6: How to Boost Engagement in your Facebook Group

Welcome to the Course Creators MBA podcast. I'm your host, Destiny Kopp. And in this podcast, we're covering actionable tips to grow your online course business.

Hey, guys.

I'm so excited to be here today. I have Anna Gray with me. Anna is a Facebook group community strategist, and she helps online entrepreneurs who are successful serious about growing their online communities through connections that convert to sales. Anna, how are you today?

I'm great, thank you, Destiny. Thank you for having me.

I'm so excited that you're here. Would you mind telling us a little bit more about yourself and your business and how you got to where you are today, kind of your journey, if you would.

Sure, sure, absolutely. I'd love to. Well, I have been in the online space for about almost 10. I was not considered. I did not consider myself an entrepreneur until years into it, but I built a network marketing business for nine years, and I built it to a success where I was actually able to walk away from my nursing career for about three years. And about a year and a half ago, I made a decision that I really wanted to do something that was fulfilling and that really served a purpose that I was excited about. And I had to look back at my nine years of business and see where was I, where were my strengths? And really what it came down to was I really enjoyed and was successful at building communities, specifically online communities. I have the best of friends, I have the best of colleagues because of those online communities. So I made a decision that I was going to start teaching online entrepreneurs how to build successful communities and really do it a way that nobody else is teaching. And that's really building connections and conversations. And so I got really excited about it. I started this business just over a year ago, and it's turned into something even better than I expected. So I'm really happy that I went down this road of pivoting my business into doing something that I knew I was good at, but I really, really love and I'm super passionate about this topic.

Well, I'm so excited to have you because you're definitely my go to person whenever I have questions about my Facebook, my free Facebook group, which is my online community. So I'm very excited that you're here to help us navigate through this and really to talk and focus on engagement. So. But first, before we kind of get into some of these details, let's take a step back and could you. We have a lot of course creators that listen to this podcast, obviously, and, you know, from your perspective and knowing what you know about online communities. Why would a course creator want to consider launching a free Facebook group to grow their community for their online course?

Sure. I think that that is a really good question, and I know the answer, which is even better. You would. So, okay, so when we are creating courses, right, we want to be the mind readers of our members or those that purchase our courses. We want people to say, oh my gosh, you read my mind. How did you know this is exactly what I needed? And in order to do that, you need feedback and you need information from those potential customers or consumers or whatever, whoever you want to call them. And in order to do that, a community is a perfect way for you to build your course around the. The actual people that are a part of your community. And I know for me, I thought I actually was going to create a course, and I actually created something different, but it was based on my free Facebook group community and what they were telling me. So what turned out to be my end product was because of the free Facebook group and because of the feedback. So when you're creating a course, if you're listening to your members, you're creating a course that is the mind reading course, that is the perfect course that they could possibly imagine. And if you didn't have that free Facebook group, then you're really kind of grasping at straws, in my opinion. You're just hoping and you're relying on polls maybe that you've put out to your email list or those kind of things. But this is a living, breathing feedback environment that you can customize your course around. And it's a place that not only do you can you create the contents around your people, but you can really build the connections with your people and build in that excitement around your course. And if you didn't have that, it takes a lot of effort to build excitement around something if it's just you working towards, you know, working, working with just an email list. And I'm a huge proponent of an email list because I think that they work synergistically together, but it is an active, live, breathing thing that you can tap into when you're creating your course. So I'm a huge proponent of a free group, especially for any sort of course creator.

And I really liked what you said in there when you talked about you went down the path of creating a course or a product, but you ended up doing something different based on the feedback from your ideal customers. And that is so critically valuable. And it just tells me that you're not out there creating something in a Vacuum. And you're right. You're absolutely right that a free Facebook group can give you that information so you're not out there, you know, in a vacuum, creating something that nobody wants.

Right, right. And it can be a test, a testing, you know, place a place for you to test your theories or your, you know, your modules in a way that they may not know that that's what you're doing, but you're really testing that information that you want to share. And is this going to work? Is this going to connect with my people? Well, let me just test it out. And it doesn't have to be. You're not sharing your whole entire module, but maybe it's just the title of it or something of that sort where you're customizing your course based on the feedback and you really do become that mind reader. And I have to thank you. Actually, you were one of those. I remember specifically, you were one of those group members of mine that gave me feedback that really sort of pivoted where I was going into what it's become today. Because I listened. I listened to everything that everybody said, and of course, I followed my heart. But what I thought it was going to be turned out to be something completely different. Because of the Facebook group.

Absolutely. And so let's say that, you know, somebody said, you know, there's out there saying, anna, you sold me. I know I need a group, but where do I even start? What are some of the first steps you would tell somebody if they're starting from scratch?

Sure, sure. I would say, don't log into Facebook and start a group right now. I would say you have to do a few steps before you get started. And one of the biggest things that people don't do, they typically say, okay, I got it. I want to do a group. Okay, I'm going to click Create group, and then I'm going to name my group, and then I'm going to make a banner, and then I'm going to create rules. What people miss the most is sitting and creating a vision for your group. And I did that when I decided to start this business. I sat down before I even clicked the button that said create group. I sat down, sat, and created a vision of what I wanted my group to look like, what I wanted my group to feel like, who my ideal clients would be in there for free or those who would be, you know, obviously potential paying customers. But what is the flow and the vision for this group really taking a step back and going, okay, you know, member number one will enter the group, and what will they see? How will they feel? And that's really the biggest, biggest thing you have to do before you get started in a group. And most people skip that step, and then they wonder why no one's commenting or why, why, why is my group dead? Maybe there is a disconnect, and that is because you really didn't get a feel for what your group, you know, was going to look like or wanted or you wanted that group to look like. So you're really kind of mimicking other groups, you know, and not really having a plan. So that's my biggest advice before starting a group, is really sitting down and having that vision. What is that? You know, red carpet experience. What are my members going to see and look and feel like when they enter my group? And then you can get started on your group.

So I really like that. And when you talk about that red carpet experience, I think I can use that in other things too, right?

Absolutely. Absolutely. That is awesome. Yes. That's that red feel, like they're important.

Yeah. That red carpet experience. How do you want them to feel? That is awesome. So, you know, they're wanting to start their group. They've sat down, they've kind of thought through the vision. Obviously, there's some steps that they need to do on Facebook to kind of set it up, which are pretty, you know, fairly easy. Right. But then the big question is, how do they find members?

Okay, that's a great question. And I'm not going to give a magical wand and say, you know, you open your group and you're going to have a thousand members in your group. But what I will say is, don't go out there. And in the old days, we said, go ask all of your friends to be a part of your group. And that. That'll get your group started with numbers. I'm not a huge fan of that. And nowadays Facebook is also not a big fan of that as well, because they really, really crack down on making sure that members want to be in the groups that they're in. So my biggest piece of advice on getting a group started is running some sort of challenge or event or something, some launch plan that really gets people excited about joining. And when you do it that way, you get an influx of people. And whether an influx is 10 people or 45 people or 90 people, it doesn't matter. It's the excitement. You get excited about this, they get excited, and it really starts your group on the right track. So by doing that, spend time in other groups. I know A lot of us are in many of the same Facebook groups and a lot of feedback I get is, you know, I'm not in groups that are promotion groups and I totally get that there are plenty of groups out there that are not promotion groups. But when you show your face in there and you're super helpful, you know, you can have those side conversations that are natural conversations and people start to see your, your information that you've shared on social media and share the fact that you've got this event starting on Monday. You know, you're excited to launch your free community. And why is that? And this is, again, you go back to your vision. Why are you excited to launch this community? Well, it all comes down to vision. So share that vision with your potential members. And I will tell you, it's 1000 times easier to sell people on an invite to a group than to cold sell a product. So invite them. Invite them to a free group. People think, see a free group and they think non threatening. Right. They want to be a part of the community. And if you've already come up with that vision that when they enter that community, they know they're in the right place, they're not going to be leaving your group like they do 90% of the other groups out there. So really, you know, share and invite and tell people that you're, that you're launching this on Monday and make it a big deal. Then once you do that, it really becomes easy to talk about as you move forward.

I absolutely love that. And I never thought about making like a challenge or something similar to that to be the, you know, kind of the kickstart of your brand new Facebook group. But that is absolutely brilliant.

Yeah. I mean, it doesn't even need to be a formal. I'm not a huge fan of, I mean, I'm a fan of challenges for sure, but I'm not a fan necessarily of challenges that are going to spend you, that are going to take you a month to prepare for. You know, I'm a big fan of spending a week developing a challenge, keeping it short, keeping it actionable, and giving someone something to be excited about. They're going to do something in the next three days that's going to transform whatever their need is. And I do this all the time. I think it's a great jumpstart of a brand new community. I think it's a great jumpstart every couple months just to kind of keep things fresh. We want people to take action, but they don't necessarily need to take action. Every day. But when you give them that excitement over an event, everybody shows up for it.

So we've got our, you know, we've had a kind of our launch, if you would, however you want to put it. Maybe we did a challenge or something else and we have some members in the group, but they're not talking, you know, engagement. Right. That's the big thing. That's one of our big fears is when we launch a Facebook group, but absolutely nobody's interacting. Maybe they interacted in the beginning and then they kind of just fell off. So what are your suggestions on how to increase engagement and keep it going in our groups?

Sure, sure. I love that because that is the number one, the biggest question about Facebook groups is engagement. And a lot of people start their Facebook groups with that excitement and that's exactly what happens. People disappear. Well, I have. It's not a theory, it's proven. And that is that people don't need your product every day. Right. And I like to use the realtor analogy, which is funny because it has nothing to do with online entrepreneurship. But my husband's a realtor and I think that this makes the point very clear. So let's just say that you were consumer. You were either going to list your house or you were going to buy a house, and you reached out to a realtor and they sent you all this information and you're like, great, I'm super excited. This is, this is okay. I know exactly what neighborhood I'm going to be in. And then you had a setback. Okay, maybe now is not the time. So you decide, now is not the time. I'm not going to buy or sell out. So a successful realtor who has a successful Facebook group would recognize it and know that in your group you don't need to share information every day in order to keep people in your group and keep people showing up every day even when they don't need it. Like our, you know, buyers or sellers, you need to create conversations that connect people on the same level. So you've created this ideal client, right? And they all are typically people that you would really enjoy hanging out with. And they may not need your information today, but they'll need your information in the future when they're ready. So you want to ensure that people are showing up every day. So you want to have these conversations that are not necessarily about your product or service or about the solution that you have. It is really about connecting like minded people with each other. And the other thing I want people to understand and this Is kind of that point that I'm really trying to stress that when course creators or other online entrepreneurs want to start a group, one of their biggest fears is not only engagement, but it's. I would really like other people to post in the group. Besides, for me, I want you to remove that from your thinking because engagement is engagement, right? And it doesn't matter if people are going to show up and start posting. I will be honest with you. That doesn't happen for a very long time. It happens in the beginning because people are excited, but it does not happen for a while. So the engagement that you get may not look like engagement to you, and that's what I want people to understand, is that you may not see it on the surface. Facebook sees it, your insights see it. But you are going to play mind games with yourself and say, nobody's commenting, nobody's posting on their own. This group is a failure. And that's absolutely wrong. And people stop their groups because they see that on the surface. So really, if you're creating this environment where people enjoy being a part of and you're not actually relying on the algorithm, you want people to click on that group name every day to say, hey, what did I miss? Then you've created a successful Facebook group and it has nothing really to do with your information. It's the experience. And like I said in the beginning, that vision that you want people to show up every day, you want people to hang out in there every day, you want people to connect with each other, you want to connect with your members, it's really creating that environment versus an information dumping environment. So if you can do that, then your engagement will be no big deal.

So you actually, as you were going through that, I was thinking of a question and I think others might have this question too. How often should you as the host, right? Should you as the admin or you know, kind of the manager or host of that group, how often should you post?

Okay, I am a big fan of not of quality over quantity. Okay? None of us, including our members, have time to spend all day in Facebook groups and nobody wants to spend all day in Facebook groups. So if you can create at least one really good intentional post and good, I mean just intentional. What is the mission of this post? What do I want to get out of this post? Do I want to just have this simple conversation about what people are doing in life today, or do I want to have a conversation about whatever my service is? What is that intention for today? One really good post is perfectly fine. Because guess what? People are naturally going to click into the group and say, what did I miss? And they are not going to be lost. They're going to see that one intentional great post that you created that day or for that day. You may have scheduled it, but one great post is perfectly acceptable in a group. It does not have to be going nonstop all day long like we used to teach to catch people in the, you know, in the morning, in the midday and at night you can do that, but most of the time we don't have time for that. And that's okay. If you create one post that shows up in the morning or in the middle of the day, you know that people are going to click on it. And again, if it's that engaging post, and it's not just an information dumping post, people want to see what they missed. So it's just as valuable. You don't need to catch people on the algorithm. You don't even want to rely on that. You want people to click in there and say, what did I miss?

That's a very good point. Just have them maybe even put it as their favorite. So if you can get them to do that, that would be even better. Right.

I'm a huge fan of favorites, but I'm not one to push it on people. Like, I'll bring it up. I know there are a lot of people that say, you know, make sure you do this, make sure you do that, make sure you do this. A lot of people don't pay attention to that. Right. You know, there's, there's a feature in Facebook groups that I would really love to tell people every single day about, but I don't, because that's information dumping and I'd rather have a conversation. And that's really the sorting function that they just added. You know, sometimes you'll go in a group and you'll kind of try to scroll and you can't scroll because they won't show you any other posts. Well, they've added the sorting feature of recent posts versus, you know, popular posts. And most people don't know that. And sure, I could talk about it every day, but guess what? It'll get old. And you just have to naturally, sometimes just people naturally have to figure that out. And I'm not about, you know, showing you over and over and over the simple things that they can Google. If it comes up in the conversation, it's perfect. Just like you and I are having this conversation, I'm bringing it up. Maybe people will pay attention to the sort function now, and I actually didn't know about it.

So there.

You go.

So the last question I have for you regarding Facebook groups is, you know, and I think, some of, you know, the course creators are concerned because Facebook groups, in their mind, they think they might be a lot of work, and they're questioning maybe are they really worth the time, energy, and effort? So give me your thoughts on that. Is it really something that they should focus on when they have, you know, a million other things to do?

Sure. Yes. The answer is yes, it is absolutely worth your time and effort if you have the right mindset around it, if you can. If you can create that mindset that my Facebook group is going to be or is surrounding, surrounding myself with my ideal clients, with the people that I want to be in business with no matter what, no matter If I get 100 likes or one like that is the community that I can surround myself with, with, be comfortable with, that they can be comfortable with, then it's worth your time. And I don't know about you, but if you've created a course or you've created a product or a service, chances are you want to be surrounded by people that like you, that lift you up, that want to be a part of your space, and it's a very easy way for you to collect people in this environment and with very little effort. That's, again, the mindset, because in the old days and still today, there is that misconception that Facebook groups take a lot of time. They really don't take a lot of time. You show up as often as your members show up, which is maybe once or twice a day. You go in, you check, you connect people, you connect with people, and then you get out of it. It really, really doesn't take much time or effort. And I also want to say that a lot of people think when they start their group that they need to hire a community manager right off the bat because they picture their group being this really active place that they are, you know, like, let's just say you're already in a group of thousands of people and it's super active, and there's no way you or you're going to be able to keep up. Of course not. But your group is not going to be there yet. So don't even think about hiring a community manager yet and really just know that it is absolutely manageable and that you can create connections without having other people post. So that's my word of advice. It does not take the time, but it's absolutely worth it again, these connections that you build in those communities grow for days, months, years. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have that longevity than to be forgotten the next day in an email, you know.

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. In what you just said, it leads me to believe that you really only have to spend maybe 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes a night or just, you know, maybe 15 minutes a day in your group.

Absolutely. You spend, you know, your focus on that group. You're not just scrolling through the group like you go in there intentionally, just like you would on your, you know, on your other platforms where you go in there in increments of 15 minutes and you go, okay, I'm going to focus my time on X, Y and Z. You're going to do the same thing in your Facebook group because it is that important. But it does not take away from what you're already very good at, you know, and that is your own product or service or, or course. So it doesn't take long, but it has to be intentional and you have to have a mindset that these are the people that are going to lift me up, that are going to be my clients, if not already. And if you can do that, it doesn't take much time.

Thanks so much, Anna. Thanks for giving us all the insight today about Facebook groups. It definitely invigorated me. Can you tell people where they can find you?

Sure, sure, sure. Absolutely. So I am@our communitycafe.com o u r communitycafe.com that's where my website is and you can find my own Facebook group. And here's I'm sharing this intentionally. It is our communitycafe.com and the reason I say that is I'm a huge proponent on filtering your members that come into your group through an email opt in. And the reason why is that I love the way that Facebook groups work with emails. And so I want to make sure that you are part of my email community so that you don't miss a beat when it comes to, to the actual Facebook group and the emails together. So our community.com sorry, our community cafe.com workshop and you will be added to my group.

And I love how you're doing that, you know, tying in your email list, which is so very important, along with your Facebook group and you do such a great job with your email communications and you know, what you do online. So it's so very valuable. I highly recommend it.

Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Well, thank you so much, Anna, for joining us today. I hope everybody enjoyed this episode, and bye for now.