other things you can do to grow and get better engagement in your Facebook Group!
Don’t Add without Permission
Facebook groups allow for group creators to mass add their friends into the group.
But don’t do this as many people view it as a form of spam and aren’t likely to stay in your group. It’s better to have a few passionate members who care about your community and want to nurture it.
Adding people to your group just to get that member count up is one of the BEST ways to kill that group's engagement! Read this blog to see why you should never add your mom to your Facebook Group (unless of course, she's your ideal client)!
Post on Your Page
After you’ve set up your group, post about it on your page. Let your followers know about your group and post a link to it so they can join, too. Keep in mind that all of your followers may not see your post about your group. Plan to share about it 3-4 times over the next week.
Explain the Member Benefits
Some people will join your group simply because they like your brand and want to follow along with it. But some people will need more of an incentive to become members. This is your chance to explain the special perks that are exclusive to your group.
You might say, “Join my new fitness group to get weekly exercise motivation, answers to your fitness questions, and a monthly workout schedule.”
Blog about Your New Group
Once you have a few members in your group, blog about it. Invite your readers to check out your group. Let them know about any group rules in your post and tell them to message you if they want faster approval. This gives you the opportunity to connect with blog readers who normally lurk on your blog.
Share about Your Group on Facebook Live
Take a moment to stream a Facebook Live video all about your group. Facebook Live videos are frequently promoted by Facebook, meaning even more people than you expect will hear about your new group. Here's why Video content gets more engagement than just graphics and text all the time.
But aim to have your video last for a minimum of 15-20 minutes. Facebook prefers longer videos and is more likely to promote ones that are 15+ minutes. Don’t forget to post a link in your video description so viewers can easily click through to your group.
Ask Members to Share about Your Group
Give your members text and graphics that they can copy and paste on their own profiles. But remind members not to use Facebook’s ‘add members’ feature since it can feel spammy to some users. Instead, encourage members to reach out with a personal message to people they know are interested in your niche.
Create Exclusive Content for Your Group
One way to drive traffic from your blog to your group is to offer a free content upgrade that’s only available to members. For example, write a blog post series on organizing your home. Then create a checklist and turn it into a PDF file.
Upload the checklist to your Facebook group. Include a call to action at the end of each blog post, encouraging readers to get your checklist by joining your Facebook group. This will help even more people discover your new group.
Pay Attention to Your Stats
Facebook is now providing group creators with Group Insights. Use this tool to keep an eye on what types of content get the best engagement and lead to new members joining up.
Focus on adding quality members to your group and be patient. As your group grows in popularity, you won’t have to spend as much time recruiting new members. Instead, they’ll come to you, eager to join and participate.
Be sure you keep that conversation going in your group or you will likely have trouble getting the engagement in your group you're looking for! We find the easiest way to do that is to ask an engaging question daily like one from this collection of 365 Engaging Questions for Your Group!
Your group will love hearing from you and look forward to that daily question!
