All you need to know when starting a Facebook group

Last week I wrote about the social media trends for 2023. One piece of information specifically caught my attention—the return of Facebook’s popularity.?

Facebook has over 1.8 billion users, but the network has become passive.?

Unlike other networks, such as Instagram, Linkedin, TikTok, and others, Facebook operates on a simpler principle.?

Facebook allows you to add friends, other networks offer you connections.?

Vanity metrics, otherwise known as algorithms, on most social media depend on your engagement, while Facebook lets you lurk all you want.?

One thing is for sure: everybody with a profile on Facebook opens that network every day.?

Personally, I read news on Facebook, or to be completely honest, I read comments people leave on a certain news topic. Comments are a great tell what goes on in the article. Those are written by people that don’t care about vanity metrics, which makes them free to post whatever they want.?

Other networks are not so lenient.?

The Instagram algorithm depends on engagement. Period. If you’re not engaged, you have no business there.?

On Linkedin, you have to be careful whom you engage with.?

When I started being active on Linkedin 6 months ago, I accepted everyone’s invitation to connect. Only to find out after a while that accepting everyone isn’t recommended. At all.?

These are details that I have discovered by using mentioned networks.?

I am not active on Instagram. Literally, every time I open the app, I feel my energy draining.?

The only networks I am active on are Linkedin and Facebook. This has nothing to do with me being a solopreneur and doing everything myself.?

It has all to do with the content. Written content.?

As a writer who knows no limits when it comes to my trait, I have chosen these two networks because they give the advantage to the written word.?

Even if you’re going to use the automation tool to post at the same time on Facebook and Instagram, you need to prepare the copy and the visual part separately.?

Facebook members will read the copy first, but Instagram members will scroll past an uninteresting picture. And probably never see your copy.?

The networks I have chosen are the best fit for writers.

Instagram and TikTok thrive on visuals, giving reels and videos a super advantage over the copy. For those who enjoy making videos and reels, these networks are their Mekka.?

I don’t do TikTok and Twitter, so I cannot tell you information firsthand.?

Facebook groups

Social media experts all agree on Facebook coming back in 2023. In all its glory.?

The common belief amongst them is that Facebook groups in particular are making a comeback.?

Why?

Because Facebook groups offer complete privacy and anonymity.?

As a member of a certain group, you can post whatever you feel like about your boss, teachers, parents, and even other coworkers.?

Most of the world has been transferred online. We work from home and go to school online and there are only a few options left to interact with people we work or study with.?

Therefore - Facebook groups become a perfect hangout, where we can behave as if we’re having drinks with like-minded people.?

How to create an engaging Facebook Group?

Starting a Facebook group is easy. It takes 3 steps total to set up the name, cover photo, and description.?

Getting people to join and engage in your group is the hard part.?

The easiest way to manage a very busy and engaging Facebook group would be to buy a well-established group that already has a massive following.?

But, it would also be a fool’s errand, because the audience in the group might not be your ideal one. Which means you might have to start all over.?

Buying a specific group with the description you’re going for could cost a lot. It would make the next part of the process easier, though.?

When I posted last week’s article, I did some investigation of my own.?

It turns out that business pages on Facebook can be added as Facebook group admin. This is great if the page and the group have the same message.?

But, if you’re using the business page to promote your business, the group that also does that may be redundant.?

Facebook groups exist to create a more personal relationship with your followers. They are a great tool to promote courses online and offer assistance, something your business page will not do.?

This also means that the posts on the business page and the Facebook group should be different. And carry a different message.?

How to get people to join your Facebook group?

This is a tricky part.?

I have had a Facebook profile since 2018. Strictly because that was the time I started dabbling with working online. That is also the year I became a freelancer who no longer depended on freelancing platforms like Upwork or Fiverr.?

My activities on Facebook were extremely rare and mostly related to work.?

Regarding adding friends too. My friend’s list has 187 members, which is extremely low, and I never gave too much thought to it.?

My Facebook profile exists so I could be added as the admin to the business pages of my clients. And so that my Facebook friends could wish me a happy birthday.?

That is about to change because I want to create a busy group, with lots of engaged members that will open the group on a daily basis.?

Another tip to get people to join your Facebook group is to post about it on other social media channels. For example, you can add the link to your Facebook group on the Featured part of the Linkedin profile.?

The next step

Start preparing for 2023 today. Decide which of the social media networks will work best for you and start now.?

We all know how much time it takes to see the results of a consistent online presence.

A bunch.?

Starting now will increase your odds for next year’s trends.?

And make the almighty algorithm kind to your posts and engagement, no matter which social media network you choose.?

Being active on Linkedin cannot hurt you. In fact, it is the best place to be for business’ sake. Engaging every day is not hard, you just need to open the app, (on your desktop version choose the recent posts instead of the top posts) and engage away.?

I opened a Facebook group called DIY - Creativity Hub and would like to invite you to join me there.?

It is a place where I am going to teach lead generations of freelancers how to become - actively creative.?

This means turning your creativity into muscle memory, and never having to struggle with a lack of inspiration anymore.?

Hopefully, I'll see you there soon.