Do you have a Facebook account? That’s step one.
Do you have questions about Facebook Pages and Groups? You likely belong to at least one if you’re on Facebook, perhaps even one I manage. This post hopefully will be completed in time to secure a ‘Social Media Worker‘ position that I applied for, could work for a service promoting website accessibility and inclusion. I have so much to learn myself. I’m a lifer in the school of life. Below in the image is step 2 of creating a Page or a Group on Facebook.
Creating the Page or Group
My groups on Facebook are Private, I have one for an MS Peer Support Group I facilitate in the actual world. Speaking of that, I have a link for my MS Walk 2022, that you may want to help me find a cure. It’s linked to another page I manage for my local MS Walk. Thank you in advance. Back to FB. The Groups can be public too, but that often can’t be manged efficiently as it attracts trolls which are difficult to control. One use of Facebook is to collect donations for non-profits. I mange a business page for the Handy Circle Resources Society and the Prince George Mental Health Consumer’s Council you can view. Some funding for our programs and events comes from and through Facebook and other social media. Groups can be attached to pages to become powerful, or they can stay independent of a page. A website could also be added, perhaps for a business or supporting nonprofit. Kind of like how this website links to my social media feeds, including my page for this blog. It has no Groups attached. You likely just have one focus. That’s overall better for a business or the not so dedicated Facebook addict. Find a niche. My most popular Group involved Cannabis (naturally lol), started back when it was called Marijuana, infected with Reefer Madness and attracted a lot of attention in Canada, particularly from Facebook and the law. I started it as a local community page at first, but it quickly grew to include Canada focusing on Northern BC. The ‘Legend in my Mind‘ figured I was a frontrunner in bringing legalization to Canada.
Once it’s created, fill it with content.
It’s not enough to just post randomly and expect people to join. Yea, they’ll still join but not frequently and you can sit on it for years with just over 200 members, people joining and leaving no matter how interesting your content, never talking. Some attract trolls with certain subjects and themes as the only conversations you encourage, time to change writing styles unless you run a protest page or group, but even then Facebook has its own standards of conduct. Establish rules for your Group or Page before the first member joins. Make the environment feel welcome and secure to joiners, establish a rapport with your members as they join too, stay and perhaps in a scheduled ‘Welcome to my Group’ post perhaps once a week or more depending on frequency of new members. This will help them post and comment and stay loyal to your Page or Group.
Page and Group Management
Will you have just one person as ‘Admin’ or would you fill each roll with another person? How do you encourage conversation from your Group? Do you promote inclusion? Have you read the ‘Help’ posts on Management? All Staff should study the pages Facebook offers, study them before creating for your best chance of success. This is a good read on the normal web. After that, once members chat, their friends will join. Well, there’s a better chance of that, anyway. It is sustainable and will feed your interest greatly. No guarantees, but even without the website attached, it could attract the number you want by being interesting and well managed. Oh yea, another way to build inclusion and community participation in FB Groups is with Rooms and Video Calls inviting the entire community to a ‘private’ chat that is secure.
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