Facebook Groups are connecting 1.8 billion people globally every month, with around 70 million Facebook Group Admins and moderators building these communities. If you’re one of them, I’d like to personally commend you for a job well done!
Growing a Facebook Group can be difficult—but for some—even starting it can be tough.
Though Facebook makes it easy for anyone to start a Facebook Group, choosing the perfect type of facebook group can be tricky.
For starters, there are multiple Facebook Group types to choose from—and today, we want to make this decision easy for you by explaining the relevance and purpose of each one.
By the end of this blog, I’m hoping that you’re able to choose the best Facebook Group type for the kind of community you want to build. Each of these types has certain features that can help make your community even more awesome, so picking the right one can set the tone for your group.
(Important Note: You can change your Facebook Group Type anytime on your Settings page, so don’t worry if you don’t pick the right one on the first try)
Facebook Group Types
Currently, there are seven different types of Facebook Groups. We have General, Buy and Sell, Gaming, Social Learning, Jobs, Work and Parenting.
In previous years, there used to be much more Facebook Group types, but Facebook has decided to compress the other types under ‘General’.
Let’s take a look at each Facebook Group type so you can determine which one is the best for your group.
General
It’s considered the most basic Facebook Group type. General gives you all the features and functionality you need to run your group. Upon creating your Facebook Group, ‘General’ is the default option you get if you don’t end up choosing a group type.
There’s really no special features that the General group type have over the rest. It has almost every basic feature of Facebook Groups but lacks specific functionality that other Facebook Group types possess.
With a ‘General’ Facebook Group, you can create various content types, from normal photos, hosting a Q&Q, running polls, and creating a prompt.
If you just want to get your Facebook Group up and running and have all the basic features and functionality, going for the ‘General’ type is the best move. You can always change your Facebook Group type at a later time anyway if you change your mind.
Buy And Sell
A popular Facebook Group type is Buy and Sell. With the fast rise of Facebook Marketplace, and e-commerce in general, many people are turning to Buy and Sell Facebook Groups to sell their goods and even services.
Buy and Sell groups are popular for cars, motorcycles, books, and local goods. A group like this allows anyone to post an item for sale, so the rest of the group members can see it and make an offer.
See the next few images to see how this feature looks like:
It’s easy to sell an item (physical, digital, or even a service) on a Buy and Sell Facebook Group
You have control over the pricing, description, and the visual aesthetics of your post. Adding new items for sale on a Buy and Sell Facebook Group can also be done through a mobile phone.
Gaming
For Facebook Groups that have a focus on the fast-rising e-sports and gaming industry, a dedicated ‘Gaming’ Facebook Group Type is the best option.
This group type allows you to properly classify your community as a group dedicated for gaming. If you run tournaments, cover the gaming industry, or simply have a Facebook Group where the primary discussion will be about a certain game (or games), then this is the Facebook Group type to choose.
It also offers a neat feature called Game Tab, where you are able to host games among members of your community.
You can read more about Facebook Game tab here.
Social Learning
If your group focuses on education, this is the ideal Facebook Group type to choose. Admins choose Social Learning when they want to organize content into ‘Guides’ (formerly known as Units).
With Guides, you can set up your video content, as well as text-based or even digital files in an organized format, similar to online modules or courses.
If your Facebook Group was created to teach others, Social Learning is the best group type to choose just because it’s easier to highlight the Guides and make it the official landing page for your Facebook Group so it’s the first thing your members see.
Here’s how you can start a guide on your Facebook Group
P.S. Guides are actually also available now in other Facebook Group type.
Jobs
LinkedIn isn’t the only social media platform where you can post jobs. Facebook decided that they want in on the party—launching ‘Jobs’ as an official Facebook Group type.
Here’s how it looks like:
The Jobs Facebook Group type can be very powerful if you use it right.
Here’s an example of a Facebook Group using Convosight that runs a successful Job type Facebook Group:
Trabaho.ph is a community, based in the Philippines that helps thousands of Filipinos find jobs. During these challenging times, groups like this are helpful as many people are losing jobs.
If you want to create a community that bridges employers and employees—making it easy for people to find jobs, and for companies to find talent, then the ‘Jobs’ Facebook Group type is an easy choice. This unique functionality isn’t available in any of the other FB group types.
Work
This group type is a little more niche than the rest. ‘Work’ allows you to create a group, primarily for your office environment. Though another use case is for business networking.
With Facebook imposing a 5,000 friend limit, and most people wanting to keep their social life private, this Facebook Group type lets people continue to network and utilize the platform without needing to add other people as ‘friends’.
Here’s a tweet from Matt Navarra that shows how it works:
Another neat feature from the Work Facebook group type is the ability to create Shifts. If you want to be able to announce job shifts and requests from your co-workers, it can be done.
Again—the ‘Work’ group type can be niche and not applicable to most, but using it as a community for business networking can be a good use case.
Parenting
Last but not the least, the Parenting group type, as the name suggests, is the clear choice for all things ‘parenting’.
This group has most of the features of the other group types. Where it really shines though is the ability for all members to post ‘anonymously’.
This is a very powerful feature since there can be topics inside Parenting communities that are sensitive.
This allows anyone to get the help and support they need, without having the fear of being judged for their questions or concerns.
Knowing Which Facebook Group Type To Choose
Now that you have a better understanding of the different FB group types, I want to simply leave you with this advice:
Select the group type that makes the most sense for you currently. Don’t overthink it because you can always change this later on. Read here on how to change your Facebook Group type.
The most important thing is for you to provide your group members with consistent value. Your group type won’t make or break your community, so don’t sweat it so much. Select the one that best fits your community and run with it.
I hope this blog helps you out! If you have any questions, leave ‘em in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them ASAP.
If you’re curious about other topics such as the difference between a Public vs Private Facebook Group and which one to choose, read our previous blog on it.
Leads digital marketing and content at Convosight. I’m passionate about all things marketing and growth, e-learning, and community building. If you’re awesome and made it all the way here, could you do me a favor and share/tweet this post too? Forever grateful!