What is the difference between a Facebook page and a Facebook group? Do you need both? What should you be posting on a page or in a group? These are by far the three most common questions I get from business owners looking to up their social media presence and grow their businesses. Business owners know that a Facebook page and a Facebook group are two tools that can make a lot of money for their business, but they often aren’t sure that they are using those tools properly. Until now.
WHAT IS A FACEBOOK PAGE?
Your Facebook Page is a landing page for your business. Social media is often the first contact someone might have with your business online. And you want it to be a good interaction or you might never have another with that customer.
Some things customers should be able to do or understand from one visit to your Facebook business page are…
- Instantly see who your business is.
- What is is that you sell or offer.
- If they are your target market.
- How to get in touch with you.
- How to buy from you.
WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE?
According to Facebook, they have over 2 billion active users. If there was a place where 2 billion people gathered as a business owner, you would be crazy not to have a presence there, especially if that presence was free and easy to set up. And what if 2 out of 3 of those 2 billion people regularly looked up brands and companies?
It would not make business sense to not have a presence for them to find. In addition to the free space that Facebook provides for businesses to have pages, it is necessary if you want to run ads to have a business page.
FACEBOOK PAGE ESSENTIALS
At a minimum level you should
- Make sure all of the parts of the page are filled out.
- Post regularly even if you aren’t getting any interaction.
If you aren’t active on your page, how can you expect customers to be active? Posting at least once a day is the MINIMUM. But that is the bare minimum. You want customers to be able to find your page when they look for it and see that you are still in business as you are consistently posting. If you want to actually use your page to grow traffic and sales, there is a lot more to consider. But at least make sure you have the basics.
WHAT TO POST TO A FACEBOOK PAGE
Engaging content means more people will see your posts. Facebook shows 1-2% of YOUR AUDIENCE your posts. If that group interacts with your post…then Facebook might show it to 3%. And if that group interacts they will continue to show it to more people in your audience. Know your target market and post content that they will respond to.
Every part of your process of creating your product, can be a post. Everything related to your business can be a way to engage with your audience. If you buy paint, show a picture and ask which colors they like best. If you are packaging products, take a picture and share it. Go live and unbox. Anything can be a post and a way to engage with your audience.
What Not To Post To A Facebook Page
People don’t come to Facebook to be sold to. I know what you are thinking, “Wait a minute! You said I need a business presence there, but I’m not allowed to sell?” Not so fast, my friend. I said that people don’t come to Facebook to be sold to. And they don’t.
But they still use Facebook to interact with businesses and brands. And that interaction still influences and drives their buying decisions. But because they are not in a buying mode when they are on Facebook, and because Facebook knows users don’t want to be sold to, we have to be a little different in the way we interact.
Every post doesn’t need to be a sales or product post. Try to interact with your audience and serve them. Get them to know you. Like you. Trust you. And sprinkle in info about your product, your offers, your sales, how to shop with you, and other more salesy stuff.
WHAT IS A FACEBOOK GROUP?
A Facebook group is a place where you build a community around your brand. This is the place where you must let people in to know the real you. Once you build that community, people will buy from you because they know you and they are part of your brand. This is the place where you build a following and a frenzy around your product.
WHY DO YOU NEED TO HAVE A FACEBOOK GROUP?
Facebook is putting a larger emphasis on community. They know that people come to Facebook for entertainment, interaction, and connection. That is more likely to happen in group settings. Since they know that is what users want, they are making groups more discoverable by users. So you need to leverage that and have a group where you can make that deeper connection and create super fans of you and your brand.
FACEBOOK GROUP ESSENTIALS
The most important thing is to post consistently and to post engaging content. You need to be posting regularly although it’s not the end of the world if you miss a day in a group. Schedule posts out, but do not ignore the community. If you cannot let people in and show the real you, Facebook may not be the best selling place for you. It’s a social community-based platform. People go there for the social aspect.
WHAT TO POST TO A FACEBOOK GROUP
Anything that allows customers and community to know you, your process, behind the scenes, etc. Ideally you would be going live in a group to show them you and the things coming up for them.
In a group, you could also be posting discounts, new product photos, and sneak peaks. Remember that the people in your group should be rewarded for being a part of your group. They might get first access to products, get to choose themes for your next sale, have a discount, get access to clearance items, or other bonuses that people on your page don’t get.
WHAT NOT TO POST IN YOUR FACEBOOK GROUP
Don’t make your group just another place where you post the exact same stuff from your page. There would be no incentive to join the group if you ran it that way. Instead you should love on those group members who were willing to join you in a community about you and your brand.
They deserve some extra attention and perks for being willing to be part of your community. There can be some crossposting, especially more announcement style posts, but be sure to give a little more to your group.
THE BOTTOM LINE FOR FACEBOOK PAGES AND GROUPS
Facebook pages and groups are both really useful tools for businesses that want to grow their reach and engagement on social media. They are both also very helpful for increasing sales. But they need different content and management because they serve different purposes in your business.
DO I NEED TO HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE AND A FACEBOOK GROUP?
You have to have a business page. It’s a must. A group is somewhat optional. I know there are people who just feel like they can’t take on a group. And if you are booming on other platforms like Etsy, Amazon, or your own website, you might not HAVE to have a group.
But groups have made a lot of money for my business and created a very loyal following of superfans who show up to buy no matter where I sell.
CAN I MAKE MONEY WITH A FACEBOOK PAGE OR A FACEBOOK GROUP?
Yes! I often recommend using your Facebook page for live sales. And we are seeing amazing results from many of our students with regular lives sales on their Facebook pages. My own lives sales most often sell out or nearly sell out. In a group you can use a restock style sale to create regular income. It’s also a great product development tool to figure out items you should be listing on Etsy or Amazon Handmade. I’ve used my Facebook group to make money for my business. I am talking thousands of dollars a month. And this is something anybody can do if they run a group the right way.
DO I RUN MY PAGE AND MY GROUP THE SAME WAY?
Nope. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make on a Facebook page is posting link after link. Or product post after product post on their page. They include prices and many of Facebook’s banned words and wonder why nobody sees their posts.
These things are killing your Facebook page.
You are essentially telling Facebook that your stuff shouldn’t be seen by anyone. Some of these things may work in a group, but they don’t work on a page.
Similarly it’s okay to go live inside a group, but you are not going to expand your reach to anyone outside your group when you go live there. You need to be going live on your business page to gain new followers and attract new customers.
CAN I PUT THE SAME CONTENT ON MY PAGE AND IN MY FACEBOOK GROUP?
You shouldn’t. In addition to pages and groups needing different types of content, you should never just slap the same things in both places. Why would anyone feel the need to follow your page and join your group when they will see the same thing both places? This is one of the number one reasons that people say they don’t want to do a group.
They don’t want to have to create double the content. But once you understand your target market, coming up with content can be done 1 day a month for both a group and a page.
So there you have it! The differences between a Facebook page and a Facebook group are pretty big, even though they are both Facebook. A page is your digital business card. And a group is your loyal customer base. I think you need both, but you’ve got to make sure you run them the way that is actually going to give you more growth and more sales.
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