UNDECIDED – Are you a company looking to establish a presence on Facebook and not sure which way to go? Possibly you are undecided between a Group or a Fanpage.
SUMMARY – In summary pages are for marketing and growing brands and groups are for more restricted communication within communities of people with common interests. If you quickly wanted to establish a presence for your brand with the outside world a page is the way to go. If you would like to interact with a group of professionals or people have something in common, a group seems more appropriate. Let’s look at some information pulled from Facebook.
CREATION – Pages can only be created to represent a real organization, business, celebrity, or band, and may only be created by an official representative of that entity. Groups can be created by anyone and about any topic, as a space for people to share their opinions and interest in that subject.
PRIVACY – Groups can be kept open, closed or secret, whereas Pages are intended to help an entity communicate publicly. I believe a company can have both a group and page on Facebook but the names or url have to be different.
HOW THEY WORK – To join a Page you have to LIKE a page and this appears in your activity. The LIKE feature is an excellent marketing feature. The more LIKES a page has, the more popular the brand is perceived to be. There is no option to LIKE Groups, you have to join and may have to be approved depending on whether its an open or closed group.
INDEXING BY SEARCH ENGINES – A key consideration is the issue of indexing. Pages are indexed by external search engines like Google and Bing while Groups are not. From a visibility persective, Pages offer a whole lot more.
APPLICATIONS – Pages can host applications while groups cannot. Applications can create a more personalised feel or customisation while groups do not have this.
PERSONAL/ PROFESSIONAL DISTINCTION – Pages also allow people to maintain a personal-professional distinction on Facebook. If you’re a group admin, your name will appear on that group, while Pages will never display their admins’ names. Additionally, 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. However, if you post or take other actions on a Page you own, it will appear to come from the Page.
CONVERSION – Facebook used to support conversion from a group to a page but this does not appear possible anymore. It is best to just get it right the first time. Can you imagine trying to convince 4,000 members in your group that they now need to switch to a page? You are bound to lose some members in the process.
LIMITATIONS – Groups are generally meant for smaller groups of people you know personally, and have limiting functions in place when the group members exceed a certain number. Groups may not have more than 5,000 members while there is no limit to number of Fans on page. Pages are intended to be a place for organizations, businesses, celebrities, or bands to connect with users who like them. You can create a Page here or create a group from the “Create Group” link on the left hand navigation of your home page.
Still undecided between a Page or Group on Facebook? Why not get in touch.
