The ‘business new year’ is here, and it’s time to get back to business as usual. Networking, events, conferences—oh wait. 

That was business as usual last year. 

This year, it’s looking like large gatherings won’t be happening any time soon, and many business owners I know are in a panic. For many of us, conferences are a huge source of new leads, and we look forward to the conference season in the fall. So now they aren’t happening, how should we adapt? 

One way you can do this is to build your own community online to future-proof your business. Online groups are some of the only ways people are connecting these days, so as you can imagine, there’s been a spike in people signing up for private membership groups. 

Building a community on social media

So how do you build a community on social media? Your first step is to make sure you know WHY you want to create a community. 

Set goals for your group: what would you like to happen by investing time in creating a community. 

Objectives: Set concrete objectives for your community, so your community members know what they will get out of being involved. 

Content: What type of content will you create, and how will you deliver it? Will it require more resources? A new video camera? Have a plan around this. 

Contributions: Will you be the only contributing member, or will you expect your community to contribute? 

Posting schedule: How often will you deliver content for your group, and do you have the time to take it on? 

Running an online community can be a lot of work, and hopefully, at some point, it will be so popular that you might need to hire an assistant to run it or find admins you can trust. Having a guideline of what the group is will help you keep it going in the long run. 

Topics Of Conversation

The next thing to do is decide what the main subject of the group will be. My recommendation is to pick something related to your business that you’re passionate about. 

If you’re running into a wall on what to focus on—do some research. Look at your competitor’s groups and people in industries similar to yours.

Once you know what conversations are already happening, decide if they’re beneficially related to your business offerings. Ask yourself a few questions about your topic of choice: 

• Does it set me apart as an expert in my industry? 

• Can I talk about it at length? 

• Is it related to my business offerings? 

• Is it broad enough that I can talk about a lot of different facets of it? 

• Is someone in my local area doing the same thing? 

Let’s Talk Social Strategy

You can expect that any group you start will rely heavily on you to create content for the first few months while it gains popularity. So the next thing to decide is your social media and content strategy around the group. 

Here are some things you’ll need to know before you hit go: 

• How many posts per day/week? 

• Will you have themes for posts? 

• What will the rules be, and how will that affect how much posting is happening in your group? 

• Make a master list of topic ideas by brainstorming everything you can share. Keep this handy to guide your post ideas. 

• Create a content calendar and have it ready to guide you. (link to content calendar post)

• Decide if you want a social media manager to manage your group. 

Create Your Facebook Group

There are a couple of ways you can go about creating your group. The first one is to create a personal group from your personal Facebook profile: 

To create a personal group:

1. Click in the top right of Facebook and select Group.

2. Enter your group name, choose the privacy option and then add people to your group.

3. Click Create.

Once you create your group, you personalize it by uploading a cover photo and adding a description.

Note: We recommend that group admins share any commercial or business affiliations in the group, as well as updating the group if affiliations change. You can update the group by changing the group description and making an announcement.

Or if your group is directly related to your business, follow these steps: 

If you're a Page admin, you can create a new group with your Page as the admin. If you're the admin of an existing group, you can also add your Page as an admin.

To create a group with your Page as the admin:

1. From your News Feed, click Pages in the left menu and select your Page.

2. Click More and then select Groups.

3. Click Create Linked Group and fill out the onscreen sections for your group.

4. Click Create.

Your Page can be the admin of up to 200 groups. These groups are listed on your Page.

Note: Pages with age restrictions can't be linked to a group.

Facebook Group Art

Finally, you’ll want to customize your Facebook group with headers and custom graphics when you first get started. 

If you’re not at the point where you can hire a content manager, you can use free programs like Canva to create graphics sized for your social media accounts. 

Log in and select ‘Facebook Group Cover’ for the proper size and many templates to choose from. 

Get Social In Your Facebook Group

The last thing I’ll leave you with is a reminder. It’s called ‘social media’ for a reason! You’re meant to be social on your platforms and foster real conversations. 

I’ve seen many groups that exist out there for the sake of existing or as a place to capture new leads without providing value. This is something that can damage your brand in the long run, so be prepared to engage regularly once your group gets started. 

Think of your new group like a 24/7 cocktail party. Strive to be warm, friendly, and make 80% of the conversation about your topic of choice or about your community members. 

Be the person at the party schmoozing and making connections for people, not the guy who’s boasting about himself the whole night! 

As always, your content should be 80% informative, engaging, entertaining, and educational and only 20% sales, business and promotions. 

And finally, have fun with it! Creating your online community should be fun and rewarding, providing you with opportunities to engage with like-minded people. 

Comment below with your group on Facebook so we can join the conversation with you online or join my private Facebook Grou https://www.facebook.com/groups/SocialMediaTipsAndTricksWithKASocialMedia