Facebook groups.
By reading this post, you discover
- How to join Facebook groups
- Facebook groups that allow daily promotion.
- Facebook groups that allow weekly promotion.
- Facebook groups with mature content.
- Secret Facebook groups.
There are some serious stats you can’t ignore.
Do you know how many people use Facebook groups?
According to 2020 data, 1.4 billion people!
Also, there are more than 10 million Facebook groups!
Get ready to grow your reach.
It gets better: When you use Facebook groups, you can grow your reach organically.
While others pay for Facebook ads, when you use Facebook groups, you can grow your exposure for free.
Perhaps you are looking for 18+ groups on Facebook.
You’re in luck. All of these groups are 18+ Facebook groups. One of the groups is even for women of midlife. Clearly, that is definitely an 18+ Facebook group.
UPDATED INFORMATION: January 2022 Now that Facebook rebranded as Meta, we will see how important Facebook groups are to Facebook’s new brand.
Considering the popularity of Facebook groups, I predict Facebook groups are here to stay. Let’s explore how they can help you.
Facebook 18+ Groups
(Update: June 2020) Recently, I asked Instagrammers which they prefer: Facebook groups or Quora Spaces.
Do you want to know how they responded?
To my surprise, an overwhelming majority chose Quora Spaces.
There are many advantages to using social media for business. One of them is the potential for businesses to boost their exposure.
Some Facebook groups have tens of thousands of members. There is no better way to extend your reach organically.
How to Join Facebook Groups
Use the Facebook search bar to find groups that are interesting to you.
Type the niche + group. Groups in that content area should populate.
Facebook has groups for every demographic. For instance, I belong to a groups with women from Southern California and another group of midlife women. I also belong to a group of California freelance writers.
This should give you an idea of the kind of diversity of Facebook groups.
Click on the group of interest. When the groups populate, click on a group that sounds interesting. Check to make sure the group is active. For instance, look to see the last post. Was it hours ago or weeks?
When you find an active group that interests you, in the top right-hand corner of the screen, you should see the word “join.” Click and answer the questions that follow.
The questions normally ask if you will follow the rules of the group. Sometimes, they will want you to follow the group moderator. Answer “yes” to each question or risk getting turned down.
You may have to wait for an answer, but I have never had to wait long.
Facebook Groups That Allow Weekly Self-Promotion
To find these groups:
- Go to https://www.facebook.com/.
- Type in the name of the group as it appears below.
- Click Groups.
- Click Join.
- If the group admin has questions for you to answer, answer them. Your membership will be pending in most cases. In other cases, you’ll be admitted right away.
Sundays
Blog Like a Boss (Update March 2020: This group has not been active in 6 weeks.)
Blogging for New Bloggers
Mondays
Blog Like a Boss
Creative Ninjas – Instagram sharing
Connect and Cultivate with Ivory Mix – Instagram sharing
Online Magic Makers
Blogging Boost
Living the Laptop Life
Blogger & Biz Babes
Blogging with Purpose
Tuesdays
Blog Like a Boss UPDATE May 2020: The group hasn’t been active in 13 weeks.
Raelyn’s Online Business Friends
Creative Ninjas – Instagram post sharing
Blogging Newbs
Pinterest Ninjas
Mom to Mompreneur
Blog Beautiful
Wednesdays
Daily Blog Share Update July 2020: Daily Blog Share Folded. However, the administrator is starting a new Facebook group, Digital Creations, which is centered around creating videos and ebooks.
Blog Like a Boss
Blogger Share and Promo Group
The Badass Solopreneur
Blog Boss Tribe
Thursdays
Blog Like a Boss – Throwback Thursday
Connect and Cultivate with Ivory Mix
Blogger Share and Promo Group
AL&W
Blogging for New Bloggers
Fridays
Creative Ninjas
Bloggers Supporting Each Other
Blogging with Purpose
Women Winning Online
Connect and Cultivate with Ivory Mix
Saturdays
Blog Like a Boss
Make Your Blog Beautiful
Facebook Groups That Don’t Allow Promotion
These Facebook groups are intended for bloggers to get advice and support only.
You may not promote your blog post links here:
Blogging Like We Mean It
BTOP Ultimate Blogging Group
Best eCommerce Groups
When asked to suggest the best eCommerce groups on this list, I recommended:
Facebook Groups for Adults Only
Just like on Reddit, there are adult groups on Facebook for 18+ years of age.
Reddit has Reddit NSFW Meta groups, and Facebook has Facebook adults groups.
Go to the search bar. Type what you are looking for + groups to find adult groups on Facebook.
You even find adult groups on Facebook using Facebook Messenger to conduct their mature chats.
Facebook Group Tools
UPDATE April 2022
First, The MaherPost invented a Facebook Group Poster. This tool automates your Facebook group posting by scheduling your Facebook posts for you. Using a Facebook group post scheduler can save you from group posting mishaps. The Facebook Group Poster is a paid tool. Note: I have not personally used the Facebook Group Poster.
Next, in order to keep these Facebook groups organize, I keep a list of Facebook groups in my phone app. I use the Pages app, but you can use any method of organization.
Many people use an Excel spreadsheet to keep their groups organized.
On my list, I have the name of the group and the number of members. When I’m rushing, I don’t post to smaller groups for lack of time.
I also have the groups numbered. I post to half the groups at one time, so Facebook doesn’t consider me a spammer and put me in Facebook jail. Since no one knows how to get out of Facebook Jail, you want to follow this method.
Secret Facebook Groups
March 2021 Update
Are you aware there are secret Facebook groups? There are.
When admins start Facebook groups, they have the option of keeping the group public or private. If they choose to keep it private, the public doesn’t know about what are now secret Facebook groups.
The advantage of secret Facebook groups:
Why would administrators want to keep Facebook groups secret?
First, when the group becomes too large, the admin switches “Public” to “Private” and everyone in the group gets notified about the change in status.
Admins must manage the group members. For instance, they don’t want inappropriate content posted. If the group contains too many members, managing them becomes more difficult.
Next, some admins use the Facebook group as a perk. For instance, Ahrefs and Neil Patel have secret Facebook groups for exclusive members who sign up for their services.
October 2020 Update 1:
Recent data: Since people began sheltering in place due to the Coronavirus pandemic, over 1.8 billion people are using Facebook groups. The use of Facebook groups is on the rise.
While Facebook reports an addition of over 4 million Facebook groups over the last year, many Facebook groups have been removed. This is due to their affiliations with the racist QAnon organization.
At its Communities Summit, Facebook announced changes to its Facebook groups which will stress the advantages of the groups which clearly are being used to stay connected during the pandemic.
October 2020 Update 2
Facebook is expanding its use of television commercials to advertise Facebook groups.
September 2020:
Ahrefs released the best 4 Facebook groups for SEOs:
Affiliate SEO Mastermind
SEO Signals Lab
The Proper SEO Group
SEO Secrets by Detailed.com
Members range from 11,000+ to 61,000+.
July 2020: In 2018, Facebook started shareable links. This means anyone in a group can invite someone to the group with a shareable link. They can use the link in an email or anywhere they wish to send the invitation to the group.
No discussion of Facebook groups would be complete without mentioning Facebook groups are meeting in Facebook Messenger. You can chat on Facebook Messenger with one person or in a group. You can send an unlimited number of messages daily.
Also, Facebook started Messenger Rooms this past spring. You can chat in a group as large as 50 people in these Rooms.
June 2020: Update 1
Since Facebook just started allowing emojis, you can put emojis in your promotional content when you promote your blog posts in Facebook groups.
Look:
According to research, emojis boost engagement. Try putting them in along with your promotional content, and see the results.
Notice what occurred when I chose the emoji with the smiley face and the hearts in the eyes. The emoji filled the screen.
June 2020: Update 2
We Love Blogging is a new Facebook group. Since they are just getting started, their promotion days vary.
As with other Facebook groups, you need to follow the rules. This group has a specific rule unique to other Facebook groups: You must use relevant hashtags with your promotional content.
May 2020:
This spring, Facebook started airing commercials promoting Facebook groups. The most memorable shows a group of kazoo players. The message: If Facebook has a group for kazoo players, it has a group for everyone.
March 2020:
In the event you are reluctant to join Facebook groups due to founder Mark Zuckerberg’s politics, you might rethink your decision.
Zuckerberg’s response to the Coronavirus has been heartwarming. You can read all he’s doing to help in this post about Facebook’s advantages and disadvantages.
Update February 2019:
Despite Facebook losing users due to last year’s data breaches, Facebook profits are soaring according to NBC. My point: I still recommend you join Facebook groups to promote your blog posts.
This post is uniquely different from all I’ve ever shared.
It’s not an article.
It’s not a list of tips.
It’s not a case study.
Today’s post is a list– a list of Facebook groups that allow you to promote your blog posts.
When I posted about a StumbleUpon group I am a member of, everyone thought it was my group.
There was much interest in joining that Facebook group. I know because readers thought it was my group and expressed great interest in joining.
In my article, This is How Facebook Can Always Help You Blog Better, I explained promoting in Facebooks groups is an effective way to grow your blog.
Today, I am posting all my Facebook groups that you can join that will allow you to leave a link and promote your blog posts.
This method is how I’ve grown my blog, and if you follow the strategies in this post, you can grow your blog this way as well.
The Value of Facebook Groups
When asked on Quora why I recommend people use social media groups, I answered with Facebook groups in mind:
“Groups enable you to do the following:
Find like-minded thinkers.
Find like-minded content creators.
Find your tribe. While that may sound cliche, many are sheltering-in-place alone. Finding a tribe in a social media group enables you to feel less alone, less isolated.
Marketing is easier when you have a group to market to. More and more social media sites are delving into the eCommerce world.
Also, Facebook groups have #PromoDays. These groups allow you to market your goods and services without making you feel like a spammer.
When you market on social media, connect to users on social media sites, and then you discover interest they have in your products or services, you can follow up with a direct message.
Groups aren’t going anywhere. In fact, Facebook just started promoting its groups on television commercials” (Source).
Comments from Facebook group members about the value of Facebook groups:
- You get an instant connection to like-minded bloggers. – Jen
- Facebook groups have been a great help to me! Just about everyone wants to help promote others. – Vickie
Consider these comments posted in the Bloggers Mastermind Group:
I am really excited to say that I am officially launching my new lifestyle + design blog on January 2nd! Right now, I’m in the final stages of preparing for the launch, and I wanted to ask, what are your tips to having a really successful launch day, week, and month?
Thanks for any insights you bring.
Here is the answer the blogger was given by a member of the group:
I would get into all the blog promo groups.
Facebook groups have been an enormous asset in growing my blog.
Look at this screenshot:
As you can see, I received 115 page views coming to my blog from Facebook. Look at the three posts that each received over 100 views that day. I promoted all of them in Facebook groups that allow self-promotion.
My experience is not isolated. The Gay Dad blog reports the same success with Facebook groups.
I once tried recommending a blogger for a Facebook group. Here is what I was told:
I can’t add her without her knowledge. I had one before this from someone else, and it was embarrassing when she came into the group and said she didn’t want to be a member. Sorry, Janice, I know you had good intentions, but without her consent, I won’t add her.
Clearly, my days of recommending bloggers for Facebook groups are behind me. Now my readers will have to request joining the groups without my intervention.
You do have to make a request to join. Getting in is easy. I have never been turned down for a group I was trying to enter.
[Note: All I ask is that you right-click and open a new window or tab when you check out these wonderfully supportive groups. If you don’t, my bounce rate is going to plummet.]Facebook Groups that Allow Daily Self-Promotion
These Facebook groups allow self-promotion every day:
- Boost Your Blog (At the time of this writing, Boost Your Blog has over 32,000 members. Use the designated thread to post your promotional content. Note: The thread appears sporadically. Some weeks I see the thread daily, others weekly. For instance, this week I saw the thread on Sunday and Monday. Update: October 2020: If there are still any promotional threads here, they are the exception, not the rule.)
- Instagram and Blog Life (Formerly Blog Life) 17,511+ members.
- Bloggers Promotion 59,000+ members
- For Bloggers by Bloggers
- Stumble and Pin Update: The group changed its name to Boost Your Social when StumbleUpon folded.
- Writing Blogs
- Blog Share UPDATE: Blog Share archived its old content and stopped updating new content in May of 2020.
- Blogging Network (UPDATE: At the time of this writing, Blogging Network has over 17,000 members.)
- Blog Promo Community
- Post Your Website or Blog Here (UPDATE December 2020: Although people post to the group, the promotions seem spammy.
- Bloggers Gonna Blog (UPDATE: This group allows sharing Tuesday, Thursday, and on weekends.)
- Blogging Anarchy November 9, 2020: After many years, this group was archived when no one came forward to be the new group administrator.
- Writer’s Accountability Group
- The Writer’s Door
- Write It, Love It, Share It
- #Link Your Life Connection (UPDATE: The group hasn’t seemed active since the end of 2019. #LinkYourLife Connection morphed into a Discord group.)
- Share Your Website Posts
- Blogger’s Cafe
- Promote Your Posts
- The Women of Midlife Note: Make sure you put your promotional content in the designated daily thread or risk getting expelled from the group.
- Post and Share on Pinterest, Twitter, or Facebook
- Blog Post Sharing Group 10,000 members
- Amplifier (At the time of this update, the group has 4,813 members.)
- Bloggers and Writers Family (At the time of this update, the group has more than 5,000 members.)
UPDATE: Did you note some of these groups were archived after the original publication of this post?
I received a question after the Blog Share group was archived:
Commenter:
“Hi Janice,
Have you ever heard of a group blog on Facebook being archived? I show archive on Blog Share and seen nowhere to post. I have contacted Admin in the meantime waiting for a response.”
Me: “An archived group means it’s no longer taking submissions. They saved the old content and archived it.
The group is closed. I tried going there to promote as well which is how I know.”
Additional Ways to Find Facebook Groups
- You can also go to the Facebook search bar. Type in the name of your niche + groups. Groups in your niche will come up. See if they allow self-promotion. Even if they don’t, you’ll meet like-minded bloggers. Comment on their blogs. If they return the favor, they could become new readers.
- Also, you can also go to the Facebook search bar, type your niche + group plus your location. I’m in a California group and a Southern California group since that’s where I live.
Facebook Group Tips for Moderators
According to the Social Media Marketing Talk Show Podcast, Facebook saw many groups fold since the moderators of Facebook groups felt their groups were too big to manage.
Facebook recently hosted a Facebook Groups Summit and is offering group moderators tools to manage their groups.
There is also talk of Facebook groups holding a Q and A (Question and Answer) session each month.
Testimonials
- Consider this comment from a blogger who discovered this is how I grew my readership:
Your FB method is amazing.
He then proceeded to interview me about my technique of growing my blog.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
Do you target creating content for a certain number of groups or build a labyrinth of groups that are targeted to your niche?
My answer:
- According to David Leonhardt,
The action is in groups. This is true in Google Plus and Linkedin, and on Group Boards on Pinterest. It’s true pretty much everywhere. Facebook has a very robust group culture. Find groups of interest or create a group.
- The Essential Website blog goes as far as to call joining Facebook groups “a craze” and adds this craze has been going on for a long time.
Concerns About Facebook Groups
The tide has turned away from Facebook to such an extent that in recent years, articles offering Facebook group alternatives are on the rise.
There are disadvantages as well as advantages to using Facebook:
- Promoting in Facebook groups can be time-consuming. In addition to posting your blog post link, you should write a short snippet of what your post is about to let other users of the Facebook groups know if your post is an article they’d want to read.
- Also, you shouldn’t just “link drop,” even if there are no rules saying you can’t. The appeal of Facebook groups goes beyond the potential for blog traffic. Facebook’s fun lies in connecting with other bloggers. For example, you can comment on their posts and share their writing on your social media.
The solution: You don’t have to post in all of them. Try promoting your posts in a few and see if they give you enough return on your time invested. Then, you can try others.
Also, if you join and post to the largest Facebook groups, you’ll get a higher return on your time invested (ROI) in promotion.
- Another concern stems from the rules some Facebook groups might have. Be aware of them before you apply to join the group or post there. These groups may have rules you must follow. For example, about half ask you to leave your link in a thread for that day. If you don’t, your post link could be deleted, and you might risk expulsion from the group. The Blogging Anarchy group actually boasts that it has no rules since so many Facebook groups do.
Wrapping Up: Facebook Groups
In closing, I have achieved great results following this method.
Promoting your posts in Facebook groups might be time-consuming, and there might be rules you have to follow. However, the potential for blog traffic is high. When it comes to engagement, Facebook can’t be beaten. You might go in looking for traffic, but, if you don’t just “link drop” and run, you will wind up making friends.
Note: If any of these 18+ Facebook groups have folded since this publication and subsequent updates, please let me know in the comments section, so I can remove them from the list.
Bloggers, what Facebook groups that allow self-promotion can you recommend? I look forward to your links to groups you use for promotion in the comments section.
Facebook Groups: FAQ
How do you find a group on Facebook?
Go to https://www.facebook.com/.
Type in the name of the group as it appears below.
Click Groups.
Click Join.
If the group admin has questions for you to answer, answer them. Your membership will be pending in most cases. In other cases, you’ll be admitted right away.
What are groups on Facebook?
Facebook groups are started by an administrator. The administrator sets the rules and admits the members. Groups may have more than on administrator. The groups are made up of people with a common interest. The interest can be as broad as mid-life or a geographical location or extremely specific.
Can a Facebook page create a group?
The person who set up the Facebook page can start a group. That person is called an admin or an administrator.
How many Facebook groups exist?
Social Media Examiner reported that in 2019, tens of millions of Facebook groups exist. You can join up to 6,000.
Facebook Groups Hack
You can pin your Facebook groups to your shortcuts. They appear on the left of the screen.
This is a timesaving tip. All you need do is click instead of typing the group’s name in the search bar.
Click the 3 dots at the top of the screen under More.
Click Pin to Shortcuts.
More Updates
July 2020:
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg reportedly lost 7 billion dollars when advertisers who normally would pay to advertise on Facebook in July decided to pull their advertising money.
The reason for the grievance against Facebook is being called “Hate for Profit.” Unhappy with Zuckerberg’s response to racist content being left on Facebook, brands such as Coca-cola and Verizon are pulling up stakes.
What does this have to do with Facebook groups? Some people predict this exodus signals the beginning of the end of Facebook. I disagree based on the strength of Facebook groups. As indicated earlier in this article, Facebook groups prove such an asset for Zuckerberg, he now advertises groups on television commercials.
Janice Wald is the founder of MostlyBlogging.com and co-founder of the Mostly Blogging Academy. She is an ebook author, blogger, blogging coach, blogging judge, freelance writer, and speaker. She won the Best Internet Marketer Award and the Best Blogger Award at the 2021 Infinity Blog Awards. Wald was also nominated as 2019 Best Internet Marketer by the Infinity Blog Awards and in 2017 as the Most Informative Blogger by the London Bloggers Bash. She’s been featured on Small Business Trends, the Huffington Post, and Lifehack.
