---
name: beacon-facebook
description: "Decide what role Facebook plays in your marketing, such as a community group for existing customers. Use it when Facebook is on your channel list."
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  author: Ferrox Labs
  version: "1.1.0"
  category: "beacon"
---

As of: 2026-10-02

# facebook

Decide what Facebook is for in a marketing mix and run it with a plan the business can keep.

## When to use

Use when Facebook is on the channel list, when the audience skews older or local, when a business wants a community of customers, or when a Page has stopped getting reach.

Trigger phrases:

- "Should I use Facebook for my business?"
- "Page or group?"
- "My Facebook page gets no reach."
- "How do I build a community?"

Do not use for paid Meta campaigns (beacon-paid-acquisition) or for Instagram formats (beacon-instagram). If the audience is not on Facebook, say so and route to beacon-channel-strategy.

## Inputs to ask for

1. Who the customers are, their age range and where they live.
2. Whether a Page or group already exists, and its size and recent results.
3. Who can show up on camera, and how many hours a week are free.
4. Whether the business has existing customers to seed a group.
5. The one outcome wanted: repeat purchases, local visits, leads, support deflection.

## Procedure

**1. Give Facebook one role.** Choose from three.
- *Community group:* for existing customers and members. Best for retention, repeat buying and feedback. Groups earn far more organic reach than Pages.
- *Page as a presence:* a place customers check, with hours, links and reviews. Reach is low; treat it as a shop front.
- *Reels for discovery:* short original video that reaches people outside your followers.

Most small businesses should run the group plus a light Reels habit, and keep the Page current.

**2. Set up the group so it runs.**
- Name it for the member's goal, not your brand.
- Write three to five rules and a welcome post.
- Use entry questions to screen out spam and learn about each member.
- Name one or two moderators besides the owner.
- Post a weekly rhythm: a Monday question, a midweek tip, a Friday share-your-win thread.
- Reply to every comment in the first hour. Comments are the strongest signal in a group, and each one gives the post another chance to be shown.

**3. Make Reels that count as original.** Meta's 2026 guidance rewards content you film or make yourself and reduces distribution for reposts, reactions with nothing added and stitched clips. Show a person, add a new fact or demonstration, put captions on screen since many people watch without sound. Aim for 15 to 45 seconds and open with the point.

**4. Keep the Page useful.** Update hours, links, a pinned offer and a call-to-action button. Post two to three times a week, reusing Reels and group highlights. Reply to messages quickly; response time shows on the Page.

**5. Move people off Facebook.** Offer a useful download or a time-limited note in exchange for an email address, and link it in a pinned post. A group you do not own can change, so build an email list in parallel (beacon-email-sequences).

**6. Review monthly.** Check group activity and Reels results, drop what is not working, double what is.

## Templates

- *Welcome post:* who the group is for, three rules, one question to introduce yourself.
- *Weekly prompt:* "What is one thing you tried this week with [topic]? Tell us what worked and what did not."
- *Reel outline:* hook line, one demonstration, one result, one next step.

## Metrics and what good looks like

- Group: share of members who post or comment each month. Ten percent active is healthy; more means the group is working.
- Comments per post and reply time inside the first hour.
- Reels: three-second hold, average watch time and share of non-follower viewers.
- Email signups and repeat purchases traced back to Facebook.
- Treat follower count as a lagging signal.

## Failure modes

- Using the group only to advertise. Members leave or mute.
- Reposting other people's videos and expecting reach.
- Posting links to your site in every post. Mix in native content.
- One person running everything, so the group stops when they do.
- Buying likes or running engagement swaps.
- Ignoring spam and rule-breakers.

## Hand-offs

- Channel choice: beacon-channel-strategy.
- Video craft: beacon-short-form-video.
- Paid reach: beacon-paid-acquisition.
- Retention and repeat buyers: lens-cohort-and-retention.
- Wording: the copywriting skill, then verdict-flag-and-fix.