Competing against Facebook ( groups) . Your pros and cons

[Marcel1986]

I have a community and my challenge is that i´m competing against facebook groups.
Many people of my target group are in these facebook groups, so when i´m running my Facebook ads i need to offer these people something they don´t have or which is annoying them in the fb groups so they use my community for their discussions / questions.
I promoted some discussion threads of my page on FB and i get a ton of shares, likes and comments but they stay on fb -> of course people are on FB in this moment, logged in and just need to click comment and that´s it.
But I want the action to be on my platform ( would be perfect if i could delete the comment function under my posts so they HAVE to do it on my page to discuss)

- What is it you don´t like in FB groups ? i.e. unorganized, you get lost easily !?
-> i wanna use these cons to name them and tell people in my ads " on my page this con doesnt exist"
- Any idea/ trick how to get people from FB to my page ?
-> i know people like to discuss these topics as they do it on FB groups and below my posts..so there´s a need.

I know this challenge is hard and it´s even harder to compete against FB when you´re small and don´t have that amount of users, so i thought some brainstorming here might be a good idea

 

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[Oswalito]

Man... Don't try to get people to leave Facebook. Lives are so FB-centered that you'll just F*ck yourself over.

You can't avoid people commenting on the fb post. If you have to worry about the traffic you "lose" on 1 discussion that you shared on fb because your users discuss it there instead of your site. I think you have a bigger issue being fb here...

My advice to you would be:

- don't overshare on fb
- don't try to tell people that they need to go on your site to discuss

- do what you can to provide value on your website
- what about a point system on your site that gives users a reason to wanna post more? Point system + some kind of a way for them to spend those points and maybe get t shirts or something from your site.

That's just my 2 cents though. I'd try to give people a reason to want to be on my site vs giving them a reason not to be on another site.

 

[SBS.95]

I'm confused as to what you're asking. So you want to know what I dislike about Facebook groups?

1. The privacy (or lack thereof.) I haven't logged onto my personal Facebook account in well over a year. I do, however, have a "business account". This is where I join groups, test posts/products, etc. I have 0 friends on that account, and it will stay that way.
2. The barrier to entry. It's too low, so anyone can join, and then you get.....
3. The illiteracy. Random Facebook users are about as dumb as the people that argue in YouTube comments. Which is to say, you get some of the dumbest bozos on the web.

#3 is what really turns me off most social media. And what sucks is when you have people that are capable of basic reading/writing on sites like Reddit, you get hivemind communities that turn into pity parties full of people who are 100% full on external-locus-of-control. Which I hate just as much.

I'm curious as to what your idea is, and hope you share it. Promise no one is going to steal it, I'm busy with my things as are most people here.

 

[Oswalito]

I'm confused as to what you're asking. So you want to know what I dislike about Facebook groups
I'm curious as to what your idea is, and hope you share it. Promise no one is going to steal it, I'm busy with my things as are most people here.

if I understood correctly. He's looking for help to get the users of his forum to stop using facebook to comment on things he shares on the forum's fb page. He wants them to go comment in the discussion he shared on the fb page.

 

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[SBS.95]

if I understood correctly. He's looking for help to get the users of his forum to stop using facebook to comment on things he shares on the forum's fb page. He wants them to go comment in the discussion he shared on the fb page.

If that is the case, I think he's wasting his time.

Facebook is good to get traffic, like if you get a bunch of people sharing a link/article. But if he's trying to foster a discussion by sharing a link on Facebook, he's most likely just going to get people discussing the link where they found it.... on Facebook.

Forums aren't as big/popular as they used to be. This is one of the few forums that I haven't seen shrink over the years, which in and of itself is a good indicator of quality. But for the most part people do not want to be a member on 20 different websites with 20 different logins. They want to have 1 login on 1 site, and then have multiple Facebook groups or multiple Reddit subreddits.

I don't like it that way, but that seems to be the way the internet is going these days. I think OP is fighting a losing battle.

 

[Marcel1986]

if I understood correctly. He's looking for help to get the users of his forum to stop using facebook to comment on things he shares on the forum's fb page. He wants them to go comment in the discussion he shared on the fb page.

Yes this is one thing.
The other thing is i have to offer them something in my ads which i´m running parallel with my shared community threads thats make´s them say:
" Oh yes this is a better place to discuss / ask things " than in the FB groups.
I googled what people dislike about being in fb groups but didn´t really find anything useful so far
So i get you point Oswalito not to try to make them leave FB, but i have to otherwise i can´t run a community / target this specific group

 

[Oswalito]

Again, don't look for reasons why they shouldn't use fb... and don't run an ad to tell people why they shouldn't... that's just a bad idea and a waste of money in my opinion.

You should share what your community is, I'm sure nobody is going to magically start a forum and compete with you

 

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[Marcel1986]

If that is the case, I think he's wasting his time.

Facebook is good to get traffic, like if you get a bunch of people sharing a link/article. But if he's trying to foster a discussion by sharing a link on Facebook, he's most likely just going to get people discussing the link where they found it.... on Facebook.

Forums aren't as big/popular as they used to be. This is one of the few forums that I haven't seen shrink over the years, which in and of itself is a good indicator of quality. But for the most part people do not want to be a member on 20 different websites with 20 different logins. They want to have 1 login on 1 site, and then have multiple Facebook groups or multiple Reddit subreddits.

I don't like it that way, but that seems to be the way the internet is going these days. I think OP is fighting a losing battle.

I get your point.
It´s not just a simple forum but has more benefits and options. But as you can imagine, this effect is just visible with a certain amount of users and it´s hard to explain in in a one sentence ad / a short copy on the landing page ( easier of course than the ad sentence)

 

[Oswalito]

If you really want to go ahead and seem like you want to tell people what they should and shouldn't do... go ahead... but don't forget how the internet works man...people don't like being told what they should and shouldn't do.

Unless your forum is a christian forum and you can tell them fb is the devil's work... you're gonna be shit out of luck.

I say let this non-issue go and focus on other parts of your forum.

 

[SBS.95]

I get your point.
It´s not just a simple forum but has more benefits and options. But as you can imagine, this effect is just visible with a certain amount of users and it´s hard to explain in in a one sentence ad / a short copy on the landing page ( easier of course than the ad sentence)

Why don't you explain the benefits, than you may get some help better tailored to your problem.

Personally I've been on forums with "benefits" before and it didn't really do anything for me. Hooray, you made 1,000 posts, have a free $10 gift card! Didn't really inspire me to do anything, though a lot of people would just spam so that lowered the quality of the forum quite a bit.

 

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[Oswalito]

Why don't you explain the benefits, than you may get some help better tailored to your problem.

Personally I've been on forums with "benefits" before and it didn't really do anything for me. Hooray, you made 1,000 posts, have a free $10 gift card! Didn't really inspire me to do anything, though a lot of people would just spam so that lowered the quality of the forum quite a bit.

that's why you offer things that have no monetary value. Such as t shirts and hats n shit. I guess it also depends on the general topic around his forum.

and perhaps not based on post count but likes. Like here, we get $... I would have a "shop" to spend them if I wanted. Maybe for 1000$ you can get a signed copy of TMF iunno. you get my point.

Same could apply to this dude's forum. No need to put efforts into driving people away from fb and into the site.