With customization options and great engagement metrics, Facebook pages are often one of the go-to marketing tools for brands online. But let’s not forget about Facebook groups, which offer a variety of opportunities for organizations and companies that hope to build an online community.

Discussion

You can establish a forum for conversation about a specific topic by using Facebook groups, opening up a multi-way means of conversation that’s difficult to achieve through Facebook pages. Not only can customers and fans interact with you, they can also interact with each other, connected by your brand. If you’re an organization or company that wants to reach a specific group of people or a company that would like to create a niche community within their broader fan base, starting a group is a great choice.

For instance, let’s say that you’re a nonprofit organization with offices in multiple cities, each office providing specific services for the specific community in which it’s located. Creating a Facebook group for each office could provide the opportunity to ask questions and monitor community discussion about specific needs and services for that community.

Crowdsourcing

Because a Facebook group provides a two-may means of communication, creating a group gives you the chance to gather information about specific products or services, receiving feedback, allowing individuals to ask questions about products and crowdsourcing ideas for new services.

Let’s say you’re a company that sells clothes and accessories for babies. You may have a general Facebook page that allows you to share information, but you also have a Facebook group specifically devoted to customers interested in your line of knit hats. The group provides the chance for you to ask questions and inform the group of new products, while customers can share ideas and provide feedback.

Notification of Content Posted

You can post content on both Facebook groups and pages, but the way in which others find out that it’s been posted varies. For instance, with a group, members will receive a notification when a new post has been made, which increases the likelihood that they will see the content that you (and others) are posting. Meanwhile, new content posted to your Facebook page will appear in the newsfeed of those that “like” the page. So, it’s important to consider what your goal is – simply marketing? A page sounds great. A discussion? You’re more likely to have that continue with the notification feature.

Sending Mass Messages

Facebook groups allow you to send messages to the Facebook inboxes of all group members. So, if you have a specific event planned, and you want your community to know about it, or if there is something specific and important you’d like the community to know about, they will.

Have you found Facebook groups to be of benefit for your brand? How so? Are there any tips you’d like to add?

{Image by openDemocracy. Used under Creative Commons.}