With Facebook organic reach decreasing drastically in the past year, joining and posting in groups is a great way to reach your target audience. Facebook groups are a place for group communication and for people to share their common interests. They are also a great place to post your available jobs and chime in on conversations to share your expertise and demonstrate value. Right now, you may be asking yourself, “How do I even join a Facebook group?” or “How do I know it’s even worth it to take the time to post in groups?” We have the answers to those questions!
Joining a Group
To join a Facebook group, go to the search bar at the top of the page and type in something like “jobs in Buffalo, NY.”
You will be taken to the results page; where you then click on “Groups” on the top right-hand side of the page.
This will bring up all job groups within Buffalo, NY.
When looking at the groups, you will be able to see how many members each has. You’ll want to join groups that have at least 1,000 or more members. To join a group, simply click the “join” button next to the group name. You may be asked a few questions such as where you live and what you would like to post.
It is also possible to search for more specific job groups. For example, if your company is looking to fill manufacturing positions through social recruiting on Facebook, you can do a search for “manufacturing jobs in Buffalo, NY.” If you are unable to find a group in your area specific to the types of positions you staff for, it is still a great idea to post in the general job groups.
Posting in Groups
Now that you’ve joined a couple of groups, it’s time to start sharing content. Facebook has stated there is a much higher chance someone will see your post if it is shared in a group because the group falls into a certain area of interest of the user, such as looking for a job. It’s important to remember, however, that it’s not just about posting your own content all the time. See what other people are posting and jump in on the conversation to lend your expertise. For example, if some is looking for a job and mentions they have experience doing x, y and z and you have a job opening you think they’d be good for, leave them a comment and let them know! This will help build trust with members of the group. If you have a blog or some other piece of content on your website that you think would help someone who has posted in the group, feel free to send them there as well! This is a great way to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
Success Stories
Below we have some examples from Facebook Insights showing increased reach and engagement on posts shared in Facebook groups. In this first example, posts were shared to Facebook groups on January 28 and 29. The first number followed by the yellow bar is the number of people the post reached organically, and the numbers next to that represent the amounts of post engagements and clicks.
This next example also shows a huge increase in reach and engagement on a post shared to a group on February 3.
With Facebook organic reach declining drastically, it’s never been a better time to join groups to share your available jobs and content. In the next part of our series on navigating your social recruiting on Facebook in 2019, we will talk about taking advantage of Facebook Jobs. Stay tuned!
