Starting and running a successful Facebook Group is a GREAT way to provide value to your ideal clients, establish yourself as an authority in your field, stay in front of potential clients’ mind, and strategically promote your programs or services.

 

In this post, you will learn why you need to start a FB group to connect with your ideal clients, the different kinds of Facebook Groups, and how to actually create a successful FB group.

 

How to start a successful FB group to grow your biz + attract your ideal clients! #socialmediamarketing Click To Tweet

 

Why start a group

Starting your own group allows you to create an online community that knows you, appreciates you, trusts you, and will spread the word about you.

 

Your own group also allows you to gain valuable insights about your ideal audience. Understanding what your audience wants and needs versus just guessing will help you grow your email list, create and market your programs, and gain new clients!

 

One of the most powerful tools of a Facebook group is the ability to poll your members and find out exactly what they want and need. You can poll your group on everything from names to free content topics to product or service ideas.

 

I recently did this with my Facebook group and was surprised by the answers I received. And it gave me TONS of ideas and content to work on. In fact, thanks to the feedback, I created a free 5 day email challenge to help bloggers and entrepreneurs come up with a freebie to offer and start collecting emails addresses.

 

Before that poll, this idea NEVER even entered my mind.

 

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What kind of Facebook Group should you start?

You have two basic options here: a free community or a paid community. A third option is a temporary “pop-up” group.

 

This post is focused on free community groups but I will touch how you can use a paid and “pup-up” group briefly below.

 

Free Group

A free community group offers value to a specific audience. This audience is your ideal client – blog readers, email list subscribers, members in your local community, past and present clients.

 

You want to make the group “closed” vs. “private” or “open” so that people can still search for the group but can only see content if they are a member. Setting the group to “closed” makes people feel exclusive and comfortable posting in it.

 

Example… Nicole Culver runs a free facebook group for food and health bloggers who want to mnetize their blog. She shares tips, runs free challenges, and post topics that get people talking. It is a great group to join not only for the value, but to also see how a successful free group is ran.

 

Paid Group

A paid group is an exclusive group for paying clients of yours. This is a great way to keep members accountable and answer questions without getting bombarded with emails.

 

Example…. Nicole Culver also runs a private membership group for her Blogger to Business Group members. I am a part of this group as well and the FB group is a great way for Nicole to connect and answer questions (without having to email back and forth with everyone) and for members to learn from others going through similar stages in their businesses. 

 

Pop-Up Group

Another idea is a “pop up” group. Pop up groups can be free or paid and they typically go along with a current challenge or course you are offering. These groups usually only last the length of the program, but you could always funnel people into your free community group after to stay connected with them.

 

Example… I using Nicole for all of my examples because she runs successfully runs all 3 kinds of groups! Nicole recently did a free challenge followed by an upgrade to Blogger Summer Camp (affiliate link). While the camp is now a self-study program, during the actual camp, she also had a FB group for participants to check in and ask the speakers questions.

 

How + why you need to create a FB Group to grow your biz + become an authority! #sweatpink #fitfam Click To Tweet

 

How to start a successful Facebook Group

Once you decide on the kind of group you want to start and who the group is for, it is time to actually create the group!

 

1. Create your group!

Log into FB and click “Groups”, then click the “Create” button.

Fill in the name of your new group.

 

2. Decide if you want it to be a “closed” or “private” group.

Do NOT just add people to your group. That is so ANNOYING! However, Facebook does you add one friend to the group, so just let this person know ahead of time they are joining a fabulous group!

 

3. Create a description for the group and include any rules there.

For example, your rules could be as simple as:

No spamming or promotional posts.

Be positive and supportive.

You could also share a little bit about who you are in the description.

 

4. Fill in any other relevant info.

This section can be found in “Edit Group Settings” any time too.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Add your location if it makes sense.
• Where it says “Web and Email Address”, click “Change Address” and change the url of the group so it matches the group name. Otherwise, it is just automatically filled in with a bunch of numbers and letters.
• Choose “Any member can add members, but an admin or a moderator must approve them.” That way you can be selective on who gets into your group!
• You can even ask potential members up to 3 questions to determine if they are a good fit! You defiantly don’t want a bunch of spammers providing no value to your group!
• Allow others to post in your group – you want it to feel like a community!

 

5. Create a cover photo in Canva

Canva is (mostly) free and offers a FB cover template. Upload your cover photo to your Facebook Group.

Here is mine that I made in Canva.

 

6. Write your intro or “pinned post.”

Facebook allows you to “pin” a post to the top of the page.

This is a great place to provide a welcome video, offer a freebie, welcome new members, and share anything else important.

 

If you already offer a freebie be sure to include it here. If not, check this out: How to offer a freebie on your blog.

 

While Facebook Groups are great to connect and create engagement, email marketing has proven to be the MOST effective way to actually make money in your business.

 

Social media (specifically Facebook) algorithms can and do constantly change – you have no control over that. On the other hand, having an email list allows you to show up directly in your potential customer’s inbox and make pitches to ideal clients on your terms. You have complete control.

 

7. Plan out your posts and show up 4-5x a week!

Here are a few post topics and ideas:

• Share valuable resources + tips: Make a list of a bunch of struggles you think your audience has and post a tip or resource to help them. End the post with a call to action (ex: what has worked for you? have you ever tried this?)
• Ask conversational or controversial questions to get people talking
• Welcome new members to the group every week and ask them to introduce themselves and share one thing they are struggling with when it comes to xxx. This allows you to get to know your readers and their struggle better. You can then make a list of all the pain points and create a poll within the group to determine what freebie, product, or service they may be interested in.
• Provide trainings and FB Lives so members get to know you better – you could offer a Q + A, share great tips, do a mini coaching session, whatever! Facebook is giving priority to video and FB Lives so these are a great way to ensure your group members see your posts and your face!
• Create a challenge to kick off the group. Invite members to invite friends. You could even do a giveaway.

 

It may sound obvious, but the most important thing to do in your group is show up!

You could use a tool to schedule posts (Buffer has a free version) or create an editorial calendar using Google Calendars and set it to remind you at the same time every day to post.

 

8. Create social media images in Canva.

I LOVE Canva and create all my images using the free version. The paid version is not too expensive though and does include some really cool features!

Canva offer tons of templates you can use to create professional photos, social media posts, and overlay conversation prompts over photos.

 

9. Share and promote your group everywhere!!

Give people a reason to join your group… exclusive training, tips and resources, community, coaching, giveaways, whatever!

Share your group everywhere!

• Share your group on all of your social media channels (include images – they get more engagement)
• Post to your personal FB page and tag people who may be interested in joining
• Put a link your “Free FB Group” in the header of your website
• Put an image and link to your group on your website sidebar (see what I did –>)
• Write a blog post about your group and include a pinnable image
• If you do any guest posting or podcast interviews, share the group there
• Share your group with your current email list
• Include a link to your group in your email signature
• Run Facebook ads to your group (if you want to spend money)

 

Download your freebie!

 

 

Then come join the FREE Facebook Group 

Fit Biz + Blog Mastermind Community FB Group for health + fitness entrepreneurs!

 

 

 

Photo cred: Ivory Mix