#249: How To Create an Active, Engaged Facebook Group

Hello there, health coaches. Today I am very happy to finally answer a question from Iolette. She's been waiting patiently for me to get this episode out, all about getting engagement inside Facebook groups. I'm going to share a little bit of my journey in running Facebook groups through the years and share how the platform has changed, how online behaviors have changed, and my top considerations for turning Facebook groups into an active and profitable piece of your marketing plan. This episode is brought to you by Practice Better .Try any Practice Better. plan free for 14 days at healthcoachpower.com/pb. You're going to save 30% off your first three months with code HCP30. And until August 31st, 2023, you'll also get a free kitchen cleanup program that's built right into the Practice Better platform, so you can start earning with it right away. Make sure to use this link though, it's health coach power.com/pb.

Okay, here's the question from Iolette. She said, I opened a Facebook group for women going through menopause. I currently have 63 ladies there. I post almost every day. I ask questions and only two people respond. I can see that about 40 people see my post, but there's no engagement. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. How could I create more engagement in the group? I'm hoping that these ladies will book in with me. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Now, before we dive into all the Facebook group, goodness, I want to remind you all that no two health coaches are the same, and no two businesses are the same. There's never going to be one marketing plan, one Facebook group, strategy one, anything that's going to work perfectly well for every health coach on the planet. That's just not how it is because we're all unique individuals and we all have different things that we're trying to do and different things that we're great at and different ways that we work with with our clients.

So keep in mind that Facebook groups are the kind of thing that will work amazingly for some of us and not so well for others. And not because you're doing anything wrong, it's you have to find the business model that fits really well with who you are and who you serve. And keep in mind, there are plenty of other ways to market yourself, both online and offline. So use today's episode to feel out whether or not this is something that makes sense for your business. Now, I started the Health Coach Power Community Facebook group about 10 years ago. So I've been doing this a very long time. We started with just a handful of my friends, people I knew personally,

And it was a tight group, a private group. We did not let anybody else in. And it was just because the group of us who were there, we were tired of working alone. It just gets like, Ugh. I'm sitting here. I remember sitting at my kitchen table while my babies were napping, trying to get some work done, and I was lonely and I missed the interaction with the other students when I was still in school to become a health coach. And so I started this group purely as water cooler conversation for myself. And it served that purpose for a couple of years. And then so many health coaches were always asking to join. We'd be getting requests every day. And finally I was like, gosh, I guess a lot of other people need this too. Maybe I should open it up to everybody. So here we are.

We're nearing 14,000 members. I got almost a decade of experience running a very large Facebook group. And of course I've run other Facebook groups along the way as well. So, so much to share with you. If you want to go back and learn even more about Facebook groups, I have an episode, number 78, called Start Your Own Facebook group. Episode 110 is Killing It with Facebook Groups. And those are from 2019 and 2020. And then in 2021, I released a few more episodes about Facebook groups and realized I haven't said a word about it since. So it's been two years since the last episode on this topic. And I think it's because things keep changing with Facebook and things keep changing with the world and how we behave online. And I've been observing and not quite sure what to make of it all. So I want to first share what seems to be changing in terms of Facebook groups and then some strategies for creating a group that is active, that is engaged and contributing to your health coaching business in a meaningful and profitable way.

Just to be clear, today we are talking specifically about free Facebook groups that exist for marketing purposes. I want to be super clear about that because you know may have another Facebook group. I do a group for paying members of a specific course or a specific organization, or for example, if we have a private Facebook group that's only for our Healthy Profit University members. And inside that group we have a higher level of support and customer service. Cause these are our paying members. It's only available to my Healthy Profit University members, of course. But today we're not talking about that kind of Facebook group. That's how you run your operations. That's how you work with your paying clients. Today I'm talking about free groups that you create in order to gain visibility, market yourself to a wider audience and find new clients. Of course, sometimes our current clients end up in those groups too.
But the intention is for people new to your world to find, you get to know you, join your mailing list and become a paying client. And that last line is very important. It has been the underlying strategy of my Facebook groups from the beginning and it still works. So I'm just going to say that one more time. You might want to write this down. The intention for this kind of group is for new people to find you get to know you join your mailing list and become a paying client. Sometimes this is referred to as your top of funnel, but I don't like using a lot of weird marketing talk like that. So we're just going to say Facebook groups when done well, they are a great way for people to find you. Cool. Now, some things, like I said, have changed. I don't think Facebook groups are quite as powerful as they once were.

Does it mean that you shouldn't start one if it's the right thing for your business? I'm just saying if you've heard things about them, if you've seen or been part of other Facebook groups and you start one now and it's a little bit different than what you've seen in the past, things are changing. I think overall we've got fewer people on Facebook. Maybe it depends on your audience. We want to think about how old is my intended audience for this group? Are they the type of people who are on Facebook? Are they people who still have a Facebook app on their phone and they check it daily? Are they people who no longer check in with Facebook at all or are they people who shut down their account? Because I think over the past few years we've been seeing more and more of that. So with fewer people actively engaging on Facebook, are your people there?

The other thing that has changed a great deal is the algorithm. And this is just something that I have noticed. I have looked at my numbers. I have just anecdotally, I can just tell you that we used to be able to do things inside the Facebook group and we would reach X number of people and now we can do the exact same thing and we will reach half of that. So it's just changed. It's harder to show up in somebody's feed. They're not giving pre preference to Facebook groups they once did. Again, doesn't mean that all is lost, it's just here to, I'm just setting your expectations. And then lastly, I think that our behavior online seems to have changed through the years. 10 years ago, oh, there's a Facebook group that I can join. Oh, I'm interested in that. I'm interested in that. I'll join all of them. And I think that we're a little burnt on that people are not as interested in joining every Facebook group under the sun anymore. Little more discerning with where we put our time and our energy online. So with that said, here's what I would do if I were starting a Facebook group from scratch today, many of you are thinking of doing, I would ask myself, okay, who is this group for and what is specific purpose of joining?

I believe gone are the days when people join Facebook groups just for fun willy-nilly on a whim. Simply to connect Your group really needs to serve a specific purpose. And think of it this way, you want to be able to help someone solve a problem that they need help with. If your group exists to do something like that, you've got a fighting chance. I mean, I looked back at all the groups that I'm a member of things I've joined through the years. I'm a member of the Bone Broth sipping Facebook group, but I haven't been in there probably since the very first day that I joined. And I'm a member of a mid-century modern architecture group. But I just like seeing the photos that people post there. I've never left a comment. I would say these are hobbyist groups. I joined them a long time ago, but I have never engaged.

Can you relate? Have you been part of groups like that? Well, as a health coach, you do not want to run a hobbyist group where people join and they look around and they think isn't that nice? And then they never come back because it doesn't serve a purpose for them. Or they read stuff but they don't participate. You want to be running an active engaged group where your ideal clients are looking for help with their specific health issue. Otherwise, none of the members that you can accumulate in your group are positioned to become a paying client. Health hobbyists, and there are many of us, we just love health and wellness. We're not going to become paying clients if we're in a health related group. We're there because we just love this stuff. And if your group isn't turning into paying clients, then it's probably not the best use of your marketing time or energy.

I think especially after going through Covid, the trend seems to be pointing towards people want less online interaction, more meaningful, real time, real world interaction. And again, this does not mean that Facebook groups or online groups are dead in the water. It just means you shouldn't start one unless it's really going to serve a purpose in somebody's life and it's something that they really want help with. Now, just to give you an idea of what I mean by that, here's the description of our Health Coach Power Community Facebook group. Like when you join, there's a little description of the group, and I hope you will join if you're not already a member. Here's what it says. This space is for practicing Certified Health Coaches and current students in a certification program like IIN, HCI, FMCA, PHCI, et cetera.

We are here to gather around the virtual water cooler, support each other and keep it real when it comes to building a business and working with clients. So you can see we are very clear in that description who the group is for. It's not for people who are just considering health coaching, it's not for people who want to be health coached, and it's not for Beachbody coaches or virtual assistants trying to connect with health coaches. In fact, we kick all of those out. It's only for certified health coaches or those currently in school to become one. And then the point of our group, it's not just to talk about any old health topic that we're interested in. In fact, we don't even allow personal health questions, but rather we are here to help build a business. We're here to talk about the business of health coaching and working with our clients.

And many, many, many health coaches, of course, need this kind of help. So create a group aimed at a specific type of person to help with that thing that they need the most, and you'll be on your way to having an engaged and active group. I want to make one more point here. Once you decide who you're targeting, I want you to consider very strongly, is this person likely to engage in a Facebook group? Is this the right place to meet this type of person? If you're targeting people who are excited about community and they love connecting and they want more of that in their life, and they tend to be on Facebook often already, great. I'm thinking about, there was a group that one of our HPU members started for military spouses and it took off like gangbusters. Military spouses were all over that because they love finding community, they're always moving, they often feel isolated.

That is the sort of person who is very likely to be engaged in your Facebook group. Another group that I can think of back from when I was having my babies, new moms, moms who are up in the middle of the night breastfeeding moms who are home from work on maternity leave. Again, sometimes feeling alone, sometimes feeling isolated, having a lot of questions about what they're doing, perfect candidates for a Facebook group. And health coaches in my group love community because like I mentioned, we get lonely. We're working by ourselves. We might not know any other health coaches in real life. So a Facebook group is phenomenal for filling that need. But not every target market loves community or wants more of it or wants to connect in this way. So think about who you are trying to gather. My caveat this whole episode is that Facebook groups can work really, really well, but it has to be the correct, I'm going to say vessel for the type of person that you want to work with.

Are they craving connection with others? Are they on Facebook already? If they never go on Facebook, they are unlikely to participate in your group very much. It's just the wrong place to try and meet them. Some people left due to political reasons. So if you're aiming to work with clients who are highly political in nature, don't start a Facebook group for them. It's probably not the right place. Another example, I once had a group for the type A corporate women that I worked with. They would join the group. They liked the fact that they can join. They were definitely on Facebook. They would read everything I posted, but they would never contribute. And I realized that these corporate women were surrounded by people all day. They were socializing at night. They were volunteering on the weekends. It was that kind of woman. They were interested in the topic.

They already had plenty of community. They needed help, but not in the form of a group. They really preferred one-on-one support and downtime from being surrounded by others in order to have an active, enthusiastic Facebook group. Just think, is the Facebook group really the right place to engage with this type of client? So to go back to islets question about women in menopause. Women in menopause is a very broad category. That's just literally all women over the age of about 50. Within that we have women of all types working, maybe not working moms, women who've never been a mom, or some women are grandmothers at that age. Some women could be much older in the group. Also have gone through menopause. Within menopause, I would wonder what type of group of women are you really targeting, besides that category of the fact that she's going through her transition, and does she crave community?

Is she at that place in her life? Is she feeling a little isolated, a little bit lonely? If so, I would press forward with your group and if not, if you could think of some really good reasons why that may not be the case, I would explore other options that might catch fire a little bit better for you. I'm not sure if that's what's going on for you, but it's just something to consider. Okay, so I'm starting from scratch right now with a brand new Facebook group. I would also ask myself, how am I going to add new members to this group on a consistent basis? Sis, think about a Facebook group, your growth, your growth in a Facebook group. Lemme start over. Your growth in a Facebook group is, it's kind of like building an email list where you constantly want to be adding new people. In fact, it is a precursor to building your email list. So you want to be funneling as many people as possible within your intended audience. Of course, to your Facebook group, you might start with your friends and your family members, your current clients.

That's great. But I feel like then everybody's group kind of stagnates and it gets really stale without new members who are coming in and they're excited to engage. So here are just some of the ways that new members find our Health Coach Power Community Facebook group. Just to give you an idea. Number one, this podcast, I mean, hello, in every single episode, I've referenced the group. I take questions from the group, I interact with the group when I am recording live, which by the way, today I am not recording live because of some vacation and holidays coming up, but that's very rare. I am almost always broadcasting live into our group. And we have a very direct prompt at the end of each episode to join the group. So any content that you're creating, you can use it to point your audience to your Facebook group, and that's where they can actually interact with you.

It's kind of like, you know, you can read the blog posts, you can watch the video or listen to a podcast or they can even come hear you speak at an event. But if they need help with this particular topic, they should absolutely be invited to join your group as an easy and natural next step. And to make it really easy, by the way, this is a hot tip. I encourage you to buy a domain name that points directly at your Facebook group's url. So for example, I own healthcoachpowercommunity.com, so I can easily tell health coaches how to find my group. Go ahead, try it. Just healthcoachpowercommunity.com. Enter boom, you are going to land on the group's homepage. That's how easy you can make it for someone. How else can you get people into your group? Well, you can put an obvious link to your group and your website's header or navigation bar, and of course, that's only going to help if you have a website and it's really only going to help if you get some decent website traffic, but it's worth doing for sure.

Another excellent way to get people there is to be a guest on other people's podcasts or write articles for other people's publications and include the link to your group there. And then of course, make your group so good, so juicy, so helpful that members start inviting their friends. That's where most of our growth has come from. That's right, you heard it here first. I have never in the history of this group gone into other Facebook groups and started DMing health coaches or poaching members. Hey, come join my group. Gross. No, no, no, no. You make your group so fantastic that your members are like, oh, well, my sister could really use this. Oh, my friend really should join us. And they start inviting. They start adding members themselves. Some things you can do to make the group so juicy and so wonderful for people to be a part of.

You'll see me do this from time to time. We'll hold a five day challenge in the group, right? There's a lot of value being given and there's a lot of enthusiasm around an event like that. That's an idea for you. I'm also live in the group every week, typically not this week again because of vacation and the 4th of July holiday, but almost 52 weeks of the year I am live in my group. Once a week there's engagement happening, there's real time interaction happening. It's pretty special. And throughout the week, year-round, I'm always providing free resources. Sometimes I've even offered special workshops available only to my group members. So it makes it an exclusive, very special place to be and it inspires members to invite their friends. So lots and lots of ways to direct people to your group. I didn't even cover them all, but that should give you a good start.

And I also don't want you to forget about the inherent power of being on Facebook. Now what I've noticed is that let's say I'm running a five day challenge, or for some reason the group is getting a lot of activity. Well, an active, engaged, growing group is something that Facebook is going to suggest to others that match the same profile. They have something in common with all your group members. And so a lot of health coaches find us that way because Facebook will say, Hey, here's a group for you. And it is, it's a great suggestion. The other way that Facebook helps, oh, honestly, this is so important. Take advantage of Facebook as a search engine, right? There's that search bar at the top. People are searching for support and help and resources on Facebook. Do yourself a favor and name your group with the key words that your target market is searching for.

Many coaches find us because they literally, they tell me this, oh, I just typed health coach into the Facebook search bar because they're looking for a community. They're looking for support. What are your people searching for? Name your group that, and of course, this goes back to having a group that's aimed at a very specific type of person. No one is searching for just health or nutrition. And if they are, they're going to find like 500 gabillion groups who have some health or nutrition thing going on in their title. There are so many, they probably won't find yours. So name your group with the word that your ideal target market might be looking for.

Think about words you can use that are based on the health issue or problem that someone is dealing with. So diabetes, menopause, picky ears, infertility. Use these words in naming the group as well as in the description. People may also be searching based on location or lifestyle. So I can imagine somebody typing in New York marathoners or Florida moms or interior design or real estate. So those types of words in your Facebook group name and description will help the right people find you. What I would avoid at all costs are words that describe a solution like plant-based, like the plant-based healthy eater Facebook group, Mmmmmm. You don't want to use words like reiki or the carnivore diet. And here's why. People who join a group about the carnivore diet, well, they're probably already interested in the carnivore diet. They are already very well-versed in health and wellness. You are going to end up with a group full of health coaches, I bet, and it's going to be not a pool of potential clients.

It's not going to be what you intended at all. It becomes a hobby group, people who are interested in that topic already, not people who have a problem to solve. And finally, if you want an active and engaged Facebook group, think to yourself, how will I encourage participation among the group members? The mistake that I see so often is that, gosh, we act so serious sometimes when we're trying to be professional. And when we do that, the group feels, I don't want to say fake, but it just, it's boring. There's only so much interaction that you're going to get on a post that says, did you know should drink eight glasses of water a day? Here's a research study on the importance of water. How much water are you drinking on average? Me? Meh. Nobody wants to talk about that. Instead, you got to be a great party host. You know, got to ask questions that elicit a response. Ask about something fun or funny, or share a controversial opinion. Think about what your members want to talk about. For example, you got a bunch of women who are going through menopause. They may or may not want to talk about their symptoms or their diet or whatever. Maybe ask them about their kids and their grandkids. I bet that's going to get them talking. And you can surely circle that background to how they're low in energy and it's hard to keep up with the kids and the grandkids or how they're, they're been gaining weight and they're not able to get down on the floor and play with the grandkids.

So if you can just get them talking about something they want to talk about, now you're hosting a great party. And remember that engagement breeds engagement. So like I said, you might ask about a slightly tangential topic or sometimes you got to share a funny meme or take a poll or put up an embarrassing photo of yourself or your favorite chocolate recipe because nothing will get people more excited than chocolate. Anything to elicit some type of response. Because the more your members engage, regardless of how they're engaging, the more they're going to start seeing group posts in their feed. And engagement leads to more engagement. Now, if you're starting a new group plan to post daily, this is just like the nuts and bolts of getting started.

You are going to have to be in that group. You are living in your Facebook group for a while, so get ready for that plan to respond to every single post, every single comment, right? Engagement creates engagement. Try to connect members to each other if you see that they have something in common. And again, make it a fun place to be that. That's the key to this whole thing. People can get information anywhere. They don't have to join a group to get information. If you want their participation, make them feel good like this is your party and maybe it's time to break out the karaoke machine. You know, got to get people going, run an event, a challenge, host live show up regularly. You've probably heard this advice before, but no amount of posting or asking questions or commenting is going to help the group if it isn't specific enough to be relevant, if it doesn't serve a particular purpose.

Because then again, it's not really relevant in a person's life if it becomes stale with the same old 25 members, or if these people are not interested in connecting on Facebook. That's why I left this topic for last, because too often I hear from coaches like Iolette, who was so awesome in bringing up this question, and they assume that they need to be doing more in the group to get the comments, to get the engagement. And that might be the case in the first year, two years, maybe in three years of the Health Coach Power Community group, I spent a lot of time posting answering questions every day. I invested myself into this community. And now it more or less runs itself in terms of engagement. But I will say as the algorithm has changed, I have found that it needs my attention more these days to keep the engagement up.

So it might be that you need to put in the time and the energy, but I will say, I think at least 50% of the time, it's the premise of the group itself that should be questioned. Like if I'm a member of the group, why am I here? Why am I actually going to get out of this? Facebook groups are not dead, at least not yet. Amazingly, they have been free to run this entire time, but if you want an active and engaged group, make sure you're creating a space that exists to fill a need because otherwise there are 1,000,001 other ways to connect with clients. And again, no one of them is going to work for everybody. If you want to learn more about that, about a unique way to customize a plan to promote your business and put clients into your practice, email me. I'm at michelle@healthcoachpower.com, and of course, jump into our free Facebook group at healthcoachpowercommunity.com. I'm going to be back next week with a live episode broadcast right into our group. I will see you then. Take care.