25 ways you can breathe new life into a dead Facebook page or group

Started a Facebook page or group but can’t get it going? Or is your once thriving community withering away before your eyes? Here are 25 ways to breathe new life into it. 

Building a buzzing, engaged Facebook page or group is a fantastic way to grow a loyal audience of potential customers and spread the word about your business.

But, while it may be easy enough to set up a Facebook page or group, growing and maintaining it requires consistent effort. So no surprise that there are thousands of neglected Facebook pages and groups slowly withering into a lonely death.

25 ways you can breathe new life into a dead Facebook page or group

Maybe you have one or two? (Confession time: we have!) If so, and you’d really love to revive your Facebook page or group but don’t know how, here are 25 ideas to help you breathe new life into it, and grow that buzzing community you dreamed of.

1) Change your cover photo

While you’ll probably want to keep your page logo constant it’s quite acceptable, if not expected, to update your cover photo every so often and keep your page or group looking fresh. Here are some ideas of when/why you might think about changing it:

  • To reflect a seasonal event, such as Christmas or summer.
  • To highlight an offer or promotion.
  • To showcase new products or services.

2) Celebrate your followers

One way to build a loyal community is to recognise and celebrate your followers. Make them feel like valued members of your community, and build connections to your brand. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Asking their opinions.
  • Asking them to share photos of them using your products.
  • Sharing their photos and posts.
  • Mention people individually (and tag them) in posts.

Or you could go one step further, like the page below, and actually choose a ‘cover star’ to appear as your image each month.

3) Ask for opinions and questions

Another great way to make people feel like valued members of your community is to ask for their opinions.

Thinking of creating a new logo? Just redesigned your website? Got an idea for a new product or service? Ask your followers what they think!

Alternatively, you could offer to answer any questions they may have by starting a post or Facebook Live. Encourage people to share their burning questions on your business or your area of expertise and answer them.

4) Allow members to share content

If you want to create a vibrant Facebook group, make sure your settings allow members to post to your group. To check/change your settings, click on Edit Group Settings and scroll down until you see the option below.

5) Share interesting, varied content

If you want people to interact with your Facebook page or group, give them a reason to visit it! And one of the most basic ways you can do this is by sharing a variety of content that is interesting and useful to your followers. Here are some ideas:

  • Share inspiring quotes.
  • Ask questions.
  • Create quizzes.
  • Ask for opinions.
  • Share funny videos or cartoons.
  • Share behind the scenes glimpses.
  • Write personal posts.
  • Share videos.
  • Do Facebook Live videos.

If you aren’t confident in creating Facebook posts that will attract engagement and shares, you can always use a Facebook post maker like Vista Create. This free tool has thousands of customizable templates to choose from, handy editing tools and a library of creative assets to craft engaging content.

6) Revive popular conversations

Some posts or conversations will spark off a healthy debate among followers or members. And one quick and easy way to breathe new life into a quiet page or group, is to find popular old posts and comment on them. When you do, anyone who has liked or commented on the post will receive a notification, and hopefully revisit the post to see what’s been said and rejoin the conversation.

7) Promote popular posts

Another way to get maximum value from your most popular posts is to promote them. Make sure you choose your audience carefully, and select people who are your ideal followers or members.

8) Think like your followers or members

One basic but common mistake behind dead Facebook groups or pages is not getting into the mindset of your followers or members. If your page or group doesn’t give them what they want or meet their needs, why should they engage with it? So think about these questions:

  • Who is my ideal follower or member?
  • What do they want from visiting my page or joining my group?
  • What problem do they want to solve?
  • And how can I solve this differently to other pages or groups?
  • What kind of content or posts will help them solve that problem?

9) Show your appreciation

Make your followers or members feel all warm and fuzzy by letting them know just how much you appreciate them. It’s easy to do – just share a post saying why they’re fantastic. You could even create a visual saying ‘Thank you!’ or tell them that you have the best fans in the world.

10) Identify your superfans

On your Facebook page or group you’ll have people who like your posts or engage every so often. And then you’ll have people who like EVERY post you share, and comment on every thread. These are your superfans and they deserve special attention.

Make sure that you reward your superfans for their loyalty. Mention them specifically in posts and thank them for their engagement. You may even decide to make them a moderator or admin in your group, to help you build momentum among other members.

11) Build a ‘like’ army

One easy trick to help your posts get spotted by Facebook and shown to more fans and followers is to build a ‘like’ army. This is a group of people (family, friends and superfans) you can call on to like or comment on a post as soon as you post it.

This will alert Facebook that it’s a more popular post, and encourage more followers and members to comment or take notice too.

12) Check in regularly

You can’t expect your followers and members to be active on your Facebook page or group if you don’t seem interested in it! So make sure you cheek in regularly and respond to comments and posts.

One way to do this without Facebook distracting you and eating into your time is to book 10 minute slots throughout the day to check in. And if you’re out and about – taking your child to soft play or waiting outside the school gates – use your phone to quickly check in.

13) Hold a competition

Want to get peoples’ attention? Hold a competition. Pick a prize that’s relevant to what you do (you want to attract people who are genuinely interested in what you do, not freebie hunters) and decide on the format for your contest. Ideally you’ll re-engage lapsed fans, and attract new ones. Just make sure you abide by Facebook’s contest rules.

14) Add a Like Box to your website

One reason why your Facebook page or group may be quiet is that some of your biggest fans don’t know it exists! To rectify this, add a Like Box to your website. It will help people who already know about and like your business to find your Facebook page.

15) Promote your Facebook page or group in emails

Another easy way to ensure your customers know you have a Facebook group or page is to email them about it. You can send bespoke emails explaining why they should like or join your page or group. Also make sure that there’s a link in every newsletter you send.

16) Share conversations in newsletters

Has a member of your Facebook group had fantastic result? Or has a customer written a testimonial or review on your Facebook page? If so, share these in your newsletters.

Worried your Facebook page posts aren’t reaching your audience any more? Read eight tips to survive “Facebook apocalypse”

17) Schedule a group or page chat

One way to build interest in your Facebook page or group is to schedule chats. Pick a subject that you know your followers or members will find interesting or useful, and post an update telling them when it will take place. Remember to promote it outside Facebook too – on other social media platforms and in emails and newsletters.

18) Book guest experts

Want to get your own followers and fans excited AND advertise your page to new people? Book guest experts to join you for a Facebook live or Q&A post. You get extra points for booking people with a large, engaged following of the type of people who would also benefit from what you do.

19) Run post-webinar Q&As

Do you hold webinars? If so, create a Q&A thread on your page or group after the event to allow people to ask questions on the webinar topic.

20) Use photos

According to stats, Facebook posts with photos get 120% more engagement than the average post. And photo albums get 180% more engagement. So if you have something to say, illustrate it with a photo or two!

21) Ask for likes, comments or shares

Ever heard the expression: if you don’t ask you don’t get? Well this applies to Facebook too. If you want someone to like, comment or share a post – ask them!

But (and it’s a big BUT) be careful in asking too explicitly or often, as Facebook is reputed to punish pages that ask for likes and shares. You also risk irritating people if you ask them in every post.

Instead, ask more naturally and only occasionally. For example you could say things like:

  • We’d love to know what you think. Please tell us in comments.
  • If you know someone who would benefit from this please feel free to share it.
  • If you like this, please let us know!

22) Keep your posts short and sweet

There’s a lot to be said for saying less on Facebook. Posts under 250 characters are shown to get 60% more engagement than longer ones. And posts with less than 80 characters can get get up to 66% more engagement.

23) Find your perfect posting frequency

This is something that will take some time and trialling to get right, but there will be a perfect number of posts to keep your followers or members happy.

Post too infrequently and you risk them forgetting about you, or not seeing your page or group as a go-to destination. Post too often, and you risk bombarding their timeline with updates, and putting them off.

24) Pick the best times to post

WHEN you post is almost as important as WHAT you post if you want to maximise engagement. Here are some things to consider:

  • What times of the day are your followers or members on Facebook?
  • When are there fewer posts? (Giving yours a greater chance of being seen.)
  • What days of the week are your followers or members on Facebook?
  • What days of the week get the lowest interaction generally?

25) Use Facebook insights

And finally, one way to find out some of the above information and a lot more juicy data is to explore Facebook insights for your Facebook page. You’ll discover when your followers are online, and what type of posts get the most reach, clicks and reactions. So you can do more of what people respond to, and less of what they don’t.

Love more social media tips?

You can read more advice on building your business through social media in these articles: