Dear Ginny WTH: Facebook Groups vs. Facebook Pages

Dear Ginny WTH:

I have a two-office, 40-agent real estate brokerage and I want to take advantage of marketing through social networking. I have a LinkedIn page which I’m maintaining and updating and now want to do something on Facebook. One thing I’m confused about is the differences between Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups. Which is the best for a small brokerage like mine?
-Small Broker, Hoboken, New Jersey

Dear Small Broker,

This is a great question and I just had a client facing the same situation. There are definite differences between the two. What I recommended to my client was to keep his personal page then set up a Group page behind that where he would update and send invitations to his real estate training and coaching webinars. It allowed him to have a forum in which to deliver a message broadly, while maintaining a personal page which he could also use in his business through additional message postings.

Here are some of the reasons for my recommendation:

• Facebook Groups are easier to find by Facebook users. Groups are searchable by keywords. For Facebook Pages, people will have to type in the business name in order to find.
• You can message all members of the Group and the notice shows up in their inbox for maximum attention. In Pages there are more options for posting different types of messages, but it’s almost overkill for small business.
• All activities are picked up in the Group feed, posts, discussion, photos, etc., which provides a lot more visibility than Pages which segments and tends to split up information.
• Groups tend to be more informal, which can, in itself, feel more social.
• Groups offer lots of control over who to involve. There are three different types of groups: Open (anyone can join); Closed (the group owner/admins have to approve all members); Secret (only the members and invitees know the group even exists).
• Facebook Pages do allow for more interactivity and media but Groups also allow the upload other media.
• Groups allow you to send out “bulk invites” to invite all your friends to join the Group while with Pages you will be forced to drop invites manually.
• Groups are better for viral marketing, because any Group member can also send bulk invites to friends.
• Groups are generally better for hosting a quick, active discussion and attracting quick attention.
• When you take actions on your Group, such as posting on your Group’s wall, these actions will appear to come from you as an individual.

Right now, Pages are considered more for large Corporate Brands and musicians and not more local offerings. So unless your first name is Bonovox, I’d say forgo the “Fan Page” and go for the more communal Group page.