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Facebook Groups Best Practices – for Group Members AND Owners

October 17, 2016 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 9 Comments

Facebook groups are a useful tool to build your business, either as a group owner or a group member.

Much of the advice recently about finding your perfect readers or customers is to use Facebook groups.

The only problem?

This has created a culture of people behaving badly in groups. From shameless self-promotion to poaching group members, people seem to have forgotten their manners. I think it’s high time we talk about best practices for Facebook groups.


Listen to Episode 71 – Best Practices for Facebook Groups or…How NOT to Be Smarmy in Facebook Groups

 

[Want to join my Facebook Community? You really should. We can be non-smarmy together. ]

create-if-writing-episode-12


Best Practices for Facebook Groups

I’m quite the Facebook group junkie. I’m not going to tell you how many groups I’m in or how many I moderate or own. IT’S TOO MANY. That’s the bottom line. (I’ve even thought of creating a FB group for people with too many Facebook groups.)

Confession: I moderate over 25.

There is a reason that these Facebook groups are so popular! They are a GREAT way to connect with people on a platform most people are already on anyway.

But there is a dark side to these groups as well. Many of the groups for bloggers, writers, or entrepreneurs are full of people who just want to use the group to promote themselves. After all, we keep hearing that Facebook groups are a great place to grow your audience and find clients. Right?

Yes. However, you really need to know HOW to do this. Because if you handle this incorrectly, you will alienate those potential clients and tick off other group owners. If you are in Facebook groups, you will know that this happens OFTEN. If you moderate or own Facebook groups, you know just HOW often, because you are the one who deletes so many posts. (Can I get an Amen?)

So let’s break this down into how you can actually engage in these groups, bring value, and connect with potential new readers or clients without being GROSS.

How NOT To Be Smarmy in Facebook Groups as a Member

The easiest, overarching thing to remember in a Facebook group is that it’s not YOUR group.

  • Follow the rules (listed usually in a pinned thread or in the description in the side)
  • Listen before you speak when you join a group- see the culture
  • When in doubt about posting, ask the group owner.
  • DON’T JUST DROP LINKS TO YOUR POSTS/SALES PAGES/OPT-INS. (unless that is allowed in the group)
  • DON’T POST YOUR AFFILIATE LINKS TO PRODUCTS. (unless that is allowed in the group)
  • DON’T POST YOUR PRODUCTS IF THEY DIRECTLY COMPETE WITH THE GROUP OWNER’S PRODUCTS.
  • DON’T COPY AND PASTE THE SAME MESSAGE TO MULTIPLE GROUPS AT THE SAME TIME. IT’S GROSS.

If you want to bring value to the group, you can engage in conversations and respond if people ask questions. When it comes to posting content in the group, make sure what you are posting is not a thinly guised, smarmy promotion, but something that’s actually helpful.

Remember that you didn’t build the group. This is someone else’s work. If you feel bitter that you can’t share or build your own platform from the group because of the rules, you may be there for the wrong reasons. Build your OWN group.

Best practices for Facebook groups as a member and an owner!

 

Best Practices for Facebook Groups as an Owner

Many people join the larger groups because they are unhappy with their own group and want to access more people. Don’t devalue your group, NO MATTER the size! REMEMBER that at one time, that giant group was small. It grew because that group owner valued the people in it.

  • Don’t add people without permission.
  • Ask questions (new feature in 2017!) of potential members to weed out spammers.
  • Promote discussion.
  • Allow people to share links, even if that’s within threads, not on the wall.
  • Be a good moderator.
  • Be present.
  • Don’t just schedule all the posts for the group.
  • Value members with exclusive content.
  • Use Facebook Live.
  • Disclose Affiliate Links.
  • Showcase and celebrate your members!

If you have made any of these mistakes either as a member or an owner, it’s TOTALLY OKAY. We all have. And sometimes it’s hard to navigate the waters of groups and dynamics.

Every group may not be for YOU. The most important thing to remember is to be intentional with your choices. This affects how you behave IN a group and how you RUN your group.

Want more? Watch this workshop from me on running a Facebook group!

I hope that you are left with some great ideas of how to more authentically engage with these best practices for Facebook groups! Disagree? Have some other pet peeves? Rant away in the comments!

Want to learn more about Facebook groups? Here are some great links from people I love. 

What’s Changing in Facebook Groups – Create If Writing

Facebook Messenger Bots – Create If Writing

Facebook Pages & Facebook Groups – my post on Jane Friedman’s blog

Your Email List Is NOT Your Community – Biz Women Rock

3 Mistakes to Avoid with Your Facebook Group – Caitlin Bacher

Leveraging Facebook Groups – my interview with Katie Krimitsos of Biz Women Rock

 

Filed Under: Facebook, Show Notes, Social Media

Comments

  1. Michelle Cornish says

    October 17, 2016 at 4:15 pm

    Amen, amen, amen!!! Great episode Kirsten!!

    Reply
  2. Sara | Mrs. Imperfect says

    October 19, 2016 at 3:36 pm

    Constant self promotion is definitely annoying, but my biggest frustration with Facebook groups is when people use them to be nasty or argue with one another. I have had to delete a thread with a question I asked before because of that.

    Reply
    • Essie says

      January 9, 2017 at 9:03 pm

      Excellent website. Plenty of helpful information here. I¡¦m sending it to a few friends ans adliaiontdly sharing in delicious. And certainly, thank you to your sweat!

      Reply
    • mut coin generator 15 says

      April 20, 2017 at 12:59 pm

      Shiver me timbers, them’s some great information.

      Reply
  3. VideoPortal says

    March 31, 2017 at 3:00 pm

    Perfect! I see egregious violations of this all the time and I know that it s not so much the person is malicious but they just don t get the rules sometimes. It s my job as moderator to help them understand the rules but if they re hell bent on being goofs about it, then out they go. ?? Thanks for this I m sharing it with my clients so they can see some best practices.

    Reply
  4. Kim Osterholzer says

    October 31, 2017 at 1:06 pm

    This was good! And timely, too, as I’m prepping to start a group of my own pretty soon.
    Blessings on your upcoming birth!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. The 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2017 | Creative Writing says:
    February 6, 2017 at 8:14 am

    […] Episode you’ll like: How NOT to Be Smarmy in Facebook Groups […]

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  2. Practical Tips for a Successful Launch with Jenny Melrose says:
    May 21, 2017 at 9:15 pm

    […] challenges, Jenny utilized Facebook groups, but not in a smarmy way. (Read my full post on how to not be smarmy in Facebook groups.) She searched for questions that people were asking related to her challenge, answered the […]

    Reply
  3. Facebook Groups Updates in 2017 - What YOU Need to Know says:
    July 23, 2017 at 4:45 pm

    […] (Want to NOT be gross and smarmy in Facebook groups? Read my post here.)  […]

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An epic course for fiction authors with practical strategies to create a six-figure income.

Hey, I'm Kirsten!

(Rhymes with BEER-sten.) I am the author of Email Lists Made Easy for Writers and Bloggers and the host of the Create If Writing podcast. My goal is to help writers, bloggers, and creatives like YOU turn readers into raving fans and learn to make a living doing what you love...without being smarmy. Questions? kirsten at kirstenoliphant.com

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