I love Facebook groups and I’m guessing since you’re here you want to love them too. I truly believe that Facebook groups is one of the most effective ways to build a strong sense of community as an online coach. It’s also a great way to get clients who are legitimately interested and ideal for your services. But not all hosts and members are enjoying the benefits of quality Facebook group engagement.
There is an increasing number of groups where you’ll see thousands of group members and yet almost non-existent engagement. So what can you do to make sure your group stays connected and engaged with your content and with each other?
Here are x effective way to increase your Facebook group engagement so that you and your audience can enjoy the benefits of a thriving community.
1. Make sure you engage.
Hey this may sound obvious at first but it’s not unusual to see groups where the host drops their comments and links to services and then is absent for everyone else’s posts. I’m in one group on Facebook that has potential to be a really wonderful community. A few weeks back the host of the group complained in a post that she was thinking about archiving the group because “no-one ever engages” but when I went back through the content I noticed that there were many group member posts in which she didn’t engage. If you want your people to engage you first have to show that you are actually there for them. Remember that what you are building is a community which means this is a two way street.
2. Talk about fun and relevant topics.
Do you know what your group members are really looking for? Do you know what’s fun and relevant to them? Hey, it’s okay if you don’t. That means you have some fun opportunities to LEARN. Ask multiple choice questions and give your people to drop a response or do a poll. Be a student of your audience so you can figure out fun and relevant topics to talk about so you can increase your Facebook group engagement. It doesn’t always have to be business either! Sometimes what you may really need is a retreat from the usual topics in order to pique some interest and remind your members that you are in fact real people and a breathing community.
3. Go LIVE!
A sure-fire way to increase your engagement is to go live in your group and actually ask people to engage with you during your broadcast. Now I highly recommend that you don’t just randomly go live in your group, but rather you set a topic or let people know when you’ll be going live so they have time to prepare to show up. What has worked really well for me is asking people to let me know if the comments if the topic I plan to share is actually something they want to hear. If no-one responds then I don’t waste my time going live. But if they do now not only do you have an engaged post but you have people committed to showing up for you live.
4. Invite guest speakers.
Add a little dimension and excitement to your group by inviting people to go live during a guest speaker segment. You can invite group members or even experts outside of your group to come in and share about relevant topics. Set this up like an actual event inside of the events page of your Facebook group so that people can RSVP and be sent reminders leading up to the live. When I do this in my group I only announce the event a day or two before. Anything further out than this and people will either forget or b non-committal. I’ve found this to be a really special way to add value to the members of my community.
5. Show excitement and passion for you work.
This isn’t just true for Facebook groups but for all the work you do. Get into a place of high energy when sharing and engaging with your community. I’m not saying that you need to be over the top or inauthentic, but show up as the fullest version of you. If you’re forcing yourself to come up with stuff to say and are not feeling like an inspired member of your own community, then go out and find some inspiration! Take care of yourself emotionally, physically and mentally so that you can show up and raise the energy level in your group. Good energy means good engagement.
