Why You Should Start A Facebook Group & How it Benefits Your Blog

Last Updated on May 4, 2020 by ellduclos

Do you want to learn how to start your own Facebook group? Then you’ve come to the right place. In this post I am sharing helpful tips on how to create and grow a Facebook group and how it benefits your blogging journey.

If you aren’t already a part of my Boss Girl Bloggers free Facebook group, then you wouldn’t know that 8 months ago I created it, and 8 months later it has almost 25,000 members who are all supportive female entrepreneurs and bloggers! (as of March 2020 it has grown to over 37,000 inspiring women!)

Let me start by saying this, having a successful Facebook group can REALLY enhance your blogging journey if it’s done properly. I am so thankful for my group and I can truly say, I don’t think I would be where I am today WITHOUT my group.

Everyone always asks me, “How did you become successful in such a short amount of time? What is your secret.” Well the answer is a few different things.

1. Creating Boss Girl Bloggers
2. Staying dedicated, consistent, and having the nerve.
3. Perfecting my Pinterest Strategy (Which you can find out more about HERE)

These are a few of my MAIN factors when I reflect on my blogging journey . To be more forward with you, because everyone wonders if making money blogging is possible, how you can do it, + how much you can make?

The answer truly varies, the amount of money you make depends on YOU. How do you advertise? What are your marketing strategies? What ways are you monetizing? How dedicated are you? 

I started earning consistently over $1,500 monthly about 6 months in! I actually dedicated a whole blog post on how I went about achieving this. Now about 8 months in, I earn up to $2,500 monthly sometimes more, sometimes a little less. The thing about earning income blogging is that it can be inconsistent. That’s why tracking your income and seeing what strategies you implemented that month can really help you to see what works and what doesn’t.

I am always honest with you all. I am not going to sit here and say I have made a 6 figure salary within a year of blogging, because clearly that’s not true. Making money blogging is A LOT of work and implementing strategy. It doesn’t happen over night so don’t expect to make a 6 figure salary within a year. That usually doesn’t happen. Can it? Maybe! Like I said, everyone earns their income blogging at different paces.

SO what is the point of me sharing all of this with you? Well it’s to let you know that I am very similar to you. I am still figuring out my strategies daily. I haven’t perfected my plan BUT I have figured out many tips that have HELPED to speed up my journey.

I have dedicated MANY hours to figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I do this so that you don’t have to! I want to share as much as I can with you so that you don’t have to spend hours upon hours of work researching like I did. I want to help you the best I can when it comes to succeeding.

One huge factor of my income and blog growth has been my Facebook group! 

I don’t see a lot of people mentioning just how beneficial having your own Facebook group can be! So I am going to tell you the basics of why you should have a Facebook group and how to grow it successfully!

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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. But purchasing through affiliate links will not cost you any extra AND I only recommend products/services that I use and LOVE. Read my full disclosure here.

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WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK GROUP?

First – you should know that running your own Facebook group is a lot of work. It takes time and dedication. If you feel you don’t have the time to dedicate to your Facebook group, then maybe it’s not for you. But here’s how it helps your growth and blogging journey.

YOUR FACEBOOK GROUP CAN GROW YOUR BLOG TRAFFIC

The members of your Facebook group are there for a reason. The reason is probably because your Facebook group has something to offer that they want!

Many bloggers will feel like the only way you can make money blogging is if you “blog about blogging.” This is NOT true! The reason why many think this way is because they are primarily in “blogging about blogging” Facebook groups so they are usually only seeing results from those who do blog about blogging.

But here’s the thing – there are MANY bloggers out there from fashion, to mom bloggers, to health and fitness, the list goes on and on, who have been able to monetize and successfully make money through their blog.

When it comes to your Facebook group, give your group value. Have it offer something to the members. For example: Boss Girl Bloggers , I offer all of my blogging tips etc. as well as having engaging members who help give blog tips as well. My group is primarily targeted to those who are blogging and want to take their blog to the next level. I make sure to provide tips and tricks that help them do so.

Let’s say maybe you are a health and wellness blogger. You want to create a group that will target what you blog about, but also you want to make sure the group will provide your members valuable information.

You could provide wellness tips, daily meditations, healthy meal guides, market wellness products that you sell, daily health goals to practice. etc. Just a few ideas to spark some thoughts.

You can do something similar for other niches too like for example Fashion: 

Provide daily Style guides in your group, let your group members know of any sales as soon as they are happening, provide budget shopping guides, and daily style tips. Anything that will give your members something of value. The more valuable content and help you offer through your group, the better!

BUILD PERSONAL CONNECTIONS

I found that I made most of my personal connections with my audience through my Facebook group! I make sure to stay engaged as often as possible. Whether that be waking up and going through my group, approving posts and commenting answering questions on submitted posts.

If you make sure to talk with as many of your group members as possible and show them that you really do care, it will go a long way! I find that connecting in a Facebook group creates a sense of community. Even the group members connect with each other too! Which is why even if you don’t have your own group, being engaged in a popular Facebook group can help your blog traffic as well! You can meet other bloggers this way and network/collaborate! The more sense of community, the more trust, which then equals more blog traffic and sales.

YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN RULES

Let’s face it, every group has it’s own rules and most of them are pretty basic. 

• No self promoting
• No spamming
• No links on the group page (usually) only in comments or threads

Etc. Etc. Etc.

If you have your own group YOU can set the rules and YOU can add your own posts directly to your Facebook group’s wall. Your members are going to want to read what you have to say! They will click onto your posts (If they grow a trust with you) and they will read and care! You can share your affiliate links in your group which also helps affiliate marketing.

You can also market your own products in your group. You don’t want to spam your group with your products and affiliate links. Make sure you are providing lots of valuable free content as well.

BUILD TRUST WITH YOUR FACEBOOK GROUP

You can’t just create a group and hope that if you share your product it will sell. NO. You need to invest time into your group FIRST before even trying to sell your product. You have to do it in a way that isn’t “SPAMMY. or Salesy” 

ALWAYS provide free information first. You need to let your audience know that they can trust what you are selling to have value. In order to trust you, they need to know what you are all about. Which is why developing personal connections with your Facebook group members is so important! Not to mention you can make great friends online and in person via your community too.

Once you have the personal connections, show them what you are all about. Share free valuable information. Have a freebie opt in for when your members subscribe to your blog. Share free blog posts before selling any course. This will build trust!

I actually just launched my first EVER E-Course January 5th! It’s now January 8th & I have already sold OVER 150 courses in just 3 days! For me this is a HUGE step in my blogging career journey.

The way that I was able to do this was PRIMARILY through my Facebook Group. My members TRUSTED in me, BELIEVED in me, and WANTED to read what I had to share! The best part – They were all satisfied with my course and price point.

& GUESS WHAT – You don’t need to charge extreme amounts for your E-Course or products.

I use Teachable for my E-Course. They have a monthly plan that costs $39 a month. They also will take 5% of each sale. UNLESS you upgrade to the $99 a month plan that will take 2% or I believe like $299 a month or so for the 0%. I really loved using teachable, it was super easy to use and they handle all the backend stuff for me. They make everything easy to customize and publish!

Currently I have earned $1,200+ in just 3 days of launching.(I already made my $40 back) You CAN make great money even at a small price selling your own product. It will add up. And most new bloggers have a budget. They can’t afford

The point of all this is to say that having a Facebook group that is successfully grown, that trusts in you, and values you can really help with the launch of your own product and/or services.

FACEBOOK GROUP VS. BIZ PAGE – Which is better?

This is a popular question. Which one is better, a Facebook business page or a Facebook group? WELL. I always say DEFINITELY have a business page no matter what. BUT, note that growing a business page is a lot harder than growing a Facebook group (in my opinion) For example: I have 25,000 members in Boss Girl Bloggers, but I only have 2,050 ish likes + follows on my biz page. ALSO I have A LOT more engagement in my group as opposed to my business page.

Facebook’s algorithm definitely makes it hard to get your business page noticed. A lot of business pages get noticed through paid advertising. For me, I really don’t want to be spending the money on advertising and promoting my page.

I focused more on my Facebook group and that has worked for me! One thing to note too is that you have the option to LINK your Facebook business page to your Facebook group! That way when you are posting content to your group, your business page is actually the one doing the posting. When people see your post and click into your profile, it will be your business page and this has helped increase my business page likes and follows a TON.

Also of course, business page like threads help too. You can find those in a lot of the Facebook Blogging Groups!

HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY GROW YOUR FACEBOOK GROUP

Now you are probably wonder, OKAY so how do I grow my Facebook group? 

The hardest part is always the beginning when you have 0 members. In fact, I believe you need to have at least one member to create the group.

Here’s my advice 

DO NOT ADD MEMBERS WITHOUT ASKING FIRST

There is nothing more frustrating than being added to a group that you didn’t ask to be a part of. This is a spammy way to grow your group. What you should do is find those who may be interested in joining your Facebook group, and then invite them to join.

The way I did this in the beginning; I was a part of a Facebook group that was active but the admins were not. I decided that I wanted to create my own group, and that I wanted to be an active admin.

I created a post in this active Facebook group that had inactive admins. I asked the group, WITHOUT ADDING MY GROUP LINK DIRECTLY.

“Who here is interested in beauty/fashion?” At the time this was my go-to niche. Of course I still love beauty and do talk about it on my EllDuclos Instagram but that’s not my main focus anymore.

Once I asked this, many would respond “ME!!!” So what I did was I privately messaged all those who were interested in this “niche” and I told them about Boss Girl Bloggers and what the group’s purpose was going to be. My main goal was that I wanted to create a sense of community. Everyone was all for it and wanted to join! This got me at least my first 500 members. It was a great foundation and I am so thankful for those who have been a part of my group since DAY ONE when I did only have 500 members.

LINK IT WHERE YOU ARE ALLOWED

Please do not link your group in another group. That can come off as self promoting. If you link it directly it may upset the admin and you could end up being removed from the group that you are posting in. That won’t help your cause.

Places that you should share your Facebook group link:

• Your Facebook biz page
• Tweet about it
• Link it on your blog
• Mention it in your blog posts
• email marketing
• market it on Pinterest
• Even create a blog post about the launch of your new community
• Share about it on Instagram

EMAIL LIST

The perfect go to is your email list! They are subscribed to your blog because they care about what you have to say, what you post etc. Which means they MOST LIKELY will want to be a part of your new community! Be sure to send them a newsletter that lets them know you created a free community and would love to have them be a part.

BE ACTIVE

The more active you are in your group, the more it will grow, I can promise you that much! There is nothing worse than a group with an admin who isn’t active. The group becomes disorganized, even spammy at times. If the admin is active, the members will be active and the group will provide more value. This will then turn into WORD OF MOUTH. If you have an active, valuable group, your members will LOVE your group and share it with those who they think can benefit from the group as well.

APPROVE POSTS

Some members might not like submitting posts because they have to wait for approval, BUT it will save your group the trouble of getting spammed. There are people who submit spam to my Facebook group. If I didn’t have my post approval turned on, my group would be filled with spam!

I have my members answer 2 questions before they are approved into the group:

1. What’s your blog url?
2. Do you promise to read the pinned rules and follow them?

If they don’t answer these questions, I don’t accept them because I fear they might spam the group. 

Having the approve first turned on helps me figure out who the spammers are in my group and saves my members from having to see spam in the group. You will get spammers once your Facebook group grows, it’s hard to avoid. You just have to weave them out of the group. This is one way of doing so.

BE A FRIEND

Be friendly to your members, answer as many of their questions and comments as you can. Don’t ignore them. Be kind! Don’t act like you “know it all”, Yes, you might have valuable information to share, but no one KNOWS it all. And having the “know it all” personality can come across as rude and unfriendly. Kindness goes a long way.

CREATE A PIN AND PIN IT

If you don’t already know, Pinterest is the master behind EVERYTHING. From blog growth to making affiliate sales, AND GROWING YOUR FACEBOOK GROUP.

One thing I recommend doing is creating a pin for your Facebook group that draws attention, and link that pin to your Facebook group. After you create it, schedule it to your boards and group boards using Tailwind.

My E Course goes in-depth about utilizing Pinterest to grow affiliate sales and blog traffic.  It might be worth checking out.

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I hope this helps you better understand how valuable a Facebook Group can be to your blog and business.

Until Next Time,

xx

Ell