Like so many social media-driven tools, Facebook Groups are only useful when we tend them.
You can connect with your followers, cultivate new clients, build relationships with colleagues, get input on new products … so many great avenues for business-building and feedback!
But ONLY if you invest the time and energy necessary to keep the group lively, interesting, and engaged.
My guess?
You don’t have time and energy to spare. And you’re not alone.
So many entrepreneurs launched Facebook Groups with every intention of building and nurturing them, then discovered that it was just plain too much work.
That’s where community managers come in!
When you outsource the oversight of your Facebook Group to a skilled community manager, you’re ensuring the group gets the attention it needs to grow, driving new people toward your offerings and new leads toward your business.
Not sure you need to hire a community manager for your Facebook Group? Read on to find out how this team member can be a social media game-changer for your business.
5 reasons to hire a community manager for your Facebook Group
Whether you’re just starting a Facebook Group or trying to breathe some new life into an ailing Group, hiring a community manager can be the key to expansion and engagement.
A top-notch community manager will:
- Interact with group members on a daily basis by commenting, replying to all posts in the group, and addressing questions. This builds rapport with your audience, and can also lead to cultivating valuable relationships with potential clients.
- Ensure your brand reputation and brand awareness is top-of-mind for your audience. Naturally, you’ll need to make sure your community manager is well-versed in your brand standards and guidelines, but once she’s up to speed she can be a crucial ambassador!
- Create and post content to the Facebook Group. Commenting and responding is essential, but so is providing valuable, relevant content to group members. A community manager will be proactive about this, instead of just responding to what others are saying.
- Moderate the group. Hiring a community manager for your Facebook Group ensures your brand voice and mission are always present within the group, but also means you’ve got a trusted moderator if things go sideways. A good community manager will take any necessary action against those who violate the “rules” of the group.
- Record and report the engagement they see. Your Facebook Group community manager will be responsible for charting group growth, and can provide you with updated stats on at least a monthly basis. No more searching around for metrics!
If any of these tasks is extremely important to you, be sure to ask about it when you start interviewing candidates.
Most community managers will be able to handle everything listed here and more, but you want to make sure your new team member has the specific knowledge and experience you need to hit your own Facebook Group goals.
What to look for in a Facebook community manager
Speaking of hiring, as you begin to search for your ideal Facebook community manager, consider useful skills in addition to applicable experience.
This person needs to be able to handle a wide variety of situations quickly and diplomatically, and while some Facebook experts know how to rock the algorithms not all of them excel at cultivating community.
Since your own limited time and energy are motivating you to hire for this position, look for a community manager who is solution-driven and able to multitask.
Some training will be essential at the start, but you want someone who is a fast learner and able to improvise. You don’t want to be forced to weigh in on every issue or hold the hand of your new hire.
Seek a community manager with great communication skills who is comfortable answering tough questions and formulating posts that align with your brand voice.
Ideally she should be creative and a content-writing genius who will consult you for strategy, but bring her own ideas for topics to the table.
Posting to your Facebook Group isn’t enough. Pounding out quick replies isn’t enough.
If you really want to build a community that’s invested in your work and supportive of your success, you need someone to be inside the group listening and responding, sharing and learning.
A community manager can do this for you, relieving you of the burden and allowing your Group to thrive at the same time!
