Want to grow a devoted and active Facebook following? Are you interested in the content genres that foster community?
You’ll learn how to create communities using Facebook in this post.
Facebook Already Has Your Community
The number of people that are actively using Meta each day has reportedly surpassed 2 billion. More than 3 billion people use apps in the Meta family.
The fastest-growing category of content is reeled, which is played daily on Facebook and Instagram more than 140 billion times.
These astounding figures demonstrate that, even though Facebook may no longer be the newest kid on the block, social marketers still have plenty of options to get exposure, engagement, leads, and conversions.
Facebook is supposedly on its way out, according to popular opinion. But that’s simply untrue, as Ben Thompson convincingly argued in his piece, Meta Myths.
The world’s largest social network is still Facebook.
The Evolution Of Facebook Marketing
Which Facebook statistics are important?
Before now, followers, reach, and post views have been important metrics for social marketers.
Facebook encourages content producers to get fixated on this kind of vanity metric.
Different indicators have become crucial as the focus shifts from individual users to communities. Although your reach and follower count are still important statistics, you should pay close attention to your engagement rate, group activity, and conversion rates if you want to see actual results.
The way social marketers are utilizing the network reflects that change.
For instance, it used to be crucial to have a business page that consistently posted new material.
But nowadays, a lot of business owners only operate their Facebook profiles a little.
The Facebook Algorithm 2023
Facebook and the programs it is linked to, such as Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, have also changed their emphasis.
Because of the discovery methodology, marketers who wish to gain any organic reach must provide very engaging content.
The unstoppable rise of Reels and meme pages, content that prioritizes engagement, is in part due to this.
It also means that people are turning to groups more frequently for timely, well-known information.
Users have discovered that groups offer protection against the algorithm’s vagaries.
Additionally, marketers have discovered that groups may provide them with the ideal balance of loyalty, engagement, and reach that increases conversions.
We’re going to examine ways to grow your Facebook community in the parts that follow:
How To Build A Facebook Community
Three factors are crucial for creating a community on Facebook:
Relevance.
Making venues and sharing content that your audience will find fascinating, useful, and valuable.
Response:
Constantly responding to and reacting to user activity to create a positive feedback loop of engagement.
Groups:
designing a space just for your audience so that they can locate you and communicate with one another there rather than getting lost in the algorithm
Relevance
The first step in building a community on Facebook is to establish an authentic connection with your audience. How do you go about that?
by growing into their go-to, a constant source of informational authority in your field.
You need to establish yourself as their go-to trainer if you’re a fitness coach.
You must establish yourself as their go-to resource for information if you teach an online course.
You must create a reputation as an expert in newborn nutrition and development if you plan to offer baby food through an online subscription service. so forth.
By publishing informative, timely, and consistent information, you demonstrate your competence.
To begin developing a community, your material must have all three of those things.
Response
Although the content you publish is significant, it does not tell the complete picture.
Keep in mind that reach and views no longer matter as much. Prioritize quality over quantity.
If your engagement rate has decreased, reduce the number of posts you make per day.
Prioritize producing informative material and answering user comments.
Whenever you respond to a comment, use first names. Use the user’s name when addressing them, and add your name as well.
In your Facebook groups, make sure that every comment or post receives a response within a specified amount of time.
List your “top contributions” in a list. Facebook rewards group members who post and comment frequently with this flair. Share a post every few months to recognize and appreciate your most active members.
Facebook Groups
Because Facebook Groups are so useful for creating online communities, they are given their area in this debate.
Groups enable you to have in-depth conversations with your audience in addition to serving as a dependable hub for the material. They even make it possible for audience members to interact with one another, which is essential for a community that can fully support itself.
Here are just a few strategies for creating a sense of community with Facebook Groups:
To prove your value, provide members-only content.
Ask group members for their opinions.
They are your most devoted supporters!
Use a distinct, more in-depth voice from your
Facebook page or further promotional materials Groups should have a warm, intimate, and relaxed atmosphere.
Offer special discounts to boost sales (and cover any running costs for the group itself).
We’ll go into more depth about creating and managing your Facebook group in the section after this.
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How To Use Facebook Groups
If you’re a social marketer using Facebook in 2023, your whole attention should be on attracting new members to your Facebook group, including viewers, followers, and consumers.
Your Facebook posts and the business page should include a request to join your group as the call to action.
Once you have people signing up and participating in your group, you can start worrying about sales and conversions.
There are numerous methods you may use to manage a Facebook group.
You might manage a community specifically for the brand’s devotees.
You may direct a specialized, knowledgeable crew to aid product users.
You may manage a members-only community that provides users who have already made a purchase or paid for a service with access to special content and networking possibilities.
Or you may perform all of the aforementioned! As we’ll see below, Facebook groups are incredibly adaptable and offer a variety of options for group visibility.
1: Public Or Private Facebook Groups: Which Should You Choose?
You have the option to make your Facebook groups secret or public.
Anyone can access postings and a member list in a public group.
Additionally, search engines can see the group. Facebook is experimenting with allowing non-Facebook users to post to public groups!
They’re an excellent way to disseminate knowledge and establish a community.
Only members of private groups can post or remark, and they also have a private members list.
New members frequently have to request to join, and you can check that they fit your target audience by asking them screening questions.
Additionally, you can use group discussions to get more leads.
For instance, as an entry question when someone joins a private group for product users, you may ask them for their email address.
Then, through both email advertising and group interactions, you can nurture that lead.
2. Managing Your Facebook Group
Everyone in your Facebook group needs to feel secure, accepted, and included.
Moderators and moderation have a role in this.
Here are some recommendations to help you succeed:
Use a Facebook template when creating the group to specify the expectations and regulations.
utterly abhor spam, self-promotion, and any other offensive material. Don’t hesitate to expel unruly members.
Encourage no sharing of outside-the-group content.
This keeps the sensation of exclusivity and intimacy.
If possible, try to find moderators inside the community itself, whether they are paid or unpaid.
Give them instruction, direction, and assistance.
Teach your moderators to recognize purchase cues so they can connect with customers who appear to be ready for your goods or services.
Respond personally to each person who approaches you to report offensive content to express gratitude and support.
These guidelines may seem onerous at first. But they’ll assist you in keeping the kind of amiable, concentrated group that will gain engagement.
3: Producing Facebook content that inspires community
As your group expands, you’ll need to keep it active by making frequent posts of engaging and practical content.
Here, we’ll concentrate on video posts, questions, and unique group features.
Video Uploads
The focus of Facebook in 2023 will be short-form vertical video, just like every other social network.
The majority of reels are under 90 seconds, but videos that you post elsewhere can be up to 3 minutes long.
The retention rate is the most crucial indicator for your video content.
Are individuals staying until the end to watch? Try out various video lengths and keep an eye out for the point where viewers tend to leave, then create content that is exactly that length.
The system will award you more if your retention rate increases.
4: Unique Options for Groups
Next but not least, groups have some unique features that aid in building communities on Facebook. The most crucial instruments that you must employ are listed below.
Community chats function similarly to private DMs but with the entire group. This strengthens the sense of a close-knit community inside a group.
Similar to Discord channels, feed channels are subgroups within your main Facebook group.
They may also contain audio chats.
Like using the @everyone or @here tags on Slack, the @everyone tag will notify every group member.
Although it can be a controversial tool, it is a strong one. Use it only when it will unquestionably be useful, such as when alerting people to the commencement of a live event.
Facebook only allows one.
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5: Facebook Group substitutes
We have largely talked about Facebook Groups up to this point. But other social media platforms exist that are designed exclusively for groups.
Even some of them are created for group marketing.
Try one of these alternatives if you don’t like Facebook:
A single platform called Mighty Networks can be used to create clubs, memberships, and courses.
Designed for brands and online entrepreneurs, Circle is a community platform.
If an online course is your primary offering, Thinkific is an excellent platform.
Another well-liked option for tutoring and master classes is Kajabi.
Software and B2B organizations frequently choose Slack.