Facebook groups - Why some flourish and others fail

Posted by: Mike Shaw

Facebook groups cover seemingly everything, from people’s pet hates to their political views. However, the relative success or failure of such groups varies greatly. Why do some groups fail to take off, while others go viral and spread across the planet accumulating millions along the way?

Here are my observations on Facebook groups and some tips for success:

The four key groups:

Genuine Groups/Organisations – Generally groups with a fixed number of stakeholders. The members are often more active in dialogue due to their familiarity with the content, news and co-members.

Common interest/Just for fun – a wide ranging collection of statement style groups (E.g. “I like free stuff”, “People Who Always Have to Spell Their Names for Other People”), where membership is virtually limitless. These groups can reach incredible sizes but often have issues reaching the critical mass to generate significant traction.

Events – groups set up as part of an upcoming event (E.g. headland Sculpture on the Gulf), almost always used to then set-up an event page. Useful in the fact that unlike the event page itself, the group does not ‘disappear’ after the event date. It can also be a worthwhile means of capturing information for marketing similar events.

Businesses – Sometimes seen as a blend of the first two. While these groups comprise of obvious core stakeholders, such as employees, they are open to establishing a wider membership involving individuals with a common interest. Groups of this type are also a key part of establishing a larger online footprint and enhancing online reputation management.

5 tips for building a successful Facebook group:

INVITE people! – In fact, invite people to invite people. The key to generating start-up success is to invite people that you feel would be interested in what you have to say, especially those who are willing to also say something. However, be wary of becoming the person your friends secretly hate because you invite them to everything.

Say something - the more content you can provide that is relevant and compelling, the more likely others will be to share comments and help build the group.

Use an interesting title – this is what people will see first (maybe the only thing), it’s important to grab people’s attention as you would with the headline of a news article.

Give it time – As with blogging, it takes time to build and develop a strong group membership. The key is to not to give up in the early phase simply because membership growth has been slow.

Join other groups – again as in blogging, participating in other groups and discussions can aid your own.