First Class Community Facebook Group Course Overview

All right, so we're gonna dive right into First Class Community. It was the OG course that I brought to this industry. I really thought when I wrote this course in 2019 that I— it could change people, it could change your life, it could make your life easier, it could create a space for just you and just your potential clients and current clients. I wanted a place for people to come and feel like they could be themselves without being all public, right? Like so much of our lives seem like they have to be everywhere. I don't believe in that. I actually don't do that in my travel business. I only use my Facebook group and have been since 2019. This is a course that I thought was going to be my one and only course. So the fact that a year later we're sitting here with 3 courses. I have 2 more coming this year, and I am relaunching this course with additional modules, additional content. So much is coming, and that's what really inspired me to go over this course with you today, this overview, because I know there's a lot of information on my website, and with more courses coming, I do feel like we need to know what the baseline course is. And so the inspiration for everything I do in my business starts in my Facebook group. And I am now also successfully running Maximize, which is where you all are from. And I use these exact strategies in there every single day. So you're experiencing this strategy whether you know it or not. So I will always be really transparent. This is the basic overview of the First Class Community. I think it came down to, have you tried everything when it comes to attracting new business? Are you posting every single day on your Instagram or Facebook pages, or do you have— are you paying for services and you're not getting new leads? Are you kind of just over the social media game, like Reels and dancing and TikTok and talking to the camera every single day? Do you wish you knew exactly what to post and when? Do you want to grow an online travel business instead of in-person network? These were all kind of things I was feeling in 2019, and I felt like it was time for a change. And I had actually been also running another sales business exclusively in a Facebook group when they told me that that was not the way it was done. But I was extremely successful in doing that, and that's where this course was truly born. And I just knew that when I came back, I wasn't going to have the same kind of time to invest in my travel business the same way I did when I was— well, frankly, when I was first married, no kids, you know, I was working 24/7. And then after I had kids, I continued to work 14 hours a day and it was exhausting. And I was like, I was going to networking groups and trade shows and doing like a million things. And I was like, I can't do that now. I want to work from my house and from my car line and when I want to work and not when my clients are demanding me to work. Showing up in my Facebook group every day, once a day, twice a day was and continues to be the easiest way for me to stay in front of my clients. The First Class Community group is a self-paced study program. You will have lifetime access. I have been teaching it since 2019 in a different business, but I've been running some kind of business in this space since 2016. This is a little outdated information because as of 2024, I will have hit $1 million in sales working around 20-ish hours a week. I do make 6 figures in just my travel business, and this course has been truly customized for travel advisors who are ready to run their business this way, this way, in a 3-pillar strategy. And when I say this way, I say my way. I'm not talking about everybody else's way or whatever else you've read on the internet or some other social media influencer. Everything I teach is exactly how I do it. And if you come into the exclusive groups and question the model, you're simply questioning whether or not I'm telling you the truth. And I will tell you, I don't have any time— like, I wouldn't be able to keep track of any sort of lies or anything like that. So if you're questioning the model, it's maybe because you're not following the processes or you're not being patient enough with the system that is created for you. It takes time. Everything in our business should take time because if you're doing a relational business, if you truly want to connect with your community and your clients, that takes longer than a burn and turn business, than a booking engine only business. And that's why sometimes people get really frustrated. I've been doing this for 2 weeks exactly like you told me. I haven't sold one thing. Well, no shit, you're not going to sell off of 2 weeks of content that they just learned about and you have 8 people in your group. Whether you have Facebook group or building from scratch, you need this course. I promise you it will change how you run your course. If nothing else, you will get new engagement. Education for your clients will become a new way of teaching them something, not just selling them something. I really believe in service over sales above all else. I don't understand agents who are like, I don't want to help you, I don't want to help you, you never book anything with me, I'm not going to help. Help and release if you need to, but if you are not helping and serving your community in some way, that is what they'll remember. So it's really important that even if people do not book their travel with you, letting them in your group to have community is going to create memories long term. So even if they book their own vacations online, they could potentially refer you because their friends and family might need help and they don't wanna help them. So this— these are the modules that I teach and the new modules that are coming. Why a Facebook group? Over everything else, how to set up your group, how to— because so much of whether or not someone can find you on Facebook is based in how your group is set up, how you've named it, what the description says, all of those things. It is so, so important to set your group up correctly, and there is a step-by-step guide in Module 2 that will help you. The 3 posting pillars, which are personal posts, which are about you and your personal situations. It's not deep, dark secrets. It's just more about you than probably you're comfortable sharing sometimes on your main page and about things that you need help with. And the engagement posts are the quick and easy ways to get your group talking without purchasing, and then business posts, which get the least amount of engagement but plant the most seeds. Module 4 is curating those posts, building them, how to use call to action, where do I put everything, how long should the posts be, examples of those posts. And this is going to change in the relaunch because how I taught it last year is not how the algorithm is hitting this year. And I have been practicing new strategies for the last 4 months to see what is working for me now. And that's what I spend all my time doing besides writing and helping in my groups. I literally am test running my own ideas in my own groups to see what's hitting and what's not hitting and why and when so that I can bring that to you because the algorithm is always changing and I don't want you to have to worry about it. I don't want you to obsess over it. There's a lot of people in our group that obsess over the smallest things, and I don't. I want you to be having fun and doing the content, not obsessing over the numbers, because it's always changing and you can't keep up. And that's my job. I'm trying to keep up for you, and I want to bring that to you in the relaunch. Module 5 is all about growth of your group. If your group is not growing, it will not hit the algorithm. It doesn't matter how big it is right now. If it's not growing a few members a week, you don't have to grow by thousands, but growing by a certain, you know, 2 to 3 a week, 1 a week, Facebook will recognize that that's an engaged group. Module 6 is the new module. Now, this might change a little bit because I haven't actually finished the course. I am considering breaking these up into 2 modules, but we're going to talk about how to read your insights. What's important about those and why not to obsess about them. And I've already addressed this, but the algorithm, I'm going to talk a little bit more about that. I never covered that in the original course, and I really want to share with you some of the things that I've learned for 2024. Module 7 is building out a sales campaign. I am going to teach you My step-by-step process on how to sell your favorite thing and how to roll that out in your group inside of the content that's already provided. And I do think that that will be extremely valuable to you if your group is engaged. You can't just go in there and start doing a sales campaign. You have to take time, and there will be, you know, the why behind it, the when behind it. How to consistently, you know, be selling in your group, which is even though I said yes, we're here to serve, I also do want you to be getting leads and referrals and sales from your group. What's included? The 7 or 8 or 9 self-paced modules with lifetime access unless something horrid happens to me. Printable workbook for notes, thought-provoking questions, interactive activities, module 2 workbook, which is a step-by-step workbook that you can actually get for free if you go to my website and go to free things. You can automatically get that very soon. Don't go today, it's not there yet. It will be customized content calendar offering 2 to 3 posts a day, and I'm doing 60 days of content or until my brain runs out of ideas. And I'm actually going to be utilizing a Trello board this time instead of Google Doc. But you can, of course, if you already own this course, you're gonna have access to both. And yes, there will be duplicates because I am still utilizing my original content calendar. And I'm building off of that with the new, fresh, unique ideas that not only I have been bringing to this space, but your fellow advisors have offered, you know, and, and things that are working for them that I feel are imperative to be in there. And if I remember who you are, I will always give you credit. So I will be coming around to ask, you know, who thought of these ideas originally. Exclusive First Class Community Facebook group, which I've already addressed. It is probably my most active exclusive group, and I do think it is such a value add because I do not abandon you after you've taken this course. I answer every single question, you guys, every single one. I don't know how long I'm gonna be able to do that, but luckily for me, over 500 people have also taken this course. And so there are a lot of very knowledgeable agents who are utilizing these strategies who will also help you in there. You'll get ongoing support, and we do—

we—

I do like, what are they called? Accountability groups. And we, you know, have fun, and we make fun of the algorithm, and we get frustrated together. And we keep it real too. We, we don't really mess around. And then occasionally I do happy hour or a coffee talk. Coffee talk is probably not gonna happen, y'all. I'm not feeling real good right now. And then it says P2C course on this because I copied and pasted it from another slide, but it is for the Facebook group. Okay, girls, for those of you who are going to be giving me a testimonial, thank you. Thank you. It's so important to hear from our fellow colleagues and not just me every single day. I believe it is Melissa, Leslie, and Farren are going to talk about the Facebook group First Class Community. So before you get started talking, please tell us who you are, how long you've been a travel advisor, and what is your niche? Because I do find that I get a lot of questions about, can I do this with this niche? Can I do this with this niche? So So please share with us that. And then also, I gave you a few questions that you can just share openly about your experience. But if you had initial hesitation, please share some of that. What has your experience been since your hesitation? And how do you feel now? Like, how long ago did you take the course? And how do you feel now? Melissa, would you like to go first?

Sure. Yeah.

Awesome.

All right. So I'm, uh, I'm Melissa Esposito. I've been a travel advisor for 8 years, 2016. Yeah. So 8 years and I started part-time for quite a while. Um, and then I actually just last January, I had quit my full-time job of doing hair for 22 years. And so Marcie's course, this one came out, I think it was March. Something.

March 18th, 2023. Yeah.

And I, I'll tell you the truth. I didn't have a ton of hesitation because I had watched her strategy for many, many, many months before that. Um, Marcie went into some other groups and was like, I'm starting a group. I'm starting a course about like how to run a business out of a Facebook group. Like, would anybody like to join it? And I think I was like maybe one of the first people in the Maximize group. And so I saw her strategy right from the beginning of like, just, just, just sharing. and being helpful and creating this, like, like it's a long game, you know? And so then when, Marcie, when you were like, okay, I'm gonna be launching this course, I was like, great, what, where do I sign up? Like, because I was like, oh, I need—

She was like the first to buy it. She was like, when is it coming? When is it coming? Drove me crazy. I was like, girl, it's coming, I promise. It's so much more work than I thought.

I, I get that.

I get that.

So for me, um, Yeah, I, I have had a very— I've had very good success with it. I started— I took the whole course like immediately while you were in Italy and then— and I had already had like a group technically, but it was— had no engagement and I had like 30 people at the time. So I just like revived it and I used all the, all the strategies and I was like super consistent for months. And honestly, like my entire business, because again, I went from being a hairdresser and being around people all the time And then I was like, oh, I'm not going to be seeing people all the time. I need to have a thing that's engaging people. And it was like, it's like a, it's like a, um, it's like a faucet, honestly. If I turn, the more I post, the, like, the more leads I start getting. And then the less I post a little bit sometimes on purpose, a little less I get. But like, it is, it definitely has been highly successful overall.

When you say highly successful, what were you looking for in the Facebook group? When you first started it, and what does success look like for you in your niche?

Good questions. So success, at first I just decided I wanted it to be engaged. I was like, if all I'm doing is making sure that people are seeing things, reading them, commenting, then they're interested, you know? And I made that just the focus for quite a while. And I also put in my mind That I'll use my Facebook group to be the place. This is going to sound silly, but it's like a backwards thinking, but it works for me. I make it a place where like I give away information for free to people who will probably never book with me anyway. Like, that's like my free resource. Like, I'm giving away anything and everything I want to. I mean, I don't go like, I'm not going to give my actual personal time to people like who aren't going to book with me, but I'll give it on there as much as I can. And then like over time, people are like, oh. She's generous, she's smart, she's whatever. And then it's those people, then the actual success that comes from it is that later I start getting new leads and then they're like, oh, I, I'm in your Facebook group. I'm like, I have no idea who you are. You have never commented a thing, but they're in there.

I love that. They have never commented a thing, but they watch, they're listening, they're paying attention. This is huge for all social media, honestly, but definitely in the group because the reach status is better.

Mm-hmm.

And that was the other thing that I like the best about it. So I still work a little bit on, you know, I try to do some things on Instagram and some in my Facebook group. And I actually have kind of different content because I, uh, so my niche is all Mexico and Caribbean, but primarily groups and weddings, um, destination weddings. So I do more destination wedding content on my Instagram where I'm looking for like a, like a wider net, but Honestly, less engagement. But then in my Facebook group, I'm going for just like everything, anybody who could be in those, in those areas. And it's those people who, um, who never comment who are the ones who end up giving me clients. But the other thing I like about it is that it's not public to the whole world, just like you said. Like, I can be, I can just like talk about things in my Facebook group that I don't have to worry about what anybody else is judging or saying or thinking. Like, because It's my own little private group. It's not public. Nobody's going to search me up. And if they don't want to be in there, they don't have to be in there. So I like that. It's like your own little— this is my living room, right? Isn't that what you say?

Yes, I do. I call it the extension of a living room because I really feel like Facebook group is meant to be more of a casual, welcoming space where you can be yourself. You come over to my house, it's kind of messy. There's probably things out of place, but you're gonna feel welcomed, and there's always gonna be wine and coffee, you know. So that's how I look at my groups as well. And if you're looking at it from that perspective, I think it's wonderful. So congratulations, Melissa. And if you could stay on until the very end of this, because I know you have someplace to be, there might be questions that are specific to you. But first, I want to ask Erica or Leslie, who wants to go next?

I'm happy to go.

Okay, Leslie, if you could tell us a little bit about who you are, how long you've been a travel advisor, what's your niche, and then cover some of the same, um, questions that I asked Melissa.

So my name is Leslie, and I've been a travel advisor for just over 2 years. I kind of have a split role, and I actually, when I became a travel advisor, went to the president of our company and asked if I could take on all of our corporate travel. So I also built that out from scratch, not like a typical travel agent would. I'm doing things a little bit different to give kind of our staff some flexibility and some freedom, but we've got— about 250 staff nationwide, and all travel is booked through my desk. So that's been really fun, um, to be able to, to tackle that beast. Um, but also, I, um, so that agency that I work for is actually an adoption child welfare agency, and I have been in the adoption space since about 2010. So my niche and my focus is really on family travel, just because serving families has been my passion for years, um, as in I have a master's in education, but just my background of working with adoptive families and, um, kids from hard places and just the opportunity to serve is kind of what morphed into this, this travel advisor role. Um, and it's been really cool. So I kind of have 2 hats where my day job is booking travel for my agency based in Alabama that I do from home, but then also serving families in the adoption spectrum. So I've kind of got both things going on. But it all bleeds into the one overall space of doing just family, family travel. So 2 years. I took Marcie's class in January, I believe, and launched my group. I think it was like January 13th of this year. And as of this morning, I was messaging Marcie. I'm up to like 267 or something people. So when I started my group after I took the class, Mm-hmm. Which taking the class first before you launch is very helpful, um, to make sure you kind of do things the right way. But when I launched, I actually kind of started my group and started posting content before I ever invited my first person. So I had a little bit of content in the group where I wasn't inviting people to a blank space. It, it, it, I, even though I may not have known what I was doing, it appeared like I knew what I was because I had some content in there. So when the first member joined, there was things they could look at. So that was about a week of intentional posting. I've reused a lot of those posts, but it was a chance for me to be able to get in. And then I am one that really used my network of people. I've got a little bit over 1,000 people on my personal Facebook page.

Mm-hmm.

So I was one that went to that group and just said, hey, can I have 5 or 6 volunteers of people that want to help me? kind of post about my group and help me grow. I asked for 5 volunteers and got 22 people that offered.

Wow.

So I, I intentionally went like over multiple weekends and it was like Sundays people were posting, hey, my friend started a travel business and if you want to learn about her. And like, I wrote the post and asked them to cut and paste it and post it on their page. And I gained over 100 people in about 3 weeks. Um, by my friends doing my networking for me. So I've utilized kind of people I had served in my day job, um, that had seen kind of what I was doing, um, on that front. So my goal in my day job was to make people's travel as smooth as possible.

I—

all travel that's booked through my company goes on my corporate credit card. So I'm calling hotels, I'm setting everything up. They literally show up and everything's done. Um, so because of that has bled over to the personal side. Um, and a lot of those people have become my biggest advocates because I take care of— I love that. I take care of them on the corporate side. Um, and I was able to design that structure how I wanted to with my company. So it's been really cool to do kind of both and. So I have done things a little bit differently because I've— my day job and like this person, like this job kind of overlap. And it's just one big travel agent spectrum. So is that helpful? Did I answer all of this?

It is. I really like that you shared how you utilized your current network, because I think people forget that if you're over the age of 20, you have a network of some kind, whether or not you like them. They are there. They, you know, we're all friends with people on Facebook or we wouldn't be right here. And taking what you learned at your regular day job, which happened to also be travel, was extremely unique. But it just goes to show that the things you do day to day can affect your travel business. And if you have another job, or if you are someone who's a connector, especially if that's a, you know, if you're a helper, if you're someone who's Always helping your friends. Like, they are out there, and I promise you, they are willing to help you back. But you have to be so specific. And what I really enjoyed about what you told me about how you grew your group was because you did it very specifically. You told them what you needed and how you wanted it done, and you even wrote what you wanted them to say. And although a lot of people might be feeling very uncomfortable about that, That is sales. We are all in sales. So we have to sell ourselves and what we're doing.

It was easier for me too, because I don't love the invite button. Because I found when people were posting like my blurb about who I am and what I do and come join my travel group, they were choosing to join. So I was getting people in my group that wanted to be there. And I really like— that's been great because it's people that have chosen to come in versus me, you know, or, you know, kind of doing the blind invite or invite 10 friends or that, that kind of stuff. It was people that chose to be there. So I have found that that's helped me with intention. I think the last 5 trips I booked were from people I have no idea who they are.

I was going to ask you, how have you been getting actual leads?

Yeah, I got your name from so-and-so and I didn't even know the so-and-so. So it was like a, like a somebody invited someone who invited someone who invited someone. Like we were 4 people removed.

That's awesome.

I didn't recognize any of the names or any of the people, but—

And that can happen for anybody, you guys. We don't know who our network knows. And that's why it is important, even if they're not your aligned client, that you get them in your group if you can. And that is why I do the 3-post pillar strategy in the group, because there will always be people in the group who will never shop with you but may be willing to refer you because you're not trying to sell them everything all the time, every single day. You are going to be having real conversations and encouraging them to ask questions, and then you're going to be answering those questions honestly and authentically, not like a ChatGPT robot. You know, we have to bring our authentic selves to this space or it will not work. I promise you, if you are using ChatGPT to write all your content, not only will the algorithm not like you, but your people won't like you. And we need to be ourselves to be likable because like, no trust is a real thing. And what is so important about what Leslie has said is her network trusts her enough to share her new travel business with the world. And that is so key. And the fact that she's had 5 new sales from her, and you said you started in January.

My group started in January. Yeah.

That's incredible. Congratulations. That is honestly, that is as successful as it gets. But I also think it's important to know that Leslie followed the calendar. She does what we ask her to do. When she needs help, she asks for help, and we lean in and we help her. So I think as a new agent with a new group, it's so important. And even though she has this day job that bleeds over, it doesn't mean that you cannot utilize your own network to grow. Even if they're currently not aligned, you can train them in the group.

But yeah, and I, I created my day job.

She's like, I invented it.

I'm just doing it. I think I can help us serve the agency better by doing X, Y, and Z. And he said, have at it. So I think it's just thinking outside the box and then using all of that kind of together is kind of how it's all morphed into being.

Well, thank you for sharing, and if you could stay on through the Q&A of this section, that'd be so helpful. Erica, are you around?

Erica?

I am. Sorry.

Hi.

Where's your face?

My face is On the other one because my children were sleeping when we started this. Okay, no worries.

So tell us who you are and how long you've been an agent, what your niche is, and what's going on in your Facebook group.

So I am Erica Betchart Griffin. I have been an agent for almost 3 years. I took most of '22 off So I guess 2 years. Um, had a rough year, but my niche is— I do— just making sure that wasn't for me. My niche is primarily Mexico and the Caribbean. I work with families and I specialize in working with allergy families. And small children because traveling as an allergy family just is rough in itself.

Yeah.

Um, sucks. But, um, as far as in my Facebook group, it has grown. It's— I have a pretty large network on my personal Facebook page. I have like almost 3,000 followers. And then I have a business page of like 6,700 followers, I believe.

Yep.

Um, so getting them into a Facebook group has been, um, I'll say this, in the beginning it was very difficult to get them over to the Facebook group, but, um, So I still post on my business page and in my page and just building that like, know, and trust factor. And I have found that posting consistently with a calendar has, um, oh man, peanuts. Yeah, we don't have peanut allergy, thank goodness. Um, we, yes, we have definitely. Gotten more interaction in the last several months. I think I joined Maximize back in May and I started the Facebook group, I think, as soon as it came out. And very quickly I started growing. I think I grew from like 50 people in my group into over 200 within the next Like 2 months. And so that was really cool. And I get all of my clients from my Facebook group, which is—

So even though you still actively use your personal page and your Facebook business page, the majority of your business is still coming from your group, even though it's the smallest?

Yes.

Okay, good.

Which means I think that sounds absolutely insane, but I also, I don't post about travel as much on my personal page as I do, obviously, on my business page. And the only reason I post about it on my business page, I still follow the calendar to some form or fashion, is just because there is such a large following. But the interaction is definitely more in the Facebook group where it is a smaller, more intimate, um, group.

That's great, Erica. And as someone who has watched you grow, I think it is incredible what you have created in your community. Community, and they love all of the tips and education that she provides. And I think that that is the key to success in our business in general, is providing free education, because people do not know us. They don't. You cannot assume anything about the people who join your group, the people who follow you. You don't know what they're thinking. We are not mind readers. So we just have to show up, right? And if we start showing up and we're following the calendar, we will have some form of a result. And it might not be the result you're specifically looking for with each post, right? So it's important to not hold high expectation of response. Erica, do you feel like your business posts create the business, or do you feel like Your other posts are what are bringing people into your space to purchase?

I think the more personal and the educational posts, not just the, hey, they have a 777 deal or whatever. I feel like I get more engagement on the, when's your favorite time to travel, or those random things. I feel like I get more engagement and I have had some people Say, hey, your passport reminder to get your passport.

Yes.

And reminder to get travel insurance. I do those every single month because I think everybody should know, like we had to actually use travel insurance. We buy it for every trip and we actually had to use it recently. And so I just share a blurb about that and they're like, whoa. I talked to a couple going to Barbados. into getting travel insurance because they saw my post. Thank God.

What I really love about this too is you're sharing your personal experiences. So when I say personal post, that's a personal business post because you are sharing not only about your own experience, but it is a business post because we're also trying to educate them through that. And it's, I mean, insurance, while, I mean, it's not a fabulous thing to talk about, it's not always fun, it does add to our bottom line. And it protects their vacation. It is a win-win, right? So sharing win-wins is always a huge deal. Thank you so much, Erica. And we're gonna go to the chat because there are some questions, but I will also be covering the most frequently asked questions, which is in the chat right now. And it's why Facebook groups is better than a page or Instagram. And I do cover this a lot in the course. I go into a lot more detail and statistics, but the bottom line is Facebook is still the most used social media of anyone between the ages of 24 and 80. So if you are in another world of, well, they're on TikTok, they're on Instagram, my people are here, I understand, but your people are also on Facebook. And if you don't know that about them, it doesn't mean they're not there. It doesn't mean that your aligned client isn't there. And Instagram is this huge ocean of content, just massive amounts. And so is Facebook. However, the algorithm is so much more friendly to Facebook groups than Facebook pages or Instagram. Facebook page may reach 1% of your following per day. The Facebook group statistic is that on average, so it could be lower, could be higher, 20 to 40% of your group will see some of your posts. Now I know that sounds like, well, that's not a— that is also the reason we follow the calendar with the strategy that I have offered to you for at least 30 to 60 days, which is why in the new relaunch I am adding 30 more additional days to keep you going. Because I always hear, what do I do now after this, after the calendar's over? Well, first of all, you can start at the beginning because the people who were in there now have not seen all the things you posted before. But also, content creation should not take hours. It does. This is the second post. How long does it take? It takes longer in the beginning than it does 60 days later. 60 days later, it takes like that amount of time. You learn how in 90 days to do it faster. A year from now, you'll be whipping out posts in under an hour for the entire week. I do encourage scheduling on your account, your physical personal calendar, to block time to do content. But also, so much of the content calendar is cut and paste. And for anyone who utilizes the content calendar, if you're here, please chat about it in the group chat. Chastity, I think you're here. Please drop a little note about What has happened to you in the group? Because I do think her specifically, under 100 followers, I want to say like 75 members, she has gone from zero to $75,000 in sales in just a few months. She's a new agent, and she—it's incredible what she has done with her group following the calendar and rinse and repeating the calendar. So how long does it take? It depends on you. I used to say, well, it'll take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, but. Some people do spend a lot more time because they're trying to be perfect, and trying to be perfect is the death of social media. It doesn't matter if it's Instagram, it doesn't matter if it's Facebook groups. The more perfect you try to be, the more disappointed you will be when you do not get engagement from that post, and the more exhausted you will become in creating that content. So I'm always very, very big on imperfection. Show up as you are. Don't worry about your makeup. Don't worry about the makeup of the post. Just show up, share educational, engaging content, and be yourself. Should I do one group or more? So a lot of you have different niches or multiple niches, and I still believe one group is all you need. This is meant to save you time over Overtime, not create more work for you. And I can tell you that I almost didn't create an exclusive private group for Close to Home because of the amount of time I spend in each group each day. So the more groups you have, the more content you have to create, and the more engagement you have to create. And that is not the purpose. The purpose is to have one place where people can get to know everything you do. All the things, because a person who is a cruiser now might want to go to Disney next year, and a Disney client might want to, you know, jump to Europe if that's something you also do. If you don't, that's okay. But what I'm saying is, if you have multiple things you enjoy selling, you can talk about all of those in one space. You don't have to have a Disney group, a Europe group, an all-inclusive group. I really do believe in one living room. You only have one house for most of us, and you're not inviting everyone over. you know, individually to talk about individual things. So, I really think it's important that you mix up your content within your niches and keep it in one space. Now, I'm going to— if you want to unmute or if you want to type a question, I'm going to open it up to questions for just a few minutes, and the gals who are willing to share about their experience will also help me answer those.

Marcie, I do have a few Okay. Let's do it. So Joy asked a little earlier, if we're thinking about getting the Facebook group course, should we wait for the new version? Will it be offered at a discount to those who have already bought the older version?

So the exciting news, and one that my coach hates, is that I am giving it to you. If you purchase it now or you have purchased it already, you will receive the new modules and the new content Automatically, you'll get a new email that says the new course has been launched. You've been added to it. Well, actually, it'll just upload into your current course because Miranda's just gonna add it all there. But I would purchase it now because the price of the course will be going up with these new modules when it does launch. So if this is the cheapest it's gonna be, and you can actually purchase Propose to Close and Facebook group together. You have to go to Propose to Close first, and then you can add the Facebook groups course for less. I think it's like 2 or— I don't know, it's like $111 off of the original price. So if you get it at whatever price, you will receive those updates.

And then Christina, Christina S says, I only have about 350 Facebook friends. On my personal account. Will my group be an epic fail?

Well, I'd love to say I know the answer to that, but there's no possible way for me to know the answer to that. I will always tell you that if you work your group, if you build a group, they will come. That's a big one for me because I feel like it doesn't matter. You know, if you only had like 50 friends, we might be having a different conversation. But I would encourage you to potentially grow and engage in your personal Facebook maybe a little bit before you build a new group. But what I have found is a small but mighty group is powerful. Like, you don't have to have thousands of people to be successful at a Facebook group. It is very different than Instagram. It's very different than TikTok. And it's so important to trust Trust the process and trust that your friends will help you grow if you ask. Those 350 people all know 350 people, and it's really important to remember that. And if you are producing engaging, authentic content that even 50 people in a group would enjoy, they all know 50 people that they might be willing to share your group with over time. And so, I do say that size does matter, but not— it's not the only thing that matters. And I just, I believe it would not be an epic fail if you are willing to be patient with the process and, and actually follow the content and just have faith that, that those activities each day will plant seeds that will grow years from now.

And then the last question that I have From the chat for now is Jessica says, I have a business page with over 750 people that follow it. I post regularly all sorts of content. Do you still think a group is better even though I have a network already there? I also started a group tied to it at one point, but it wasn't doing well since my page was bigger, so I don't post much in that group.

Well, it's because you don't know how to run the group. It's very different than a page, and if your page is creating return on that investment of time and you are getting positive, like solid quality aligned client leads, maybe you don't need a group. A group is meant for long-term growth in a community space. A Facebook page is not necessarily a community because they cannot talk back to you. They can't post on their own on your page. They have to only comment. It's a one-way conversation on Facebook pages and its reach is not great. Your reach will increase if you're following the content calendar and you're pulling those page members over, it's important to remember we do wanna try to transition them, which can take time. So I treat the Facebook page like if you have a Facebook page or an Instagram, like a billboard for your business, right? You're gonna drive by, they're just like flying by it. But then when they get home, they might slow down and like chill in your Facebook group living room. Like that's kind of how I want you to visualize these 2 spaces. They're very different. And I always tell people, if you have time to scroll on Facebook— and I'm just saying this out loud because I didn't say it when I meant to say it— you have time to post. Because that's another big thing is a lot of us are like, we don't have time to do this and that, and I have this already. And it's like, if you have time to be here, if you have time to be on Maximize, if you have time to be talking— hold on, guys, I'm so sorry, my door is open. And just like Erica said, she has 6,700 followers on her page, but she gets all of her business from her group, which has 200 people in it. So we have to really remember that. Okay, is there any more questions specifically about Facebook groups that you'd like any of the Ladies who spoke to answer. Do you have any specific questions for them?

Can can I add a thought? Yes, please. Okay. One of the most important things that I feel like everybody is, especially in the beginning when you're looking at the calendar, you're going to like ignore sharing your group on your personal page on Sundays. And sharing on in your stories, follow the daggum calendar. Like don't think you know more than Marcy because she's a baddie and you should just do the dang thing. Because for the first couple weeks, I followed everything but that, and I noticed that when I actually followed that part of it as well, it grows. And people continue joining. So follow the damn thing.

Thanks, Erica. I really appreciate that. There is a question, Farren, I just saw in the chat that says, how do you create a Facebook— correct Facebook group when your client base is not yet focused? Honestly, it's okay. It doesn't matter if it's not focused. You know more about your business than anyone else. So when you create the group, you, if you do sell more than one thing, you can put that either in the title or in the description and you can say, I sell a variety of things. I'm a travel advisor. I would encourage you to consider specializing and niching down just as some extra coaching. But obviously it takes time to figure out for everybody what they wanna do. But I wish, I wish someone had told me, Marcie, you can run your business in a Facebook Facebook group and be successful over time without knowing exactly what it is you're selling, because you can go in there and educate on all kinds of travel things, travel news. You can educate them on getting a passport, you know, that's general. And then the more you interact, you can ask them, where do you want to go next on your vacation? And get an idea of what they're thinking about doing. The, the group teaches us something every time we post. If we're paying attention, if we're asking them questions like, do you like the mountains or do you like the beach? Literally, they're gonna tell you the answer, what they like more. And then if you do both, you can start to support that by posting business posts around those items. So even your engagement posts are meant to educate you on what your clients enjoy. So it's really important that you don't overthink it. This is probably the number one issue with travel advisors is you, you get paralysis from overthinking, and it's very common. But if you just do it and try it and consistently follow the calendar, it can and does work every single day for the agents that are in the Facebook group's course exclusive group, as well as some that have never taken it and have just followed all of my content and know how it works, have figured it out.