Tips & Talk 14 – Facebook Business Pages vs Facebook Groups

Hi there.

I see that you made it over to the new tips

and talk portion of the podcast.

These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

Today, we're going to talk about the difference between Facebook business

pages and Facebook groups.

As with anything with your business.

Some things are going to be right for you.

Some things aren't,

maybe both a page and a group would be right for

you. And you'll be able to clarify that as we go

through, but here's the thing just because you can doesn't mean

you should.

In other words,

Facebook pages and Facebook groups are available for everybody,

but just because they're available doesn't mean that you should do

them. Depends on what your goals are for your business,

where you are in the development of your business and what

your purpose is for using not just pages and groups,

but social media platforms.

Overall, before we get started,

I want to clarify what I mean by a business page.

And this is really important because when you start with Facebook,

you create a profile,

which is your personal name.

So for me,

it would be Sue Mon,

hide on Facebook,

and then everything that I create,

then moving forward on Facebook should be a subset.

If you will,

underneath my profile,

Sue Mon height,

I know that people are still doing this today,

setting up a business page,

but it's really a profile.

In other words,

they're going in and creating another account.

That's really then another profile,

but they're naming it,

their business.

When you start an account with Facebook,

you start a profile and the profile should be your real

name, not a fake name,

not some crazy,

additional name that you want to make up.

It should be your real name.

And then underneath that will be any other pages or groups.

So it's all connected together.

If you don't set up that way,

you can be shut down and you don't go through all

of this work of getting followers only then to be shut

down because you didn't set it up correctly.

Now let's talk about what the difference is between a page

and a group.

And when you should,

or when you shouldn't have either of these,

a page is what you would use to represent your business.

I recommend that everybody who has a business should have a

Facebook page.

Let's think about how we work in our daily lives now.

And people want to know if you have a website,

it's almost like having credibility for business that you have to

number one,

have some type of website presence,

but also be on not just social media,

but be on Facebook.

I mean,

that's where people look in the very beginning.

That's why I say absolutely positively.

If you have a business,

you should have a business page.

There are some cons to having a business page.

One of the problems with having a business page is you

feel like you put posts up on your business page and

nobody sees them.

And it's true for every hundred followers.

You have,

maybe three of those followers are going to see a post

that you put up.

So you're going to say to me then,

well, Sue,

why even do it?

Is it worth it in the first place?

Why should I even bother the reason that you're going to

want to have a Facebook page?

Even if you get so little visibility,

just organically,

when someone's scrolling the feed,

like I said,

3% give or take,

but if someone directly goes to find you on Facebook,

then you'll be there.

Then they'll see you.

So there is visibility if it's customer initiated,

but there isn't visibility.

If it's organic,

if you're expecting to put up a post and then someone's

going to see you right away,

that doesn't happen.

Okay. 3% to me is almost zero.

However, when someone wants to go and research your company,

maybe they've just heard about you.

And they're thinking about buying a product from you,

but they want to know a little bit more about you.

They're going to want to see that you have a website

and they're probably going to want to see that you're on

Facebook. So for that reason,

you should have a page.

And the other reason why you should have a page is

if ever you're thinking that you want to do any type

of Facebook ads for attracting followers,

for selling product,

for initiating any type of communication with the people who are

already following you or attracting other people to follow you,

that is all done from a Facebook page.

The other reason is Facebook shops,

another sales channel opportunity for you.

You can set up Facebook shops in a couple of different

ways. Now you can direct people to your website,

to where all of your online products exist already.

Or you can set up shops right inside Facebook,

which is literally turnkey.

You can put products up there.

You can have customers buy through the Facebook mechanisms that are

there and get shipping labels.

All of that,

there's a whole new it's called Facebook shops,

turnkey system within Facebook so that you can sell products there.

So it's for visibility.

When people are reaching out and searching for you,

you can run ads and you can sell your products.

Those are the reasons to have a page.

That's why I say every single handmade product business should absolutely

have a Facebook page.

Now, how do you work that page?

Given that I told you only about 3% of people will

ever see that information organically.

You want to post on Facebook so that people who are

initiating a contact with you will see that your account is

active. I would suggest two or three times a week.

You're posting something new on your Facebook page,

knowing full well that the majority of your followers are not

going to see any of the posts,

but the people who are coming to your page will now

let's move on to groups.

And I think this is where some confusion comes in because

people are thinking,

Oh well,

there's groups available.

So I should start a group.

Well, let's talk about what a group is for and the

pros and cons,

and whether you should have a group as a handmade product

business. And I'm going to jump to the end first.

And then I'm going to clarify this where I say that

absolutely everybody should have a Facebook business page.

When we come to Facebook groups.

My answer is,

it depends.

And let me explain why I say that a business group

is virtually a gathering of people coming together for a specific

purpose. Some of you I know does by who's here are

already in my group gift biz breeze.

If you're not feel free to come and join us,

we are a very defined group of handmade product,

business owners or people who are considering turning a hobby or

a craft into a business and want to start rubbing shoulders

with other people who have it's all based on business,

learning, business development,

questions, and answers assistance with the business.

So it's a very defined group.

It is not a place to go place your product and

sell. So it's not a buy sell group.

It's very defined in terms of what the group is.

Probably all of you are part of other groups that are

specifically related to your product.

So maybe you're part of a group that talks about soaps.

And so that group could be,

where are you sourcing your product types of issues that you

might have when you're creating your soaps or adding sense to

the soaps or all those types of things.

Very product specific,

lot of groups like that on Facebook that are specific product

creation groups,

depending on what industry you're in baking candle,

making jewelry,

pottery, all of that,

a very defined purpose,

gathering a specific community together towards a specific goal.

The fabulous thing about groups is there's a lot of comradery.

There's a lot of engagement and interaction that's free.

You can easily join groups.

So then we circle back to the question.

Should you start your own group?

Here's the big question for you to ask yourself about that?

What would be your business purpose about starting a group?

A Facebook group takes time.

You need to monitor the group you need to be in

there regularly interacting with members and promoting the conversation.

So a question to ask yourself is,

would the results of a Facebook group align with specific goals

you have for your business?

Let's cover three examples of Facebook groups that are formed for

a purpose that could align with handmade product businesses.

If you have a certain element of education as part of

your handmade product business.

So let's say you are a knitter.

And so you sell your knitted,

scarves and mittens,

et cetera,

but you also have patterns or teach knitting.

A group could be a wonderful way to bring all of

your students together and add additional support that lays on top

of the educational programs that you have.

People are then joining the group to get additional direction from

you. Another example could be,

if you are involved with your local community,

maybe you gathered together business owners from within your community.

And together you work towards creating promotional efforts that drive people

into your downtown area.

Maybe there's a sidewalk sale.

That's put on things like that.

So you're establishing yourself as a business leader within the community.

How that helps you with your handmade product business is perhaps

you're looking at getting placement within some of the local boutiques

or you're looking for consignment opportunities.

A third idea for a group could revolve around your product

specifically, and the people who would be using your product.

So your ideal customer,

let's say you have a product that is focused on babies.

So maybe it has to do with potty training or toddler

clothes, things like that.

You could create a group that is all moms.

You have similar interests,

similar challenges with your children,

your product serves one need,

but it could be a whole conversational support group for moms

of young children.

And I have a bonus idea for you straight from one

of our Breezers Nene from Nene soaps.

She's created a VIP group for her customers.

Here's a snippet from a recent Instagram Maive,

where we talked about her group.

So Nene you're product in your group,

and it's your friend,

your family,

and your customers.

You have created a special place online.

That's private,

VIP people have to be directed there to know about it.

And then you're offering specials to them.

It is fabulous to hear that this is such a success

and that you're getting business from your group.

That amazing.

The one thing I will say with that is when people

join your group,

you can ask them three questions.

If you join the breeze,

you'll see that I have three questions there.

One of my questions is are you willing to share with

me your email address that is really,

really important.

And the reason is if Facebook ever decides to shut down

groups, you have no contact with them.

You know,

this is the only thing that you need to be cautious

about on social media platforms,

anywhere, Facebook,

Instagram, Pinterest,

anywhere that if they change the rules,

the only way you have access is through that platform.

So if for some reason something happened,

gosh, they shut down a group.

For some reason,

you've lost all those people who are in your group.

How else are you going to contact them?

The only way you know them is through Facebook.

Let's summarize this.

If you're considering a Facebook business page and you don't have

one yet thumbs up 100%.

Yes. As a product based business,

you want a Facebook page,

Facebook groups.

You need to decide based on what we reviewed here today.

And I'm going to go back once again to saying,

just because it's available to us,

doesn't mean you have to do everything.

And now you should have the information that you need to

decide. Exactly.

What's right for you.

That's a wrap.

I bet get to the point kind of girl.

And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn.

Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.

Share your handmade products with us.

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