“I’ve dropped my keys somewhere between Church Street and Morrisons on the way to the shop. Has anyone spotted them?”
“Did anyone else think the ending of episode five was AWFUL?!”
“I need some advice…”
“Can anyone recommend a painter and decorator in…?”
Facebook groups. A feature where you can join any community from the palm of your hand, start any conversation and have any question answered.
So, where does your business slot into that?
A community feel
Facebook groups are great for communities - and not just the local ones where people can stay up-to-date with road closures.
TV shows, hobbies, new skills, networking… the list goes on. If you’re interested in it, there will likely be a Facebook group for it.
Your business can join these Facebook groups (either through a member of staff’s personal account or as the page itself) to be part of its wider community. For example, we’re members of many local business groups as we want to be a part of our brilliant Shropshire business communities.
Recruitment groups may also be useful for you to join if you’re interested in expanding your team.
Or, why don’t you create a Facebook group to form your own community?
Should you make a Facebook group?
Whether your business needs its own Facebook group depends on your audience.
If you have a community focus, the answer is ‘yes’. We’ve set up various Facebook groups over the years, all with ‘a community focus’ in common.
An example of this is our most successful group to-date - the Official Jesmonite Creative Community - which we manage on behalf of our client Jesmonite. The Facebook group is a space for creatives to network, promote their work, have easy-access to tips, bounce ideas off each other, be able to ask for help and advice from people in-the-know and ask for true opinions on their products in a safe space before they release them to their clients.
The “official” Jesmonite group also allowed our client to keep control of advice - previously there were many Jesmonite groups set up by creatives themselves which Jesmonite had no control over with other people in the industry offering their advice which could be wrong without Jesmonite seeing it.
It’s also a great way for the Jesmonite team to stay up-to-date with consumers - whether that’s their attitude towards the business or any regular questions cropping up about certain products - and develop business strategies accordingly.
From it, Jesmonite’s reputation has improved as it’s recognised as a business which cares for its creatives and its users. The group has helped Jesmonite grow as a business in the process.
If your business doesn’t have a target of creating a community-feel, then you should probably stick to being a member of certain groups. With that said, if you spot a gap in the market and think your business could bring people together - go for it!
J&PR is an example of this. We don’t have a Facebook group because our target market isn’t there, yet we’re members of many PR and digital groups as well as local community groups. If none of these groups existed, we’d likely make one as it’s a key focus for us.
What’s right for your business?
You should be doing what’s right for your business and consumers. Making a Facebook group could be a game-changer for you (like it was for Jesmonite) or it could be something you know about but isn’t the right fit for your business.
Managing a Facebook group
If you want to run your own Facebook group, rather than be a member of one, then you’ll need to dedicate part of your working day to its upkeep.
This includes…
- Creating group rules and making sure people stick to them
- Accepting/rejecting membership requests
- Approving/rejecting posts
- Monitoring comments
We can help!
If you’re an existing client of ours, it’s likely we already engage in industry-specific and local Facebook groups on your behalf.
Want to create your own Facebook group? Get in touch with your account manager and let’s see how we can help.
Not an existing client? Don’t worry, we’re here for you too! We can do some Facebook group research with you, or set up your own Facebook group, in a Two Hour Takeover. If you’d prefer to have someone else manage your Facebook group, we can do that too - including creating that all-important content for your community.
Contact info@jandpr.com if you’re interested in finding out more!
