The Benefits of a Facebook Group - Amplify Your TpT Income

Facebook groups are unique to the internet and social media. No other platform has an active community feature. Nor does anything on the internet offer the type of benefits that come with a Facebook group.

Facebook groups are the best place on social media to grow a community and connect with your ideal customers. And it’s free.

I have two Facebook groups which have brought me wonderful opportunities and helped grow my business. My first, Math Minded Teachers, will have 100,000 members in late 2024. My other, TpT Sellers’ Side Hustle, is over 10,000 members at the time of writing (early 2024). The first is the largest Facebook Group for math teachers at the time of writing, and the second is very close to the largest Facebook Group for TPT Sellers.

Even if your Facebook group is not as large as mine, you can still experience amazing opportunities and grow your business as a result of it. Here are some of the benefits of having a Facebook Group.

A Community of Your Ideal Customers

If you build a Facebook group for people in your niche, those who join are your ideal customers. Meaning that you can reach out and talk to them anytime you like. The people in Math Minded Teachers Facebook group are not English Teachers or PE Teachers, they’re math teachers – the exact ones I need to target with my products and resources.

Shareable

Yes, my email list is also full of my ideal customers. And while the people on my email list are more valuable than the ones in my Facebook group (after all, they’ve taken the action of downloading something from me in exchange for their personal information) we know that people are less likely to join an email list than they are to join a Facebook Group. Many people create spam email addresses just to get the free downloads, or they download and quickly unsubscribe.

Facebook Groups, on the other hand, are often shared amongst people within the niche. When I give people a freebie that requires an email list, they often are turned off and feel like I’m spamming them. However, when I share my free Facebook Group, people usually thank me and join.

You Control the Culture

There are other places on the internet where people congregate to share ideas and resources. But inside a Facebook Group, you control the culture.

Inside my groups, people aren’t allowed to swear, be rude to each other, or share their resources (unless they’re sharing mine of course). I can moderate the conversations, and thus I can control the climate.

In so doing, I’ve seen growth in the way certain topics are talked about. The conversations we’ve had inside my Facebook Groups have helped change people’s minds or at least open them to new ideas. Ideally, these ideas would lead to a product or service I have. But they don’t always do so, or even have to. Sometimes, this is just for the betterment of everyone in the group.

Social Proof

I am given instant authority solely based on the size of my group. People often ask me to share my thoughts on certain topics, simply because I am the owner of the group. I am also given networking opportunities I probably would not otherwise have, but people see the size of my group and grant me this authority.

Networking Tool

I can talk to some of the larger authorities in my niche based on having a large Facebook Group. The “celebrities” that people in my niche know and love, I can communicate with them. I can even expose my audience to them through different modes, like interviewing them or guest appearing on their podcast and sharing it in the group. It’s a win for me, as I get to meet interesting people, and for the influencer who wants to take advantage of my large audience.

A Great Place for Feedback and Ideas

When I’m doing research for a book or resource, I love posting questions in the group and getting everyone’s feedback. It helps me see things I might have been blind to, or get an idea for where common sentiments are.

I also do this when I’m trying to get ideas for my business. I just post a question in my Facebook group and I immediately get tons of great ideas and valuable insight I would not otherwise have access to.

Better Organic Reach

The stats on this are constantly changing as Facebook updates its algorithm. But Facebook Groups is always one of the best-performing types of posts in terms of reach. They are seen in the feed by more of your audience than your page (of course, there are exceptions).

It’s also a great place to get more reach for your page’s posts. When I’m trying to get a post to go viral, I start by sharing it in my group, then a few others. Usually, this is enough to get the Facebook juices pumping and help catapult my post into virality.

Connect with Your Audience

Because you have collected a group of your ideal customers, and your Group gets good reach, your Facebook Group is a great place to connect with your audience. By showing up regularly and providing value, you have an amazing top-of-funnel marketing tool that will help you build a relationship with your audience, building your know, like, and trust factor.

No Ads

I’m sure you’re aware that Facebook exists to make money, and it does that dominantly through ads. But did you know that Facebook Groups are the only place on the platform where you won’t see an ad? Think about the many things Facebook offers: chats, pages, the feed, Instagram, WhatsApp, the marketplace, and more. In all of these places, you’ll see ads. But not on Facebook groups. The reason is that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg loves Groups. And he wants to keep them ours and unadulterated. He has gone on record saying that Facebook ads won’t appear there.

Marketing Opportunities

Besides getting better reach on your posts, there are other ways to promote yourself or your business inside your Facebook Group that can generate extra income for you. You can do paid promotions, affiliate links, sponsor content, create a membership, and much more.

Conclusion

If you haven’t started your Facebook Group, now is the perfect time.

I always tell students in my membership, the best time to do this was yesterday. The second best time is today. With all of the benefits of a Facebook group, you want to get that ball rolling as soon as possible. Because the longer you have it, the bigger it will become, and the greater opportunities you will have.

If you want help starting and growing your Facebook group, you can check out my online course on Organic Facebook Reach. I also have some free resources on growing your Facebook page that you are welcome to download.