Build your community. Find your tribe.
I always say, community drives business, because people drive business.
Over the last few years of being in the entrepreneurial game, I’ve learnt one major thing. You can’t do it alone. In fact it’s boring and lonely and hard if you do.
I’ve learnt that community matters. Support is crucial. Knowing you’re not alone in the challenges you face is a life line.
But more than this, if you are building a business, building a community of people who trust, respect and like what you do, well, that’s just good business. FULL STOP.
The people in your community are rooting for you, because they love being a part of something. Involved in what you’re creating, adding their mark. Therefore, when the time comes to buy from you they are already sold.
“Groups have helped me develop stronger relationships with people globally and enabled me to have a great customer base for my products and services.” Ruth Kudzi
They have become your brand ambassadors. Actively engaging, actively encouraging others to be part of it.
“Almost all of my clients and I have built online communities as funnels into our business. Because it works. Not only this, we all started to do this over on Facebook.I launched my Asian female entrepreneur group back in March and since then I have seen an impact on both my wedding planning and workshop business! Off the back of the group I’ve done 2 London sold out workshops and also been booked for a speaking engagement! It’s opening up so many opportunities for me – it’s been amazing!” Sharn Khaira, Desi Bride Dreams & AFEC.
Therefore we’re going to focus in on using Facebook groups to build your online community. That is because Facebook is free, it’s easy, and there are more than one billion people active on it!
Full disclosure, I had Facebook groups before my current ones with my biggest being the Remote Mission Community, and they did not work well. That is because I wasn’t consistent and I didn’t know what I wanted from them.
With Remote Mission I was clear from the beginning. Because of this the group went from 0-1000+ in less than 5 months, with no budget and very little marketing elsewhere. I literally posted it in 3 or 4 other groups max a couple of times and that was that.
So here are my two top tips on creating an engaged and supportive community on Facebook…
1. Know your target audience
It’s important to remember who your target audience is – are they the kind of people who hang out on Facebook? What’s their age group? If they’re younger then maybe they’re over on snapchat with the cool kids!
It’s also worth mentioning here that Facebook groups aren’t for everyone -online service and product based businesses are usually best suited for groups.
Don’t be afraid to go niche, the groups that work best are ones that are focused and have a clear why.
Use the group name to attract the right people. Don’t feel the need to use your business name, it’s important that people can search for keywords and find your relevant group.
Use the group description to go into more detail about the group and who it’s for.
You have the option to choose who you allow into the group. You can even ask questions to find out more about them before they get in. What would they like from the group, how did they find it, or even ask for their email address!
2. Offer Value
One of the key things about any community is what you are offering them and why.
You see, when you constantly provide lots of value and get your name out there the group can act as a powerful lead magnet and build a niche following for free. Not only this, but people become your ambassadors.
The more value you offer the more engagement you’ll get. Use your community to test new products, ask them what they think, what they want, what they’re struggling with. Then build products and services for this. By giving them the power and control to decide what they want you’re opening up the trust gates and in addition giving them the idea that they want to buy before you’ve even started selling.
Convinced and want to start working with me to nail your pitch, your why and your next actions? Then book your free introductory call with me now.