Grow With Online Communities
Many people dream of being an online coach and running their own business, but oftentimes that dream stops there simply because they don't know what to do next. The good news is, there are online courses and coaches to help you achieve your business and income goals- people who've made mistakes so you don't have to make the same ones.
Recently, our CEO sat down with someone who helps online coaches make money with Facebook groups and turn their own groups into a cash machine. In this blog, Hollywood Branded learns how to build your business using Facebook groups, from the expertise of Iryna Shevchenko.
A Little More About Iryna
Iryna Shevchenko is your Facebook groups expert and the founder of The Savvy Action Taker Entrepreneur Academy for Online Coaches. She helps online coaches and service providers to make money using the power of Facebook Groups, so they can live the life they always wanted and be financially independent.
Iryna came to the USA around 10 years ago with no money, no language, and no friends or family. She is proud of being an inspiration to other coaches who just started their coaching business online. On her way up, she made mistakes and failures but after long working nights, she finally learned what to do and how to start and run a successful online business from scratch. Right now, she is a 6-Figure coach who is on a mission to help online coaches, just like you to get the same results!
Interview Transcript Highlights
Question: Can you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and what got you to becoming this Facebook guru that you are today?
Answer: Oh, that is great question. Never know the right answer for that. But, when I discovered social media for the first time, for the longest time, I had really hard time because I came from another country and I have a very strong accent, I had lots of blocks of mindset blocks and I had a really hard time to start selling my series.
A Facebook group was the perfect opportunity for me just to position myself as the expert and build this confidence. And after I was building the confidence, people come to me and they were buying from me without me even selling anything. So, then I was like, "It is cool thing." So then I start practicing, testing this specific sales strategy that I'm using right now.
Right now I'm teaching everyone that you don't really have to be pushy. You don't really have to be sleazy. While you position yourself as the expert, you attracting your right audience and people will come to you and actually go buy from you.
I specialize in Facebook and Facebook Groups. Somehow, when I created my Facebook group, I'm not sure even why and how I created my Facebook group. But, when I was creating my Facebook group I didn't plan to become really good for that. I just wanted to attract the people who I can share my value, share my knowledge, whatever I had. At that time when I started, I was really good with Pinterest and so I was sharing tips related to the Pinterest.
But because I was sharing in my Facebook group, I was kind of growing my Facebook group. I was attracting people to my Facebook group. And, of course using the Facebook Groups. And in this case I saw people making the same mistake with using Facebook Groups. Because of that somehow I started teaching them about Facebook Groups and so slowly I came to Facebook Groups, like a expert. I absolutely love it and I kind of shift my business from Pinterest to the Facebook Groups and now I still love it. I absolutely love it. I like, I love it.
Question: Who are good candidates for using Facebook Groups? What type of businesses, what type of service providers who should actually really be considering this?
Answer: I truly believe that Facebook group can be for any business out there. You can use it for physical product, but you also can use if you're selling your service or some kind of knowledge.
You don't really have to have physical products. When you sell a physical product, the Facebook group is the perfect place when you teaching people how to use your product. Not everybody, I actually teaching, like if you selling some jewelries, not everybody teaching like [inaudible 00:04:52] it's goals, like how to boot is how to combine. It's like all of those, you can use it in the Facebook Groups and I promise the more people will see that, the people like inside of the place will grow. They will see how you teaching them about your product. They will want to buy from you. So that comes to physical product.
When it comes to your service, it's a little different. And that's the department I absolutely love because I teach coaches selling the service as well. That's exactly what I'm doing, I'm selling my service. So in this case strategy is slightly different, because you are positioning yourself as a expert in specific area. So I honestly believe that every business out there can have Facebook group because the Facebook group is that private place when you can... like kind of behind the scenes of your business, you connect to your audience, you connect to your clients, you connect to everyone who is interested in whatever you're selling. And in this case you build the relationship with them and they come to you and they buy again and again. Plus that's great place for you and for them to communicate. So they learn from you and they learn from them, and you learn from them about like what's the pluses? Would they need to improve something? All of that.
Question: How do you actually get people to know about your group?
Answer: That is a great question. Huge strategy about that. Well, first of all, you need to, whatever you have your business, you have your website, you have your Facebook business page. If you use in all the social media platforms, we need to let people know that, hey, you are exists. Your group is, they exist as well as your list. So whatever any followers that you have in your business, you have to tell them in couple of times. You have to tell them, hey, I have a Facebook group.
Then, make sure that you tell them why they want to join your Facebook Group. Because you come to me and say, Hey, join my Facebook group because I want you in my group, I'm not going to join, its million Facebook Groups out there. I don't want to like you know, on my phone, I don't. But if you're telling me like, Hey, join my Facebook group, will you receive some really awesome epic gift from you? Second one I'm going to teach you about this specific practice, which is helps that type. It will help you with whatever life, life, or business, whatever benefit you somehow. Then I will be like, oh, that's interesting. If I want to learn about that topic, I definitely want to do that too because that is like freestyle, so why not? We need to grow your Facebook group. Make sure you let your audience know about that, but you also give this specific like heavy reasons why they want to join your group
For advertising your group, Facebook will support you. When people join your Facebook group, if you boost the activity in the groups, Facebook will support you by posting like your group on the sites. So lots of time if you go to Facebook group, you see those like who the groups out there.
You also can grow in use Facebook advertising to promote your group. I highly recommend not to do that because at the end of the day your role is not growing your group, your role is actually, you know, [inaudible 00:15:15] on this. So don't go directly to your group. Make sure that they will sign two for your Freebie and then from your Freebie, your group they will join your Facebook group.
I did the mistake when in my past I was focusing on growing my group and I was targeting the right audience, people were join my group but there are was, they were not my ideal clients. They did not participate with the group. So I had a really hard time to start engaging with them. Moved down to actually like, hey you doing my group. Make sure you absolutely don't be a ghost out there. So don't use Facebook ads. Go through your email and from email you direct them to your group
Question: When you have a group and it's running and you have five people in it, hey, that's a number. Why not 5,10,100, 500, 5,000 whatever it might be. What type of content is the best received and how often should you be leading group discussions and sharing, versus trying to get the group to interact and ask questions themselves.
Answer: It's your responsibility to make your group engaged. It's not your audience responsibility yet to join your group and engage them. It's your responsibility. So in this case you have to create the content that would help them engage.
In my Facebook group, Monday we set the goals. Friday we both throw accountability and check it out. Like did you accomplish your goals? What's going on Wednesday? I have the time when I actually giving my coaching away for free, or I do some trainings in my group start of day. But on top of that I would find it a command to create the content that will help your audience engage.
First of all, if you say some this like join my Facebook group, I am a copywriter. Then ask your audience, like create the content related to the interest. This is the type of the content that I would highly recommend. And second one, you need to, because here's Facebook group, it's the place when you get to know them. Yu need to create the content that would be telling you more about them. So for example, if my people in my Facebook group, they're moms and they have 9-5 job.
In this case, if I don't know that I will share my content during the daytime and they will never see it because they are busy at work. But if I create a course and I say some things like, hey guys, how many kids do you have? And they response, which is boost your engagement in your Facebook group. And also I will know like, hey you have, this is how many kids you have at this time. You show up on social media. So if my, my, my audience are moms and they are job having job, at the end of the day would be smart for me to post my content at the beginning of the day, like early morning, and at the end of the day.
Then it's a higher possibility they will see my content. But I will not know that if I will not get to know them. So make sure you actually create the content that get to know them on a personal level. What they do like, like I say somethings like do like tea or coffee or simple questions, right? But if I would be as traditional coach and my sellers would be helping you to get more energy or something like this, that post will be your, the your clients literally telling you what they need.
Like, if you're consistently drinking coffee, but it's not bringing you energy. It's actually affecting your health. Well, in this case, that my product that will help you to first of all, save money on your sandbox and second one actually giving you that energy that you are looking for. So create the content, they get to know your audience on a personal level.
This is the second type of the content and the tarp type of the contents, start engagement and kind of conversations. You need to first of all, start the conversation and continue to have it. So this is what I see my clients actually with making mistakes and I was like, okay, don't do that. Let's go over again, again. And don't do that. They start the conversation, they create the pause and they like, hey guys, tell me more about this happened conversation. People are responding so that somebody come back and with the clients, well that's not the ad.
Then you need to continue to have conversation. They leave their comments and you're going to that comment and you continue to talk. So you're not just bumped the post and expecting people wouldn't response. You talk to them. And I think that's, that most people are missing just because we know that like, Hey, create the post and they will do itself. Like write on itself. It's not you talk to them through the conversation in the comments. Plus it's boosting engagement in your, you know, in your Facebook group, more people will see more people will actually leave the comments and they will get to know you. Because let's be honest, if somebody, if you create a post or someone, create the post and you comment in somebody's response in your comment, you will know who that person because you won't come back and you will get response back.
That's how conversations start. If I want to build my visibility, even if I Facebook group position myself as an expert so people actually know who I am in my own Facebook group, then I have to talk to them. Even those like through those comments I have to continue to talk to them so they will get to know me, I get to know them. So that's a lot.
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