I want to talk to you about Facebook Groups today. As I’m sure you know, Facebook Groups are currently one of the BEST ways to find paying clients online. However, this is only true if you use Facebook Groups the RIGHT WAY.
Enter - Facebook Group Mistakes.
If you’re making these mistakes, I’m going to tell you how to NOT make them, and what you should be doing instead. Because these mistakes? They REPEL clients. And you don’t want that.
Mistake #1 - Promoting Yourself on Someone Else’s Post
Let me explain: Someone posts something in a group, giving value to their ideal client, and you introduce yourself in the comments saying something along the lines of “This is exactly what I teach my clients. If anyone has any questions, send me a PM.”
Annoying.
Those value posts that people are putting out there are to show people that they’re an expert. So if you go in there and say “Hey, I can also help people with this!”, you look desperate.
If you want to help people, do it in YOUR OWN POST.
Also, if someone asks a question on another person’s post and you know the answer to it, refrain from answering. It’s not your post. It’s someone ELSE’S post, who is trying to position themselves as an expert, and they can’t do that if you hijack their post and answer the question before they can get to it.
#2 - Sending a Private Message and Pitching
Let me say something loud and clear: THIS DOES NOT WORK.
People don’t buy things from those they don’t know, like and trust. So don’t even bother.
The only time it can work is if you’re messaging people in your OWN Facebook group. In this case, the person likely already knows who you are (but not always), so you MIGHT get the sale, but the odds are still against you.
If you want to send a private message to someone you don’t know because you have something to offer them that’s FREE and doesn’t require them to opt-in to get it, go right ahead.
But avoid sending private messages just to sell your shit.
#3 - Joining a Group and Immediately Promoting Yourself
The third and most annoying mistake that I notice happening a lot is someone joining a group - they’re BRAND NEW to it - and immediately they promote themselves. That is their very first post in the group.
Want to know what kind of first impression that gives? SPAM. People see you as a spammer right away, and going forward, they make sure to ignore all of your posts.
What you want to do for your first post is share an introduction WITHOUT linking to anything or telling people to private message you. For example…
“I’m Cassie and I help women entrepreneurs make six-figures in their business. I love my job and am so grateful to work with so many amazing clients every week. I also love vegan poutine and even though I live in Canada, no, I do not live in an igloo (although my kids would love it). Happy to meet you!”
Sounds much better than…
“I’m Cassie Howard and I’m a business coach. I’m so happy to be here. If you need help making money in your business, visit my website www.cassiehoward.com or send me a private message”.
The first one is informative and fun, the second post is 100% spam that most people will ignore.
See the difference?
Ideally you want to give CONSISTENT free value in a Facebook Group for 3-4 weeks before ever promoting anything (including free opt-ins). At that point, you can throw in the odd promotional post. Before that - FREE VALUE ONLY.
If you haven’t made any of these mistakes, HOORAY! I’m proud of you.
If you have? That’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up over it. You’ve learned what to do instead, so start there.