Facebook Groups? (How To Build A Successful One?)

[GetShitDone]

Has anyone built a large Facebook Group before?

I'm in the agency owner space and there are tons of FB Groups with huge communities that biz owners have created. And they're making money from them too while massively increasing their brand.

Eg. 10,000 person FB groups in the marketing agency space

The engagement, brand equity, value, etc seems very high to have a large FB Group.

I'm going to launch one, so I just wanted some thoughts on if anyone has had experience with them and any tips.

Facebook Group Building Tips:

- Have a good Facebook profile that "funnels" people into your group

- Post valuable content in other groups

- Automated facebook friend requests/group invites to people in your niche

- Shout outs from other group owners

Interested to hear everyone's thoughts on creating (and actually scaling) Facebook Groups for your business.

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[Andy Black]

Has anyone built a large Facebook Group before?

I'm in the agency owner space and there are tons of FB Groups with huge communities that biz owners have created. And they're making money from them too while massively increasing their brand.

Eg. 10,000 person FB groups in the marketing agency space

The engagement, brand equity, value, etc seems very high to have a large FB Group.

I'm going to launch one, so I just wanted some thoughts on if anyone has had experience with them and any tips.

Facebook Group Building Tips:

- Have a good Facebook profile that "funnels" people into your group

- Post valuable content in other groups

- Automated facebook friend requests/group invites to people in your niche

- Shout outs from other group owners

Interested to hear everyone's thoughts on creating (and actually scaling) Facebook Groups for your business.

@Fox @Lex DeVille @Tom.V ? I know you’ve build Facebook groups and/or other communities.

I’ve only a small Facebook group and it’s for people who’ve bought my course. I’ve built a couple of forums in the past but didn’t like running them. I like being a mod in here because I can pop in and out, don’t feel I *have* to answer queries, and there’s a whole community and culture already.

I personally don’t have “community“ as a marketing channel. I’d rather just run ads. Getting feedback and helping people is good of course. Just be wary of what “successful” looks like. If you’re at 10k members then what will that look like for you?

Here’s my thoughts on how to use forums and Facebook groups for business purposes:
> HOT TOPIC - How to use forums (and Facebook groups)


Just my 2c. I’ve seen massive Facebook groups that obviously bring a lot of visibility (and hopefully sale) for their owners. Some have over 100k members, with hundreds of posts a day, and dozens of admins.

 

[Odysseus M Jones]

There's an INSIDERS thread that I found to be very thought-provoking.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/how-to-monetize-a-facebook-group-in-my-experience-anyway.81852/

I love FB groups, so much so that I had to delete my account, it was ruining my productivity.

Maybe in the future...

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

@GetShitDone check out @roguehillbilly 's thread

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/1k-mo-semi-passive-income-from-facebook-communities.88140/

 

[GetShitDone]

@Fox @Lex DeVille @Tom.V ? I know you’ve build Facebook groups and/or other communities.

I’ve only a small Facebook group and it’s for people who’ve bought my course. I’ve built a couple of forums in the past but didn’t like running them. I like being a mod in here because I can pop in and out, don’t feel I *have* to answer queries, and there’s a whole community and culture already.

I personally don’t have “community“ as a marketing channel. I’d rather just run ads. Getting feedback and helping people is good of course. Just be wary of what “successful” looks like. If you’re at 10k members then what will that look like for you?

Here’s my thoughts on how to use forums and Facebook groups for business purposes:
> HOT TOPIC - How to use forums (and Facebook groups)


Just my 2c. I’ve seen massive Facebook groups that obviously bring a lot of visibility (and hopefully sale) for their owners. Ones over 100k members, with hundreds of posts a day, and dozens of admins.

Good points.

I suppose specifically for me - I don't have an email list or any sense of a following in that sense.

And I feel that having a community (whether it's a Facebook group, email list, following, etc) will create a valuable long term asset for me, give strong social proof for my brand, etc.

I agree there are other ways to get clients and it seems that FB Groups are just one of those ways.

Creating a FB Group Funnel designed to be monetised is the way to go for me.

I definitely don't want a "community" for the sake of having one.

Rather, having a community that I can monetise, boost my brand with, etc.

I imagine the agency owners in my space who have thousands of members in their FB groups (in the niche they target) are doing very well as people see them as an authority, so they're positioned much better than their competitors. They can also build their email list from it and many other things to not depend on just Facebook.

There's an INSIDERS thread that I found to be very thought-provoking.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/how-to-monetize-a-facebook-group-in-my-experience-anyway.81852/

I love FB groups, so much so that I had to delete my account, it was ruining my productivity.

Maybe in the future...

Thanks for that. Did you not launch your own FB Group since you loved them that much? Or did it not fit for your business model/niche?

@GetShitDone check out @roguehillbilly 's thread

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/1k-mo-semi-passive-income-from-facebook-communities.88140/

Will do.

 

[Fox]

I did it for a while and it was great - people got a ton of value and the community was great.

Then when it hit around 10k members the tide changed - the problem is you become a target for people who want to do what you are saying without building their own group.

Everyday you get spam, people being sneaky, people adding members and messaging them to go to another group - and so on. Because FB groups are so open you are always under attack.

I tried to hold out cause I really liked my group but it was me versus 100's of spammers.

Eventually I just shut it down. I focused on Youtube where I don't have to deal with any of that and can just make good content and reply to comments.

Can it work? yes

It is a LOT of work? yes

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[GetShitDone]

I did it for a while and it was great - people got a ton of value and the community was great.

Then when it hit around 10k members the tide changed - the problem is you become a target for people who want to do what you are saying without building their own group.

Everyday you get spam, people being sneaky, people adding members and messaging them to go to another group - and so on. Because FB groups are so open you are always under attack.

I tried to hold out cause I really liked my group but it was me versus 100's of spammers.

Eventually I just shut it down. I focused on Youtube where I don't have to deal with any of that and can just make good content and reply to comments.

Can it work? yes

It is a LOT of work? yes

Interesting! Sorry to hear about the spammers and unethical people trying to basically hijack your group.

Did you not consider outsourcing a lot of the work including dealing with all the crap?

I ask, because I'm planning on getting my VA to manage it for me.

 

[Andy Black]

I focused on Youtube where I don't have to deal with any of that and can just make good content and reply to comments.

And YouTube videos can keep getting views long after you’ve created them, same as forum posts in here.

What bugs me about Facebook is that everything disappears quickly under a deluge or more posts. It’s Facebooks goal to keep people on the platform for hours, so they seem to design things so you have to keep engaging to keep engagement.

 

[Fox]

Interesting! Sorry to hear about the spammers and unethical people trying to basically hijack your group.

Did you not consider outsourcing a lot of the work including dealing with all the crap?

I ask, because I'm planning on getting my VA to manage it for me.

At lower levels it is obvious spam stuff but as your group grows people get more and more crafty.

You'll have people make very smart fake posts to get a response just so they can then private message everyone who comments etc. By the time you know they have already spammed 100s.

This was happening weekly.

I could have hired someone maybe but to me the "control" factor was terrible. When the group is smaller it isn't a massive issue but as it gets bigger and bigger its tons of work.

Just my thoughts - I noticed a lot of top people shut down their groups for similar reasons.

 

[Tom.V]

I've got a decent sized group, only about 1600 or so. Grew it over the past 8 months. At first all via friend requests, and baiting with a Lead magnet via messenger and direct profile invites.

We had a VA doing all of this. But the cost per new member wasn't great so we stopped for a bit to focus on other things.

Giveaways work. Baiting works. Incentives work to invite other people "$100 to whoever invites the most or our group by next week"

Now we have lots of hands to assist.

Now I'm testing out FB ads to a funnel to drive new member requests, where we also collect phone numbers and emails before people join the group. I think it will result in $1 or less per member join.

Keeping things exclusive.

 

[Odysseus M Jones]

Did you not launch your own FB Group since you loved them that much? Or did it not fit for your business model/niche?

Didn't even know groups could be monetised until I joined this forum.

And I was made admin of the largest MG buy/sell group, 5k members, I was the top contributor of the largest owner's group, 7k members, and even a Land Rover group of 80k, now 100k. *Kicking myself emoji* LOL

There were lots of business owners & sellers stalking the owner's group & they got a lot customers through it so I can see how the admins could profit.

Got some great "real" business ideas from being in the groups though & will get back into the groups later.

What bugs me about Facebook is that everything disappears quickly under a deluge or more posts.

All the information is still there & can be retrieved with a simple search.
In a way it's good because you'll see what recurring questions members are asking & what their pain points are.

PS if anyone wants a top contributor that adds value & monitors the group like a hawk for spam, I'm available...
For a small sum

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[Andy Black]

All the information is still there & can be retrieved with a simple search.

It’s not easy to link to a response you’ve already made though, so I tired of repeating myself.

 

[Odysseus M Jones]

It’s not easy to link to a response you’ve already made though, so I tired of repeating myself.

You are so right there. It's a nightmare.
I wrote a buying guide for newbies, all that happened is existing members tagged me to provide it instead of dropping a link.
It does get tiring.

 

[minivanman]

For my one business, I have a profile that is a member of well over 400 Facebook groups. But like Andy, I do not wish to run one because of the time factor.

 

[Blackopolypse]

I'm sure in a facebook group you can control who posts onto your feed etc, or am I missing something??

 

[Odysseus M Jones]

I'm sure in a facebook group you can control who posts onto your feed etc, or am I missing something??

Correct, you can set post approval for the group as a whole or on individual members.

You can also mute members for varying periods.
Great for dealing with dissention.
Freedom of speech is so overrated

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[GetShitDone]

Thanks for the golden responses everyone.

From what I can see:

- Start a FB Group if it's worth it for your business (eg. can be monetized, provide value, etc)

- Delegate the FB Group Management (as it can be a major time sink from other aspects of your biz)

- Grow it via friend requests, group invites, lead magnets, posting in other groups, etc. Heck - I might even get other group owners to shout me out for some incentive.

My only wonder now is how often I should post in the FB Group (eg. 3 "value" posts a week that help group members learn something)

 

[Odysseus M Jones]

Thanks for the golden responses everyone.

From what I can see:

- Start a FB Group if it's worth it for your business (eg. can be monetized, provide value, etc)

- Delegate the FB Group Management (as it can be a major time sink from other aspects of your biz)

- Grow it via friend requests, group invites, lead magnets, posting in other groups, etc. Heck - I might even get other group owners to shout me out for some incentive.

My only wonder now is how often I should post in the FB Group (eg. 3 "value" posts a week that help group members learn something)

Unfortunately for you, the two good threads on FB groups are on the inside, you'll have to upgrade to see them.

It's worth it just for the fancy yellow badge & we all chill with MJ puffing on stogies, except Andy who's tea total.

Although some of the legendaries don't appreciate newbies buying in with mummy's credit card & stealing soap ideas.

On a positive note, at least we all smell good.

 

[Tom.V]

FB ads seem to be working at around $.30 per link click to landing page, and around 90% signed up for group after clicking through. Much cheaper than having a VA doing manual outreach. Also looks very scalable.

 

[Andy Black]

Public Facebook Groups?

Introducing the new Public Groups experience, with New Admin Tools | Facebook Community

New, more open Public Groups experience can grow your group’s reach, membership, and participation, with new tools to expand Admin control.

www.facebook.com

 

[roguehillbilly]

This thread is a bit old but I thought I'd offer some input as the admin of a few groups comprised of ~80k or so people total.

Yes, groups can be effective. Yes, they are a lot of work and YES they can take a long time to build and compound unless you get some crazy growth by riding a trend or being featured somewhere.

Most of your growth will be from Facebook's algorithm and maybe a few people from searching for your group topic in the search.

Fill out all of the info Facebook lets you:
There are fields for group location, tags on the topic and a spot for rules. Fill all of this stuff in -- if your group is "everywhere" just add some large cities as locations and call it a day.

Layout clear branding and rules:
You can create a page for your group as well as a group header. Make sure the branding is clear and looks finished. Strive to make professional-looking graphics for any kind of group communication you use. It'll look like you know what you're doing and people will see that.

Kick out spammers and people who are unruly. They'll ruin your group and set the tone for what is acceptable. Most groups are crap already so if you have some semblance of caring, you'll already do better.

Over time, you can elect a few power users to moderate your group and help with this.

Aside from this, build out your own email list, your own separate website and other social media channels (although they will be a long play as well). Running a business on Facebook groups is living on rented land, build your business on top of something you own (like an email list).

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[becks22]

Browsed something that made me think of this thread tonight. Through a friend, I was browing a FB group called 'Modern Farmhouse Design & ideas' or something like that. The group has close to 200K members and it's ran by a home builder in Georgia.

I have no idea if the company sells blue prints or plans or just builds house in GA but the numbers were super impressive. Again FB owns the group so you lack control but if ran correctly, those could be big scale gains.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

If you want to see it done well, the boys over at Clients & Community have an incredible business based out of their Facebook group.

The only challenge is it's the "Facebook group people selling people how to create Facebook groups that sell Facebook groups" -- the new world ponzi scheme.

These guys are super nice and pretty legit so maybe that's a little harsh but that's what it is.

You could join their group and get the gist of what they're doing, copy, and model it.

I'm creating a similar group of my own however, I know, the main purpose is to build an email list. You can't hope to control everything on Facebook. As the Fastlane Commandments would suggest... you need control.

 

[Andy Black]

There’s some massive Intermittent Fasting groups, and one is run by a lady who has a book. Any newbies are encouraged to get the book so they understand what everyone else is talking about.

 

[ANON29512]

I had a small community based around Hungarian Amazon FBA back in my course selling days.

My experience was the following:

- My target market was really niche, so I got 300-400 members, but I was the n.1 community for it in the country. People found me organically and via my paid ads funnel, where I dropped an invite to the group in my email/webinar funnel.

- People introduce themselves and ask questions, but the group wasn't the most active after a while. I think this depends on the market. The problem was most people were noobs, so they couldn't contribute to the conversation. Another contributing factor is that business communities like to keep it real, not post selfies about their 6-pack abs or inspirational quotes. This also limited what kind of content I could post.

- When you're just getting started, you can gain valuable feedback from the group, test ideas or offers, etc.

- Organic reach is low, especially with URLs in your post.

I got a lot more valuable feedback via my email list and most of my sales were from my webinar funnel. I think from a business standpoint it's skippable. Also violates the Control.

 

[Andy Black]

I think from a business standpoint it's skippable. Also violates the Control.

I also think it's skippable for some. I don't have a free group, just a little support group for paid members. I'm thinking of getting rid of that too.

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)