Never worry about numbers! With a Facebook Group think about quality over quantity. You want members to engage and interact – this makes it genuinely supportive and safe. A small Facebook group can often be much more interactive than a group with thousands of members.
Encourage members to add posts. But be prepared to put in a lot of effort at the very beginning! At the start, your community will be watching out for what kinds of posts are appearing, what’s allowed, what’s not allowed, etc. Get the momentum going by posting the type of content you want to have in your group and watch it develop.
Establish consistent posting. The key to posting in a group is to be consistent – your followers will soon get to know when to expect to see your content and will be looking out for it. This routine could be anything from three times a day to once a week. Identify what is realistic for you, it’s also a good idea to ask your Facebook group members how much content they’d like to see.
Encourage interaction. Paula posts twice a day. In the morning she’ll ask a very easy question based on business – something like, ‘how many emails are sat in your inbox?’ What a great way to get your community to show off their skills or amuse with a rant – in a safe place this can be great fun. In the afternoon Paula’s post provokes more deep thinking. This second post doesn’t necessarily attract open comments like the earlier one, but it will prompt her community to get in touch with her direct.
Consider what will add value to the group. To do this successfully you need to have clarity on why you run a Facebook Group – ask yourself, ‘what is its purpose?’ and ‘why would people want to hang out there?’ Make sure that the purpose of the group fits in with your long term business goal.
It’s not about you! Facebook Groups aren’t about selling your service. They are spaces for you to add value to your community. Your members will learn about you and your services from the content you put out and from the way you openly support others. When the time is right for them to reach out to you to become a paying customer they will.
Have fun with it! Try going live to achieve some wonderful interaction and visibility. Facebook is a big fan of groups going live.