After neglecting Groups for many years, Facebook is now putting a lot of time into Groups and many users are reaping the benefits.   Facebook groups are taking off! So what’s the difference between Pages and Groups and how can you use each?  They each have a different purpose.

Pages are like Profiles for organizations

A Page is like a profile for a company, brand, band, public figure or organization.  Just like with a personal profile, you can add a cover photo, profile pictures, add photo albums,  videos and schedule events.  People can “Like” your page and once they like it, will theoretically see your Page’s updates in their feed.

In the past year, Facebook has changed Pages so even if people have liked your page, you still need to “promote” or “boost” a post so it will show up in their feed.  You may want to do this is so you can target who sees the ad as well as try to get people who haven’t liked the page to follow you.

Any Facebook member can create a page and you can have multiple pages. You can also invite other people to be administrators of your pages.  Pages are visible to everyone online.

Unique to Pages is the ability to schedule page posts, manage notifications,  send and receive private messages and using Facebook or 3rd party apps, you can manage your tabs.  Page Insights give you data about who is viewing your page and what their engagement is so you can learn more about who your fans are.

Groups are for community building

Groups are for communities that share the same interests to network, communicate, express opinions, share photos and files.  Group administrators can also create group events and invite members to attend, similar to how an individual can in their profile.

Groups have 3 privacy options:

• Public: Anyone can join
• Closed: Anyone can ask to join
• Secret: Anyone can join, but they have to be added or invited by a member

The major benefit of creating your own group or joining someone else’s group is that you can be part of a community that supports your product, interests or company.  Many companies are now successfully creating and managing groups as a way to keep in touch with their customers. They can more easily find out what they like and don’t like and respond to their questions.

Creating your own group is a great way to build your own tribe and get close to them.  In a group you’re able to interact and get to know people and they’re able to get to know you.  You can build trust and authenticity that you’re not able to do with other methods, like using a Facebook page.

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