Welcome to The Bloggerbytes Podcast. I'm your host, Jenna Urben. This is a podcast for bloggers, influencers, and content creators. Here I'll share transparent advice plus emerging tools and platforms to empower you to establish your brand, serve your audience, and monetize your influence. I'm so happy you're here.
In today's episode, we're gonna be diving into Facebook groups. I want to touch on three different ways to utilize Facebook groups. As a blogger, I've always been a big Facebook group fan and user. From staying connected to different organizations I'm part of to when I first started blogging and finding groups of helpful bloggers and eventually playing around with them enough to where I'm now admin of my own.
The three main ways bloggers can utilize Facebook groups are share groups to drive traffic for increased page views. Roundup groups for back links, which are important for SEO as they represent a vote of confidence from one site to another. And lastly, you can create your own group to establish a community of your own super fans.
Probably what most people think of when you think of using Facebook groups would be share groups for increased page views to your blog or website. So I'm not talking about dropping a link in a group full of fellow bloggers. But really taking the time to identify groups that fit your specific niche.
For example, I'm a dairy-free and egg-free food blogger with several vegan, gluten-free and allergy friendly recipes. So I'm gonna go into Facebook and search those keywords and key phrases to find groups. Within those topics, I find that this strategy works best and here's a few things to note about.
You're gonna wanna make sure that the page admin allows bloggers to share links. Not all do, so it's just something to be mindful of. Along with your link, I highly, highly suggest that you include an image or a collage. Even if you have, um, the image, like your pin image, you can totally just use that image as well.
Basically, you're just wanting your post to really pop out when a user is scrolling. This can also be done by experimenting with different formatting tools or emojis. I personally love using emojis. For example, if I'm sharing a taco recipe with avocado, I'll use the avocado or taco emoji. Or maybe I'm doing roasted sweet potatoes, I'll throw in that sweet potato emoji.
You can also use the tongue emoji. If you're a food blogger, you know, get creative. Maybe you're gonna always have the same type of emojis. Something like that. Basically, we just wanna stand out and pop out. I also tend to prefer. Private Facebook groups, to me, they just have more of a community and support feel and it just feels less spammy.
But really this can vary case by case. And while I do prefer niche specific groups like Slow cooker air fryer, Et cetera. Some larger, more broad groups will work too, but you've got to experiment and find out what works for you and your content. Another fabulous way to utilize Facebook groups as a blogger is by gaining back links, like I mentioned before, back links are important for SEO as they essentially represent a vote of confidence from one site to another.
So there are a handful of Roundup groups out there as well where a fellow blogger or a media rep will request a certain type of post to feature. And this isn't just for food bloggers. This can really range from if you are in the food niche, holiday recipes, or if you're a DIY blogger. It could mean crafts or a lifestyle.
Travel guides. You kind of get the picture here. Um, and from my experience, it's typically other bloggers wanting to include bloggers in a roundup post of their own or include them in a relevant blog post. But there's also digital magazine opportunities that are great for getting featured on. The final way you can utilize Facebook groups is by creating your own, and this will be to establish and grow your own community.
I've seen this done in a variety of different ways. I've done this personally in a couple different ways. So you really need to consider what the goal is for creating a group. Will it be to have a support hub for your audience to ask you questions directly? Will it be a place where you drop blog posts and an effort to drive increased traffic?
Or something else entirely. It's okay not to have all of the answers before you get started, but it is something you should really keep in mind so you're able to measure success and if running a group is worth it or not for you. For me, my recipe related Facebook group is a mix of a support group where my audience has a direct line of communication to me.
It feels a bit more personal than my email list, since you can see that it's my personal Facebook account connected posting and responding to you. However, I also use my group to crowdsource pain points within my niche and community. Since I cater to an allergy friendly audience. Common questions often revolve around recipe requests, ingredient substitution help.
Product recommendations. This helps me have a pulse on the community and also guides new posts and recipes to publish. Of course, I also use the group to share recipes and share my favorite products in hopes of driving traffic to my blog, but also sales via affiliate links. But the heart of it really is to be a trusted resource to my community in a group that's easy to access.
And. My main heart of it, the main goal of it is I want it to be filled with encouragement and positivity. Whether you are just going dairy free, you're just giving up eggs, or you've been on this journey a while and you need a little, you need a little pep in your step. That is what I want. My group to be.
So really determining kind of what you want your group will be, will be very beneficial in this process. So if you're considering starting a group yourself, you may be wondering where to start. First off, make your group name searchable. Facebook users will find your group either by searching keywords or topics similar to what you name it, or through suggested groups.
You're gonna wanna make it clear. What your group is all about, I suggest keeping your group private instead of public, as it just creates more of a tight knit community feel. And when you do this, you're able to add membership questions before a user joins. I recommend asking why they want to join your group.
Or if they have a topic request. And secondly, the goldmine. Leave an optional text box where you prompt them to leave their email address if they want to subscribe to your email list. This has been incredibly successful for growing my own subscriber list. End the beginning when you're growing and you're new and fresh.
Engagement might not be the highest, but I really want to encourage you to keep at it. Don't focus on the number of members or impressions, but rather nurture each new member. And really put the focus on the comments that you receive. Some sample posts include asking niche specific questions or really just providing an abundance of information consistently taken from previous published blog posts.
If you have an email welcome series, you could also pull content from that. Now, if you see a common question coming up in your Facebook group or in that intake form, That's a giant signal to you to write a blog post about it. You can also ask directly or post a poll to your members in your Facebook group.
Once your group grows into a thriving community, you're really able to take a step back as the community members start doing the heavy lifting, answering each other's questions and linking to your posts. It's truly incredible to see if you're on the fence about starting your own group. I have a suggestion for you.
Start a group for a set duration, like three months. Make it challenged, focused. So members are eager to join in the beginning, but can still reap the benefits if they join late. For example, if you're a vegan food blogger, make a challenge to go vegan in three months and you will be there, including beginner tips and easy recipes linking out to your blog posts and all the resources that you possibly can.
And then at the end, Of the three months after posting or scheduling posts out consistently. And that's key. Consistently evaluate if you want to rebrand the group to be more evergreen. And remember, you can always update your group's name, add a new cover photo, and really decide on a posting frequency that you can keep up with to wrap up.
Sharing links and recipe groups can be a good way to drive traffic back to your. Roundup groups are an effective way to gain back links from other bloggers in media websites. And lastly, starting your own group as an extension of your blog opens you up to further opportunities to connect with your audience and all the benefits that come from that.
Thank you so much for joining me this week. Before you go, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you can receive new episodes right when they're released. And if you're enjoying the episodes, I'd love to ask you to please leave a review. It takes just a few seconds, but makes a huge difference and means a ton to me person.
Thank you again so much for joining me, Jenna Urben, and this episode of Bloggerbytes. Next episode, we're diving in to Facebook Reels. I'll see you then.
