Not a lot of people see Facebook groups as a source to make money, but they can certainly be a great source of income.
Facebook groups are essentially a community of people with something in common: common goals, common struggles, a common profession, common problems, etc.
And if you’re someone who can benefit the community with the help of your product or services, then they’re definitely gonna pay you money for that.
It can also be a great side hustle if you want to make some extra cash. It doesn’t have any start-up costs, no overheads, and great earning potential.
Even if you don’t make money from it, Facebook groups are a great way to build a community of customers for your existing business.
If you’re a business, then building a community where your customers can engage with you and other customers would definitely increase brand loyalty.
Today, we’ll be talking to Chantelle Turner, who identified the power of Facebook groups only after becoming a mom to a special-needs child. Her Facebook groups not only helped her pay off $100000 medical debt but also build an enduring online business.
How to Make Money With Facebook Groups
Making money with Facebook groups is not that hard if you can build authority with people in the group. Let’s discuss step-by-step how to make money with Facebook Groups.
Be Comfortable Charging Money
A lot of people are afraid of charging money for their work because somehow it doesn’t feel right. And the environment on Facebook is also somewhat intimidating for people trying to charge money for their services.
So before you put a price tag on your product or service, be comfortable doing that because you’ll come across a lot of mean comments trying to pull you down.
You’re not doing anything wrong in seeking compensation for your hard work. In fact, you’re actually doing a disservice to people if you’re so good at something and still not offering it to them.
Also, when you’re charging for it, it’s gonna allow you to help more people. You can expand, grow, and bring in a team to continue and upgrade your product.
So if you’re afraid of charging money because you think it’s unethical, then get over it first before you can be successful with your Facebook group.
What Are You Passionate About
The most important thing to make money from a Facebook group is establishing authority among the members of that group.
And that can only be done if you have a keen interest in what you’re talking about or are really passionate about the topic of the group.
So whether you love to meditate, or you’re a vegan, or you have a fascination with model toy cars, it doesn’t matter. People have all kinds of interests, and you’re gonna find members no matter in which category your group is.
So before building any Facebook group, think about whom you wanna build it for. Think about your hobbies, think about the food you eat, things you love, jobs you had, and the skills you possess.
Don’t just start a group in a niche because it is famous or your mentor has a group in it. Think about it this way, if you had to hang out and drink beer with a group of people, what would that group look like?
Don’t just think of it as something on the internet, you’re building a community of real people on the other side of the screen.
Only go ahead with the group in that niche where you’re ready to spend time in real life with the community you’re building on Facebook.
Be Selective as to Who You’re Letting Into the Group
The biggest thing after building a group is to maintain its quality, and that is only possible if you only let in the right people.
How many groups, especially open groups, do you see that are just horrible. No engagement, no connections, just bots spamming promotional messages. It is because the group lets in anyone and everyone who wants to join.
You have to be very selective in choosing your members. Because once you get all the right people in, you don’t have to do much in terms of moderation because the engagement just grows by itself.
So, how do you select who you’re letting in? Well, the best idea is to make use of the three questions that Facebook allows you to ask before someone can join.
You should have one yes or no question that helps you refine most of the junk. For example, for Chantelle’s special needs parenting group, it is “are you currently parenting a child with special needs?” If the answer is anything other than yes, you don’t let them in.
When you have a group of people with similar struggles and pain points, they’ll support each other, get each other, and the activity in the group will just grow.
But when there’s a bunch of people that don’t belong there, people in the group would be uncomfortable and intimidated posting about their struggles.
How to Monetize the Group
There are broadly two ways you can monetize a Facebook group: Sell your own products or services or sell someone else’s, meaning affiliate marketing.
If you have your own products or services that you already sell or render, then well and good, continue with it and use your group to promote them.
However, if you don’t, then affiliate marketing or selling someone else’s products for a commission is a great gateway into the world of internet entrepreneurship.
Affiliate marketing eliminates nearly all the risks associated with a business. You don’t need a product, service, even a website. Just post a link and you’ll get paid every time someone buys using your link.
But is it a place where you should stay forever? No, because you’re only earning a percentage. At some point, you would want to introduce your own products.
Not just for the money but control as well. Once you’ve established enough authority among your group members, quality and personal touch are expected of you. And you can’t deliver that with affiliate products.
So, if you’re just starting out, go with affiliate products, by all means, to get your foot in. But gradually, switch to your own products and services.
How to Launch Your Facebook Group: 7-Day Strategy
It is Chantelle’s own strategy which she calls the 7-day launch strategy. What you basically do is leverage the way how the Facebook algorithm works to launch your group.
In this strategy, you start off by posting on your personal and business page and launch the group exactly on the 7th day.
For the first three days, when you start posting on Facebook, very few people will see it. Facebook algorithm is trying to figure out who they should show it to because they can’t show it to everyone who’s connected with you.
On each day, you hit different pain points of your dream customers. For this, you need to fully understand who your dream customer is, and how you can offer them value.
In your posts, you also tell them about your Facebook group, its launch date, and what’s in it for them, meaning why they should join.
After the first three days of posting, the Facebook algorithm will begin to figure out who’s the type of person that’s the best to be reading this post. So traffic will pick up, and more people will see it.
During this 7-day time, your group is not officially open, but people can have the link and go join it. You also tell them when exactly the group is opening.
On the 7th day, you open the group, and everyone floods in at once. This relieves all of that stress of “oh, but only two people might be in my group.”
You don’t have to care much about advanced growth techniques or anything like that in the beginning. Just have a great description of what the group is about, have a welcome post that tells everything about the group, and be regular at posting, at least for the first couple of weeks.
Once the activity in the group starts picking up, all you have to do is answer people’s questions, engage with them, build your authority, and promote your offer.
