MBA1179 How to Grow with Facebook Groups

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Hey, welcome to the $1 Army. Because your business needs you to be at your best. That's why we deliver daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the Hundred Dollar mba, a complete business training and community online. And in today's episode you'll learn how to grow with Facebook groups. No, I'm not talking about starting your own Facebook group. I'm talking about you personally growing as an entrepreneur, making connections, building your network, getting new clients by being a part of other groups. Groups that are already established, that have momentum. In today's episode, I'm going to give you my personal strategy on finding the right groups, how many to join, how to participate, and the do's and don'ts when it comes to being valuable and an asset to the actual Facebook group. Groups are a great place to validate ideas, get support, help other people, meet new friends in business and form partnerships that you would never imagine. Partnerships that can help you grow your business and help you grow professionally. Now if you know a bit about me, I'm not a huge fan of Facebook. I think social media in general can be a huge time waste. But Facebook groups is quite helpful. And if you're going to be on Facebook I think groups is where it's at. Let me show you how. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. I've been a part of a lot of Facebook groups. I'm talking about more than I can count. But what I learned in that process is that in order for you to be successful, you need to be a prominent member of a group. That means you can't be active in so many groups. So it may take some time for you to find the right groups. But once you do, I highly recommend you focus on being an active member of three to four groups, four max. Why? Because if you are a member of, let's say, three groups, you're going to have to participate and really contribute a reasonable amount of your time. Maybe post two or three times a week. And when I say post, I mean it could be a reply, it could be a post that you put up. It could be helping other people, answering questions, participating is what I'm saying. So if you participate three or four times a week, for each group, you're talking about nine to 12 times a week, that's gonna take about an hour or so of your time. So you wanna really limit it as much as possible. Cause the name of the game here is value. You want to be able to add value to the group and be valuable, a valuable member to the group. And it's better for you to be a valuable member of three groups than a member that really doesn't add any value. Or I should say, you're not really a prominent member of, you know, 10 or 15 groups. So what are some signs of a great Facebook group? Number one, a good fit for you and your business, what you do. So if you're an entrepreneur, being part of a, you know, business owner's group on Facebook is just too wide. You want to get as specific as possible. If you're an online business, if you're an E commerce store on Shopify, that's a better group. A group that is specific to Shopify business owners. Two, you want a group that is managed properly. The admin of the group really takes the initiative to really manage the group and curate the conversation a little bit. Some of the groups that I'm a part of, they're actually so well organized that they have an annual meetup that people meet in person and it's become sort of like a mini conference. And then lastly, you want a group that is not too big. I've been a part of groups with 70,000 members. It's just too noisy. It's too crowded. You really can't follow what's going on as well as contribute in a meaningful way. When. When you post something, it gets buried in five seconds. Now, in any Facebook group, there's going to be about 10 to 20 people in that group that really shape the group, that really propel it forward, that really add a lot of value and make it what it is. You want to be one of those people? Why? Because it makes it easy for you to be seen as a leader in your marketplace, as a giver, as somebody who actually contributes that adds value to the actual market. So in order to do that, you have to be in the group. Right. So how do you get to be a part of these groups? Well, every group is different. Some are secret groups, so you can't find them through a search on Facebook. They're just basically by invite only. Somebody sends you a link and then you join. Some of these are closed groups where they're closed, but you can search for them and find them. And these groups are quite good. And then you can request to be part of the group, and then the admin accepts or denies you. And then lastly, there's open groups where you can just say, yes, I want to be part of this group, and you just get accepted automatically. I really find that the first two are the ones that add the most value, that are really the ones that are good groups to be a part of when they're just open, really. There is no filtration system, and unfortunately, it just becomes unruly. And that's why some of these groups are so huge. So how do you get an invite or how do you actually get accepted? Well, first of all, it helps to know somebody. So make a list of five people that you know that are somewhere along the lines of, let's say, a few years ahead of you, where you want to be, whether you met them at a conference, whether you're on their email list, whether you bought a product from them before, whatever. A simple email saying, hey, I'm trying to grow my network. I'm trying to become better as an entrepreneur. I'm trying to improve. Are there any Facebook groups you're a part of that you can invite me to? I'd love to, you know, learn. It doesn't have to be a Facebook group that's affiliated with your business. It could be any kind of group. Sending a quick email to five people is really going to help. You're going to get a few replies and you're going to get some invites. Now, remember, this person's vouching for you. So you got to make sure that you add value and you don't spam the group. And we'll talk about spamming the group. You want to make sure that you're promotion free. Do not feel compelled to promote yourself in these groups. Hey, this is my website and here's my latest products. Or join my webinar or sign up for my course. All that stuff is unnecessary. You could just simply say, I am an entrepreneur. I run a business. It's called this. It does this. When you introduce yourself, you can simply do that. If people are interested, they can just Google you. Right? The point of the group is not to convert everybody into a customer. No, you want to be very sensitive to that. Do not promote in these groups. You will get banned if it's run properly, if you do. And if you're thinking about sharing something for feedback or something like that, and you're kind of on the fence, you're not sure if this is promotion or not. Ask the admin. You can message the admin in Facebook and ask them, hey, I'm thinking about posting this message. I don't want to promote. I want to simply, you know, convey this message. Is this okay? I wanted to ask you first, and I've done this a ton of times, and he or she will let you know. The admin will let you know. And sometimes I do get a no. Like, do not post this. It's better for you just to word it this way. And it's super helpful. And they appreciate the fact that you ran it by them first. The point here is that you're adding so much value in the group that you're helping people. You're answering questions, you're participating in conversations, you're sharing helpful stuff that people are gonna remember your name. That's the point. People are gonna remember your name, who you are, and you're gonna be top of mind. And it may take some time, but sooner or later they'll be like, who is this person? I'm going to Google them, I'm going to check them out. What do they do? I'm telling you, this works. Just be valuable when you join a group at the start, you can simply just answer questions. People might ask questions, ask for feedback, get your opinion on some things. This is an easy way to kind of ease into it and get a feel of the group. Also to continue to be helpful. Slowly, you can start sharing your own challenges, asking your own questions, and asking for feedback from the group as well. Your mission here is to build relationships is to build friendships and to enjoy yourself. These are really good groups to be a part of and to meet like minded people. What I found is that these relationships often extend to outside the group. You start emailing each other, you start working with each other. You start building some bonds and some partnerships and organically they become clients, customers, advocates of your business or your product. Don't force it. It's going to happen on its own.

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To wrap up today's lesson, Facebook groups are a great way for you to build your network, to learn to grow professionally and to be around like minded people. Ever feel like you're not in the know, like what the latest tools are or conferences are and you miss out on opportunities? Well, groups are a great way to not miss out. There's a lot of discussion, people ask questions and heck, you can say hey, who's going to this conference? And you can meet up in real life. Follow the tips that I shared today. Don't force it. Let it happen organically and choose the right groups. It could be the best time spent on Facebook. I can vouch for that. Alright, thank you so much for listening. That wraps up today's lesson. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Be careful with being on Facebook for too long. Limit yourself. You know I would time block your time in these groups every day. So maybe just say I'm going to spend 15 minutes every day at the end of my day. That means at the end of the week is about an hour and 15 minutes I'm spending in these groups. I'm participating. I'm helping. I'm being a valuable member, but I'm not spending too much time scrolling and looking at baby photos on Facebook. No offense to babies, but we don't want to spend too much time on social when we could be focusing on our business. Thank you so much for listening to the $100 MBA show. I'll check you in tomorrow's episode Q and A Wednesday. I'll see you then. Take.

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