Are You A Lion Or A Sheep?
A Facebook group needs strong leadership and clear direction if you want it to succeed. If you act like a sheep, the herd might follow you for a moment  and then lose interest or move in a different  direction.

Launching a successful Facebook group is a definite art. If you are thinking of starting a new group or already have an existing group, here are a few essential pointers to get you going viral and  effortlessly  attract new members.

1) Choose a Killer Title For Your Group Name
Without a memorable name that is both colorful and sticky your group will fail right from the beginning. It has to be compelling and dynamic and press peoples emotional hot buttons. For Ideas look at the groups that have grown to over 1000 members and compare the names  to those that that are still stuck  at around 150 members.  If your name is boring  most people automatically assume your group will be too.

2) Pick  A Graphic That Captures The Essence Of  Your Group
A picture speaks a thousand words, does the image you choose convey the essence of your group. Get a striking image and then use photo shop to add some text on top of the picture. Make sure it can still be read when it is reduced in size. Many groups make their Logo much  longer than its wide it then becomes a full banner advertisement and   takes up more space when its listed on the group page giving it more prominence.

3) Leverage Your Friends
You can’t grow a group huge without the help of other people. Groups go viral because people invite their friends to join. If your initial network hasn’t reach 500 people you will have a hard time getting enough momentum for your group to take off. In that case find another friend and launch together. Make them a group admin too. Its much more fun launching a group with several people than having to do all the work on your own.

4) Target Your Initial Members
Having  powerful  and influential friends as core members of the group is vital. Hand select the people who you want to be there and send them personal invitations. Make them feel special.  You need to choose people who are dynamic on Facebook or Twitter, people who are famous, people who have huge followings,  people who have large networks and people who are already experts and leaders  within your niche.  Having these people as initial members instantly gives your group credibility.   Honor those who first join by making them officers and ask  them what  title they would like under their name.

5) Create A Whisper Campaign
Tell your friends about the group in an indirect way long before you are going to launch, hint about it in blog posts, in teleseminars and in  wall posts and in all your communications with your potential core members. Get them excited and they will start to talk about your new group even before you open the doors. Get your favorite bloggers to write an article about your group. Start a discussion using Facebook Notes  and make your group the logical solution to a problem that people might face. Create  the content for your group before you launch and tell people what you are doing.

6) Turn Your Group Launch Into An Event
By  turning your group launch into an event you automatically stand out and get noticed. Plan it the same way you would a big party,  You want all your guests to arrive at the same time so that the dance floor is packed. People won’t join if they turn up to your group page and find a cold empty room with no music and no  refreshments.

Use Facebook Events and hold a teleseminar to publicize it and/or write  Facebook notes and tag all your initial members, get them interacting with each other and keep sending them back to the group page to post on the wall and participate  in the discussions.

Groups are not just confined to  a single location, they spill out all over the place. Like a crowded house party that ends up  with  lots of people milling about on the front lawn. Anyone who drives down the street will always know which house to go to.

7) Include An Irresistible Offer
Offer an incentive for people to join,  give away a free ebook, mp3 recording or video straight away.

Promise to supply more exclusive content in the future for those who join the group early and become active participants. Identify those special  members by signing them  up to your optin list or joining your Fan page.

Focus on adding value and encourage your group members to share their own talents.   Your group will become  a valuable resource instead of  a derelict notice board for spammers

8)Aim For Viral Visibility
The more activity you generate the bigger your viral foot print will be in Facebook’s newsfeed.

You want to get your group to 500 members as quickly as possible so that it maintains its growth  velocity.  After this point it will hit critical mass and continue to grow on its own.

Stimulate activity on the group wall and discussion board, ask questions and continue to  supply fresh content on a regular basis. You want you members to keep returning and posting within the group.

9)Advertise Your Group
If you are holding a party you need to put up some posters and give out flyers. Use your status updates wisely; be creative, use humor,  and learn about  link baiting.   Attract members  from a whole range of social media  platforms, like Twitter, YouTube, Ustream, Friend Feed, Ning. Advertise in other similar groups and online forums. Get your group members to help you and  reward those who put in the most effort by helping them to promote themselves using your group as a platform. Self promotion before contributing value should be discouraged.

10) Launch Strategically  And In Several Stages
Have a clearly defined and mapped out strategy.  Create a revolving door  Pre launch, launch, post launch,  relaunch. Sequence.  After initial  activity your group may need restimulating. By holding regular events you keep your group in the public eye and your members will continue to feel connected. Get your active members to participate in your relaunch process, and make it  a win win situation for all involved

Do You Want To Learn More?

I have provided  step by step Instructions in my book, the  Facebook Strategies Guide that  explains precisely how you can grow your group with minimum effort and maximum leverage. Ways you can build relationships with your group members and tips on how to  start monetizing your efforts. Most importantly I show you the common mistakes that most people make that act like lead weights and prevent  their groups from really taking off.

Whats holding your group back? - Enter my competition and win a free copy of my book

I will be giving away a free copy of my Book to the person who can describe  what their biggest problem  or concern  is  about starting or growing a  Facebook group.

To enter  just send me a  message on Facebook and describe your situation  in 200 words or less.

As an added bonus for the lucky winner  I will personally come and take a look at your group page and  show you exactly what  you need to do to launch it, improve it and get  it growing virally

I will be announcing the winner in  a future blog post.

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Stand Out From The Crowd

Every now and the I meet someone who really stands out from the crowd, someone who is thinking outside of the box and is interested in pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

I get really creative when I meet people like this, their enthusiasm is infectious and makes me realise what potentials I am capable of achieving.

Understanding Facebook Strategy

While I was completing the Facebook Groups section of my Facebook Strategies Guide I got a message from a new friend asking me to join his group. I get these kind of messages every day and usually I just ignore them. The reason I paid attention to this person was because he had adopted the exact strategy I had just been writing about and had followed it to the letter.

A Select Group Of People

I was interested because I pay attention to synchronicity like this, and when I checked out his group I could see he had done his preparations very well. There were only a few members but already it had a lot of good content and some interesting discussions. He wasn’t just inviting anyone he was inviting a select group of people who would appreciate what he was trying to teach

Promoting An Event Launch

His group was set up to promote his new book that teaches event launch strategies, I clicked through to his website and that was where I got the biggest shock. It was right on the cutting edge with a very  informative  video,  stunning flash graphics and  a cool contact/follow  widget. I  decided I had to find out a bit more about who was behind  all this so I opted in to his list and then sent him a few personal message and we started  building a relationship

Pay Close Attention

I would advise all of my friends to pay attention to what this guy is going to do in the next month. He’s already started to make some waves and get himself noticed with some great Facebook Notes on a wide range of topics.  I am now one of the privileged few who gets to see this launch from the inside and I will be paying very close attention and assessing the results. I could probably  write  3 killer blog posts just from the half hour conversation I had with him on Skype yesterday.

Invitation Only

If you want to find out more and get an invitation to the group please message me on Facebook and I’ll send you a link. Or you can go to my profile and you’ll probably find it hidden on my wall somewhere.

This group is really only for those who are serious about learning how to use Social Media to build viral synergistic networks. Synergistic networks are built from personal connections and solid relationships.

Unwritten Rules

This type of network responds when you ask it to do something and its one of the most valuable assets you can ever become a part of. Its not something you can ever own. If you abuse it’s power and break any of the  unwritten rules  you will find yourself excluded and left out in the cold. On the periphery and away from the place where the main action is taking place.

Laser Targeted

This isn’t going to be a typical launch where you send out generalised impersonal messages and spam all your contacts  using a shotgun splatter approach. That sort of thing can be left to the lazy affiliate marketers and amateur MLM newbies. Being laser targeted and selective means that you expend less energy and get much better results.

Come Along For The Ride

Regardless of your particular niche there is definitely going to be  something that you can learn.You can watch from the sidelines or you can join the party, it’s your choice

Understanding  the principles and adopting a strategic approach is whats  most important in any launch, as well as learning the right ways to engage people in conversations.

Follow Me

If you want to know what I am up to and ensure you get to observe things as they happen be sure to follow me on Twitter if you haven’t done  so  already

http://www.twitter.com/iandavidchapman

Follow me and I’ll follow you.