If you are creating a Facebook Group, you are going to want to create a Facebook group welcome post.
Why? Several reasons. One is to acknowledge and welcome new members to the group. Remember, that when a new member joins your group, in many ways, the group is somewhat mysterious to them.
They may wonder, “What kind of group is this? Is it a group that fits my life goals and ambitions? Are they friendly to new members? Will my opinion as a new member be valued? Are there cliques within the group that dominates the conversation?
As a result, your Facebook group welcome post is critical to set the tone.
The First thing to keep in mind is that new members will be wondering if the group will recognize and acknowledge them. And there is absolutely no reason why members of even the largest Facebook groups with 10,000 plus members are not acknowledged within three days!
And make that even earlier if you can help it.
For small Facebook groups, the administrator of the group should be sending out a personal welcome message to each new member individually.
However, with Facebook automation, you can send a welcome post to up to 100 new members automatically. As it’s described in the Facebook docs, all you need to do is to click on groups as an administrator, find the member’s button click on the “write post” button, and post your message.
Facebook will show you every member that has joined within the past 7 days.
Most Facebook Group Moderators suggest that you attach a video to your Welcome post.
A video is not only friendlier and more personal, but will allow you to set the tone for the ground rules as well as tell all new members exactly where to find all the ground rules for your group.
Without clearly setting up the purpose of your Facebook page as well as covering the most important ground rules such as no spamming and no personal attacks, your Facebook Group will quickly devolve into a giant catfight or become so riddled with spam that nobody wants to belong.
Facebook group welcome post examples
Here’s a sample:
Welcome to the Walking Straight and Chewing Gum at the same time FaceBook Group.
I’m your host, Swami “Walk and Chew Gum” Bob, and this is the only site on Facebook dedicated to the delicate art (for many it would seem) of being able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
This is a social site, so we encourage photos and videos of you as you encounter and conquer the many challenges ahead.
We have just a few simple rules. Be kind and supportive to one another, we urge positive comments about how you have personally mastered the art, and as long as they are positive and have no spam, we welcome everyone to post.
To begin your own personal journey in walking and chewing gum at the same time, we invite you to create your own introductory post or video post, to let all of our members get a sense of who you are and where you are from..
Thanks and again, Welcome to the group.
Bob
Of course, this FB welcome post is tongue in cheek, but you get the idea. Your welcome page greeting can be as long you want or just a few words, but it should be personal.
Once new members have received a welcome greeting, the administrator should be totally cognizant of any new posts from new members.
The moment the administrator recognizes a post from a new member, they should promptly post a message, “Hey gal who was born with three left feet, welcome to the conversation. And then if possible a bit of added comments to further the engagement of the new member.
Many larger Facebook boards have experienced volunteers to help ease doing various duties to make sure the Group runs smoothly. A good idea is to have one member be assigned to answer questions and answer from newcomers on the Group. Meanwhile, several veteran group members are also encouraged to respond to new members posting to encourage them to get into the active habit of participating.
The more your new members participate and engage with the Group, the more success you will have overall with your Facebook Group.
Although there is no way to do it automatically like the Facebook Welcome Message, new members should also a link receive o experienced board members to reach out to.
You can do this automatically in your welcome post, but it would be best to wait a couple of days and send a follow-up post with a link to all the major players in the Group.
This way, the administrator of a large group doesn’t necessarily have to do 10 tasks at once.
Another possible follow-up post is a list of frequently asked questions. New group members love getting posts like this because chances are they have many of the exact questions that are covered but were too shy to ask.
Another thing that administrators and veteran board members can do is prepare a shortlist of questions that may encourage the engagement of new members.
Simple questions such as, “How Long have you been trying to walk and chew gum at the same time? It took me 6 years to master it might just be the ticket to get someone to open up further.
Personal sharing is power in the Facebook Group game.
Want another way to encourage interaction? If the group is small, consider making personal profiles for new members, maybe three or four paragraphs introducing the person to the group.
People love to hear their names being spoken, and the same applies to a personal profile. These personal profiles can generate many engaging comments from other members.
If your group is too large, then obviously making a personal profile on say 25 new members a week will be impractical. However, there is nothing stopping you from creating a single profile of the week. It will still encourage the engagement of many.
Another way to build engagement would be to encourage personal photos and videos.
Have a contest each week. The first week, encourage people to send in photos of them and their pets. The next week, of their children.
Also, don’t forget the humor. Who has the ugliest car? Who has the ugliest pet, etc.?
Even if your Facebook Group is about a serious subject like Astrophysics, people can be drawn and stay engaged to your Group if they see the other members of the group as people like “me” instead of anonymous bots on the web.
When you attract Facebook Group members, you should do everything within your power to keep them as well as recommend your group to your friends, the sole exception is that you should vigorously watch out for spammers and trolls who are simply online to start fights.
Welcome posts for Facebook are not exactly rocket science. They are truly an invitation to welcome newcomers, and for some, if they don’t resonate with that message, could be the first and the last time you hear from them.
So craft your welcome message well to keep building up your Facebook group.
The more you encourage sharing and make new members feel comfortable and engaged, the more some of those members will become rabid fans who will share their interest in the group with other friends on social media, and they too can possibly be interested in joining your group.
