Swimming With the Big Fish in Facebook Groups
Since I dove into the pool not once, but twice, I’m starting to gain some insight into the value of creating and building Facebook groups.
In the beginning (or should I say during my period of denial) I saw no purpose in putting forth the effort to create and maintain a Facebook group for an as yet unpublished author. But the last five years have seen my perspective change repeatedly, so it comes as no surprise I’d change with regard to Facebook groups as well.
That’s not to say it’s all wine and roses. The group I started for myself, Putting Your Whole Heart Forward has been sputtering along for the last couple of months. At one point I reached about 25 members, but lately, it’s dwindled back to 22. Meanwhile, a group I created for Borderline’s line dance instructor following the shooting and subsequent temporary closure of our dance venue quickly grew to over 100 members all by itself through word of mouth (or rather, word of Facebook). I know there’s a lesson somewhere amidst my confusion, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet. When I do, I’ll be ready to apply it to growing my own group.
Learning As I Go
One thing I learned from those who teach others to create, build, and grow Facebook groups is it’s all 
about engagement. With a business group like PYWHF, engagement falls mostly on the group’s administrator. Unfortunately, I’m easily distracted (shiny object syndrome) and forget to add value to my group regularly. Add in fires, shootings, and gatherings with friends, and I admit I fell off the wagon a bit which could explain the members who left. I know I don’t hang around when a group has no activity. I can’t expect others to do the same.
In the dancers group, people are posting all the time, so the administrators (and I have 2 more people on that one) check in when they can, answer questions, post events, and otherwise keep the conversation going. It doesn’t hurt that we have a couple of sister groups who cross-post events, pictures, and comments as well.
Engagement Makes a Group Grow and Thrive
So how do you go about creating a group for your business that grows as easily as a special-interest 
group? My first thought is to create a business group that is a special interest group, but again, the question becomes not only how, but what?
As I mentioned, there are a number of people teaching the art of building and growing a Facebook group. Unfortunately, the ones I’ve run across are geared more towards coaches than anything else. They do things like launch parties where they have giveaways. They partner with other coaches who contribute coaching sessions, books, crystals; essentially items they sell to be used to entice people to join the group and watch the daily videos.
At the moment, I feel I have nothing to sell except my writing services, and no other business people to team with (for free advertising, of course) who might contribute to my meager cache of giveaways. I ran a boot camp which drew a few attendees. At first, I looked at it as a flop since I only drew maybe 4 people. But when I think about the fact that my group is just over 20 people, I realize I attracted 20% of them, and that’s not horrible for a first time. In the end, I have 4 videos I can use to increase engagement by promoting the replay of my boot camp.
Persistent and Consistent
The real key to building a Facebook group is, I believe, persistence. You have to accept that the group will be small for awhile, and if you keep adding content, keep promoting the group, and continue showing up, you’ll eventually see the growth you desire. It’s like the image of two men trying to dig their way out of prison. One gets discouraged and stops inches short of his goal while the other keeps on digging, even though he still has further to go.
We have to visualize success in all our endeavors. When I was working full time as an Accountant, I spent a good part of my career learning new software, in part because when I started, accounting software wasn’t even in it’s infancy. Computers were room-sized and used only by large corporations. But as time went on technology improved. Computers and storage got smaller and less expensive, and soon, very few companies relied on manual accounting.
Building Bridges
I learned every software package had limitations, and I had to be creative and persistent to get 
them to provide the information I needed. I became adept at finding workarounds which accomplished the task at hand if it became clear the software wasn’t designed to meet my expectations. Sure, I could have given up and resorted to manual reporting. Or I could have engaged a programmer to create something for me. More often than not, I used the tools at hand to do it myself. Sure, there may have been more efficient ways to do it, but once my system was set up, the process, like everything that was programmed in became seamless.
The point I’m making is when we create a Facebook Group to complement our business, we have to put systems in place. Some may be available through Facebook, but others we’ll have to create ourselves. Meanwhile, we may have to spend a couple of hours a day manually entering content into our groups to engage our members. In the end though, I believe it will be time well spent, even if I’m the last one to get on board at this point.
Embracing Opportunities to Learn New Skills
In life, everything we do and everywhere we go is a learning experience. We don’t grow unless we go 
through a period of growing pains when everything seems difficult and maybe even insurmountable. If we ride out the rough patches, gain as much knowledge as possible, and reach out to others who’ve already been down the road we’re following, we’ll ultimately succeed. That isn’t to say we’ll continue down that path though. There are times we do something because we believe it’s what we need, only to learn it’s not a good fit. But for me, those are the times I find exactly what I do need, and which I wouldn’t have found, or at least not as soon if I hadn’t embarked on the path in the first place.
Putting Your Whole Heart Forward may ultimately be a learning experience for something else and may be abandoned or perhaps changed. For now, it’s a place to learn to engage with a group of people where the quality and quantity of engagement depends on me.
About the Author
Sheri Conaway is a writer, blogger, ghostwriter, and advocate for cats. Sheri believes in the Laws of Attraction, 
but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful and help entrepreneurs touch the souls of their readers and clients so they can increase their impact and their income. If you’d like to have her write for you, please visit her Hire Me page for more information. You can also find her on Facebook Sheri Levenstein-Conaway Author. And check out her new group, Putting Your Whole Heart Forward.
Be sure to watch this space for news of the upcoming release of “Life Torn Asunder: Rebuilding After Suicide”.
