Facebook Fan Page vs Group: Which Do You Need?

Facebook Fan Page vs Group: Let's Compare

First, let's establish that a Facebook presence is crucial to your social media marketing strategy. Now let's compare

Facebook Groups are set up for more personal interaction. Groups are also directly connected to the people who administer them, meaning that activities that go on there could reflect on you personally. Pages, on the other hand, don't list the names of administrators, and are thought of less as a person, and more like a brand or corporate entity. Facebook considers groups to be an extension of your personal actions. When you post something as a group administrator, it appears to be coming from you and is attached to your personal profile. Alternately, Pages can create content that comes from the Page itself, so that content doesn't have to be linked to you personally.

Member Notification

As long as a group is under 5,000 members (Due to their security features, and size limitations only groups under 5,000 members can send email blasts), group admins can send messages to the group members that will appear in their inboxes.

Page admins can send updates to fans through the Page, and these updates will appear in the "Updates" section of fans' inboxes. There is no limit on how many fans you may send an update to, or how many total fans a Page can have.

Administration

Groups offer far more control over who gets to participate. Permissions settings make it possible for group admins to restrict access to a group, so that new members have to be approved. Access to a Page, however, can only be restricted by certain ages and locations. Again, this makes groups more like a private club. But on the other hand only a Page will be visible to the public even if they are not registered on your page.

Applications

Pages can host applications, so a Page can essentially be more personalized and show more content. Groups can't do this.

Moderation

If someone posts spam on your Group or your Page, you have to remove it manually, and you can also remove specific members. The only difference is that with a Group you can add officers to help moderate as well.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Another key difference is that Pages are indexed by external search engines such as Google, just like a public profile while Groups are not. This is important if you are want to use Facebook as part of your search engine optimization strategy. Only a Fan Page can help with that.

Creating Events

Both Groups and Pages allow you to create related Events, which show up under the users' Request (and later in the upcoming events page on the sidebar of their dashboard if they do RSVP).

Advertising

Ads can be purchased to promote either groups or Pages, but Pages can benefit from social ads that publicize the fan connection between a Page and a specific user while groups do not.

Conclusion

So, it really depends on your purpose. Generally, speaking if you want customization and public visibilty you should opt for the Fan Page. If you want a private group for networking or communicating a group is the way to go. Also note that you are limited on creating one or the other--you can also use both if you the need to do so. Here is a quick chart to compare features so you can make the right choice.

If you want to create a Facebook Page here is a Free Presentation: How To Create A Facebook Fan Page

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Digital Marketing Consultant, LocalEdge
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Internet Marketing Designed for Results
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