How to Decide Between Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages

63 Comments / Guest Posts, Social Media / By /

Many bloggers ask me which should they create, a Facebook page or Facebook groups, so in today's post I will discuss the best choice for you as a blogger.

So, how do you decide as a blogger whether you need a Facebook group or a Facebook fan page? Although at first glance they appear to be similar to one another, fan pages and groups contain some key differences that you need to keep in mind when you are setting them up.

Who Needs Facebook Groups?

Facebook groups offer a great opportunity to everyone who wants to create online communities. You might want to have a place for your class mates to hangout or to share homework and other stuff together. Or perhaps you're a teacher who wants the students to share their homework online. If you have a sports team, Facebook groups can help you a lot to keep your team members notified about the upcoming games by creating Facebook events.

If you are interested in a specific topic you may also create a Facebook group for it so you can discuss the topic with other Facebook users. The abilities that Facebook has put into groups are awesome as you can even have a group chat with your mates, and the group email notifications make it easier for everyone to know what's happening in your area of interest.

Who Needs Facebook Page?

However, Facebook pages provide a rich set of features that are not available on Facebook groups. Fan pages allow the same type of interaction as groups but with many more options for customization and personalization. Just like Facebook groups, a Facebook page has a wall, but with many added features, such as Facebook applications. And because of the flexibility of using iframes, fan pages can be customized to look similar to a website.

Fan pages are often devoted to a popular musicians, sports stars, actor/actress, or politicians, brands, marketers, realtors, magazines and writers – and of course bloggers.

Still Haven't Decided between Facebook Groups or Pages?

I created a table with the common features that compares those features that only available to Facebook groups vs. Pages. This will help you decide the best option for you 😀

Conclusion

If you’re looking to create a Facebook presence for yourself or for your blog, you may want to create a Facebook page instead. A group that is for internal use is probably fine, but if you’re interested in having visitors that become fans of your blog then creating a Facebook page is the preferred solution.

63 thoughts on “How to Decide Between Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages”

  1. Ryan Biddulph

    Hi Faissal,

    Groups seem to cultivate more of a community while pages focus more on 1 individual. Both are powerful interactive mediums.

    Pages offer you more bells and whistles. Direct someone to a squeeze page, along with a few more helpful and engaging, relationship-building apps. A definitely plus.

    Groups are more of a pure community. A group really isn’t centered around 1 person; the idea is to focus your group on 1 theme, like network marketing or MLM. Everybody contributes, helping you gain a stronger sense of community.

    I run both. My group is all about everybody sharing their top shelf content, and although my page allows you to post your content, it’s focused more on my posts, and posts that I view as being helpful to my fans.

    Thanks for sharing your insight Faissal.

    RB

  2. Vimal Dwivedi

    I have a Facebook Page for my Blog and it really going well even though I have created several groups for my friend like my college ,school friends and my bloggers friends ,
    the group of bloggers share there recent links so we can review and leave our thoughts about that topic…
    The Facebook always provides some cool things for every users ..
    I also like creating events but what you think creating an event from page is a good idea ?

  3. Henry James

    Facebook are changing their API features for pages and apps and i am sure they also changing something to make and reliable for users.

  4. Raj

    I find FB Pages difficult to deal with, when compared to G+ pages. G+ pages are very elegant and easy to use. Unfortunately, most of the readers use only FB!

    1. Faissal Alhaithami

      yeah i agree with you, but facebook pages always have more to give to you as an owner than G+ pages.

      thanks for the comment, Raj.

  6. Manuel Marino

    Fan pages are very hard to manage, and if you are so popular to see them skyrocketing to the stars, then you don’t need fan pages anymore.

    Groups are more important, I think, also because you create an interaction with your friends.

    I see that you use CommentLuv plugin, if you have time to surf, there are new CommentLuv enabled sites: (link removed) but you can use this one to search for CommentLuv Sites instead.

  7. Adeline Yuboco

    This is a very helpful resource material not just for bloggers, but anyone who is looking for some way to create a buzz. The chart you provided makes it really easy to decide which one is the best option. Thanks for sharing this, Faissal!

  8. Thomas

    Hello, i was about to create a facebook group or facebook page but still hesitating wich one to choose. I will definitly goes with a page. As you say you can make your own customization and no chatting feature is a good point too. Thanks for this article.

  9. Leora Wenger

    So it seems like the advantage of the groups would be chatting and messaging? I am often recommending FB pages for my clients, but I could see if people want certain kinds of online discussion, groups would be preferable. Since my clients need publicizing, pages are almost always the way to go.

    Thanks for the clarification.

  10. vincent

    It looks like a Facebook Page is something that is definitely better, and especially for blogs and websites, you would want to keep discussions in the blog comments rather than on Facebook so the Page is better.

  11. Ferb

    I choose Facebook fans page with all the experienced Facebooking with Friends.

    Compare Google Plus and Facebook Page, they are the same and easy to use. Regardless, Facebook page or group and Google+ are a social networking place where we can interact with readers. Beside, I find that working on our own blog is more than other any social media.

  12. Kevin Martin

    Thank you for explaining the differences between FB Pages and FB Groups. This is something that has been on my mind for quite some time now. Your post really cleared this up for me.

  13. Caleb

    The visitor stats along with the status updates appearing in users walls makes pages the clear winner unless your objective has no commercial or business earning merit to it. I just always looked at Groups as something dedicated for an important cause or nonprofit organization.

  14. Ling

    FB group’s discussion isn’t as manageable as forum sites out there. But I agree that an FB group works best for a community instead of an individual.

  15. Jim

    Thanks for the article. I have to say that a facebook page is really the way to go. The only glitch is with sending emails to followers, which can be done only with groups.
    Thanks
    Jim

  16. Recruitment Agency Cairns

    Ciao Faissal & Ileane!

    Also another thing that may be interesting:
    When we were doing a company Facebook check on all of our profile names etc. we found out we had:
    Ok, a fanpage of course which is great, because we wanted one, but then also a group, a Facebook location page, another page, all these things looked pretty much like chaos.

    So my advise to prevent this, make sure you check your overall activities on Facebook to prevent chaos :). Have a good day.

  17. achat d'or

    Facebook has been always confusing for me, not as clean as Twitter, Linkedin or other networks. SO thanks for this post, it is really clarifying.

  18. Bhupendra Sharma

    Hi Faissal,
    Thanks for showing difference b/w Facebook group and pages.After reading article , I choose Facebook fans page because it have more options for every blogger.

    1. Faissal Alhaithami

      Yep! pages are way better than groups for us as bloggers.
      Thanks for stopping by ;D

  19. Marcie

    Thank you for laying this out like this. I was wondering if I should create a group, but after reviewing the features, I’m going to stick with my current option.

  20. Signature Staff Blog

    I thank you Faissal!

    Totally agree, concentrate on one thing & then make it good, hey.
    Just had email exchange with Ileane, she rocks!

    PS
    It seems like our RSS Feed is currently broken?

  21. Ming Jong Tey

    Faissal,

    I always think of FB page for marketing purpose and FB group for community purpose, i.e. keep in touch with classmates, etc…As you mentioned, there are so many cool features on FB page comparing to group, so I will highly recommend FB page 🙂

    Cheers,
    Ming

  22. Drewry

    to be honest, I’d rather stick with Facebook pages, because with Facebook pages, you can use your RSS applications to auto post content to your Facebook fan page wall. With Facebook groups, I’ve never experimented with it, and very unfamiliar. Just adding my humble two cents 🙂

  23. David

    I think using Facebook Page is like building a community ’cause you can also do the same like hangout or to share homework and talking about your website. The only difference is the name but actually you can do the same thing.

  24. Drewry

    hello Ms. Ileane,

    Would you happen to know by chance if third-party RSS applications are able to be used, by automatically posting content to [Facebook groups]? I ask, because I’ve never ventured out into experimenting with “Facebook groups”. I have much experience with “Facebook fan pages”, and I know third-party RSS applications are able to be used there. I still don’t understand the difference between [Facebook fan pages], and Facebook groups. When you get a moment, can you please inform me? 🙂

    Cheers!

    1. Ileane

      Hi Drewry, no you can’t use apps with Facebook Groups. That is one of the down sides that Faissal is pointing out in this post. 🙂

      1. Drewry

        Ms. Ileane,

        thank you so much for replying to my blog comment. I’m glad I’d never explored using [Facebook groups], because I’ve discovered that using “Facebook fan pages” was simpler to use, and also gave the peace of mind, when it came to [using third-party RSS applications for syndicating content to the Facebook fan page wall].

        Happy 2012 🙂

  25. Mohammad Shadab

    Hi Faissal,
    As our information, as of September 30th 2011, you’ll no longer be able to send an update to fans using Facebook Messages for your Facebook pages but you have checked mark in the table under Facebook page.

    Best Regards!
    Mohammad Shadab

    1. Faissal Alhaithami

      Yes they removed it, I just knew about that from you..! Thanks for noticing me, I will update the table 😀

      Thanks a lot for stopping by 🙂

  26. Affiliate Review

    I think FanPage is better than Facebook because the fanpage no limit the number of fan follow you. If you have a large of fan you can make may affiliate program

  27. Kimberly Gauthier, Adventures in Blogging

    I chose a page and after reading this post, I’m so glad that I did. I love the ease of managing a Facebook page; but I do enjoy belonging to a Group when it’s for an online class/workshop and I love the local groups I belong to – it’s great to keep up with my dog park friends.

  29. loanco

    I always think of FB page for marketing purpose and FB group for community purpose, i.e. keep in touch with classmates, etc…As you mentioned, there are so many cool features on FB page comparing to group, so I will highly recommend FB page

  30. Jeevanjacobjohn

    Hey Faissal,

    I was also a little confused about FB pages vs FB groups. But you helped me cleared them up through this post.

    I use groups for my school friends (to keep up with old friends and find anyone that I have not connected in a long time :D). As far I understand, Pages are useful for businesses and others to build their brand and use Facebook to get more traffic to their blog/site.

    Thanks for the awesome post,

    Jeevan Jacob John

    Note: By the way, I have read your eBook, it is a great resource to anyone who wants to succeed via Facebook. Thanks for the eBook too!

  31. Drewry

    I’m seeing on certain websites stories of people would have drastically increased their Facebook fans. I’m carious to know how they able to drastically increase their Facebook fan count. Does anyone know? 🙂

  32. Andre Such

    Nice, its good to know that I made the correct choice a year ago!
    I have a facebook page for my company and I think it is working fine!

  33. Hajra

    Hey Faissal,

    You are all about FB aren’t you! And I am guessing, Mr. Z might come to your for tips some day! 🙂

    I liked the table you have here; though the post was explanatory; the table made it so much more easier! For my personal blog, a page has worked better than groups. I am a part of some groups but I feel some groups don’t really have an aim that makes it actually understandable. Many groups just have a “come, share your link” policy and it just ends up giving you a million links and then no one actually checks out those links specifically. I think groups with motives work better somehow!

    Thanks for this Faissal!

  34. social commerce

    I am a part of many groups but i feel some groups don,t really have an aim that make it actually understanding.Many bloggers ask me which should they create face book page or face book groups .

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