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Create a Facebook Group When You Have a Facebook Page?

Adapted from Hustleburg Episode 12.

What Are the Benefits of Creating a Facebook Group in Addition to Your Business Page?

When it comes to Facebook, you have a lot of options when it comes to creating a community around your business and communicating about your brand. Obviously, with the noted distinction between a personal profile and a business page, you should have a Facebook page for your business in 2020. We know that the page is a communication tool to share with those outside the community you’ve already built. It’s essentially a digital storefront on the largest social media platform. It has the basic information about your businesses, about your hours, your location, any special deals you might have. It rivals your website in terms of importance, and it ranks higher in the search results than many business websites.

Your Facebook Page is a great tool for people that are looking for you already. It’s the social media version of your website that allows you to have a touch of your personality on display. We’ve previously shared the strategy about utilizing your page to share the five focus items:

  1. The main thrust of your business or brand
  2. One thing related to the main thrust
  3. Another thing related to the main thrust
  4. Something personal that shows your brand has a personality (not necessarily business-related)
  5. Another something personal that shows your brand isn’t an emotionless robot (again, not necessarily business-related)

Sounds Great! Why a Facebook Group Then?

Facebook groups present you with a unique way to build deeper relationships with your community. These are the true fans you’ve created around your business, not just passersby. Your group is where you’re going to engage in in-depth discussions, generate and foster engagement with the people that are already associated with you, and build the relationships necessary to have evangelists of your brand or your business. While publicly visible, your page is only an opportunity to build many shallow connections, like the depth of a bathtub, but a group gives you the ability to build ocean-deep connections with people who are committed to you and your business. The people that you engage with in these groups are your raving fans, or they’re going to become your raving fans.

Additionally, groups offer a place for you to really let your personality shine online. In addition to the five focus topics outlined above, you can share more of your personality here, as you’re building relationships, not seeking transactions. You will be able to get to know your customers and you can truly connect with them in the environment of a group. In a group, the interaction of real conversation goes deeper just a post on your page and maybe a comment here and there. These relationships turn into a tribe of people who will evangelize for you online as well as in the real world. They are your best marketers, and their efforts are going to be way better than yours, because they are a real-world example of how your business solved their problem and can solve others’ problems. They will enthusiastically recommend you to others and devote themselves to you and your brand, because you have made these ocean-deep connections. It doesn’t take very many of these connections to earn these fantastic marketers and their valuable word of mouth buzz for your business.

Are You Too Focused on “Positive” Feedback Online?

All for the ‘Gram!

(The video below is NSFW/K due to language)

If you watched the video above or listened to Arizona Zervas’ “Roxanne,” you heard at the very beginning that he does things only for Instagram, because of who loves “the ‘Gram.” 

Arizona is not alone. There are countless social media users who post strictly for the positive affirmation they receive in response to the things they post. There are some fitness gurus that post selfies to show off their best physical assets, knowing that the “after” means more likes on an image than the process that led there. Others will post cute photos of their children and pets to receive the good feelings that come with the likes.

When they post other types of content on their accounts, the internet “love” just doesn’t arrive in the same way. Their followers take notice of the less popular posts and don’t interact, yet jump on the bandwagon when a post appears to be doing well. 

“Likes” Are Seductive

As a content creator, the pull of positive “feedback” is strong. It FEELS good to have your community giving you a like. Here’s why you don’t want the like for the rush it gives you:

  • The real feelings of your audience lie in what they have to say in the comments. It’s easy to tap, while it takes more effort to form a real thought and share it with you. 
  • Social media is about being social, and a like isn’t as social as the conversation your post should generate. You should want to start those conversations about you and your brand, as you’ll truly engage the raving fans in your community. 
  • You are more likely to fall into the trap of posting for the “likes,” rather than sharing your real, authentic self and brand. You become a slave to those likes, posting puppies or showing skin, rather than sharing what you actually want to say. 

This is an opportunity for you to stand out from what everyone else does. It’s your chance to zig when they zag. You can use that differing approach to find your tribe, aka the people who really understand and relate to you. 

Find Your Tribe & Engage

When you find and engage your tribe, your raving fans, or whatever you want to call the community who actually supports you, their attention is more valuable than those outside it. We seek that attention, remember?

The community you build is filled with the people who support you. Their love for what you do and the value you add to their lives will attract more people like them to you. Seth Godin calls this the smallest viable audience, and they will be an extension of you… An evangelist of your brand. Doesn’t that sound more valuable than a bunch of likes on a post?