Managing a Facebook Group

Facebook offers several ways to establish a presence on its network. Individuals can set up personal Profiles, companies and organizations can set up Pages, and anyone with a Facebook account can start a Facebook Group.

Companies typically set up a Facebook Group to enhance their public-facing Facebook Page in order to interact more with others. Pages tend to focus on posting content. Groups are geared more toward conversations amongst group members. If you are looking to host in-depth discussions based on topics relevant to your business, Groups may be a good choice.

A Group on Facebook looks similar to Pages or Profiles with some key differences. The tabs or sections available for your Group may vary based on the type of Group you set up. For example, if you are setting up a Group where people can put things up for purchase or buy items through the Group, you will see a tab called “Buy and Sell.”

Here are some of the tabs you can set up on your Facebook Group:

  • About - All presences on Facebook include an About section for background details. Clearly state the purpose of your Facebook Group so your Group’s members know what to expect.
  • Discussion - On Groups, the Discussion area is similar to Posts on a Page or profile where the post is a lead-in to a discussion in comments.
  • Featured - Mark certain posts as Featured so they appear in this section and are easier to find.
  • Members - Only Groups on Facebook have a Member section listing those who have joined. Pages have “Followers” and personal Profiles have “Friends.”
  • Events - Both Groups and Pages can host and list related events.
  • Media - Photos, videos, and albums are archived in this section of the Group.
  • Files - Unlike on the rest of Facebook, you can upload PDF files, Microsoft Office documents, and other downloadable files within a Group.

If you manage a Group, you get additional features including:

  • Overview  - A dashboard view of your Group member interactions and activity including a summary of insights.
  • Engagement Insights - A more in-depth look at your Group engagement.

Admin Tools include:

  • Admin Assist - An AI-powered automation tool to help you perform Group moderation tags such as managing posts, comments, and people.
  • Member Requests - The place where you can approve members to give them access to your Group.
  • Promote Group - Where you can start a promotional campaign to gain new members.
  • Membership Questions - Use this section to compose questions that you’ll share with prospective members to help vet them.
  • Scheduled Posts - You can schedule your posts to Groups like you do on Pages.
  • Group Rules - This is where you can post your Community Guidelines to explain what is allowed and not allowed within the Group.
  • Community Roles – Where you can assign roles to others as either admins or moderators of the Group.
  • Group Settings - Use these tools to set up the visibility of your Group, choose customization features, manage membership and discussions, and add new features to your Group such as Polls, Reels, and Live Videos.

Setting Up a Group

If you manage a Facebook Page, you can set up a Facebook group using your Page as the Group admin. If you’re already an admin on a Group personally and are also an admin of a separate Page, you can assign your Page as an admin in the Group. Connecting a moderated Group to your Page adds a more discussion-friendly forum that is easier to monitor than comments on a publicly available Page.

When you first set up a Facebook Group, you can choose to make it public or private. If you choose private, you can then choose for your Group to be visible or hidden. Each level of privacy comes with additional steps when someone joins the Group, including the option to allow or deny access.

If you are the administrator of a Facebook Page, your identity can be “hidden” from public view. If you are the organizer of a Group, your identity will be visible within the Group.

Groups can have cover photos, similar to Pages, and you’ll be prompted to add a description. Once you’ve set up your Group, you can add people you’re connected with on Facebook to your Group or otherwise share a link to Group to invite others.

Do You Need a Facebook Group?

Before you create a Facebook Group, ask yourself the following:

  • What are you hoping to achieve with an online community? One appropriate way to leverage an online community is to get informal feedback from consumers, like an online focus group. Online communities can be useful for brainstorming new ideas and for organizing a shared activity or event. Groups can help you provide customer service or to foster connections between you and your customers.
  • How much time do you have to devote to your community? Online communities take time to start, cultivate, grow, and leverage. On the time-commitment scale, online community building is on the longer side of time demands. A good online community manager spends several hours throughout their day checking on the community.
  • Who on your team has online community management skills? You may be a strong communicator, you may write a great press release, and you may even have your own personal Facebook profile and feel comfortable posting status updates. However, none of these skills automatically mean you’d be good at online community management. A strong community manager brings people together under a shared message or mission and encourages meaningful dialogue.

A well-managed Facebook Group can be an asset for your business helping you strengthen relationships through greater engagement. Because of its emphasis on discussions, what you post to a Group has the potential to reach more people than posts to your Facebook Page.