Are Facebook groups really working? Why? I don’t get it
Are Facebook groups really working? Why? I don’t get it
I see so many Facebook groups, some of them actually having subscription models. I really wonder how and why? I understand that the sheer amount of people on the fb platform makes it an interesting place that’s also why I want to understand it. But, I personally find it a horrible platform for interaction. I’m always loosing posts while scrolling and can’t find them anymore. I’m notified for things I’m not interested in and I have difficulties discovering relevant information... just to name a few. Also, I have almost no groups i would say I get value from. And don’t get me started on the search implementation.
Maybe it’s just me. What is the thing I do not get about Facebook? Why are you using it? And how can it add value and benefits?
I think Facebook groups can work to build a community and an audience. But it’s no easy work.
I’ve been in a group with 20k members. I was just reading from there. There was a constant stream of kind of valuable posts that encouraged engagement. Comment if you like this, comment if you want more, free couching for first 10 comments or most interesting comments, comment and I’ll pm you some content. It worked all posts had great engagement lots of comments and likes. There was more than a post a day from the maintainers, hey said it was scheduled way in advance so there’s no break. They said they removed non-active members when they get way over 20k people but I wasn’t active and didn’t get removed.
One thing about groups as opposed to pages is that invitations to group s are more likely to get noticed. It’s easy (ish) to invite lots of people and they’re likely to stay. You might also be More likely to see news feed items from groups. Facebook vs other platform is simply ease of use for end users and I think it’s easier to get user attention from news feed as opposed To make people open a different website (and register to post).
Their business model was to sell books and couching to people of this group so it was their best interest to keep this group engaged at all times. It was about growth hacking.
People often use it to build a community for their own business and give content to it.
I'm with you on this one :)
Are they actually working? or people pretending they are?
I think partly it depends on who you want to reach.
The idea of managing a subscription around a FB group feels like something impossible/tedious to manage. I'm yet to see someone do this well. I'd love to see examples.
Most FB groups I see start off with a flurry of excitement and then die a death.
The ones that I do use and I see keep active, tend to be for local reasons. A local group for my area, for example.
From the outside, it looks like those groups are actually working.
Many groups are not. But some groups I am in, seem to.
Some are really huge like 20K+ members, and joining the group is free. But then, you pay if you want to promote something, or some groups have additional services such as events, masterminds etc. that costs around 19-49 Dollars per month. So quite pricey for a Facebook group for my perception. This groups are mostly about entrepreneurship, marketing, SAAS, founders etc.
Many groups also have some promotion days or threads. People can post their services links and what not there. They have huge engagement - from the outside. What I mean is that thousands of people post their link. But, when you look closely, the individual link does not get much attention. So, I wonder why people keep posting their links there? Just wishful thinking maybe?
But, I also see small groups. One for example has around 700 people, and is managed by a one person plus an administrative contractor. They charge 19 Euros per month just to be part of the discussion. And the benefit is to talk and discuss with like-minded people and have this one expert chip in. Around 4 threads happen per day. This group is super niche about "violent-free parenting".
Another one, around 2000 member is about coaching. I see that the person running the group promotes her services a lot. So it seems to work for that. I do not see a lot of interaction otherwise, though.
I am just puzzled by this, because my personal FB experience as a user is so bad, that I wonder why people stick with it? Is it because there are no other choices to reach members that easily?
I haven't run any groups myself. But, I am a member of several.
Just wondering if it makes sense to explore that route for my own business.
I personally wouldn't use FB. Their model is always changing and often you can be left hanging.
But it depends too, on what you want to do. Sometimes it can be great for finding people, it depends on the kind of people you are finding.
If you are finding people not through FB, I wouldn't then set up something on FB.
Who would your audience be?
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Can you explain a bit more in detail? Do you mean that Facebook groups are a good way to manage a group of people with shared interests? So you feel it is simple to organize and moderate?
What about the user experience? How do people experience the value they get out of groups?
Can you explain by example what’s simple?
Would love to learn more about.