ARE FACEBOOK GROUPS DEAD?

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the effectiveness of Facebook groups.

As you know, I’m a massive fan of Facebook groups and can’t sing their praises loud enough. So, I was really shocked to hear that some brands have closed down their huge groups, and I’m talking groups with tens of thousands of people in there! All this talk really piqued my interest and made me delve a little deeper…

Even though these groups had thousands of members, they weren’t ACTIVE members. The number of followers a brand has on social media is just a vanity metric. When it comes to correctly marketing your brand, it’s definitely quality over quantity!

Many people believe that paid ads are a better way to attract more of those fabulous customers you desire. However, have you also heard about engagement pods, where people like and comment on each other’s posts for the same in return? I’m uncomfortable with this approach. It feels pretty tacky and a false economy to me.

In this blog, I’d like to explain to you why I love Facebook groups so much. I hope you find it helpful!

Is your Facebook group working for you?

Facebook groups are beautiful spaces to be in IF you create the right environment for your community. They’re a direct line to your followers, an opportunity to educate and support, and a place to build a long-lasting relationship with your customers.

Facebook groups are a massive part of my business. I’ve lost count of the number of friends and clients I’ve made through my groups. And possibly the greatest advantage is that they’re completely free! No advertising spend. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. It’s phenomenal!

Attracting the right people into your world

People who are saying that groups are dead are simply saying it because THEIR Facebook group is dead! They have plenty of people in their groups, but they aren’t connecting with their audience correctly. When they post themselves in their own group, they find that they get hardly any reach. This is a huge red flag to me and tells me that they only set up their group to sell, sell, sell! This is never the right way to approach a group.

A Facebook group isn’t about the owner and what they have to offer. It’s about the community as a whole and how they can benefit from being a member.

You need to ensure the people in your group are the right audience for you, so doing some work on your ideal client avator is essential. (Note to self, do another blog on ICA! Lol) You want to have your perfect people in your group and that doesn’t include your aunty, your nana and Julie from next door! Getting the best people who are interested in the topic and mission of the group is a great base for how the group will be engaged.

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How do you make a Facebook group work?

You have to approach your group in the right way. Push all thoughts of growing your group to be as big as possible, hoping that some of your followers will turn into customers, right out of your mind. Instead, consider how you can nurture your group and add real value.

Remember, it’s about quality, after all, not quantity! A Facebook community should feel like home on the internet for you and your members.

I could give you hundreds of ‘how to’ tips on Facebook groups but if you don’t have the right system and ethos in the first place, there’s no point looking at other areas until that’s strong.

I’m a total guru on Facebook groups and I would love to help you with yours.

Do you want to find out more?

If you’re ready to grow your business using the power of Facebook groups, I can help you with some Facebook G.R.O.U.P.S Mentoring using my unique G.R.O.U.P.S system.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WHY WE DON'T POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Have you ever worked your little socks off on a fabulous, engaging post, then hit the publish button and very little happened? Only a handful of likes and zero comments. It feels so disheartening, doesn’t it? I know because I’ve been there too!

As women, I think we tend to avoid conflict more than men, so perhaps this makes us less inclined to post and promote ourselves and our businesses online? What do you think?

Wherever we are on our entrepreneurial journey, it can be daunting putting ourselves out there on social media with absolutely no idea of the reaction and whether there will be any feedback from our audience. But I believe that it’s so important to look at this objectively and see that the “negatives” are definitely outweighed by the rewards of this fantastic, essentially free marketing tool, which is at our fingertips 24/7!

Did you know?

According to an article from Small Business:

• One in four entrepreneurs don’t use social media for their small business, despite the benefits that it can bring

• Almost a quarter don’t think it’s relevant to their industry

• 23% say they don’t know how to use it to promote their business or don’t have time.

• 15% say that they have enough customers already or have other reasons for not using social media

Reasons why you don’t post

Here are some reasons why we may not be posting:

• We’re perfectionists and want to post something perfect on social media. But because everything isn’t perfect all of the time, we don’t post that much

• We have busy lives and have little time to create posts on social media

• We worry it’s over-saturated, so don’t bother posting because we don’t think we’ll be seen

If any of these reasons sound all-too-familiar, don’t worry. Find the passion and reason to share your products or services, and even about yourself, as we all have a uniqueness that appeals to someone!

Read on for some top tips!

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Engagement is key!

Engaging with our customers and our potential customers is so important! To be visible, we need to be posting regularly and engaging with any conversations our followers initiate.

There are various ways to do this through your planning and content. Some may come to you naturally; some may feel a little out of your comfort zone and require a bit of practice before you feel 100% comfortable using them.

Here are a few examples of the type of content you should be sharing:

Storytelling. Let your audience get to know you and your brand better. You could talk about the history of your company, what inspires you, what motivates you etc.

Lives. This is a fantastic opportunity to have an authentic conversation with your audience and get questions and feedback in real-time. For more information on how to make lives work for your business, head over to my blog.

Educating. Build trust and showcase your expertise by answering FAQs, sharing top tips or sharing interesting information relevant to your niche.

Promoting. Explain the benefits of your products or services to inspire your audience to find out more. This is much more powerful than a ‘hard sell’ and again builds trust and credibility.

Engaging. We all love a bit of light-hearted content, especially as the weekend approaches! It’s ok to post cute or funny images or gifs and show your followers the human side of your business. This type of content tends to be very engaging and allows you to connect more personally with your audience.

Creating a community – for more information on the power of Facebook groups, head over to my recent blog. It has 5 top tips for getting your content seen and making the most of your Facebook group!

Don’t give up!

I assure you that over time, showing up on Facebook regularly and posting intentional content will increase your confidence AND your engagement. Sometimes, it just takes a little time and patience!

If you struggle with confidence when it comes to social media, come and join our supportive networking community group.

We also have a hugely popular Social Media Planning Session that I host monthly. It's fantastic to get your posts planned and get ideas and feedback on them. Check out our Events Calendar for the next one to join in with.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GROWTH MINDSET - GUEST BLOG

Growth mindset is an important topic in education but it is also a key part of being an entrepreneur. My own journey over the last few years has definitely forced me to develop my own growth mindset, as well as cultivating it in others. Our brains are incredibly complex organs, however, they often have set patterns of thinking hardwired into them. Learning to rewrite these patterns can take time but it is an essential step towards finding success in the world of business.

What is a growth mindset?

Our subconscious mind is programmed to keep us safe at all costs, and there are times where this is a good thing. When our ancestors found themselves face to face with a sabre-toothed tiger, they did not really want to pause to have a moral dilemma about the pros and cons of their actions. They needed to make a fairly swift decision to either fight to defend themselves or run away. Nowadays, our brains tend to work in the same way, even though there is no sabre-toothed tiger. Instead, doing that Facebook live or making that phone call to a potential lead can become the tiger. For my students, it can be answering a question in class or attempting that essay paragraph independently. Our subconscious perceives a threat and tells us to shut down to avoid being hurt. This is how a fixed mindset is born.

The good news is that this thought process can be reversed through a wonderful thing called neuroplasticity. This means that we can retrain our brains to respond differently to challenges and embrace them as opportunities for learning and development, rather than seeing them as threats. When we are in a growth mindset, we do not say we cannot do something, but instead we have a go, accepting that we may get it wrong but that is alright.

Why is a growth mindset important?

In my job, helping children and young adults develop their growth mindset is vital. When they are in a fixed mindset, they are often reluctant to take on new concepts or ideas and may be unwilling to attempt tasks as they are too worried about getting it wrong. This can have repercussions for their academic performance, and they may develop a fixed mindset belief that they are inherently bad at a subject and thus there is no point in even trying.

We often form beliefs about our abilities in childhood and then bring them with us into adulthood. Making the change from employment to entrepreneurship can sometimes cause these deep-rooted beliefs to reappear. As entrepreneurs, we need to be able to learn and develop new skills. I have met a lot of fellow business owners who say they are no good with technology and that is why they have never attempted to build a website or a mailing list. Beliefs about what we can and cannot do sometimes hold us back from even trying. Often it is when we deliberately choose to feel uncomfortable and step away from what we know that we grow and develop the most. Being an entrepreneur also means having to get comfortable with the idea of failure, and embracing it as the First Attempt in Learning.

How do I develop a growth mindset?

Journaling is a great way to identify potential stumbling blocks in your mindset that may be holding you back. Try journaling on some of these questions:

• What tasks in my business scare me?

• How do I respond when a task scares me? (Put it off, do it anyway and so on)

• How do I feel about feedback?

• What do I do when I receive feedback?

• How does the word failure make me feel?

By writing on these topics for a short period each week, you may uncover subconscious thoughts that you did not even know you had. I was putting off hiring another tutor for a long time, as I was scared of expanding my business and then not having enough clients. It was not until I talked this through with my coach that I actually understood what was happening, and that in a way my subconscious was sabotaging my actions in a bid to keep me safe. Identifying the problems is the first step towards being able to fix it.

Using affirmations is another good way to begin the pattern of rewiring your mindset. They send the message to your subconscious that it needs to alter its way of thinking, and the more you repeat them, the more you will start to believe them. Language is incredibly powerful, and the words we choose to expose our mind to can make a big difference. Using the word “yet” at the end of your sentences is also a powerful way to alter a thought. For example, do not say, “I cannot do this email sequence”, say, “I cannot do this email sequence yet”. This will then open your mindset so that you can go and find the help and support you need in order to achieve your goal.

Listening to podcasts and reading books will also help you to develop your growth mindset. There are so many podcasts out there - two of my favourites are the Jenna Kutcher Goal Digger podcast and the Rachel Hollis Rise podcast. They are not an instant fix, but I have found that combined with some of the other strategies above, they come together to help you stop the negative thoughts in their tracks. Hearing stories of others who have come through adversity through the power of their mindset can really inspire you to address your own issues as well.

Find out more

Bright Sky Tutoring offers English tuition for KS2, KS3, KS4 and KS5 students, as well as 11+ preparation. We provide one to one tuition and also small group sessions for KS3 and KS4 English. Sessions are delivered by qualified and highly experienced teachers, who will tailor the session to the individual needs of your child. To find out more, email Jo Broadey at hello@brightskytutoring.com.