Facebook Mastermind Groups: Why they don’t work

  Facebook is designed as a social media site and its primary purpose is to connect people and share updates, images and thought bubbles. So it achieves it’s purpose and so much more. I doubt anyone would have predicted it’s success nor the amount of time that people spend on the platform. But when you are using it for business purposes and specifically joining Facebook Mastermind groups to get help and advice – are these groups “Masterminds”? There are some amazing groups within Facebook that have extremely high engagement, active participation and multiple answers to posts and questions. People giving their time and resources willingly to help others – but does this constitute a Mastermind? Here are the 12 key components that we believe make Facebook Masterminds Groups unworkable.

Facebook Algorithm

  The Algorithm is the single biggest killer to the concept. Possibly the 1 person who may know the answer to your question didn’t get the feed. Because Facebook only shows a fraction of the posts to the people within a group. So it’s highly likely you will see something that is relevant to you (it’s basically a lottery) Click here for more info on the type of engagement on Facebook

Problem Not Defined well Enough

  Most questions and answers are often basic or generic. There is little depth in 90% of the answers posted. You are defined by the quality of your questions. Most questions in groups lack enough information. Either for you to give an accurate answer or you lack enough information about the person to give them the correct answer. “Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.”  – Tony Robbins

Loose Connection

  There is little or no connection to the other people within the group. You may know their name, like their “profile” and what they look like on social media. But you don’t have a deep enough connection to care enough about them to commit 100% to help them with their problem or follow through with a solution that will work.

Possible Biased/Hidden Agenda

  “A stranger is a friend you have not met yet”. When you are interacting online with someone you have never met before you have to be aware that there could be a bias or hidden agenda. An ex-colleague of mine was setting up a business and wanted advice on which website to choose for an eCommerce store. Every “response” was a sales pitch! No one bothered asking her enough questions about her needs to evaluate if what they were offering was right for her.

No Follow Up/Follow Through  

  A Mastermind is almost a “mind-melt” but all good masterminds have a component of accountability. With almost every Facebook Mastermind group I have ever seen this is completely lacking. There is no-follow up or follow through. Information is posted and then the trail goes cold. People love to see results and how do you know if the information you gave was relevant?

Low Engagement

  Even amongst groups that may have 5000 or even 10,000 members. You can post a question and get either no response or very few comments or suggestions. This makes the response rate to around 0.03%. That’s really low! So when you need help you cannot guarantee an answer.

Poor UI (Scrolling etc)

  Having to scroll down the news feed looking for relevant questions to answers. This is time-consuming and a very inefficient way to manage your time. The randomness of each post and lack of targeting means that you have no way to filter out ANY of the content. This means that everything of Facebook (except the adverts) is random.

Time Vs Effort 

  That 10-15 minutes you spend once a week in 1 group trying to answer questions and engage with strangers is not a very productive use of time. If you are in 5 groups you need to multiply that by 5. Whilst there are a few hacks (alerts etc) you can use it’s still painful to have to always be “scrolling” down.

Lack of Community

  Strangers are not as invested in your success. Outsiders will only care up to the point of your goals matching their self-interest. There isn’t anything wrong with them caring about what they care about. But if you want them to inspire you, help you or support you, then you need to see how your self-interest will align with theirs.

Lack of Accountability

  No consequences. Masterminds are famous for setting goals and holding each other accountable for what you committed to. If you ignore the advice or suggestions offered no one will know. This aspect is lacking in all the Facebook Mastermind groups that I have seen.

 Alerts and Notifications

  The “gamification” by Facebook means that the notifications you receive are designed to tempt you back onto the platform (and spend more time there). Only when you react do you find that you’ve received a “Like”. So you are obliged to constantly check for an answer to your question. You will also receive unrelated notifications, thus decreasing your productivity even further.

No Agenda

  Every successful Mastermind group has some type of agenda or structure to keep it flowing and on track. With Facebook groups this is almost completely lacking. You might get a few specific days of the week allocated to certain promotions, questions or advice. But generally, there is little or no structure within most groups. The next time you are tempted to join a “free” Facebook Mastermind group be aware of the pitfalls. Then decide if this really is the “Mastermind” that you need to solve all your business questions. Otherwise, think about starting a Mastermind group yourself.