It Only Takes a Few Minutes Each Day

Today I’m going to be talking about fun and effective Facebook Groups. If you have established a nonclinical business, you might want to use a Facebook Group to support it.

I’ve been involved with a popular group for about a year and a half as an admin. So, I’ve learned a lot about Facebook during that time. The Physician Nonclinical Career Hunters Facebook Group has been around for about three years, and is pretty successful, based on the level of engagement and new member growth.

Technically, it is a nonbusiness-related community designed to support physicians seeking career transition. But I think the lessons I’ve learned will help you start or grow an effective Facebook Group, even if it is designed to help you market and sell your services or products.

fun facebook group

Background

Facebook is ubiquitous with 2.4 billion users worldwide. Over 1 billion users access Facebook using their smartphones every day.

The Physician Nonclinical Career Hunters Facebook Group was opened in 2016 by Laura McKain. I joined the group in June 2017 and became an admin several months later.

The PNC Hunters FB Group now boasts over 12,000 members… Membership is still growing by 200 to 300 per month…

John Jurica

PNC Hunters

The PNC Hunters FB Group now boasts over 12,000 members, and about 7,000 engageg in some fashion every month. In the most recent 28 days, there have been 105 posts, 2,200 comments, and 4,500 reactions by members. Membership is still growing by 200 to 300 per month, all of whom are physicians.

Our Sponsor

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Creating a Group

The process of creating a Facebook Group is pretty simple:

  • Click on the CREATE button at the top of your profile.
  • Select GROUP.
  • NAME your group.
  • Select PRIVACY and VISABILITY settings.
  • Define your mission and vision for the members.
  • List your RULES.
  • Start inviting members, sharing content and engaging in conversations in the group.

 

Growing an Effective Facebook Group

To foster engagement by others, and grow a more effective Facebook Group, consider doing the follwoing:

  • Share a post, make a comment, teach something to the group.
  • Post a link to another resource.
  • Share an image of a photo or a banner or other graphic or quote.
  • Link to a video.
  • Share a video.
  • Host a Facebook Live event.
  • Hold a Watch Party and watch a video together.
  • Post useful resources in the file section.

Promoting Engagement

Groups grow when there is engagement and posts are shared, inviting others to join. Use the above techniques to provoke engagement, then implement these tactical posts weekly to accelerate growth:

  • Write weekly decision posts, asking members to select one of 2 or 3 options, such as design of a web page, title of a book, topic for a course, etc.
  • Welcome new members and ask them to introduce themselves.
  • Ask members to decribe their biggest challenge.

Summary

If you're starting or growing a new business, you should think long and hard about creating a Facebook Group. One caveat is that you need to be able to devote a few minutes each day to go into the group if it become a lynchpin for your business.

Since we have such great engagement from PNC Hunters members, I only spend 30 to 60 minutes each week to admit new members, respond to complaints and place a post – other than my podcast announcements, which I post every Tuesday.

One other observation: Some course creators are now limiting their use of Facebook groups to certain uses. They’re either using temporary pop-up groups during a launch, or they’re creating ongoing groups exclusively to serve graduates of large signature courses, or live conferences, that continue to foster support and mentoring for the students.

If you're just starting your exploration of nonclinical jobs and have not downloaded my free guide to 5 very popular nonclinical careers, do that at vitalpe.net/freeguide.

Thanks for listening today. Next week I’ll bring you my interview with the author of the recently released medical thriller Code Blue: The Other End of the Stethoscope.

Links for today's episode:

Thanks to our sponsor…

Thanks to the UT Physician Executive MBA program for sponsoring the show. It’s an outstanding, highly rated, MBA program designed for working physicians. It might be just what you need to prepare for that joyful, well-paying career. You can find out more at vitalpe.net/physicianmba.

I hope to see you next time on the PNC Podcast.

If you enjoyed today’s episode about creating an effective Facebook Group, share it on Twitter and Facebook, and leave a review on iTunes.

Podcast Editing & Production Services are provided by Oscar Hamilton.

Disclaimers:

The opinions expressed here are mine and my guest’s. While the information provided on the podcast is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge, there is no express or implied guarantee that using the methods discussed here will lead to success in your career, life or business. 

Many of the links that I refer you to, and that you’ll find in the show notes, are affiliate links. That means that I receive a payment from the seller if you purchase the affiliate item using my link. Doing so has no effect on the price you are charged. And I only promote products and services that I believe are of high quality and will be useful to you, that I have personally used or am very familiar with.

The information presented on this blog and related podcast is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only. It should not be construed as medical, legal, tax, or emotional advice. If you take action on the information provided on the blog or podcast, it is at your own risk. Always consult an attorney, accountant, career counsellor, or other professional before making any major decisions about your career. 

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