What is a Facebook Group?
A Facebook Group is a feature within Facebook where users can build a community of likeminded people and create a forum for conversations and exchanges. The difference between a Facebook Group and a Facebook Page is a Group is more about having a conversation with other members, whereas a Facebook Page is used to represent a brand or an entity.
What Would You Use a Facebook Group For?
Facebook Groups are commonly used within local towns as a Buying / Selling site, although Facebook Marketplace may well lead to a decline in this. Users can also utilise Facebook Groups for knowledge sharing within industries, local news or even hobbies. Members can share posts with relevant content or image and engage with each other away from the usual News Feed.
It has lots of social media training, tips and is a great place to ask for support, you can visit it here
How to Create a Facebook Group
Firstly, log in to Facebook and find ‘Add Group’.
[one_second]On your desktop homepage, this will be under ‘Explore -> Groups -> + Create Group’.[/one_second][one_second]
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On Mobile, click on the three lines at the bottom right of the screen -> Groups -> ‘+ Create’.
Once you’ve clicked ‘Create Group’, you need to decide on a Name, Cover Photo (this will come later on the desktop version) and whether it’s a Public or Private group.
Name your Facebook Group
When choosing a name, it’s important to make it relevant to what the group is going to be about and used for so that if someone were to search within Facebook, they would find your Group over similar ones. If it’s a private Facebook Group, it’s still important to have a relevant name so that your members will understand why they are being invited, this will increase the likelihood of them accepting your invitation. If you’re not sure what to call it or change your mind, you can change your Group name later but it’s worth choosing something you’re happy with first time so as not to confuse your members by changing!
Cover Photo
Your Cover Photo can be anything that you’d like it to but it’s recommended that it’s relevant to what the group is about so that it’s clear for all members. Think about what will relate to your Group name and the content that you would like to share within the Group. Your Cover Photo will need to be 1640 x 856 Pixels.
Privacy
It’s important to know the once your Facebook Group reaches over 5,000 members, your Privacy Settings flexibility is reduced, and you will only be able to change an ‘Open’ Group to ‘Closed’ or ‘Secret’ and a ‘Closed’ Group to ‘Secret’.
Here’s an explanation of privacy options in Facebook Groups:
If your group is… |
It will be… |
Secret |
Private and hidden in search |
Closed |
Private and visible in search |
Public |
Public and visible in search |
If you’re Admin of the Group, it might help to know what your members can see:
Public |
Private |
|
Who can see what members post, comment and share in the group? |
Anyone |
Current Members |
Who can see the list of members in the group? |
People on Facebook |
Current Members |
Who can see who the admins and moderators are? |
People on Facebook |
People on Facebook |
Members
Next, it’s time to invite people! Do this with either their Name or Email Address. Facebook recommends adding 5-10 friends to get the Group started. In order to actually finish creating your group, you must add at least one friend. If you don’t have anyone relevant as a friend (yet) then maybe add someone close to you who can leave once you’ve grown your members.
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About
Once you’ve created your Group, you will need to complete your ‘About’ Section. This is important so that your members know what the Group is about, and you can outline any rules or regulations that you may wish to implement. You could also use this as a place to guide and encourage users on how to share and engage within your Group.
Settings
If you need to change something about your Group, go to ‘Settings’. Within your settings, you can change:
- Group Name
- Group Type
- Description
- Tags – Keywords related to your Group.
- Locations
- Linked Pages
- Privacy Settings
- Group Address
- Membership Approval – Who can add members?
- Posting Permissions – Who is able to post?
- Post Approval – Do you want to approve all posts before they are public?
Notifications
Finally, it’s advised to keep your notifications turned on for this Group so that you receive an alert each time anyone posts. This could be to answer questions quickly or to keep an eye on the quality of content being added to your Group. If your settings mean that you have to approve content before it can be shared, or grant new members access, then it’s important to be responsive otherwise you risk losing members.
[one_second]If you need help setting up a group you can book in some one-to-one social media training with one of your team[/one_second] [one_second][/one_second]