While Facebook groups have been an important part of the platform since Facebook was just a fun place we visited occasionally. They have recently exploded in popularity as Facebook began to back the communities that the users were creating on their own. While previously, those communities were fairly closed off to advertising, such is the case NO MORE! Not only are Facebook groups getting priority in newsfeeds, but users are joining and engaging in them in record numbers.

They are now even looking at potential revenue opportunities for those who run engaged in these thriving communities. You can already run ads in your Group’s feed with some of their most recent updates, and soon you’ll be able to create entire brand partnership posts within the groups.

The other big addition is the Branded Content tags are now being extended to public groups, allowing admins of a group to create sponsored posts in partnership with or on behalf of advertisers. For businesses and brands who are running groups to build loyalty and hopefully drive sales, this could be a great way to monetize the groups further. If you are a business that is running such a group, you may even need to dedicate at least one team member to group management on a daily basis, especially once the groups pick up steam. This could be a whole new way we advertise and target to users in niche communities.

If you’re able to increase direct revenue from groups, that may help increase the ROI of the group overall, which makes that group more and more valuable to Facebook. The option will only be made available for public groups with over 1,000 members, and groups will need to adhere to Facebook's Monetization Eligibility Standards - which essentially say that you can't break the platform rules and you need to be located in an eligible country.

One thing to be aware of… Users, in general, are wary of ads, so if they see an overwhelming number of sponsored posts, they could lose trust with your brand and your group. Make sure you’re only using this feature sparingly if you do use it, otherwise you might destroy the thriving community you have built and lose the value of your group altogether.