Facebook Have Brought in 'Groups for Pages' to Foster Fan Chatter

Marketing Land

Ever wish that a fan page on Facebook could double as a forum? Comment sections on posts are all well and good, but they often descend into chaos too quickly for any real discussion to get going, with hundreds of people all throwing their hats into the ring. Now, Facebook are letting Page administrators create their own 'sub-groups' within the Page to allow users to chat to them, and each other.

The idea is to create 'fan clubs' within Facebook to make it easier for people to talk about all their most beloved topics without having to seek out specific groups. For those wishing to promote themselves, their band, their company or their project, this could be an invaluable resource, and bring a welcome touch of Reddit logic to the Facebook experience. Live streamed Q&As are all well and good, but once again, the comments section is not the most effective format for them.

It also protects staff from online attack, as it means that if, say, a magazine wanted to create a group, they wouldn't have to use a staff member's private account to do it. Beyond this, it could also be extremely helpful for pages seeking to do more than promote a brand. Self-help and health awareness pages, for instance, could have a lot to gain from using groups to create helplines and advice networks. Enabling people to share their stories and discuss their issues with experts could really boost the value of Pages which are framed around a specific cause.

Facebook claim that there are currently more than 70 million Pages out there, in various different shapes and seizes, with a huge amount of potential for creating groups to operate within them. Looking further to the future, new Pages could be set up with groups in mind from the outset, paving the way for better promotion for movies, emergent brands and even things like music and film genre appreciation, which itself could tie in with pre-existing Pages.

In short, there's a lot of versatility on offer with this. Pages are one of the most active, engaging aspects of the current Facebook experience, so it's nice to see the company using them to create a real bridge between users and brands.