Growing engagement with Facebook Groups

Hey Amplifiers!

1.8 million people use Facebook Groups each month! That’s according to a study conducted in 2020 by the GovLab at New York University. The study also found that more than half of all people using Facebook are part of five or more active Groups.

With that many people using Groups, it is clear that creating or joining Facebook Groups could be a good tool for your reporters and newsroom.

If a newsroom sets up its own Group, it can get higher quality audience engagement with little additional work. If reporters decide to join already-established Groups, they should look for local groups that are interest, geographic or identity-based — a Group of local school parents or of a certain neighborhood or of a certain community they want to reach. (Be aware that some Groups may not want a reporter in their space and it is important to respect the Group’s rules of engagement.)

For example, the Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate have a Facebook Group called Where NOLA Eats. With nearly 86,000 members, this group has become a community for sharing restaurant reviews, recipes and cooking hacks in New Orleans.

Your group could be about food, or … it could be a perk for those who support your station! Set up a Group to connect loyal listeners/readers with the reporters and editors who create the content. You can even get your marketing or development team to help with moderation and they can use it as a tool for reengaging with donors.

- Matt from America Amplified

Learn From The Experts

Check out our Digital tools for community and audience engagement training to learn more about how Facebook Groups could benefit your newsroom.

Learn how reporter Seth Bodine of KOSU used Facebook Groups in rural Oklahoma to unearth important local stories.

The folks at Meta’s Local News Partnerships team share “How Local News Publishers Are Using Facebook Groups to Connect With Readers”

Get buy-in from others in your organization by using Groups as a marketing tool with “7 Benefits of Creating a Facebook Group” from Marketing Benefits.

So you’re ready to start your own Facebook Group, but where should you begin? Follow these steps to develop and maintain your Facebook community.

Identify your target audience
- i.e. members, parents of school children, local residents
Set the rules of engagement
- What can people post about? How do you expect members to treat one another, consequences for breaking the rules, etc. Learn more about creating your rules here.
Make sure the group is private
- Require people to agree to rules and maybe provide an email to join.
Promote your group
- Strategically invite community stakeholders and promote the group to potential members.
Spread the responsibility & maintain
- Add reporters and editors to the group and train them to share their work and promote conversation. Perhaps ask Community Advisory Board members to join.

How Decibel at Austin PBS is addressing information needs in semi-rural Del Valle

Decibel is the community-led journalism project at Austin PBS in Texas. The team has set out to amplify diverse voices through listening sessions and in-depth reporting that addresses communities information needs. Most recently, Decibel released its Del Valle Resource Guide after spending nearly a year in the community. Decibel’s Executive Editor Samantha Guzman explains how her team worked to address this community’s information needs.

Read the Q&A with Guzman

Check out the Del Valle Resource Guide

Lee esta guía en español

ICYMI: Development/Marketing and Community Engagement

This one-hour session shared a case study of how WFYI Public Media has integrated community engagement into grants, donor acquisition and station branding, with the goal of revealing how beneficial embracing this practice can be not just for news teams, but also for an organization’s overall financial vitality and local prominence. Hear about the wins, challenges and opportunities that the WFYI team (Marketing and Promotions, Corporate Development and News) has faced in this journey, as well as the lessons learned along the way. (Watch the training now.)