Social media groups become more and more important in the digital marketing landscape. Facebook groups, in particular, are gaining lots of traction. There are a few simple explanations for this. For one, people who join a group want to interact with other users who share a common interest. For another, groups have a high degree of privacy: new members have to be allowed to join by a group admin and the posts shared within the group are not publicly visible to other Facebook users.
In this context, brands started creating various groups attached to their Facebook pages. But soon they hit a major roadblock: they don’t have the manpower to moderate all these groups properly. Only major brands have the necessary staff to do it. Smaller companies need to rely on a few people to manage their Facebook page and groups, together with other social media marketing activities. To help them out, the Facebook Team created a new tool for groups: Suggested Moderator.
What Is the Suggested Moderator Tool and How Does It Work?
The new function available for groups will suggest to group administrators the most active members as potential moderators. According to Facebook, these suggestions include people who “frequently contribute and engage with members of the group”.
The group members selected by the Suggested Moderator tool are ranked by the number of posts and comments. The number of posts is the leading ranking criterion. Thus, looking over the list, group administrators can select one or several users from the list and send them invites to become group moderators.
An Effective Way to Manage Fast Growing Facebook Groups
As soon as the group member accepts the invite, they obtain moderation rights. Thus, they have the ability to:
- Approve or deny membership requests
- Approve or deny posts made by group members
- Remove posts and comments
- Remove and block group members
- Pin or unpin posts at the top of the group feed.
However, moderators cannot add or remove group administrators or moderators, change the name of the group or delete the group. These actions remain the prerogative of administrators.
Why Should You Use the Suggested Moderator Tools?
The obvious benefit of this new tool for Facebook group is that you no longer have to spend time or assign a team member to moderate your group. Moderation is important because a lot of trolls try to gain access to group simply to spread negative attitudes, fake news and hate speech. Some of your competitors may infiltrate your groups and start promoting their own products and services to your group members. An unattended group soon starts losing members who notice that their reports go unanswered and they no longer want to be subject to abuse by other members.
But that is not all. By appointing active group members as moderators, you give them the highest credit you can on Facebook. The invite to moderate is an acknowledgment that you appreciate their activity in the group and trust their judgment to keep the group a safe and engaging place for all members. Your new moderators have a huge potential to become valuable brand ambassadors for your business.
How to Access the Suggested Moderator Tool
Last but not least, let us show you how to access this useful new tool for Facebook group. Please note that it is still rolling out, so if you do not find it after following the steps, do not panic. It will soon be available for your group or groups.
Thus, to access the Suggested Moderator tool you have to:
- Go to the Admin Tools section of the group
- Find the section named “Insights from the last 28 days” and swipe to the left on your mobile screen
- Find the section containing the number of suggested moderators and tap on it
- Browse the list and select the members you want to invite to become moderators.
If you change your mind, you can use the “Remove Moderator” function to cancel the invite. And if the group member already accepted the invite, you can go to the Membership section of the group to remove them as moderator.
At the present, this feature is only available for Android and iOS mobile operating systems. However, if it becomes popular, it will undoubtedly become available for the desktop version of Facebook, as well.