Last summer, Facebook announced that they were piloting a new program. This pilot allows the creation of groups that would require a paid subscription to be a part of. Now that this test has been going on for a while, let's take a look at what we know so far.
The Why
In an announcement, Facebook informed us that this change is one of many in a set of tools to help group admins. Feedback showed that group admins are looking for ways to make more money and deepen engagement with their members. We will touch on some of these other changes below.
As you may know, many businesses will create a secondary group alongside their open community group for premium access. In these instances, the business has to collect and track payments for this private group through a third party. This change to Facebook would allow group admins to be able to do it all in one place. You now have additional time to focus on your business and your new members-only content.
The Change
Facebook stated the following: "Subscription groups align with the experience that we made available to support video creators earlier this year, and is part of our overall approach to helping creators and leaders to financially support the work they do to engage their fans and communities."
The test group for this feature is very small. It includes a college prep company, a meal planning group, and a group that inspires and shares tips on how to declutter your home. However, just last week, Facebook announced that they'll be expanding this pilot to more groups.
Other Tools To Support Group Admins
- Admin Support- This is a service that is being piloted to provide more timely and personalized help. The turnaround time for support is just one business day. This test is being piloted to select admins on iOS and Android in English and Spanish. As always, Facebook provides a community of resources for your reference.
- New Features For Group Rules- When an admin removes a post that violates the community rules, you can now notify the member which rule/rules they broke. In addition, admins can collab in the admin activity log when they remove a post.
- Pre-approved Members- This one will save you a lot of time. You can select members whose content is pre-approved and don't require additional approval from admins to post.
To Sum Up
Facebook acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to do in this department. However, these changes are definitely baby steps to more money for you and less time with the tedious tasks of being a group admin. What do you think of these changes? Comment on the post and let us know!
In the words of Facebook: "As we learn from this pilot and understand how group members feel about subscription groups, we’ll continue to improve this experience to help admins offer more to their members and continue to invest in their communities."
Happy Hunting!
Related Posts:
