How To Host A Facebook Group

(00:01):

Hello everybody!

It's Jen Kilbourne Obermeier and welcome to our live chat.

I am thrilled to see you guys tonight.

We had a topic that has been requested definitely more than one time, but most recently by Melissa Frazier, who's in Australia.

She has requested to talk about Facebook groups, specifically a free Facebook group as a way to market your business online or nurture future potential clients.

Hello, Suzanne. I'm so glad that you're there.

In addition to this Facebook group content, which I am excited to share today, because I can tell you the good and bad and ugly about it all in case you have not noticed on my Facebook page, you can go into my playlists for the videos. I have videos divided up into different topics and in one section I have one that's just tips and tutorials.

(01:01):

There I have been sharing, not live videos like this one, but little screen shares so far, which actually are all about Facebook tricks.

In case you missed it, that is there.

If you do have a question, I have at least three or four other ideas for a little things that I can record for you guys to show you on Facebook, I am always here for that content.

It looks Facebook is just a popular general topic, because I do believe that no matter what you're doing online with your business at you can't really avoid doing something with Facebook or utilizing it in some way.

The very bare minimum, you're going to need to have a Facebook page for your business.

(01:45):

I posted a tutorial just yesterday, which is just the basic setup of a brand new Facebook page for business and how to make sure that you're enabling the corresponding ads account that goes with it.

I have some other tips in tutorials in there about different things on Facebook, but if you like that kind of thing, please let me know and I will make more of it.

Today I want to talk about Facebook groups, if you have followed my story at all about the, actually, if you have followed my story from the very beginning my very first business that I ran myself Facebook definitely played a huge role in it.

Even though, back then, I wasn't really super active on social media.

I definitely didn't have a Facebook group.

I don't think that was even a thing then, but I got my very first high paying in-person clients through Facebook ads.

(02:36):

I really treasure, unfortunately for all the things about Facebook that are on the negative side, there have been so many positives as well.

Going back to the part of my online business journey that is relevant when I started Pro Organizer Studio back in 2016, I did create a free Facebook group in order to accomplish a couple of things.

We're just going to jump right in because I want to share the things that were great, the things that were not great and what I would do differently today, if I were going to be starting a Facebook group in order to promote my business.

Now this conversation today definitely does not have anything to do with a Facebook group that you run for paying students, paying members, or paying clients of some kind.

I feel completely differently about Facebook groups for that purpose.

(03:28):

That's more of your community where everybody can come together, who is enrolled in your course, or is part of your membership maybe or maybe you just have a private client group.

Just keep in mind that all of this today has to do with starting or running a free Facebook group.

Some just things just to be aware with that.

I just want to recap my personal experience with this.

If I had not had a Facebook group for Pro Organizer Studio for my business, I don't know that I would have gotten to where I was so quickly.

I absolutely don't regret it - I regret nothing.

It was very worth it.

However that group was open from October of 2016 until May of 2018.

(04:21):

It has been closed for almost two years and I also don't regret closing it.

I'm going to tell you why.

We did start a podcast, when I launched our podcast, which was just about a year ago, almost exactly a year ago.

We're about to have our very first birthday anniversary.

Our podcast does have a free "podcast insiders" group, and I don't promote it the same way that I promoted my original free group.

I want to maybe talk about the differences between those two and how to avoid some of the pitfalls that came along with how I originally did it.

If you have followed my story or if you haven't, here's the recap:

I did not want to be visible online in public.

I still don't, but here I am.

(05:09):

I didn't want my friends and family to know what I was doing with Pro Organizer Studio or with my business.

Hey, Amy. Hey Sean. I'm so excited that you guys are here live!

I didn't want to share that with the world.

I didn't want... I was side hustling. I had my business.

I was hey Melissa, hey Allison. I see both my Australia girls there!

I had clients for my organizing business.

I was working a day job.

I was doing other side hustles on top of side hustles.

Then I decided to start this new online business, which again, that was my very first time ever going in that direction.

And, so to be quite honest, starting a Facebook group, instead of doing a Facebook page, what I'm doing now, that was the only way that I was going to be doing a video on the Internet <laugh>.

(06:03):

I would, instead of doing videos on a page I'm doing right now, I did all of my original live video content inside that Facebook group.

You had to request to be a member in order to access that.

Now that's a key part.

If you're going to be starting some type of free group, there has to be some attraction factor for what you are offering, those leads or those audience members that is separate and different and highlighted apart from your normal free content on your Facebook page or your blog or whatever.

So that was the thing was I had all this, I was doing live videos every single Tuesday at 9:00 PM Eastern.

It was on a very set schedule.

That was originally, that was how I, oh, my Aunt Mary is there.

(06:51):

Thank you so much.

That was how I originally started doing my video Content Snowball.

I've shared that exact strategy with you in a past video.

If you haven't seen that yet, go see it.

That's in my playlist called "best of" because... that's the one I keep referring to.

It's one of the ones I keep referring to.

When I was talking about that video Content Snowball strategy, I was doing that inside of Facebook group because I didn't want the whole world to come and watch.

I didn't want, I (even my he's my husband now, but he was my boyfriend then) even HE didn't even know about it.

Well I didn't even tell him about it until I was six weeks in.

He had no idea what I was doing on Tuesdays at 9:00 PM.

(07:30):

That was just, I like to keep things under wraps, low key until things are going, you know?

One of the pros is that if you're going to really launch some video content or get serious, but you're nervous right now about being visible in public or just where your friends and family can stumble across it, this is definitely something to just to think about is doing inside of free group.

What I did was I did all my content inside that free group.

Again, when I first started doing live videos, I was talking to nobody - my very first one, there was nobody there.

Actually I did have one friend there who was helping me behind the scenes.

(08:11):

The next time I did it, there were four people maybe <laugh>, so we're talking about talking to crickets, but that was my only way that I could really get comfortable with the whole thing.

Creating the video content inside Facebook, downloading it from Facebook and uploading it onto YouTube.

Now on YouTube, I wasn't as scared about my friends and family seeing it, because they would really have to search and know that it was there.

I was doing all of this on my own, but I was uploading my video content from the Facebook Live and making it very keyword heavy so that people who were looking for content about starting an organizing business could find it there.

Then the call to action on YouTube on all the videos was: if you enjoyed this, I'm doing this live every Tuesday at 9:00 PM Eastern, so come and join the group so you can actually participate and engage again, just like you guys are doing here.

(09:04):

You guys are so funny.

I see your comments there.

So if you, from square one, even if you're not planning on keeping this Facebook group forever, it might just be a way for you to really get comfortable with a smaller intimate group of people and people who specifically want to be there and who see the value in coming and learning from you, whatever the topic is.

That is how that is how the thing grew and the thing I did, I did advertise it or whatever on my website at the time as one of the few things that was on the homepage.

Hey, you know, join in at 9:00 PM Eastern - I'm doing live chats all about business content inside my Facebook group.

(09:55):

I was driving people that way.

So people came from YouTube.

People came from my website.

I was doing a little bit of promotion on Pinterest at that time where I was just posting pins that were about organizing business, that were driving them to my website and driving them to my group.

That was how the thing initially started and got rolling.

Again, there'd be 30 people and then 300 people.

Then I was, ahhh - this is, this was, it felt like too much.

Well, what happened after a certain amount of time is that Facebook itself started to promote the group for me.

This is really critical if you are thinking about wanting to grow a bigger free group so that you have the opportunity to be a little bit more intimate and of course have something that you're promoting or selling - we'll get to this in a minute, having an ultimate goal for the group, not just to have a free group, just have a free group.

(10:48):

You want to position yourself, I mean, you're naturally the leader since you started it, but you want to position yourself as an expert and have some way for people to work with you in order to get their results faster, easier, what have you.

Facebook started to promote the group for me.

Atthis point, the group and you guys have probably experienced this even today, when you're inside a Facebook group you will see other groups that are related and Facebook is really pushing or has had a major initiative to push groups and communities for several years now, I mean, it's, something that Mark Zuckerberg has said, this is a major push for Facebook is to pull people into communities and not just make it very disjointed.

If you guys have heard me talk about how effective doing videos on Facebook are in the first place, and then combine that with how much Facebook will naturally promote your group for you.

Once it gets to a certain size, you can see why combining those two strategies makes the best of both worlds.

(11:52):

To be honest with you, if I was starting a business again today, I probably would still consider doing it.

Here are the mistakes that I made and I'm still going to come back and talk about some of the pros, but I'm going to go back and forth between the do's and the don'ts.

Let me take, let me hydrate. I have coconut water.

Here is something that I would change if I was, if I was starting this over again today what started to happen with this free group is while there obviously, it started very intimate and I knew everybody's names and I knew everybody's businesses...

I got to know people very well.

What started to happen is it started to become a free hotline: people expecting, "hey, I have this *emergency situation*, Jen."

(12:44):

How about you give me your advice or coach me for free, that kind of thing.

I, and I did to some extent, but the problem is that it became a little bit of a free for all where not only, I mean, I had the opportunity obviously to answer questions, but other people would just come in and say, well, no, that's not right.

"I would do it this other way."

They, again, you have to set the territory and create the rules and boundaries around this group. It became harder and harder to manage the bigger that it got.

So, unfortunately, as excited as I was that it finally, it reached 2000 people and then it was about 2,500 people when I decided to close it.

Because I had really mismanaged the rules and boundaries from the beginning, which again, sad to say, but I don't really, I don't regret the experience at all.

(13:32):

Today, what is different today?

I do have this implemented for our podcast insiders group is today, if you are creating a group, you can select a setting where only again, and you have to think about whether this is right for you or not.

You can select a setting where only admins can post in the group.

That means that you're the only one who can post a new post and then people can still comment and discuss below it and, have community and add value that way.

But people can't just post their own thing.

Then you have other people come in and promote something else.

I mean, it becomes - you really have to create that structure so that when people do come into your group, they expect - hey, I found this from her YouTube channel or I've been reading her blog.

(14:21):

I came here for her opinion.

I didn't come here to have random affiliate links thrown at me or other people's random offers just to confuse the whole thing.

I definitely believe now in taking ownership and really claiming, hey, again, if they don't like it, they can go start their own.

But if they're going to be in your group, here are the rules and here's the structure.

That's one thing that I would change.

Now, let me go back to a huge pro and then this again is the reason why I probably still would do it if I was starting over again today.

Oh, Melissa has a thought, Melissa said I'm tossing up whether or not to even start a group for my baby boomer climate client clients, because fewer of them are on Facebook than on email.

Good question, Melissa.

(15:10):

What have you thought, or have you asked them just, hey, if I had a Facebook group where you could get X, Y, and Z, where you tell them what the benefit is, ask them, would you come on a Facebook to be a part of that?

I mean, you'd be surprised sometimes - people will definitely join Facebook just to get a free bonus of some kind.

Just some thoughts to think about there.

I mean, don't assume too much, I think there's something to be said for people getting to hang out with other people that have something in common or have a common goal.

There's a camaraderie about that, that can be nice.

Especially if you're offering, hey, I'm doing a free series or a free challenge or something.

(15:57):

It only happens inside the group.

It gives them that incentive to say, oh, I don't get on Facebook as much, but maybe I will now.

Think about that and just poll them a little bit, Melissa.

I think that might be helpful.

Suzanne said, she's going to change that setting.

She said, she's had some input from a member.

I don't know if that's good or bad, so, let me go back to one of the big pros, and this is something that I think a lot of people don't think about to this day: I feel that I know my audience.

Again, we've talked about, my online business is a very - I'm in a very small, very specific, very small niche.

I mean, comparatively speaking, the world of professional organizers is only so big.

(16:40):

When I was interacting with all of those members, I mean, not just at the very beginning, but throughout the entire time, not only so that, Jane said she totally rejoined Facebook just so she could be a part of my course community, which, I said, at the beginning how I feel about paid student communities, being a part of one or leading one is totally different than how I feel about free Facebook groups.

That's really amazing. Thank you, Jane.

While when I was interacting with my early members and I'm telling you, maybe it's just because I'm a very, I have a really good memory for names and phases and businesses and stories.

If you have ever sent me an email about your personal story, I guarantee you, I remember it.

(17:27):

If you were ever on one of my live videos right now, or even earlier on in my business, if you interacted with me, I really, really tried to remember that and follow up and always say, let me know how things go.

I wish you the best of luck.

So definitely the first, 50 or a hundred people, I feel I knew them really well, but even as it grew and I couldn't know everybody, what I feel I got was the most intensive, real time market research that you can possibly get about your audience - and people, when you start researching about doing an online business or launching a course or being a coach or whatever, they will always tell you have to get to know your audience really well.

(18:14):

You have to understand where they're coming from, what is their why, what is it that is their biggest problem, pain point that you can help them solve.

And I basically got that every single day and in their words and to the point where sometimes, I mean, I would save some posts just because of course they were happy.

"Yay, Jen, you're awesome." t's almost testimonials or reviews for just even my free videos.

Then later when people were members of my program, they would still come back and post in the free group, which was awesome.

Obviously.

Didn't tell them they had to do that or ask them to do that.

But when they did that, it obviously helped my business a lot. I would save all those posts, but I would also sometimes save posts that were just, hey, here's a question or here's a topic that comes up all the time.

(19:00):

Now just I've been telling you guys once you see the questions or the comments that come up all the time now, say okay, I need to make a video about this.

This can be part of my next video content.

Or, I would start to notice certain characteristics of my audience, even though for example, they were in diverse places in life, different ages, different stages of life, different, backgrounds professionally.

But I could start to tell here are the three or four or five main types of people that are joining my group.

I know exactly who they are.

I mean, I know exactly who that general ideal person is or tends to be.

I know what their - what's the word, I know what their motivations are.

(19:45):

I know what they're struggling with.

Even though my business is very niche, I know, within that niche who are the general types of people, types, so to speak that 1.) one are attracted to my content and 2.) two that actually take action and 3.)  are they a good fit for my program?

Do they need more, do they need just more time?

How can I help support them until they become a student hopefully in my community?

That's something to really think about too, is to implement it.

Not because necessarily you want to sell them something immediately, which yes, you do have that opportunity, but you also have more of an opportunity to get to know people on a very intimate level.

Then later down the road, I feel to this day still, I know my audience and I think, or I hope that comes across really well because I have actually taken the time to see the patterns, and  I've read the responses.

(20:46):

Nothing would happen in that group that I didn't read - not that I responded to everything, but I would read everything and I would see what are the things that people ask about all the time?

Well, I'm going to make a blog post about it, make a video about it, make sure that that's in my course of my program.

Suzanne has a question.

She said, did you invite people to join?

Let me, let me talk about a few different ways of how you're getting people into this group.

(21:13):

So, as I mentioned, I would always talk about it in the YouTube video or, I mean, in the YouTube videos, because they were created in the Facebook group, it's hey I'm live in the group.

That was what it was called.

And if you want to join in on the next one, make sure, hey, if you're watching this replay on YouTube, come join in on the next one and you can get to it here.

I was always sending them through that link.

Melissa said she has a love, hate relationship with Facebook, and I REALLY relate to that.

Trust me.

So I was inviting people that way, and I would say too that sometimes when people sign up for my email list after a certain point they were getting on it because they found me through Pinterest and not through YouTube.

(21:59):

YouTube and Pinterest are my main traffic sources.

If they weren't finding me through YouTube, there was sometimes getting on my email list through Pinterest and signing up for my auto responder free course, the email course.

And I would say a few times maybe within that email, that free email series, I would say, hey, by the way, if you didn't know, I have a free Facebook group so that you can chat and learn more from me, for free.

I can't remember exactly how I said it.

I'd invite people that way.

Here's something I would really, NOT recommend doing, do not add people to a group that have not asked to be added to a group <laugh> it just, it reflects badly on you as a leader.

(22:41):

But for example, you guys have probably all experienced this, where somebody on your friends list, whom you barely even know has now added you without your permission to join a Facebook group.

I have never done that in my life and I would never, and I would be very upset if people were doing that.

Just again, because it's a shady thing.

Why do that, you have to make a group that people want to be in.

If people don't want to be in it, why would you want to fill up a group of people who just happen to be your friends or whatever?

It is also extremely shady and unethical to go around friending people in other business groups and then invite them or add them into your own group without their consent.

(23:28):

No, of course they can still decline and say, oh, no, thank you. I'm good.

But that is not really the best way to build a group of people who are really going to respect and love what you offer and trust in your business practices and character and all that stuff.

Yes, that is something I do not, I do not recommend, I mean, again, because remember once you have built up enough of a genuine audience and following, Facebook will start to promote your group too.

People to other groups that have members that are similar as yours, remember Facebook knows everything.

Let them do their thing.

They have an algorithm.

Also when you're creating a Facebook group, you have the opportunity to put in a tag or a description of what the group is about.

So I probably for that group put professional organizing yeah, professional organizing business.

I'm not sure what my tag options were, but that way, if there were other groups that also had a professional organizer tag or had something to do with the home services industry that my group would like, I guess, or hopefully have been shown.


(24:45):

Suzanne said, now she's closing that group and starting a new one.

Is it something I said, I mean, don't worry!

You don't have to - yes, you can start over, especially if you started a group and you didn't really have a plan for it.

It can easily become silent, which is not what you want.

You want people to be engaged and be interested.

Again, I know I'm always talking about video.

You don't have to do video if you don't want to, but posting regularly from you on your part where you're not just selling, but you're teaching, you're sharing, you're giving resources and then having, several times a week, some call to action.

If you want to learn more, you can book a free consult or if you want to take this work further, I have a free mini course about it and you're driving them off of Facebook onto your sales page.

This is a great question Amy has - she said and by the way, if you guys have other questions, just, hit me with them.

I'll make sure I come back.

Amy said, speaking of taboo things, this may be off topic, but how do you feel about asking to join a local mother's Facebook group?

As a business, in order to sell my service, if I am not a mother? What I would do, Amy...

(26:01):

Amy, if you're going to do that, I think what I would do is I would join the group, but not start posting.

I think I would start commenting on other people's posts for a while.

And not selling, but just engaging with the group.

And because even though you're not a mom, you have some tips or tricks or things that are very relevant to moms, because for example, every mom probably struggles in certain areas with systems and organization and that thing.

That's something that, again, you don't have to create your own post to show how much you can compliment other people on what they're doing or be the one who jumps in, when somebody says, hey, I'm looking for a service for X, Y, or Z.

(26:51):

You can jump in and say, oh, I love so.

So, you can be somebody who's just giving value and engaging as a good member of the group without going straight to, oh, by the way, here's what I do.

I think that you can create that interest or that trust factor just by engaging with people authentically, don't go in and then start friending the people and then start direct messaging them.

That's I think seen as very aggressive and icky because then again, people when people join a group, they do not want to be marketed to by the other members of the group.

They did not come in there for that.

It makes you look bad.

I mean, I'm not saying you're doing this, but I'm just saying it would make you look bad to the leader of the group, because eventually they will hear about it.

(27:41):

It'll make you not have a good reputation with those members of the community that you obviously want to have.

I have actually heard amazing things about posting in local groups for all kinds of businesses, not just for professional organizers.

I definitely think it can be worth your time because the other great thing is that say, for example, there, you have a client who is one of the moms and she is in one of the groups.

If she shares, hey, here's this amazing before and after that Amy did - and she tags you and your business...

You can jump in and say, oh my gosh, I loved working with you.

If anybody else has questions, feel free to message me - that could be a little bit more authentic and real then you going in and posting yourself about, hey here's our offer.

(28:26):

Because yeah, you're right.

I mean a lot of Facebook groups have very strict very strict rules about promotion for that exact reason.

And it's the same thing I said, I really had to crack down on that in my free group.

I also have to crack down on that even in my paid student group because people naturally want to share things.

But it sometimes can be a little overly promotional and it's, if you let one person post an affiliate link, and you have to let everybody, it becomes a mess, it's you got to take control of the situation.

Amy said she hadn't joined any of the groups because of this.

Because of, I guess what you're saying about feeling a little bit uncomfortable about not actually being a mom or a member of that group, but I wonder too, Amy, are there other are there other groups that you do qualify for?

(29:15):

For example, I know local to us, we even have a Simpsonville local businesses group or, hey, we just want to share and support local businesses.

There are a lot of people in there.

That could be something where it's, you're connecting not only with people in the community who just care about supporting local business, which again, that's an important thing, but also other business owners who you can just naturally say, oh, we should definitely meet because I saw you post about this thing and I've got this and boom, I think that could be a quicker way even then to make those connections.

Jeanette said most groups have "no business posts" rules except on certain days. Make sure to check the rules.

(29:58):

Yeah.

That would be something notable that sometimes you are allowed to promo.

That could be another thing to check out Amy.

Sheba said, I struggle with finding content from my group that is separate from what I'm already posting on my Facebook page and Instagram.

Sheba, this is a really good question.

What you could do is you could take what you're already posting on Facebook and Instagram and you can level it up a little bit where you maybe you do a quick video and say, hey, I just wanted to jump on and say I'm following up on my blog posts or my,Facebook post from the other day or my Instagram post.

Here were a couple questions and I just thought I could jump on and answer really quickly by video.

(30:43):

That way it doesn't have to be brand new content.

It's just a value added where you could, even once you get comfortable with that Sheba, you could say on your Facebook and Instagram hey, interact with me or we can talk more directly if you join my group where when I get questions I'll just make a quick video and answer in response.

That's obviously not the coolest way to say it, but you're telling them, hey, here's just this little bonus way where you're not having to really recreate brand new content and you Sheba, you can even make up, where it's - even if you didn't get 10 questions about that post, you know what the top two or three objections or questions are.

(31:32):

You could get on and say, hey, here's my Instagram post.

Here's the questions here are the questions that I know that people have.

You just make it very general and you can just give them some quick tips or feedback and then say your call to action, in this case, maybe it's you can book a free consultation virtually with me to discuss your needs further.

We can do a DIY plan.

We can start the process, or whatever.

That way, you're always letting them know that the way to get customized help from you is to book the session or, what, obviously make that fit for whatever your business is.

Tasha said the before and after that someone else posted on their own in a group got me so much business.

Yes, really awesome!

(32:19):

I think that the benefit with groups is that people really seem to trust each other a little bit more because then they're sharing recommendations and that thing.

That can be another thing where maybe you have a client who shouldn't even, I mean, I don't know, some clients are okay or willing to leave a public review about you and others are just, eh, I don't know if I really want to put my name and face out there, but you could say, hey if you're willing to just keep it a little bit more private, if you have any Facebook groups, you're a member of that would be another way.

If, when people say, "How can I thank you? It's so amazing."

(32:54):

You could say, well, you can leave a public review or even share a quick picture in a Facebook group and tag me in the photo.

That would be really cool.

Suzette said, the group is a great place to build confidence with live videos, with a lower stake in a more friendly audience.

That is exactly how I feel.

It was really good.

I would've never done what I'm doing right now.

Never!

She said it's making her a lot more comfortable.

Allison said, I have a group, but I have a lot of posts and comments are about what they have achieved, not what they need. How can I redirect that?

Ooh.

This is a really great question, Allison, because Allison, since you just started your podcast, I think you could take it to the next level by saying - and by the way, are these posts from people who have gotten those achievements because they have been following you or you've been helping for free in the group? Because remember you want to leverage everything in some way.

(33:55):

I was saying at the beginning, what you don't want to have is your group has become a free hotline where they just think that they can get anything from you at any time and they don't have to pay.

That's not exactly what it's about, but what you could do is take some of those awesome achievements and create a podcast episode where it's, hey, here are the top five transformations where you just talking about it - obviously you can't show pictures on a podcast, but you can take some of those achievements and talk about it on your podcast.

Talk about the one or two or three things that each person had to do in order to get those achievements and talk about mindset and overcoming obstacles and having a plan, all those things and share that on your podcast.

(34:39):

Then on your podcast, drive people back to the group, post the podcast episode in the group and drive people to your podcast and cross-promote it that way, if that makes sense.

Then you also always can ask people, this is amazing what you did.

This is amazing what you did, what's next?

So, asking them, what's next on your list?

Or how do you - I'm getting you a text, so, oh, you're live, you can't talk right now. You're good.

<laugh> So asking them, asking them what would be the next biggest thing that would be a game changer for you in your life?

Or, whatever that is.

Maybe right now they can't even see what that is.

(35:27):

But it'll help you know hey, what content can I be making to help people level up again?

Or, maybe it's easy for them to get 10 or 15 or 20% of the way on their own because you, and you've have that proven because they're posting about what they've achieved, but you're now thinking okay, what PAID content comes next?

Or even what little mini-workshop series could I create that really helps them keep this momentum going and to help them actually finish the whole project or whatever the case may be.

And, because there's always the next level, there's always the next level in every business and for every client nobody has ever done.

They're definitely not ever done organizing in this case.

Because then it's about - how do I create systems to keep from sliding back?

(36:16):

That, for example, would be a way to talk to people who are achievers, who they see the value and they don't want to - they really want to be able to maintain it on their own.

That would be something that you can offer either as a service where you're saying, okay, we're setting up systems, we're setting up a maintenance system that you're coming and doing for them or, creating some coaching offer so that it's not you coming in - it's you continuing to support them virtually or that type of thing.

My text messages are popping up in front of the video.

What are the questions guys? This has been such a good video.

Let me talk a little bit more about dos and don'ts about Facebook groups.

(37:04):

When people join your group, this wasn't always true, but it's true now:

You can ask questions such as, hey, what is the number one thing that I can help you with around this topic?

That would be a way to go ahead and get ideas for content even before they join, because they have to answer the questions in order to join.

It's a gate-keeping thing.

You can also ask for their email address.

Unfortunately there's no way to export the answers.

You literally have to make sure you are copying and pasting the email.

If they give you their email address, as part of them joining the group, then you can add them to your, to your list.

(37:47):

They also, you also have to copy and paste if they answer a question, but you could ask: hey, what's your favorite piece of content so far on my YouTube channel?

Or what's your favorite podcast?

I mean, we ask that for our podcast group so that we know what's the most popular content and what are the things that you still want to learn more about?

In that space of -- what do you want to learn more about?

Those are going to be your ideas for future services, future ebooks that you want to write, future workshops, you want to create future virtual organizing offers that you want to do, sorry.

We're not just talking about organizing, but virtual organizing is basically a type of coaching essentially.

What type of coaching offers? Because I want to make this applicable to ALL businesses, and it is applicable to all businesses, still very effective.

(38:34):

That in itself too, is a little bit of a list-building and market research activity that is built in as part of them joining the group.

I really want you to not miss that opportunity too.

Let's see. What else, what else?

My other big don't is - on the topic of not letting it become a free for all - don't show up and because I've talked a lot in the past about giving value and proving that by just being generous and giving value...

Oh, here's what I wanted to say.

Don't give away <laugh> all of your best content.

I mean, what you still want is to - by the way, let me refer you back to another video about how to decide between free and paid content.

(39:34):

This is very on topic for Facebook groups because in the Facebook group, you don't want people to treat it like a free hotline.

You do want them to eventually hopefully become very familiar with you and be nurtured in that group until they do become a paying client or a student of some kind.

To that end, you don't want to treat this a charity project where you're just sitting and doing free coaching all day long without doing any call to action.

The don't is, don't be afraid to tell them what you do, and I know that this can be challenging.

But it's, don't be afraid to sell - because if you are truly, if you're creating things that are of value and that are going to make their life easier, help them save time with something, help them just take the weight off of their shoulders in some way...

(40:34):

I mean, that's especially relevant for some luxury service business, more so than other types of products.

You're creating something that is saving time and allowing them to move step by step on something that they otherwise would not be able to do.

Don't be afraid to tell them and sell them a little bit, say: here's everything that's included in this product, not just the features - it's a checklist or it's a workbook, tell them what will their life be like after they use your thing.

If you can paint that picture, I think I probably say this in the past video, you need to sell them the trip to Paris, not the plane ride, tell them what it's going to be like when they get there and make them excited about that!

Your enthusiasm really has to be there for that.

(41:19):

This is why, obviously, it doesn't make sense to build a business around something that you don't care about.

Because they can tell if you're just, eh, it'll only feel just so-so about this topic.

That's how you'll know you're in the wrong niche.

Maybe you're not in the wrong business, but you can be in the wrong niche, I think.

Because you're making things that you think other people want versus what you really feel passionate about and that you can deliver on.

So once you're at that point and you've been listening to your audience, you have been tracking, what does this person like, how are they thinking?

What do they need?

What do they think that they want right now?

What do they what would be the magic wand solution to the problem? Once you have created that, do not forget to tell them about it.

(42:03):

Basically all the time.

Now you don't have to be selling it all the time, but maybe you have a posting plan for your Facebook group where you're doing one long Facebook Live a week.

That was what I did.

Or you could do three short Facebook Lives a week instead of one.

And in those Facebook Lives verbally and visually, they can see you talking and they can hear you telling them, go to my homepage for this offer or go to this special link for this opt in.

You might not always want to be selling them towards buying your product, but you can also switch it up some so that you're driving them towards your free lead magnet on your email list, if you don't have them on your email list yet, or sell them on your upcoming workshop or sell them on the free consultation.

(42:52):

You can always have some call to action that is not a hard sell, but it's just, hey, remember this thing.

Now I think that probably one, the biggest hold up about that is you're afraid you're going to bug these people, but they're there because they were interested in your thing. If you know that the way to actually serve them is to move them along the path towards buying your course or starting to do coaching with you, or becoming an in-person service client...

Then it is your obligation to tell them about that way that they can be served, because the ultimate is not to be getting free information and still just trying to piece it together yourself.

That's not how people really make big transformations in their life.

(43:36):

That's what they want and need when they're testing the waters and getting to know you.

But I think it really behooves you to always have something that you are promoting that is the next step.

That way, it's clear to them because people don't always know, you might think, oh, they're in my Facebook group and they've probably been to my website.

"They know that it's there and they'll come and get it when they want it."

Well, that is really not necessarily true.

Especially because after a while, you're not going to know how these people found your Facebook group to begin with.

It really has to have its own strategy. You need to have a content plan where you're doing some video, you're doing some posts.

(44:12):

You're sharing when people leave a great review for you or send you an awesome text message, you can screenshot that and post it anonymously in your Facebook group.

That can be a post for one day.

You can share inspiring quotes and messages.

You can mix it up.

It's not the same thing all the time.

But I would make sure that you are not letting the conversation be dead.

Let me go back up to where Suzette said it feels a little uncertain.

Sometimes she says, I hate feeling it's all me talking all the time, but it's so hard to get people to engage.

How do you get people to engage even silly things - even on this page the other day, I was talking about what is on my most recent emoji list, on my phone.

(44:58):

That it was fun.

It was funny, but it was an engaging thing that people want to respond to.

You've got to ask them questions.

It doesn't always have to be so specifically on topic, let's say you have a group that is about organizing playrooms.

Well, not every single post and not every single question always has to be about kids and playrooms and organizing and puzzles and Lego.

It can be about life in general a little bit.

I think, and this is not a scientific fact, but my guess would be that people like feeling they're in a group with like-minded people. And to that end, showing your sense of humor, showing your sense of style, sharing a funny story.

Those types of things, I think also help people engage.

(45:45):

It's not all business all the time, if that makes sense.

Does that make sense?

Maybe I just do that because I want to feel I have friends all over the place, but I do feel it helps people engage.

The more that people do engage with your posts, the more that - I mean the Facebook algorithm, I know it's hard to always be thinking about this, but when your posts in your group don't get a lot of engagement, then they don't show up on the Facebook feeds even for people who are in your group, which is unfortunate.

That's another reason why you should be doing video, because video gets more visibility in the algorithm than just your regular posts.

(46:30):

So switch up your type of posts, ask people to turn on notifications, so that they know when you go live.

That's another big thing is if you're not going to have a regular schedule like I said, I used to always do 9:00 PM Eastern on Tuesdays. It was very expected and I, or somebody else, was always there which was helpful.

But if you're going to do it at random times, ask people to turn on their notifications.

Even if you're jumping on for five minutes they'll see it there, they will be more likely to see it and actually engage in real time.

Which again will help with the post distribution and being seen i, the news feed and everything.

Suzette said said she was never sure how on topic she needed to be.

(47:16):

Thank you for the permission to branch out.

Yeah, I think absolutely branching out is a good thing.

I don't know how to say this.

I guess it's because I think too, when people have an opportunity to be real - I've gotten the comment a lot before that I am relatable and I don't know if that necessarily has a lot to do with my, I mean, I'm sure it has partly to do with my style because I don't like to be really formal.

That's why I do live video because that I can't even think about editing it, since you can't do that.

I don't know if that has to do with it or the fact that I'm willing to be a little non "businessy" on Facebook and that people just feel I am a real person and I'm literally, well I am a real person.

(48:06):

I'm not just there to educate, train them and charge them as much money as possible.

That's not my goal. I think people know that about me because not every post always has an agenda, but I am not afraid to tell people, I have a solution for you.

I have a program for you.

I have a next step for you when you are ready to move forward with me.

Yeah, so I think that's something to think about too is just not being afraid to be confident about what you sell and what you offer.

Then of course too, once you have people who actually are your paying clients or are you paying students and they're sharing back in the free group where they're just saying, "Thank you."

(48:49):

I'm so excited that I'm doing this.

You made this so easy for me.

"Thank you so much."

It'll make you look good, but it'll also help build the atmosphere of your free group so that it is more fun for people.

They are, oh wow.

There's good stuff in here.

This is - it's free, but it's really valuable.

It's not just random content.

Putting some thought into that and how to do it authentically, I'll say it takes some practice, but I would say also that you should treat everybody there like it's just a group of girlfriends or obviously, maybe your group is not all girls, but it's just a group of friends that you are hanging out with versus people that you're trying to sell on something.

(49:32):

One of my tricks for getting over <laugh> any fears about visibility is to always pretend I'm talking to just one person.

I read out loud the comments because I can multitask that.

I'm sure some people are not as good at that, or don't want to do that.

But I think that also helps engagement and helps people feel, oh, Jen actually really reads this stuff and she actually responds.

Which I think that too goes a long way.

All these little tips, I guess they're not, they're not as it's obvious that these are business tips, but I really do think they go a long way in positioning you as not just an expert, but as a trusted resource, you know?

(50:17):

Allison said commenting on other people's posts with the intent of getting them to reply will also increase your reach when you post, if you comment on three or four posts, four times a day, it will help.

That's really good advice, Allison.

I actually didn't realize that, but and I'm assuming you mean too with Facebook business page, or do you mean as a leader of your Facebook group?

I've never heard that in terms of being a leader of your Facebook group, that if you are commenting on the group's posts, that it will increase your reach when you post, I mean, I could see that could be true, but I'm guessing that probably also helps a lot with just your Facebook page.

I know for sure that's true on YouTube, you get more visibility on YouTube when you are engaging with other accounts.

(51:07):

That's a strategy to be thinking about too.

I've never done that, but wish I had more time.

YouTube has never been my home base.

It's always been a secondary cross-promotion strategy for me.

In fact, I'm reposting these videos I'm doing here onto YouTube.

If I do get comments, that's awesome.

But, I'm not producing these videos for YouTube.

They just happen to be on YouTube.

If I was producing it for YouTube, I think I would set it up differently.

I probably wouldn't do live.

I probably would have to be a little bit more polished and have the cool graphics and intros and stuff.

But, I'll just be honest with you.

I got more things to talk about in a day than I have time to do cool graphics.

(51:51):

I mean, I'm sure I would love to have someone else do that for me, but it's not my style.

It's one reason why I still like Facebook.

It just feels authentic and I don't have to be so... I don't know what the word is.

I don't have to be worried.

A couple more things to add, and then I'll try to wrap up.

I am trying to keep these videos a little shorter, but this one's going long.

When you set up your group, you're going to want to create - you're going to have a banner.

There are going to be some graphics is what I'm saying.

I definitely want to refer you back a video I did on graphic design stuff for free resources, or cheaper resources, in order to find these nicer looking professional graphics.

(52:33):

You want your group to be ready for a party a little bit, but you want to have a cool banner that says what it's about.

That people know they're in the right place.

You can have a profile image just as you would have for your Facebook business page.

By the way, usually now what happens is your group will be visibly attached to your Facebook business page.

That's another way that you can promote your group.

It's another way you can promote your group is by posting about it on your Facebook business page.

"Hey, did you know we have this group about this topic?" or you can go deeper or see my weekly challenge series or whatever you're doing post about that on your Facebook page.

(53:17):

And you can link a button or link a post, a link directly to the group so people can ask to join.

That should be part of your weekly posting strategy on your Facebook page, because you always want to be cross-promoting anything else that you do where you're getting visibility publicly.

That's one thing to think about.

Have your have all your banners and graphics and stuff set up if you're doing - I'm always telling people there are so many free resources for all this.

There is no reason that you should ever have to pay for - you don't need to pay for a course.

You don't need to pay for a workshop about Facebook group strategy, go on Pinterest and search for, example, Facebook group graphics or Facebook group post templates.

I mean you can buy things that are pretty inexpensive from Creative Market or you can create your own things in Canva.

(54:20):

If you go into Canva there are templates for Facebook posts, for Facebook group banners, do not think that you have to come up with all this stuff on your own or hire graphic designer.

There are so many good things out there if you just know where to look.

Go on Pinterest and definitely search for some of these ideas or templates or swipe files or digital assets, I guess.

I mean you could even search in Pinterest for Facebook group posting strategy, Facebook group content, promotion strategy, how to sell something in a Facebook group, all this stuff.

There's so many people who have put together free resources and blogs and stuff about it.

Yes, you may have to opt into their email list because I'm sure they're selling something more advanced on that topic, but just for you to get your feet wet, there's never a reason why you should have to pay for the information on how to make this work for you.

(55:10):

Tasha said, thank you for all this. You are so welcome.

I love the prayer hands emoji.

I hope I didn't scare you off from this.

I do want to say that running a free group that does grow pretty significantly takes an investment of time and energy and talent.

I am pretty, I'm going to say this at the end of the video, because probably likely fewer people are listening now...

<laugh> definitely not anybody that knows me probably.

But when I started Pro Organizer Studio, I had my hands in four other things.

I had no idea that it was going to become my full-time thing.

I was on my phone at my day job all day long, responding to people and then laughing and posting gifs and being silly and getting to know people.

(56:00):

But the beauty of it is it's something that, again, if you can do it on the go with whatever else you have going on, it can be a way that you are slowly but surely building up your audience while you have still whatever else you have going on.

Because they think one of the biggest things about getting an online business going is that, if you can, if you, if you have 20 or 30 people who are interested in your initial concept or offer, I promise you can 10X that by, consistently just promoting it.

Because the Internet is a very big place, you know?

If you can invest your energy and your, I don't know, I hate to say love, but you just got to love on these people and get to know them in a very genuine way where you're not - you are just, tell me your story.

(56:52):

I want to hear, how'd you find me?

Or, tell, me about you.

I mean, people, want to tell you, people want to reply to your emails.

When you say, hey, what's your why?

Or, what's your vision?

What's your vision for your business or for your family or whatever is on topic for you and in your online business niche.

The time that you spend just responding to people is going to pay off so big down the road, because you're going to know so much about them and they're going to know that you care, which is the best marketing plan ever.

Then, if you just get a little bit more serious about visibility, putting out the Facebook Lives and reposting them to YouTube and reposting them on Pinterest and Instagram and all those places.

(57:37):

I know it feels you're just copying and pasting and saying the same thing over and over again.

But I promise you that nobody is seeing you on every single one of those platforms.

This is the game.

This is what it takes to get those numbers up through organic posting methods.

Then, more people find you and come back to you.

That is where I will leave this conversation today.

I wanted to start talking about Facebook ads, but I didn't, I think I will save that for another day if, you guys are okay with that.

Because I think this was probably a lot to take in, but I hope that you please leave a comment and let me know what you got.

What was the biggest aha moment that you got from this?

(58:17):

What was the biggest thing that you were, oh God, I never realized that it was that hard or it was that time consuming.

Is there anything that you were just, it was either a "wow!" or a "pow." Like, deflated.

I don't know what I'm saying, but right... I want to know.

I would love to know if you guys liked this and what you're going to do with this information now that you have it.

I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your evening and I will be back with you later! Bye guys.