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It's time again, for my favorite segment of this podcast. We're going to take some actionable steps and do it to gather. And today we're tackling your Facebook group description. So teacher authors, go ahead and reheat that cup of coffee, because I'm your host, Cassandra Foster.
And we're about to get schooled in socials. Welcome back to school and socials. And our let's do it together segment, I'm excited to jump in and help you write an effective Facebook group description.
Now, if you don't have a Facebook group yet, no worries, this is a great episode for you to come back to when you do decide to create one. And even if you don't plan to create one, this episode is going to outline all of the information that should be in a Facebook group description, which can help you better assess which groups you want to spend your time and more effectively. So feel free to continue listening or not. Remember, I'm all for making things easier for you not for taking up your time unnecessarily. Before we get into the good stuff, if you have an existing Facebook group, I want you to make sure you have your description up and ready to revise. This truly is a time to get it done, and not have to wait until later. So go ahead and hit the pause button and get yourself all set up. Okay, now that you're all set up, I have a confession to make. I currently have a Facebook group for this very podcast that does not have an effective description. I'm literally hiding behind my hands while telling you this. But here's the reality. When I was preparing everything for this podcast, I knew I wanted a Facebook group, but I had a lot on my plate. So setting up the group became one of those done not perfect situations. And that's okay, because now I have a little more capacity to think through it. And it will be the perfect opportunity to model the process for you. So you won't be the only one working on up leveling your social media today. Now let's start with the basics of Facebook group descriptions. First thing you want to know is that when people are searching for groups, they see your description first, specifically the first two lines of the description. This means we really want to be clear and make an impression right from the beginning of our descriptions. You also want to include keywords that your target audience might be searching for, which are hopefully already part of your group name as well. The next thing we want to keep in mind is that you can use up to 3000 characters, which is great, because it allows you to incorporate a lot of information. But I don't want you to spend this time writing a perfect description and to realize it's over 3000 characters. So just keep an eye on that character count as you work. And finally, I want you to know about the formatting of the description. So in your description, you can include spaces between paragraphs to break them up, and they will show in the description. You can also use emojis, as well as include links, and they will be clickable within that description. With all the logistics out of the way, let's dive into updating that description. First thing you want to include in your description is the purpose or mission of the group. And it just so happens this is the only piece of information I included in my initial description. Oops. But it sounds like this. A community of schooled in socials podcast listeners where we discuss using social media for our teacher printer businesses encourage each other and celebrate reaching our social media goals. I let people know the purpose of the group is to have a place where listeners of this podcast can come together and discuss social media. When writing this section, consider what you want members to get out of the group, are they going to be learning about something collaborating with each other over a specific topic, etc. And then write that purpose clearly trying to keep the most important part of your message within those first two lines. So it shows up to people as they're browsing groups. You can even consider mentioning who the group is for, though we'll make that very specific in the next section. So go ahead and pause and get that purpose written out. For your own sanity and the ease of joining your group you want to include specifically who your Facebook group is for. This will hopefully cut down on the amount of people you need to vet and decline from joining the group. You'll get some spam accounts, but with a solid description of who can be part of the group it will cut down on it. You want to think about is your group beneficial for one kind of teaching niche like special education or science teachers? Is it beneficial for one grade or grade range like fifth grade or all elementary teachers, or even a combination of both of those things such as fifth grade science teachers, you can even narrow down who your target audiences by considering what interests they should have. For example, you could say this group is perfect for fifth grade science teachers who are looking to learn more about hands on science experiments for their classroom. So anyone who comes to that description knows that they need to be a fifth grade science teacher, and they need to want to incorporate hands on science experiments in their classrooms to get something out of that group. Truly, the more specific you can be, the better, it will help people know if they should be hitting that join button. And it will also make it easier for you to come up with your members ship questions, and decide if someone is a good fit for your group. So here's what I added to my Facebook group description to make the audience clear. I said, if you are an avid listener, of schools, and socials, a business owner in the educational space and looking to sustainably uplevel, your social media marketing, we'd love to have you join us. All right now is a great time for you to pause and write your description of who your group is for. There's so much pressure this time of the year to buy more stuff from Black Friday sales to Christmas ads. But I don't want you to buy more stuff, I want you to get the right things you need to uplevel your business in this season. So that's why I've opened up my mini Social Media Console scheduled for the next three months. So that we can make resources that are going to get stuck in your downloads and courses that are going to go immediately to your desktop graveyard, like thing of the past. Instead, you're going to get my brain and your business for our focus 30 minutes, so that you can make sure you have a solid plan moving forward. And you know, your social media will help you reach your business goals. This is not a one size fits all solution. Instead, you're going to get targeted advice that is focused on you and your business. And for Black Friday. And until these spots sell out, you're going to be able to get it for $47, which is the lowest price point these mini consults have ever been. We're talking transformational advice that will make your social media work harder for you. For less than a night out. This isn't stuff. It's the thing you need to get clarity and move forward with your social media marketing. You can grab your discounted spot right now in the show notes. But hurry, because once these spots that I've opened up for the next few months are gone, this price point will be gone too. I can't wait to make 2020 for the year that your social media marketing helps you reach all of your big business goals. Next up is explaining what members can expect from the group. What will they be hearing about learning what kinds of posts will they be seeing, etc. It's also a great time to reflect on what kind of content you're providing members in your group. Each type of content you're providing should be reflected when describing what they can expect. And it would also be helpful for this information to be listed since we know that when it comes to social media, people's attention spans are short, so bulleted lists, or even lists with emojis can help them get through that whole description. Here's how I included what members can expect from the school then socials group. It reads, we'll be discussing recent episodes and takeaways, encouraging each other as we try new social media strategies to reach our goals. Celebrating our social media successes, both big and small, asking questions to gain clarity on social media topics and get advice from members and admin. You can also expect reminders of new episodes, sneak peeks upcoming episodes, freebies and more.
All right, why don't you go ahead and hit that pause button another time. Write down what your members can expect from the group. Remember to keep in mind what kind of content you'll be regularly providing them and that should help you list out what they should be expecting. Besides the purpose of your group. This next section is the most important you want to make sure to include your expectations of group members. Facebook groups can quickly become lawless lands without strong group rules and expectations. You'll have created rules when you set up your group or you might have just used the default rules that come from Facebook, which is fine. Either way, this is a good place to kind of reiterate those rules and get really clear on what members should and should not be doing. We want people to know that right from the get go. So here's what I outlined for my member In order to maintain a positive community members are expected to use appropriate language as well as keep posts, comments and messages positive and encouraging, not promote their own offers or resources, or spam other members with unwanted messages or numerous posts or tagging. So take a second, go back and review those rules that you put in place for your Facebook group. And even if you just use the default that came from Facebook, go ahead and just peek at those and read them over because they can give you a starting point here. And then type out your expectations for your group members. This next and last section is optional, but can help potential members see what kind of support you can offer them right from the beginning. So you may consider mentioning a lead magnet or offer that's relevant to the members of the group. For example, if you were setting up that fifth grade science teachers group who are focused on hands on experiments, you might add ally in the description with a lead magnet that has five easy to conduct fifth grade science experiments, so that they can click on those right away and get some help as soon as they are seeing and joining the group. Or if there's a paid offer, you'll be mentioning in the group, you could also add this to the group description as well. And finally, you could also let them know where else they might connect with or learn from you such as maybe having them come over and check out your Instagram or giving the link to your blog where they might get more information about topics they're interested in. For my description, here's what I included. If you would like even more support with social media, you can connect with me over on Instagram. And then I put the link to my Instagram page. So we're going to be focused on the podcast in this school and socials group. I do provide more of my educational content through Instagram. So I want them to know that they can access even more of that by following me over there. All right, go ahead and pause for the last time and go ahead and add any relevant information you think potential group members would want to know. And there you have it, you have successfully updated your Facebook group description. When people come to your group. Now they will know exactly what the purpose of your group is, who should be joining the group, what they can expect, what's expected of them, and potentially some other helpful resources. Now, I would love for you to share those updated descriptions with me, feel free to send me the link to your group over on Instagram so that I can take a peek. And if you aren't already a member of the school and socials Facebook group. I would love to have you pop over and check out the completed updated description and join us. You can find the link right in the show notes. Alright, cool coffee friends. Thanks so much for listening. If you're loving getting schooled in socials, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Also, I would love it if you left a review so that other teacher authors like you can start getting schooled in socials too. All right, I'll see you in the next episode.