Any business owner can set up a Facebook group.  You can use tactics to build your group and increase the number of members you have.  But it’s a completely different skill set to keep your members engaged and active in the group.  An engaged Facebook group is invaluable to your business.

I am personally a member of a lot of Facebook groups but there are only a select few that I am actively engaged with.  I can tell you from personal experience that it takes a lot of work to grow an engaged FB group.  If you’re not willing or able to invest the time and effort, it will likely die a slow death.

But if you have the time and are willing to invest the energy, here are 10 tips that will boost your engagement.

1. Make sure your group has a purpose.  The intention is to build a community of like-minded individuals that all have a common interest, cause, or goal.  For instance, one of my clients just started a new FB group – Athlete Mindset Mastery.  Her group is for serious-minded and competitive athletes who want to improve their performance and mindset.  As you can see, it’s for a very specific group of people who have the same goal.

2. Welcome your new members weekly.  I love having my clients record a nice welcome video that introduces themselves, their business, the purpose of the group, encourages engagement, and invites new members to invite others.  Always use the “Write post” function that highlights new members.  This will tag all the new members so that you can ask them to introduce themselves or answer any other questions you want to know about members.

3. Ask questions and tag members.  There are so many different kinds of questions you can ask including yes or no questions, open-ended questions, detailed questions, etc.  You want to get to know your members on a personal and professional level.  What makes them tick?  If you were to have a conversation with them, what would you want to know about them?  Make sure you tag 8-10 members when you post the question so they get notified.  This will make it easier for them to respond.

4. Post polls, quizzes, or surveys.  People love to respond to this type of post.  When someone asks me a question in a FB group and gives me options to consider, I love to participate.  What is even more exciting to me is looking at what other people think as well.  Consider what your audience might be curious about and ask them in a way that makes it super simple to answer.  A poll, quiz, or survey makes it easy to click a button to choose an option.

5. Use quote cards.  We all want to be inspired, educated, or entertained.  Pick a great graphic (or better yet, make one) and post a quote that would be relevant to your members.  I love doing quotes on Mondays to help start the week on a positive note.

6. Post videos that tell a story.  People LOVE videos.  So if you’re not harnessing the power of video, you can start now.  You don’t have to create the videos yourself.  Find inspiring, funny, entertaining, or educational videos that tell a story.  Give people a behind the scenes look at your life.  Share something uplifting to encourage your members to go after their goals.  Nothing long – a 3-5 minute video is good!

7. Go live on Facebook.  FB Live is a great way to connect with your members and share some value.  It is recommended that you go live several times per week, but if that is too much for you, start with a goal of one per week.  The great thing about FB Lives is that you can repurpose this content on your blog, emails, and IGTV.  Don’t worry if members aren’t joining live with you – they can always watch later.  You will eventually build a following, especially if you announce in the group that you’re going live on “X” topic.

8. Engage with your audience ALL the time.  Please don’t just post and walk away.  Be prepared to answer every question, respond to your members’ comments, and engage with any content they might share.  There is nothing worse than a radio silent FB host that is not active in her own group.  The purpose of your FB group is to build relationships with members.

9. Build a community that encourages members to seek help.  Some of the best groups, in my opinion, are the ones where members are actively seeking advice from other members of the group.  I’m a member of two very active groups – The Confident OBM and the Uplevel Lounge.  I’ve asked so many questions in those groups and I ALWAYS get heartfelt responses from other members.  It’s one of the main reasons I stay active in the groups.  Allow your members to post in your group (unless they are spamming) and always encourage members to help one another.

10. Ask members to turn on their notifications.  If your members don’t have their notifications turned on for your group, it’s very likely they won’t see new posts that pop up.  It seems obvious but it’s really not.  There are lots of groups that I don’t see notifications from.  And I’m definitely more likely to go visit a group when I see a notification about a new post.  And more often than not, I engage with the post as well.

Extreme Bonus Tip:  Delete unengaged members.  I know this might feel scary if you’ve worked hard to build a group with a lot of members.  But who cares if your group has 2k members if none of them are engaged?  It’s worthless.  You’re doing all this work for nothing.  So don’t be afraid to announce that you are cleaning house and removing all unengaged members.  People who care to stay will chime in.  Otherwise, good riddance.  I know.  It’s hardcore.  But engagement is far more important than vanity metrics.

There is no better way than FB groups to build a community of your target audience.  A Facebook group puts all your prospects in a contained space where you can build a relationship with them, provide constant value, and ultimately sell your services and courses.

If you need help setting up and building an engaged Facebook group, the team at Amazing OBM can help.  As a full-service marketing management company, we work with heart-centered entrepreneurs to grow their biz through the power of content marketing.