Rules for creating more business through The Commissioned Society Facebook group. Designed to keep the group valuable, trusted, and referral-driven.
The purpose of the group is to create real conversations, trust, visibility, referrals, and business opportunities. Moderators should always remember that the group is not meant to be a classified ad page or a place for nonstop promotions. Every post should support the bigger goal of making members more known, trusted, and recommended. When the group feels valuable, people are more likely to read, comment, and participate. When people participate, members get more visibility. More visibility creates more trust, and trust creates more business.
The best posts are the ones that get people talking. Moderators should prioritize posts that ask questions, invite opinions, educate members, or create useful discussion. A post that starts a conversation is usually more valuable than a post that simply announces a service. For example, “What should homeowners check before hiring a contractor?” is stronger than “We are available for contractor work.” Conversation-based posts help members show expertise without sounding pushy. These posts also help the Facebook algorithm see the group as active and engaging.
Billboard-style ads are posts that only promote a business without giving value to the group. Examples include “Call now,” “Book today,” “Best prices in town,” “Limited-time offer,” or “Message me for a quote.” These posts usually do not create conversation, and they can make the group feel spammy. If too many of these posts are approved, members may stop paying attention to the group altogether. Moderators should protect the feed from becoming a wall of advertisements. Direct promotion should be limited and used strategically, not constantly.
Moderators should not automatically reject every promotional post if it can be improved. Many sales posts can be rewritten into helpful questions, tips, or educational content. Instead of approving “We install roofs. Call us today,” a moderator could suggest, “What should homeowners check after a heavy storm before calling a roofer?” This still gives the business visibility, but it does it in a way that creates value. The goal is to help members promote themselves without making the group feel like an ad board. A good moderator helps turn selling into conversation.
Members should be encouraged to give value more often than they ask for business. A helpful group keeps people coming back even when they are not ready to buy. If members learn something useful, get a good recommendation, or feel connected to local businesses, they are more likely to trust the group. That trust matters when they eventually need a service. A member who consistently gives helpful advice will usually be remembered before someone who only posts ads. Moderators should reward helpfulness by approving and encouraging valuable posts.
A healthy Facebook group should have more conversation than advertising. A good balance is 70% helpful conversation, education, questions, local advice, and community posts. About 20% can be member spotlights, expert tips, and business introductions. Only about 10% should be direct promotions, offers, or sales-focused calls to action. This balance keeps the group useful while still allowing business opportunities to happen. If the group becomes too promotional, engagement will usually drop.
Moderators should create planned opportunities for members to be seen. This can include weekly member spotlights, ask-the-expert posts, tip-of-the-week posts, referral request threads, and industry discussion questions. Structured visibility is better than letting every business randomly post ads whenever they want. It keeps the group organized, professional, and fair. It also gives members a better chance to stand out in a meaningful way. When visibility is planned, the group feels valuable instead of chaotic.
If the group is connected to a trusted network, direct service promotion should be limited to verified members. This protects the value of the group and helps members know that recommendations are coming from trusted sources. Non-verified businesses may participate in conversations, but they should not use the group for free advertising or lead generation. Without this rule, outside businesses can take advantage of the audience without contributing to the community. Moderators should protect the members who have earned the right to be promoted. This makes the group feel more credible and trustworthy.
When someone asks for a recommendation, that is a business opportunity. Moderators should respond quickly and tag the verified member who fits the request. For example, if someone asks for a roofer, electrician, lender, agent, plumber, or inspector, the moderator should connect them with the appropriate trusted member. This helps the person asking for help and gives the business member a real referral opportunity. Moderators should avoid letting these posts sit without direction. The faster the connection happens, the more useful the group becomes.
No single business or industry should take over the group. Even if a member posts helpful content, too much posting from one person can make the group feel unbalanced. Moderators should make sure visibility is shared across different members and categories. This keeps the group fair and gives more businesses a chance to be seen. It also prevents members from feeling like the group belongs to only a few people. A balanced group creates more long-term participation.
Repeated graphics, flyers, business cards, and copied promotional images should be limited. These types of posts often look like ads, and many people scroll past them without reading. If the same business posts the same graphic every week, it weakens the quality of the group. Moderators should encourage members to post useful captions, questions, tips, or stories instead. A simple helpful post often performs better than a polished flyer. The feed should feel like a conversation, not a stack of digital brochures.
Members should be encouraged to show what they know instead of constantly telling people how great they are. A post that teaches something useful builds more trust than a post that says, “We are the best.” For example, a plumber can share one warning sign of a hidden leak, or a lender can explain one mistake buyers should avoid. This allows the business to demonstrate expertise naturally. People trust professionals who educate them, not just professionals who promote themselves. Moderators should guide members toward content that proves value through helpfulness.
The group should never become a place where businesses attack or insult competitors. Negative business talk makes the group feel unprofessional and can damage trust. Members should not post complaints about other companies, accuse competitors of poor work, or try to make themselves look better by making others look bad. If there is a serious issue, it should be handled privately or through the proper channels. Moderators should keep the group positive, respectful, and professional. A trustworthy group attracts better conversations and better business.
Members should not use the group to complain about clients, post screenshots of private conversations, or shame customers. Even if the member feels they are right, these posts can make the business look unprofessional. People watching the group may wonder if they could be publicly criticized next. That damages trust and can hurt future business. Moderators should remove or decline posts that turn customer issues into public drama. The group should model professionalism at all times.
Posts should connect to the local community, local needs, local homeowners, local business owners, or services that matter to the group. A post is stronger when members can see how it applies to their area or their everyday life. Local events, seasonal reminders, neighborhood updates, home maintenance tips, and trusted service recommendations are all good examples. Posts that are too generic may not create strong engagement. Moderators should ask, “Does this matter to our local audience?” If the answer is no, the post may not belong in the group.
Posts that only drop a link usually do not create much engagement. Moderators should encourage members to explain why the link matters, ask a question, or start a discussion before sending people away from the group. For example, instead of just posting a website link, a member could say, “We put together a checklist for homeowners preparing for storm season. What is one thing you always check before bad weather?” This keeps the conversation inside the group. Facebook groups perform better when members comment and interact. Links can be useful, but they should not replace conversation.
Moderators should not allow exaggerated, unrealistic, or unsupported claims. Examples include fake scarcity, guaranteed results, “best in town” claims without proof, or promises that sound too good to be true. Misleading posts can damage the reputation of the group and the businesses inside it. Members should be encouraged to be clear, honest, and professional. Trust is one of the biggest assets of the group, and misleading claims weaken that trust. If a post feels questionable, moderators should ask the member to revise it.
Moderators should regularly create posts that invite members to comment. These posts should be simple, easy to answer, and connected to the group’s purpose. Good examples include, “What home project are you planning this year?” or “What service do homeowners usually wait too long to call?” Another strong example is, “What is one local business you recommend?” These posts create natural openings for members to share advice, tag businesses, and start referral conversations. Engagement posts should not be random; they should be designed to create visibility and business opportunities.
When someone asks for a service, moderators should help move that person toward the right connection. A hot lead should not be left buried in the comments. The moderator can tag the verified member, encourage the original poster to message them, or comment with a warm introduction. For example, “We have a verified roofing member who can help with that. I’ll tag them here so you two can connect.” This makes the group more useful and increases the chance that business actually happens. Moderators should treat service requests as referral opportunities.
A busy group is not always a profitable group. A group can have a lot of posts and still fail if the content is low quality, spammy, or untrustworthy. Moderators should focus on the type of activity that creates trust, not just the number of posts being approved. The best groups make members feel safe asking questions and confident accepting recommendations. That kind of trust leads to more referrals and better business opportunities. Moderators should always choose quality over noise.
If a post helps, educates, connects, or builds trust, it should usually be approved.
If a post only advertises, it should be rewritten, redirected, or declined.
The goal is not to stop business promotion. The goal is to make business promotion feel natural, helpful, local, and trustworthy.