Yesterday I attended a webinar on the uses of Facebook Groups for business purposes. The people presenting -- who were from around the globe -- had gathered both anecdotal and empirical data on how businesses are and can use Facebook Groups, particularly for marketing and/or recruitment.
I quickly understood that the information being presented also had implications for international education offices and organizations, particularly in areas such as marketing events, services and programs and recruitment / admissions. And while the emphasis was on using groups, the evidence they provided led me to an opposite conclusion when it comes to the field of international education.
Bottom line? Facebook Pages may be a better marketing and communications option for international offices/programs than Facebook Groups.
First and foremost, trying to shift an audience ("fans" / "group members") to a Facebook Page after a Facebook Group has been established is very difficult -- so go for the Page first! If you started the Group first, than you will probably need to commit to a serious effort to getting people moved over to a Page -- and you may need to offer an incentive for them to do so.
Here's more reasons why having a Facebook Page for your office/program is better than a Group:
- Groups have size and communications limits that do not apply to Pages. And limits sometimes matter...a lot.
- Pages allow the administrators to get access to important statistics and reports that Groups do not have
- Pages allow for more direct contact because the admins can send emails to the entire list of "fans".
- Groups need more activity on the part of the Admins running them than Pages do.
- People join Groups and then don't take part -- and, worse, they stop checking the Groups. More than half of the Group members drop out or become inactive very quickly.
- Most members of Facebook groups are more interested in hearing about the status of an effort or news from an office -- which Facebook Pages allows quite well -- but they are slow to join or facilitate action in a Group.
- In fact, emails sent through Groups are often regarded as advertising spam and often go unread!
- There are some serious limitations with Facebook Groups, such as the inability to send documents. At this time, only video and photo options are available.
- Finally, Facebook simply does not have a good interface for Groups when it comes to marketing and other business or administrative purposes.
What became very clear:
- "Influencers" play a key role in both Page and Group networks. Personal invitations from friends to become a Fan are very important. Statistics show that a handful of "influencers" can account for up to 30% of recruits in some cases!
- Active and appropriate recruiting is a key to growth. In other words, don't think that "if you build it, they will come". You need to continue to look for and invite participants.
- Recruiting also happens through friends of friends -- who see that someone has become a "fan" through Facebook feeds. Don't underestimate this.
- Work on weave a larger network and seeking "fans" in unusual places.
- Sometimes using contests can help to increase the number of "Fans."
Using a Facebook Page to connect with your students is a form of community development.
Community development and management must be considered and treated as an investment. Slow expansion, not viral growth, is normal with Facebook. Don't expect fast results. Be happy with steady growth.
Also pay attention to what you name your Page as the name you choose can seriously impact who joins your group and for what reason, which in turn may impact the number of people who will choose to become "Fans".
A Facebook Page is the page of your "brand" - for your office, your institution, your program. Own it and use it wisely!
Related articles
- 5 Ways to Keep Your Facebook Page Secure (socialmediaexaminer.com)
- 502 International Education related YouTube channel subscriptions... (ihec-djc.blogspot.com)
- Should I set up a Facebook page, group or person for my business? (marketing.yell.com)
- Facebook's Default Landing Page Is Going Away On Timeline. Now What? (blogs.constantcontact.com)
- Facebook groups get Timeline-like cover photos (insidefacebook.com)
Related Posts:
The Most Important Way that International Education Can use Facebook
How to Change Your Facebook Language Setting
How not to: Market your consulting services
If it walks like a duck: College admissions marketing for the new generation
Is Facebook (and other social media) American cultural imperialism?
A clever way to use Facebook tags in marketing
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can i ask what webinar it was that you attended? thanks
Wow! Thank you so much for these insights. I am completely new to facebook. I am trying to start a place where ISSS (international student and scholar services) technology folks can share ideas and network. At first, I thought that I should make a page (community choice), so I did. Then, I thought I made a mistake so I made a group. Now, I see that the page (community page) will be more powerful. Back to the drawing board to figure out how to build my community page!!
>People join Groups and then don\'t take part -- and, worse, they stop checking the Groups.
Oh? And having \"Liked\" a Facebook page, how do you then find it to participate? You can\'t. While the groups you\'ve joined show up at the left when you are logged into FB, once you\'ve liked a page, there is no way for you to find it unless you either search for it or scroll down through the Newsfeed for updates. Groups are far better, however they are not well-supported for some reason.
Facebook has changed and adjusted a lot of things about pages and groups in the last year. In particular, you can now assign pages you\'ve liked to \"Interest Lists\", which allow you to better peruse those in which you are most interested. Try it!
Based from my experiences in using the social media platform, I believe that a Page is more effective than a Group. The word \"fan\" itself is more enticing for people. And it\'s also true that a group is often abandoned because members usually become inactive after some time.
In addition, a group page doesn\'t give an administration options to customize a page. While in a Page, the site custodian can change how the it will look like as well as updates can be easily disseminated because it acts as a regular page.
I would have loved Facebook to make it a little more difficult to start a group. I know that may sound a little odd but if there were some sort of verification process that you had to pass through - like there is on site\'s like Elance.com and others that require you to prove credentials in various ways - then there would be a lot less trashy/SPAM groups/fans pages on Facebook.
Facebook was on track to do what LinkedIn has done but had one foot in the \'fun\' pool and another in the \'business\' pool. It\'s very hard to do both and I think Facebook may have missed the mark on this one.
It was an informative read indeed. I have been using a facebook page for business development but have not seen any positive results. I guess it is more about building comminity then seeking organizational gains.
In social media, building community is one of the ways to also build business. Consider using your page to do that. One method is the 80/20 method. That means that 80% of what you share should be helpful information for your readers that come from a wide variety of sources. Only 20% should be about \"you\" or your business. People are more willing to interact with a Page that is helpful and not simply trying to \"sell\" them something.
Actually I already thought that Groups were well on their way out. Considering the implications that the various Facebook updates have had on the site in recent months, it\'s about time marketers moved all their resources over to fanpages.
FB has done a major overhaul of Groups (and Pages) in few months. Even with all the changes, I still think Groups are better for collaborative efforts. Pages are best for marketers, as you point out.
That was interesting read. I always asked myself why Facebook have duplicate features ( pages v/s groups) and now I know the major differences between them.