How I Turned My Facebook Group Into a Money-Making Machine (Even After Starting at Zero) [Ep 75]

Welcome to the Thriving therapyneur podcast. The show for ambitious therapists who are ready to unapologetically make more money, scale.

Their impact and build their dream coaching business.

I'm Carly Hill, therapist turned coach turned CEO of a seven figure online business. I created the Thriving Therapeneur podcast because I'm obsessed with helping big hearted therapists outgrow the office and build successful and sustainable online businesses. So if you are wondering how you can continue to make an impact without sacrificing the life you love, welcome therapreneur. This is exactly the place for you. Think of it like the business school we never had. I am so excited to dive in with you. Let's get started.

All right, confession time. Confession time About Facebook. This episode is going to be about how to make 10k months from a lead generation Facebook Facebook group.

And it's just hilarious to me that.

I'm actually even teaching this because the confession is I used to hate Facebook with a passion. I never even used it. I was intimidated by it and now it is one of my most powerful sales assets. So if you've been sleeping on Facebook groups, you just might be sitting on a gold mine. I'm going to break down how to turn your free Facebook group into a money making, client getting lead generation machine that can help you hit consistent 10k months even if you're starting from zero. Dive in. Here's the thing. Facebook groups aren't just some outdated marketing tactic. Facebook is not dead. It's still the number one platform. And most of the six, seven, eight figure earners that I know in the coaching space, they're using Facebook groups as their number one, number one trust and conversion asset. This isn't a guess. I know this for a fact. I've been in mentorship programs with multiple seven, eight figure earners. They're using Facebook. Everybody uses it for marketing. Why? Well, the algorithm is different. The community platform is different. We're even subconsciously trained to use Facebook on a desktop and have conversations long form content. Because when Facebook came out, it was only on desktop. There wasn't an app yet versus when Instagram came out, everybody was just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. And we do have three to five seconds to stop the scroll and get somebody's attention. But Facebook is different because people go to Facebook just to search for groups. And the community platform, it's different. It's a different vibe. It gives you a way to build intimacy on a deeper level. It gives you a way to be an authority figure. And trust is built faster than a public feed ever could. When people see you as the leader of a thriving community, your word carries more weight. And as we know, trust is the foundation of those conversions. Trust leads to a conversation, and the conversation leads to a conversion. When you have a Facebook group of hundreds or thousands of your ideal client, you're seen as that thought leader. You are seen as that authority figure. This is why your word carries more weight. And I had a client the other day ask me, well, Carly, what if I start my Facebook group and I just have like three people? And I was like, well, you know, the news flashes. You are going to have three people and then guess what, you're going to have four and then you're going to have five. And guess where my group started that now has thousands of my ideal clients. It started at zero. So yours is going to start at zero and then it's going to grow. And it's much more important to have quality, potential, ideal clients, leads, prospects in there than it is to just have a shit ton of members. So people will see you as the leader as you continue to grow this community. And it's not hard to grow it. This is exactly what I teach. There's different layers of setting it up, growing it, nurturing it, and monetizing it. And there is a art and a science to this, and I've mastered it. And this is exactly what I teach my clients. And it's only one of the million ways that you can build trust and market. But I wanna highlight this today because a lot of people are sleeping on Facebook groups and they just poo poo on it. And they're like, ah, Facebook, I hate Facebook. My ideal clients aren't on Facebook. Facebook is dead. Blah, blah, blah. Well, have you tried it? And I'm challenging you in this way because I used to say the same thing. I was intimidated by Facebook. I didn't know how to use it. I didn't use it personally. But every single business mentor that I had was telling me, carly, you need to use Facebook for marketing. So I rolled up my sleeves and I was like, all right, here I go. I'm gonna figure this out. And you do have to constantly figure it out. Just as any social media platform changes constantly. Just when you figure out where all the buttons are, Facebook likes to move something around. It's just part of it. And your Facebook group isn't just a group. It's a pipeline of pre qualified leads. They've already raised their hand to learn from you. It's helping you attract super hot leads who are Saying yes to wanting to work with you. It's a pipeline and your pipeline is your lifeline. If your pipeline runs dry, you're in trouble in your business. So let's break it down into the steps after you set it up. Because like I said, there's an art and a science to setting it up. And I actually teach my clients step by step, click by click, behind the scenes of how to set up all of the settings. Once that's set up, then we move into the growth stage. This is the foundation, AKA getting members into your group. The very first part of turning your group into a revenue generating asset is growth. You have to have members in it, right? The more people who join your group, quality members I must add, the more opportunities you're gonna have to make offers. Your newest members are your hottest leads, always. That new energy creates engagement and creates momentum. Momentum breeds momentum. We need to capitalize on this opportunity while they're hot. And there's a way to do that. You're also gonna use other platforms as a funnel. So people from your Instagram, your TikTok, your LinkedIn, your email, you're gonna drive them to your group or you're gonna bring them back to your group. Maybe they're already in your group, but they forgot about it. Not everybody sees everything. You could post the same thing in five different places. It could be on Instagram, it could be on TikTok, LinkedIn, your Facebook group, email. And the chances of that person seeing it in all five places is rare. And if they do, cool. So you could drive people back to your group. Hey, did you see this? You can use the everybody button so that they're tagged. You're always giving a clear reason why they should join. You have to play devil's advocate for what your client is thinking because they're like, so what? Why should I join? What's in it for me? People are always wondering, well, what's in it for me? So you have to spin it and tell them what's in it for them. It's just like if I was inviting you over for dinner, I'm not gonna say, hey, come over for dinner. I'm gonna say, hey, come over for dinner. Tonight we stopped at the seafood market. My husband is making shrimp pasta and he even got clams and mussels to put in it. We got some oysters because we got this new cool seafood tower. P S. This is actually our life. We probably do this like every weekend. And I'm making homemade dessert. We stopped at total wine, blah, blah, blah, Okay, I am giving you a reason. I'm telling you what's in it for you. I'm selling you on this, I'm getting you excited and painting a picture. I'm not just saying hey, come over for dinner. So again you're not like, hey, join my group, join my group, join my group. Tell them why they should join it. Are you doing a free live training? What is it on? What is it going to help them do? How is it going to solve their persistent painful problem? Do you have a brand new free resource? The three step guide to fix XYZ problem in their life so that they can finally blah blah blah once and for all, assign value to what it is and also tell them exactly how they can join. Give them the link, tell them they need to answer the questions to join. Just as you would give somebody the time and the directions to get to your house for your dinner party. Hey there.

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Hello, these are hot leads Again. If you're sleeping on this Facebook group strategy. Time to wake up. You are sitting on a gold mine, honey. They're saying yes to wanting to learn about your services. They're raising their hand and then once they get inside your group, you need to greet them just as you would at a dinner party. Show them around, give them the warm and fuzzies. So you're going to tag them in your welcome post. P.S. you only have one welcome post and it lives on for forever. You don't need to have admin assist on and have your AI bot inside your group welcoming people every three days because then your group is going to be flooded with a bunch of welcome posts and it's going to water down all of the gold inside your group. This is what I'm saying. There's art and a science for running your group and setting it up in a way where people can see your gold and they're like, whoa, what is this that you're offering? Tell me more. And they raise their hand. So you need to give them the lay of the land, make them feel at home. Tell them to friend request you or accept your request so they can get your notifications. Show them where all the free training replays are. Show them how they can get access to your lead magnets. By the way, you don't just have the links to your lead magnets everywhere. There's a strategic way to even give out your lead magnets so that you can bring them to a DM conversation. Because we know that conversations equal conversions. Let's talk about content next. This is the second layer. It's nurturing your group which is done through content. Most coaches post too much random fluff. Just as I was alluding to the random fluff of all of these welcome messages. You're not just posting for consistency or fluff. No, it needs to be strategic and intentional to move the client along in an the client journey and get a paying client. The goal is not to make your group just a free for all. The goal is not to play police in your group. I know you're thinking, oh, this group is going to be so much work, I'm going to have to monitor it all the time. How many hours am I going to have to spend? And it's not a free for all and there's not random fluff. And you are very intentional. And you even have some team members helping you. Somebody on your team who's commission based. One of the smartest hires that you can make in your business, a revenue driving higher. Then you don't have to spend much time in your group at all. And it's this massive asset that's helping you make consistent 10k months plus in your group. So here's some content pillars to focus on. Weekly live trainings Pick a consistent day and time. Consistent day and time. Don't just show up live anytime. It's just like somebody if they're, you know, watching their weekly show, they know it's on this channel at this time. What is your consistent day and time? Post those replays, lead magnets, freebies. You need to have those in your group. Client wins and testimonials. You need to have those content and messaging that's speaking to their pain points, their desires, proactively overcoming those objections. So now we're just talking about basic marketing 101. Yeah, that. That needs to be all dialed in. Call to actions, that needs to be dialed in. Less is more. You really want content to lead to a conversation, not just likes. The comments underneath need to lead to a conversation. You can use one word marketing. Super, super strong to use one word marketing. Use polls. People love to vote. So if you're going to go live, post a poll, hey, what do you want me to teach on xyz? And then you can thank people for voting. And again, you're not just showing up live. You're creating a whole event. You're inviting people to the live. Again, I can't stress this enough that there is an art and a science to every single one of these pieces. Because I don't want you to think, oh, well, I already have a group. This didn't work for me. My group is dead. My ideal clients just aren't on Facebook. That's all wrong. Maybe you just don't have the right puzzle pieces to put this together. Maybe you don't know the true art and science. Took me a long time to dial all of this in and learn all of these hacks and strategies to actually grow and monetize my group in the proper way. But this is how I have built my business. The foundation of me making millions of dollars in the online space started here with this Facebook group strategy. It doesn't have to be a chore and you just follow the proven system. It works. Use your email list to help you grow this group. Use ads to help you grow this group. You can run a simple $10 a day ad to get people to your group. It's as simple as that. Okay, let's talk about step three conversations. So this is actually monetizing your group. So quick recap. We have three parts. Before those three parts, we need to make sure our group is set up in the right way. Once it's set up, then our three parts are number one, it's getting people into our group. So it's growing it. Number two is nurturing our group. That's our content. And step three is monetizing our group. This is the conversations. Because we know that conversations equal conversions. I feel like I say this in every single one of my podcast episodes. I feel like a broken record, but I just can't stress that enough. This is the part where so many people drop the ball. You don't make 10k months by posting and praying. You can't just build it and think that they're going to come. No, you make it through conversations. You have to follow up with new members after they join. You have to ask them what they're struggling with. You have to tag them in relevant trainings. You have to keep the conversation going. You have to follow up. Fortune is in the follow up. Write that down. Fortune is in the follow up. Hey, Susie Q. I saw you join the group. Welcome. Because you're part of this amazing XYZ group. Name the group for brand recognition. I would love to give you my free gift, which is my three step guide to blah, blah blah. Do you want the link? Get them to reply, yes, they want it then. Okay. I'm curious, do you mind me asking, what's the biggest thing you're currently struggling with when it comes to xyz? They tell you, oh, I'd love to tag you in a training. That might help. Would that be okay? Then you tag them in a training. You're offering value, you're building rapport, you're moving them along in the client journey and only if it's aligned. Then you can invite them to go deeper. You can invite them to a short triage call that's like a, you know, 5, 10, 15 minute shoot the shit call. And then if it makes sense, you can move them along deeper in the client journey and you can get them on a 45 minute call. That would be a qualified lead. We need to have a pre qualification process in place and application because we're not just here to make friends with everybody on Facebook. We're not just here to have them trauma dump on us. We're not just here to do free therapy and coaching with everyone. So we absolutely need to have this pre qualification process in place. So that last step is really just inviting them to go deeper to see if it makes sense working together. Then it's about turning the engagement into those 10k months. Let's do quick math. If your coaching offer is $2,000, that's totally average for all of my clients. That means you need just 5 clients a month to hit 10k months. If your Facebook group is consistently growing with those warm pre qualified leads, they're turning into hot leads. That's not far fetched. That's very predictable. Especially if you know the art and science to getting them into your group, nurturing them and boom, monetizing them. You have a few hundred engaged members that can produce consistent revenue for you. Then there's launch strategies that you can infuse in here for a pop of cash. We all love a pop of cash, right? Your Facebook group becomes an asset to give you a pop of cash. It's not just about having thousands of followers, it's about the quality of the conversations that you're having. Your group is this trust building engine and it's going to shorten the sales cycle for you. Now not always is it going to shorten it because I have had people in my group who have been silent workers for years and then one day they finally convert. However, I also have had people who have came in, binge, watched all of my values, saw my testimonials and became a paying client in three days. But just because somebody is not commenting or responding back to your DM doesn't mean that they're a no. Remember, Fortune is in the follow up and I always make an example of this when I'm on a coaching call with my clients. When somebody says well Carly, like my group just doesn't seem to be that engaged, I go raise your hand here if you were a silent lurker for six months or longer and almost everybody raises their hand. So yes, some people will buy immediately, but your group is a trust building engine that will help you convert clients over time. It's an asset in your business. If you think your ideal client is not on Facebook, you're wrong. Facebook still has over 3 billion 3 billion monthly users. Chances are your people are there, you just don't know how to find them. If your group members are ghosting you, don't take it personally. There is hacks to get them to open your messages and get them to even see your messages in the first place. But remember that those silent lurkers, they buy too. How much time does this take? If you're wondering that I probably spend three hours in my group a week max, that's a stretch at this point because it's just running like a well oiled machine. It's not a free for all. I do have a team helping me. I schedule things out and it's still bringing in consistent clients 24 7. So some pro tips that we talked about. Just as I wrap all of this up, you have a commission based team member. You don't use the admin assist. You have one welcome post that lives on forever. You use the guide section wisely, use the everybody button when need be, pin and unpin. Post to the featured section. Use one word marketing. Know that you don't have to live in your group. You just need the right strategy and there is 1000% in art and a science to the three parts of growing, nurturing and monetizing your group as well as even setting it up in the first place. If you want to know how to do this, click by click, set it up so this can run as your money making client getting machine. I'm here to help you do that. I would love to help you do that. I would be honored to help you do that. That is exactly what my team and I help you with. It's only one of the things that we help you with. There's a zillion ways that you can market yourself, but this is a wonderful way to build your community. Lead with value, have real conversations, invite people to your offers. It's not just a group, it's a community. It's a sisterhood. It's a sacred, special place. It's a hub of all of your ideal clients. It's a business asset. So if you're ready to go deeper, build this lead generation Facebook group that fuels your coaching business. Click on the link in the show notes. I'll teach you how to do this and so much more. We can automate it, we can connect it to your CRM, we can track the conversations, we know exactly who we need to follow up with and we can make some conversions. This is what it's about. I used to hate Facebook. Remember that? Now I love it. It gives me a direct line to my future clients. So if you've been ignoring your group or you haven't started one, yet, this is your sign to just build that community. You will thank yourself later, I promise. And you'll thank me later too. My love is with you. I'll see you in the next episode.

Thank you so much for listening to the Thriving Therapy newer podcast. I hope that this episode has inspired you to reduce burnout, work smarter and see the freedom potential you have as a therapist. We would love to have you inside the Therapist to Coach Accelerator Facebook Group where we have live trainings and cheat sheets on all things marketing, sales and adding coaching ethically and legally. I am here cheering you on and I'll see you around.