EXPLODE Your Facebook Group! Organic Growth & Engagement

Ladies!

If we’re being honest, who’s SICK of their Facebook Group? Is the engagement in your Facebook Group at an all-time low? Are you wondering why you started a Facebook Group in the first place? You’re not alone! After running my own group for years, I’ve cracked the code to not only have organic growth inmy Facebook group by using tags and a searchable title but also drive tons of engagement within the group!

The best part? My Facebook group now serves as one of my best sales conversion tools with (at best) 60%+ conversion from live video to sales!

When you increase your Facebook group engagement, your members begin to TRUST you which ends up in referrals, shares, podcast downloads, and sales!

In this episode, you will learn the five secrets to driving Facebook group organicgrowth and engagement within your groups. It’s time for your group to go next level.

I pray this blesses you!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00)
Hey friends. Welcome to another episode of the mompreneur mastermind show. In full disclosure. I’m totally recording this from my cell phone while my kids are in the bath tub. So good luck with the audio on this one. However, I really wanted to put this together for you guys because I’ve had a lot of requests on how I grew my Facebook group so quickly, all organically, how I drive engagement like crazy in that Facebook group. And finally, ultimately I’ve helped a couple of other people have a ton of success in their own groups.

(00:32)
I thought, hey, why not share the wealth? So here we are today in this quick impromptu episode, all about how the heck to drive Facebook groups, organic growth, just without having to pay for anything, how to then make the group into this organic powerhouse that is actually going to help you grow and scale a business and ultimately make sales and convert because that’s really why we have Facebook groups in the first place. Am I right? So let’s do this. This is going to be so much fun. Here are all my secrets and tips for Facebook group growth, engagement and conversion.

(02:01)
Before we dig into today’s episode, I just wanted to remind you guys that hi, I am a clarity and podcasting coach. What’s up? I can help you if you are stuck in your journey at any point, and you need a little help. You can grab a breakthrough call with me at any time and we can go through your brand creation. We can go through the roadblocks that you’re facing. I can help you come up with the four tiers of brand creation, like title, tagline description, etc.

(02:29)
We can do podcasts audits together, we can map out your online course, we can do anything no matter where you’re at from very beginner, not even started yet to ready to scale to six figures and beyond. Let me help you and hold your hand. Let me be your mentor. I have a couple of spots open remaining, so email us www.stefaniegass.com/coaching for the latest coaching menu and to get on the books.

(02:57)
All right, let’s dig into Facebook groups. Why Facebook groups? Facebook groups are how you guys can go deeper with your audience. So you’ve got this podcast, right? I mean, if you guys have been listening to me for any amount of time, you know, that podcasting is what’s up.

(03:12)
When it comes to driving organically, a huge community audience and following that you get to foster, you get to pour into you, get to help, you get to nourish, you get to help people be seen and felt and heard. And it’s how you show up every week.

(03:27)
However, once we capture people from our podcast, which if you’re not in Podcast Pro University, join us, launch your show, please. I am telling you, it is the number one way that you can scale and grow in today’s crazy online world. How insanely fast audio is growing, you need a podcast. So podcastprouniversity.com for that. Secondly, you then are organically marketing on Pinterest, which is why I also have my Pinterest Masterclass. Okay?

(03:58)
So now we’ve got those two things. What do we do next? We go deeper. We need people to ultimately trust us at the deepest possible level, which is why I recommend a Facebook group for that. You move people from your podcast into your Facebook group.

(04:13)
Then the other cool perk of a Facebook group is you can actually capture people organically without having your podcast drive traffic there or in addition to, by setting up your new or existing Facebook group for success. So let’s talk about how to make sure that your group is capturing people from the interwebs without you doing a thing. Yes, that is so Epic. Right?

(04:37)
How do we capture people and grow our audience faster, more quickly and for free, without us doing a thing? Yes, please. Number one. When you set up your Facebook group, it needs to have a great SEO driven title. So if you have like Mama Loves Baby or Mama Loves Self-love as your Facebook group. I want you to think deeper.

(05:02)
How can you retitle that or make the title more searchable and specific like postpartum support for moms? Okay. So think about what can that Facebook group title be that’s super searchable. Second, you need to make sure that your Facebook cover art is really amazing. If y’all have ever gone and searched for Facebook groups, it’s like the cover of a book. It matters.

(05:25)
We need to see that this group is relatable to me, professional looking, and really makes me want to join. So that’s the second thing is make sure that your Facebook cover art is really professional. If you guys need help with that, you can email my graphic designer, ale.merino@gmail.com. Tell her you’re my student, my listener, and you can grab some special pricing from my graphic designer, Ale, she’s amazing.

(05:54)
On that channel art, don’t forget a call action. For example, my Facebook group says the Mompreneur Mastermind Group Sisterhood – home of the number one podcast for Christian mompreneurs, The Mompreneur Mastermind Show. So I have a call to action, which is go and listen to the podcast.

(06:14)
One of my clients, Brooke Jefferson, we just redid her Facebook group. If you’re a photographer, go and join Social Selling with Brooke Jefferson. On her art, we had a call to action to download her resource for photographers and it also mentions her podcast as well. Okay.

(06:32)
Next step is to have a great description in your group. So in the about me in the settings, you can add a description. Use keywords and specific triggers that your listener or your person would be Googling. So in my description, I basically copied my podcast description. Okay. But it says things like, are you struggling to start your online business and brand? You want to launch a podcast? Do you need clarity? Here is your online hub for all things online marketing, passive income, clarity, coaching, podcasting, and more.

(07:10)
You guys can go to my group and read my description, but that’s what you need for your description. Don’t just leave that blank because it’s valuable real estate. The next thing that you want to do to get found is head on down in the settings to the field that says tags, okay. You have five tags that you can use to be searchable inside of Facebook.

(07:32)
So if I am a podcasting coach and I write in podcasting, some of the most popular podcasting pages will pop up as a recommended tag. So for example, if I choose Pat Flynn and his passive income page, that means anytime somebody likes Pat Flynn’s page, my page, or my group gets recommended as well.

(07:54)
So you want to choose related pages or related groups or related search terms to your stuff in the tags, in those five key areas so that your group will get recommended over in the sidebar. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed when you’re in Facebook, in your groups on the right hand side, you notice other groups that are being recommended to you. That’s because of the tags. So don’t leave that blank for sure. That is one of the number one ways my group gets found organically is my tags. Okay?

(08:26)
Now that we have the front end stuff all covered and your group is going to start working for you, you actually need to drive members. So those are all the ways that people can find you. But how else can you guys drive members? You can first add people that want to be added. Don’t ever add someone without their permission. But secondly, you can then reach out.

(08:47)
Let’s say that we’re talking about Brooke Jefferson’s group right now, Social Selling for Photographers. She can say, hey guys, who else knows a photographer that would find value by being in this group? And we actually set up a contest where Brooke said, add three photographers to the group that want to be added or invite them, and then post a screenshot of this group in your Instagram stories and you’ll be entered to win something.

(09:14)
She ran this contest. And last night she had a hundred new members request to join her group. So you can run some easy, simple contests like that, not just for your podcast, but even for your Facebook groups so that you guys can start to add more people more quickly. You can then ask people to share the group as well.

(09:36)
Anytime you get ready to go live. Anytime you get ready to add free value into the group, remind people that they’re able to add a friend, invite someone to come watch, etc. Okay? Those are all the strategies I have for you today on organically growing and scaling your Facebook group.

(09:55)
Number two, the second half of this episode is to learn all about how to drive engagement now within the Facebook group. So now you’ve got this group. It’s working. You’ve got great cover art. You’ve got a good description. People are requesting to join. One other tip on this. You guys need to set up questions at the point of requesting people to join the group.

(10:17)
So in the settings, you’ll notice there’s a field for asking approval questions. What does this mean? When someone comes to your group, they have to answer a couple of questions for you. This is a great way for you guys to grow your list. So the questions that I ask are, number one, what is the greatest or biggest problem you are facing as a Christian mompreneur or as an online entrepreneur?

(10:43)
Number two, what’s your email address? I want to send you a free gift. And number three is, do you agree and abide by the rules? And then we have rules in here because nobody wants their group to be spamela Anderson. We want our groups to be a lot of added value. Yes. So bonus tip, add the questions for sure. Capture email addresses.

(11:05)
I mean, if you think about it, Brooke was just able to add 100 email addresses to her email list in one day. Is that not incredible? So y’all need to make sure that’s set up for you. Okay. Let’s move to engagement. For a long time, in my group I didn’t do anything because I wasn’t sure what to do. And because I felt like when I posted nobody cared and nobody was replying and wasn’t even adding any value.

(11:31)
Then I realized this group is a collection of people who already trust me, who listen to my show, who follow me on social media. They already trust me. Why am I not going deeper? Why am I not growing that trust with the people in the Facebook group? The people in the Facebook group, my friends are the ones who are ready, willing, and waiting to buy from you. Yes they are. Okay.

(11:59)
Just to give you guys a visual of what real life looks like as a mom boss podcaster/actual mom, I just had to get my kids out of the bath, pause this recording, which I’m totally doing on my phone. I don’t remember if I told you all that. Secondly, refill my coffee cup, which I’ve since lost, cause I’m walking around, get my kids a snack, get them dressed and then pop them outside so they can play while I finish this recording for you guys. That is a picture of real life.

(12:30)
So in case you have any like false idea in your mind about what it takes to run a successful business and just manage being a mom know that it ain’t perfect. It’s never going to be perfect. It’s going to be really messy. And you’re going to have to record the episodes from your phone in the mom cracks of the day sometimes. But guess what? That’s, what’s epic about it. That is what’s so epic about it, and I’m so grateful.

(12:57)
So anyway, back to the engagement inside your group. What I’ve actually done is outsource the group management. Thank you to Angel McElhaney. Huge shout out to Angel who’s running my groups for me now. But you guys I’ve been a full time entrepreneur for eight years. So don’t get sad if you’re like, but I can’t afford to outsource. You will be able to, if you play your cards right?

(13:23)
So what Angel does is roughly three to five times a week, she is posting something that will drive engagement or help the group members be seen, heard, learn, grow, etc. The purpose of that is to help people grow as a community to help foster more trust. And this can be anything like as simple as how do you take your coffee, or post the latest, inspirational graphic from your phone or share what you’re working on today.

(13:55)
We have a couple that are just simply engagement related. And then we have a couple that are prompted, like share your latest podcast episode or share what you’re working on, etc. So I would recommend setting that up for your group. I also recommend you have a welcome video at the top of your groups, letting people know who you are, why you’ve created this space for them, what they can expect, how they can learn and grow, what are the rules of the group?

(14:18)
Then in the text of that welcome video, have a call to action or three. Did you guys know I have a free podcast with hours and hours of training for you. Number two, did you know I have a freebie on how to grow a profitable business online, all the steps to your business blueprint. Number three, did you know you can work with me?

(14:39)
All of those things can be right there in a pinned announcement of your group along with a video. Yes. I said video of you. All right, next, how can you then add more value to the people in your groups? What I like to do is go live once a week and answer questions. Now, if your group has 10 people, you may not have anybody that is willing to submit questions yet.

(15:03)
You may not have anybody jumping on when you go live. No problem act as if. For years I put a post it note over the live number and I went live anyway. It’s a great practice to go live when people aren’t actually watching you versus when you’ve got 97 people on a live. Oh my gosh, believe me. I’ve been there. So practice as if.

(15:27)
If you don’t have the bandwidth to go in there once a week, go live or do a training in your group once a month. Make sure you are staying on the same topic on the same niche. If you have a brand like let’s use Brooke as our example, since we’ve been talking about her a lot today. She helps photographers scale five figures and beyond.

(15:49)
Brooke should not go live in the group and talk about email marketing or crafting for kids, right? Like she needs to stay on topic. She’s got to be known as the expert for scaling a photography business to five figures and beyond. So Brooke should go live every single week and answer questions from her community or do a little quick live training.

(16:15)
You guys I’m talking 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Once your group has hundreds or thousands of people, sure go live for 30 minutes, but you just have to start somewhere. Why are we doing this? Because the group is an exclusive space. It’s a safe, exclusive space for people to get to know you at a deeper level, almost the deepest level before they spend money with you and move into trust tier two, where they actually buy a product or coaching from you, right?

(16:45)
So you’re going to give them that special attention by having this training once a week. And let me tell you guys a little secret. You can repurpose every live that you do inside of your Facebook group and air it on your podcast. I set my phone up. I go live while I answer questions in my Facebook group, The Mompreneur Mastermind Show.

(17:06)
Which p.s. if you’re not part of my group, you gotta pause this episode right now and come join Mompreneur Mastermind group on Facebook. If you just search Mompreneur Mastermind, you will find it. Or you can search my name in the groups. I go live every week in there, guys, free training, free value. It’s a ton of fun. People are collaborating. I’m swapping, working together, all the things.

(17:29)
So Mompreneur Mastermind group on Facebook. Come join. Anywho, I go live from my phone and then I actually turn on Zoom and have my microphone plugged in. And I record my live at the same time. So now I not only have a live video in my group. I also have a podcast episode, hot dang. That’s amazing.

(17:50)
I am all about repurposing, automating, streamlining, being efficient and saving time. How about you? Okay. Now before my kids come back in and start screaming, I want to quickly tell you how you guys can use your Facebook group to drive sales. Yes, OMG. My Facebook group along with my podcast are the two ways that I actually make a lot of profit in my business. How? Well I’m constantly giving call to actions here on the show. Right?

(18:22)
Earlier, when we started this episode, I talked to you guys about what, coaching with me. I mentioned my Podcast Pro University course. I even mentioned my Pinterest course. So I offered you guys three ways that you can work with me right here on the show. Well, maybe some of you aren’t ready for that. You’re like, I don’t know. I just found this girl. I’m liking her episodes, but I’m not sure Stefanie can actually get me a result that I’m willing to pay for. No problem.

(18:47)
Come join the Facebook group. So now I’ve told all of you and you know, you guys, this is such a great visual. I’ve told all of you that haven’t ever spent a dollar with me to come join the Facebook group, where you’re going to get free training every single week. What free training, free coaching. Okay? You come join the Facebook group, Mompreneur mastermind group on Facebook. And you start to learn with me.

(19:10)
You start doing weekly lives with me. You get to know my face, my style, my community. You’re hearing testimonies from other women in my courses, in my coaching, you’re seeing people share about working with me and having results and having transformation. You’re going, oh, maybe I need that. Maybe I need a coaching session. Maybe I should take the course. That’s what’s going to happen for you.

(19:33)
Social proof happens inside of your Facebook groups, because instead of you pushing content, like on your podcast, you are now fostering engagement and you have a back and forth with people which grows social proof and belief in your actual services from people hearing from others that are just like them that are having that growth, that transformation.

(19:59)
So in the Facebook group, anytime I go live, you better believe that I’m pitching what I sell. I’m answering questions, doing free coaching training on something, but by the way, pitch, here’s how you work with me. Here’s how my course can help you. Here’s what Mary had to say about this. And it works.

(20:18)
Every time I go live in my group, guys, I sell something, if not 10 things. You guys heard me do my episode about $30K in three days, that whole thing went down inside my Facebook group, which resulted in $30,000 in three days, which then resulted in $75K by the end of the month, because people ended up joining masterminds and doing coaching and doing all the things all from Facebook groups, which was grown because of my podcast.

(20:46)
So if you’re sitting here thinking, oh, how do I do all of these things that Stef is telling me to do. Number one, you need a podcast. Number one. I wouldn’t have my Facebook group at 3,500 people without having a podcast. Okay. So podcastprouniversity.com. Join us, launch your show. No more excuses. It’s your time. It’s the best time. Why not now? I wish I had started my show seven years ago. You guys, Holy smokes.

(21:17)
My podcast about to pass 200,000 downloads. I can’t even, I couldn’t have even imagined it. It’s grown my Facebook group. It’s grown all the things. Okay. So that’s the catalyst. The second step is to market it on Pinterest. I have a Pinterest class, of course. And then, and that’s at pinterestmasterclass.gr8.com.

(21:41)
Then the third thing you’re going to do is set up a Facebook group. And that’s how we go deeper with people from our podcast. Okay. And then just follow my roadmap that I laid out for you today on how to set up your Facebook group for success, how to engage people and how to simply have a call to action every single week that drives people to your freebies, to your list or to your coaching courses, etc. It’s literally that easy.

(22:08)
You just have to dedicate yourself to it, make the time for it and be brave. Yes, you do. You have to be confident and you have to be brave because showing up in those groups every single week is not always easy. And it’s not always fun when nobody’s showing up with you at first.

(22:24)
But I promise you if you’re consistently showing up every week, driving engagement, doing engagement means having fun, laughing and welcoming and introducing people in the group. They’re going to start listening. They’re going to start engaging with you. Especially if you can add lots of juicy value to help people get a result, you’re going to see the dollars flowing in from your podcast group, linked to your Facebook group.

(22:52)
Okay guys, that’s it for today. I can’t believe I was able to record this 22 minute episode from my phone while my kids were in the bath and then transferred them outside. Amazing! Mom life. Anyway, I got to go reheat my coffee. I’ve got a coaching session. I love you guys. I’m just going to leave you with a quick prayer and then I’ll meet you right back here on Monday for a live coaching session that I am airing.

(23:18)
I want to pray over you friends. I pray over you now that you are fueled with excitement and vision over where you want to go in your business, that you are propelled with bravery and courage. As you set out to launch that podcast or set up that Facebook group that you are filled with resilience when maybe no one shows up for the group, or maybe your podcast declines or whatever that thing may be that’s in the back of your mind telling you, you are not good enough.

(23:45)
I just want to pray that you see and know and recognize that you are enough right here right now with what you’ve got. That God is with you and he’s planted this goal and wish in your heart on purpose that you are enough. You can be all of the things that you know, you can be inside of your heart., you just have to believe it. You have to drive and dig into it so that you can achieve it. And you have to hold God’s hand as he walks you through it, praying over you love you. I’ll meet you back here soon. As always love and light, Stef.