4 Mistakes You’re Making with Your Free Facebook Group

If your free Facebook Group is dead… then you need to bookmark this article NOW.

The facts are that Facebook groups remain relevant and effective to attracting new clients and increasing engagement among existing clients. Groups are a great tool to reach your ideal audience, test new ideas, and gather information before making big decisions. They are especially ideal for coaches, online business owners, service providers, designers, and digital marketers. 

We know many of you may already have a group, but is it suffering from low engagement or feel like a waste of time? 

We’re here to tell you that a free Facebook community can absolutely have high engagement, attract your ideal audience and feed your business with qualified leads. Today we want to outline the mistakes we often see (and some of the mistakes we use to make at SOWBO). 

So, if you want to run an active and engaged Facebook community for your small business, here are 4 common mistakes that to avoid.

MISTAKE #1: Falling for the Quick Growth Scheme

You fell for the quick growth scheme by telling people they can promote their own business and products if they join. Unfortunately, this only creates members who do not actually care about your content. Most people who get on growth trains via Facebook groups are there for one reason: to grow their own audience or sell their products. Instead, focus on slow and consistent member growth that provides an audience who will actually engage. 

Here’s how:

• Leverage other Facebook groups to invite new audiences to your group. Get active in comment conversations or pay to promote your Facebook group. There are several groups out there that allow paid promotional posts. Just be strategic and showcasing your group’s focus. If you run a promo, market the freebie and explain that joining the free Facebook group is how you get it!
• Have great SEO and searchable phrases in your “About” section.
• Schedule posts for every week so that your group shows active in search results.
• Ask your current group members to invite their friends.
• Remind your email list and Instagram audiences that there are daily convos happening in your Facebook group (or even better… issue a challenge that gets them something for free, but requires them to post or comment in the FB group).

MISTAKE #2: Skipping Facebook’s 3 Required Questions Section

This is a big NO-NO. These questions allow you to screen your new members and learn valuable insight about who you are attracting.

So, always . . .

• Provide an option for your new members to enter in their email address (we suggest giving them a freebie if you have one!). Not everyone will give you their email address and that is okay! Just give the option and watch your email list grow.
• Ask them what their biggest pain point or need is upon joining. This will tell you exactly what the audience you’re attracting wants you to provide.
• Ask something direct, fun, unique, or quirky in order to verify that they are a real person. Facebook has too many spammy accounts out there — make sure the audience is authentic.

MISTAKE #3: Forgetting to Welcome New Members to Your Facebook Group

Or, even worse, you welcome them with a boring message that makes your new member feel like it’s a waste of their time! Please welcome your new members in a personable and memorable way. And, yes, this means make a welcome post that tags all new members at once.

We’ve seen this done successfully in various ways. The goal is to make it memorable and unique to your personality!

In your welcome post, we suggest that it include all of the following:

• Welcome video. A personalized video performs the best, but takes the most time. Consider creating 3-4 welcome videos on a “batch content day” and rotating them out in order to keep the feed from looking repetitive.
• Memorable photo. If you are not comfortable with video, then use a fun + bright + cheerful or funny photo that grabs attention.
• Ask members to talk about themselves. This can be an introduction, answering a fun question, or sharing their own story. Remember: they only care about themselves and solving their own problems. What problem are they there to solve? What do you need to know about them or what is burning inside their hearts to share?
• Provide immediate value. Think of a freebie, webinar, or something that gets them on your email list. This can even be a reminder to download the original freebie in the screening process. Whatever it is — Make sure you call it a “thank you gift for joining”
• Always provide an opportunity for members to take the next step with you like a Discovery call, etc.

MISTAKE #4 Being Inconsistent or Providing No Real Value

If this is the case, after a while, your members will leave or mute your group. The goal of your group should be to provide consistent content that gives members a reason to stay in and engage. Here are some ideas:

• Post quick, one word answer type of questions that are easy for anyone (this or that, yes or no, etc).
• Post conversation starters that help your community get to know one another on a fun & personable level.
• Share valuable content (news, tips, resources).
• Challenge your members to create posts and ask for help.

We love our SOWBO Facebook community! We hope you can maximize a Facebook group, too. How about a freebie to help you? Snag our Facebook Conversation Starter pack now!