One of the most common questions I get is whether or not to have a Facebook business page or a group, or both. Most of the time, I recommend having a group first and then expanding to running a business page once you’re launching your brand beyond your network marketing company. Let’s look at the reasoning behind this.
When you are building your network marketing business, your entire goal is to turn cold leads into warm prospects and then “expose them” over and over until they eventually become a customer or business partner. Aside from private messages, the very best way to do this is inside of a Facebook group. They’ll get notified for most of the content you share in that group and can almost passively participate without feeling the pressure of buying or joining your team. It’s an incredible way to build a long-term relationship.
When it comes to business pages, you have to in fact, have some type of business you’re promoting. Although the obvious choice is to promote your network marketing company and products, this is a big mistake. By openly sharing the name of your company, it allows those first getting introduced to you to go Google it and read everything horrible ever said about your company. Also, you’re building the company’s brand, not your own. If you end up leaving that company or going in a different direction, you’ll lose most of the traction you’ve gained by building up your following.
Another really interesting thing about business pages is that very few of your followers will see what you post unless you pay to play. This can be in the format of boosting your posts or doing a Facebook ad. However, if you’re developing your brand and monetizing something other than your network marketing company, then by all means get yourself a business page! This is the time and place to openly promote what you’re all about and strategically spend some money to get in front of your target demographic.
When it comes down to it, try to remember to get the basics down first and then build from there. Too often we try to do everything and anything on social media and then end up not doing any of it well. Start with a Facebook group and work really hard to grow the membership and engagement first. Then later we can talk about branding and business pages:).