Facebook groups are a great way of connecting with like-minded individuals to network and build your client base. Also, they provide a place to connect with people who share interests. While as a business owner, it is also a place to create a community, for you to interact in a private setting with your customers
In partnership with the PTD Ninja 101 course, this guide will take you through the steps needed to set up your own Facebook group and start using it to onboard your new clients and also build your very own community.
Create Your Group
First things first, let’s start with creating a new group. You can do this in a couple of ways, either by clicking on the plus symbol in the top right-hand corner of your Facebook page or by clicking on this link.Within the Group builder, you can add the following:
- Group Name. Give it a clear name, so your customers can easily identify it.
-Privacy options. There are two options. Having the group public will mean anyone can see who’s in the group and what they post. We recommend choosing private. Finally, you can set up questions when people ask to join your group.
-Visibility. You have two options, visible or hidden. You want to choose visible in this situation as you want people to find your group and apply to go into it. You also want to send people a link to your group so that they can see it.
- Invite Your Friends. If, for example, you have any admins who will help you manage the group, this would be a good place to add them.
Once you are happy with this, simply select the “Create” button.
Group Management
Like your business page, Facebook is good at getting you set up and suggesting areas you need to complete. The following steps will talk you through these.Add a cover photo - Don’t worry; you don’t have to be a pro at image editing. Just head on over to Canva.com, set up a free account, and, when creating a new design, search for “Facebook Cover Image” this will give you a template you can use for your new group. Again, keep it simple, and ensure you include any call to action or brand colors you want to use.
Add a description - Go into detail about what you do, think about the problems you solve for people, think about the issues, and this is what you add.
Create Post - This is a welcome post that everyone who joins your group will see. It is your chance to say hello, explain what they will see in the group, and even detail any group rules or community guidelines. Additionally, don't be afraid to ask people to introduce themselves. Remember, this is about building a community. The more you can get people to open up and introduce themselves, the better your group and community will be. (Pro Tip) - We recommend adding a video as your introductory post
Once you have created your post, click on the three dots and select “Mark as announcement” doing this will pin the post to the top of the group, meaning that when people join, it will be the first post they see.
Admin Tools
Back in March 2022, Facebook updated its admin tool settings allowing businesses and group admins to manage their groups while also growing them easily. There are many admin options, but if you are just starting out, concentrate on the ones below:Membership questions
Inside membership questions, you can add up to three questions for your clients. This allows you to learn more about them when they join your group.
One of the main problems we hear from personal trainers about groups is that they are unsure of what content to use. Asking questions will give you a plethora of content you can use to inspire future content.
You may want to ask them three of the following questions:
- What their main problems are?
- What their biggest struggle is?
- What is it that you would like to achieve?
- What is it that you would like to gain most from this particular group?
- Ask them if they want to leave their email address.
When putting these questions together, think about what questions will help you create valuable content for your ideal clients.
Asking your group users to give you their email addresses is an excellent way of adding to your lead automation, as you will be able to send your users relevant, helpful content and also be able to start selling to these customers. Don't make this compulsory; just add some benefit to the customer by giving you their email address. This could be a free guide, free lesson, or nutrition advice.
Group Rules
This allows you to create rules based on your community guidelines. For example, you may not want any spam or other people trying to sell products to the group, asking people to respect each other. Doing this means that when anyone signs up for your group, they agree to your rules.
This will give you a great starting point with your first group. Take 30 minutes to 1 hour to set this up, and remember that you can change as time goes by. Finally, it is a good idea to check out all of the additional admin tools to give you a good standing of what you can do with Facebook groups
