What are Facebook Groups?

Definition: Facebook Groups are spaces on the social media network for friends, acquaintances, or people with similar interests to discuss or share about broad or narrow topics. Groups provide an arena for organic discussion about your products or services and present the opportunity to cultivate brand awareness.

What's the difference between Facebook Groups and Pages?

Pages and groups are both effective for connecting with customers, but serve different purposes.

Pages are a public-facing profile that anyone can access, regardless of whether they've "liked" the page or not. Facebook Groups are created around areas of interest and are usually not directly tied to a particular business (though very popular brands have garnered Groups dedicated specifically to their products). Groups are a place where businesses can participate by helping people learn and share ideas about your products and services. While your page posts can be accessed by anyone on Facebook, the visibility of your activity in Facebook Groups can be selected based on the nature of the conversation.

Privacy settings

Businesses can choose from three privacy settings for groups:

• Public groups are open for anyone to join and the content is visible to the entire Facebook community.

• Open groups will encourage membership, since no barriers exist, but in some cases, you may want to limit membership.

• Closed groups are visible to outsiders, but people can join only when another member invites them, and only current and former members can see secret groups. Closed and secret groups are useful when you want a more exclusive gathering for loyalty rewards and customer support forums.

Read more about Group privacy settings on Facebook Help.

How can businesses participate in Facebook Groups?

There are over 640 million Facebook Groups centered around activities, passions, and niches of all kinds. That means there are bound to be multiple groups relating to the product or services you offer, and those can be leveraged for various levels of influence.

Networking with brand ambassadors

Creating a group of people who love your brand can help spread fan-love around Facebook. In this case, it's natural for your goods to be the focal point of discussion and you should consistently offer people real value for their loyalty, like company branded apparel, helpful tips and other perks.

Selling products

"For Sale Groups" are specific communities where your business has the option of posting an item for sale within your updates to the group.

Creating influence

Enhance your company's influence by helping other members solve problems, but avoid doing so in a way that's overly promotional. Users are often not open to members who are first and foremost pushing a sale.

Provide service and get feedback

Invite customers to join a private group where your service team can offer support in a closed forum. This gives your team the chance to get questions and feedback first hand, a direct line of communication that can help you improve your products and services.