FB Group Administrator Tips

Armed Women of America will create and set up your private members Armed Women of America Chapter Facebook Group.

The group settings must remain set to “private” so that only members can view the posts. The group will be set to visible to enable members to find so that you can approve them. This makes it easier to add members. You have the option to create and use a public Facebook page (not group) for marketing purposes but please review the guidelines prior to doing so. 

The Basics

  • Adding Group Members – There are two ways to add people to the group. The first is to just add them if they are a Facebook friend. Simply type in their name into the field that says “add member to the group” toward the right side of the page. The second way is to email them the group link. Once they go to the link, they can request to be added which you will need to approve. (So you are not required to “friend” everyone in the group to add them.) It is important that everyone in the group be an official Armed Women of America chapter member.
  • It is also recommended the group settings be edited so that you (and the other admins) must approve new group members and are the only ones allowed to do so. This all should be set up when the group is created.
  • Group Description – Click on the “About” tab to edit the group description 
  • Events – The “Events” tab will allow you to create members-only events for the group to see. If you have a separate Facebook page, you may want to create your events there so that potential new members can see your outing schedule.
  • Photos – This tab is for your chapter photos. Photos of the group shooting outings and chapter members should be kept private in the group and not be shared, unless you get permission from everyone in the photo. Some women may be pursuing firearms training and self-defense due to an abusive ex or a stalker. This isn’t just about privacy, it’s also about the safety of our group members. Creating albums is a nice way to find photos later and allow members to upload their own photos from the event. (Please review all photos to ensure safe gun handling practices are depicted.)
  • Rules ~ These will have been added when your group is set up. You can add to them if needed.  
  • Files – This tab is for uploading documents for the group to see. The first document that you will post is the “Armed Women of America Local Chapter Facebook Group Rules” found under Social Media Resources on the website. You can ask members periodically to read them and post comment that they have read the rules and agree to abide by them. This is also a great place to upload basic safety and self-defense information, shooting drills, etc. for the group to access.

Armed Women of America Local Chapter Facebook Group Rules

It is very important that as the group administrator, that you know the rules inside and out and enforce them. There will be times when group members, knowingly or unknowingly, will violate a rule. It is important that you politely but firmly call the group member’s attention to that particular rule and remind them that they agreed to abide by the rules. Facebook provides a mechanism to do this by going to the post and clicking on the three dots/elipsis menu to the right and selecting “remove post”. It will give you the opportunity to message them about the violation and remove the post. If this doesn’t rectify the situation, you will need to discuss this with them one-on-one offline to explain the importance of the rules. If you allow one member to violate rules, you are hurting the other members by ignoring the problem. A constant rule-violator will need to be removed from the group.

Have Fun! – Your Armed Women of America chapter group should be a safe, fun place for your members to discuss firearms and self-defense related topics. Many of the same fun and interesting pictures, links, videos, etc. that you would share on your private Facebook profile can also be shared and discussed in the group. (See “Facebook Page Marketing Tips” on the Chapter PUBLIC Facebook Pages webpage.)