The Email List Shortcut Hiding in Facebook Groups

What I do want to do is I do want to build my

online business, and I want to be in places where my ideal

clients are hanging out and they're on Facebook. And I would

argue that 90% of everybody's ideal clients are on Facebook.

This is the entrepreneur school podcast

where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make

your family a priority. This show is all about supporting

you, the emerging or early stage entrepreneur, on your journey

from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in

your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair, and I'm a brand and

marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under

three. I'm a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I

learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing

things that burn you out on this show, you'll hear inspiring

stories from other business owners on their journey and

learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while

making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to

entrepreneur School. Hello. Welcome back to entrepreneur

school. I'm here with another wonderful guest, Miss Tracy

beavers. She is a business coach, a public speaker and a

published author who is obsessed with helping entrepreneurs stand

out in crowded markets, with over 20 years of experience and

a knack for organic, sustainable strategies, she's guided

hundreds of business owners to grow their email lists and

attract dream clients on autopilot, and today she's here

to spill her secrets on getting more leads and growing your list

consistently, confidently and without burning out. Tracy, I'm

so excited to dive into this conversation with you. Thank

you. Me too. So we've talked a lot on this podcast about the

importance of email list building, and I usually talk

about it in terms of choose email lists over social media.

And I'm actually excited that you're going to talk to us about

how to tie those two things together, actually today. So

therefore we're using social media a little more

strategically to actually get those people off of a platform

and into a place where we can build an email list and have

those direct conversations with each other. So tell us what you

like to teach people about email list growth?

Yeah, thanks for asking. So as you know, Kelly,

the email list is so important now more than ever when we're

experiencing what we have been with Tiktok, whether it's here,

one minute gone the next, it's really important to have your

ideal clients offline in your email list so that you can

connect with them and have those conversations. So as a

visibility and list growth strategist, I have developed

over the years over 10 organic strategies that ramp up your

visibility to the point where your audience says, Kelly, I see

you everywhere, but you're not everywhere exhausting yourself.

24/7, it's just the strategies that I teach you, and mainly I

teach Facebook. So if people are Facebook curious, reach out to

me and learn more about it. A lot of people are surprised when

I say Facebook, because they think Facebook is dead and it is

not. It is very much alive, and it is a massive free marketing

tool that we need to use for our businesses. I don't teach paid

ads, and I am not the list growth coach that's going to

tell you Kelly, go create another free lead magnet and put

it out on social media. Because, let's face it, you've already

done that, but I have 10, over 10 other strategies that I

teach, and one of those that's really popular is, you know,

because one of the things that sets Facebook apart is the fact

that there are Facebook groups, communities. Instagram does not

have that feature. LinkedIn has LinkedIn groups, but they don't

function quite the same way as a Facebook group. And I've had my

own free Facebook group now since I started my business, I

think going on almost six years. But no, maybe I started it the

year after. I can't remember. It's called be a confident

entrepreneur, if anybody's interested in joining us. But

what I love about Facebook groups is the community aspect

of it, and when they're done well, even in groups that don't

allow promotion of any kind, you as a member of that group can

still gain massive visibility and credibility as an expert in

your subject matter and again, and even in the groups that

don't allow promotion. And a lot of people are stunned when I say

that, but it happens for me every day, and the key to it is,

well, there's one key foundational piece that I want

to share before we talk about the Facebook group visibility

strategy, and that is having your Facebook Personal Profile

all dialed in to reflect your business, your cover photo

leading to your email list in some way. So most of the time,

you'll see my cover photo showcase my free Facebook group,

because, by the way, I have the membership entry questions set

up. You want to give me your email address. Is when you come

into my group, so it's a massive list growth builder for me, my

free group is but if you don't have a free group, you could

showcase one of your lead magnets or something like that.

And then you want to make sure that your I help statement is

very clear, who you serve, how you serve them, and every link

that you've got is there in the personal profile, your

Pinterest, your Instagram, your LinkedIn, your Facebook group,

your podcast, whatever you have where somebody could find you

and connect with you and consume your content. So that has to be

set up first before you start going into Facebook groups

hoping to gain visibility and list growth, because if you

don't do that piece first, the whole thing's not going to work.

And the reason why is because most Facebook group owners only

allow you to join their group as a personal profile. Very rarely

do they allow you to join as a business page. And they do that

for a reason. They want the community to be human to human.

They don't want business to human or business to business.

They want it to be human to human. So I have to join the

group as Tracy Lane beavers. And so the way this strategy works

for me is when I go into these groups, all I am doing is being

a great community member, answering questions in my area

of expertise where I can help and sharing tips. I am not

promoting anything. I am not saying, Come by my stuff. I am

not DMing people unless that's allowed by the group. A lot of

group owners don't want you DMing the other members without

permission. I am simply showing up a few minutes a day or a few

minutes every other day, really, and giving value and helping

other people. And the magic is, what ends up happening is, the

more people see my name, they're going to get curious about me,

and they're going to go, Who is this? Tracy beavers girl? She

gave me a really great tip, and I know she shared another great

tip with that other girl I saw her comment the other day. Who

is she? And so this is where the list growth comes in. They click

on my personal profile. They go there. I'm offering them

something of value on my cover photo that leads to my list, and

before you know it, they have entered my email list and 85% of

the people that join my free Facebook group or my masterclass

or my workshop, whatever I've got on my cover photo. I haven't

invited them. I've not promoted to them. I am simply being

visible to them and being of service in the Facebook groups

where they're hanging out.

Okay? So you have a you shared, like two or

three kind of strategies all layered together there. So for

for the listeners. So one is personal participation in a

Facebook group, yes, an engaged community member, which takes

making sure that your personal profile is set up to when people

click out of curiosity, over to you that you have a public

profile and that you're able to send them to all the other

places where you may capture their interest and they can

continue that relationship, ie, the email list. And then the

other one is you have your own private Facebook group community

that you're running. So so this is like, if you don't want to

manage a Facebook community, you could just engage in Facebook

communities and have your personal profile optimized. And

so let's talk a little bit about owning your own Facebook group

and what you sure those tips are

sure. So for 90% of my clients and students

having their own free Facebook group is a home run, and the

reason why is because people are looking for shortcuts on

learning. Nobody wants to cobble together a bunch of free stuff

off of YouTube and try to figure out, am I getting the right

information, if when I say to when I meet an online

entrepreneur and I figure out that they are just like us.

They're a warm, kind human being who really just wants to connect

with other, you know, warm kind human beings. They're not a

spammy person. They're not, you know, they seem to just be a

really nice, knowledgeable person. I'm going to invite them

to my free group, because my audience of online

entrepreneurs, they are looking for groups where they're allowed

to promote their offers whenever they want to and need to. They

are looking for groups that encourage connections, that

encourage actual networking, that encourage you to set coffee

chats. And they're also looking for places to get answers, you

know, so like, we have members that will that are stuck in

Kajabi on some automation, and they'll post in the group, and

one of the Kajabi experts that's in there will help them, so you

can create a beautiful community that appeals to your ideal

audience. So one of my students helps parents with children that

have special needs, and so when she says to her, then the mom

that she's just met, and she discovers that this mom is that

has a child with autism, or, you know, any number of special

needs, and she says to them, Hey, I've got this free group

where you can be a part of our membership for free. It's all

parents just like us, and we're all navigating raising our kids.

And I do some free trainings, and I've got some free

resources. Would you like to join us? That's a very easy yes

for the ideal client, because you're basically shortcutting

their learning curve. And you're saying, come sit at my table.

Come be with me. Come get the support you need. And so that's

what's beautiful about having your own free Facebook group.

So okay, so go back to the like underlying

comment that you made earlier about the perception that maybe

Facebook is dead, and how it's not so. But we do have to

recognize that there's some people who really just don't

want to use it, and that's okay. This, this is not the strategy

for you. You probably can stop this episode by now. If that's

you, that's okay. But there are still people who really like to

go on and engage and meet people from different places and

connect on the on the topic that that is about, and that's really

where the value is coming from, right,

correct, yeah. Facebook isn't for everybody. I

have people that have very strong opinions about it. And

listen, I don't love the leadership. I don't agree with

their political decisions, but what I do want to do is I do

want to build my online business, and I want to be in

places where my ideal clients are hanging out and they're on

Facebook. And I would argue that 90% of everybody's ideal clients

are on Facebook. There's 3 billion users every month. Most

of them are women, and most of them are between the ages of

like, 25 and 40, which is really surprising to a lot of people,

because they think it's a lot older demographic, and it's not.

And even if, even if, all someone did was set up their

personal profile for as a list growth funnel and find a few

groups to be active in a couple days a week, they don't have to

be on the platform. 24/7, they don't even have to go look at

the main feed of the main feed of the platform. They could just

bookmark the groups they want to go in and out of and not be

distracted by anything

else. So do you have any mindset tips to help

with that? Like, approach, if I'm like, I'm worried about

social media, like, sucking me in and sending me down the

scroll hole, right? Like, how do I do it intentionally so that

I'm going in engaging and actually like because, because,

I will say My opinion is that if you do something with the wrong

intention or the wrong energy, or the oh, I have to log into

Facebook today. That's not going to help you get anywhere, right,

correct? You you're putting that energy alongside the comment or

alongside the time that you're doing it. So you have to switch

gears in your mind to go on and do it with intention, with with

good value. What are there

well, and it's what I just mentioned. You know,

if somebody is absolutely averse to Facebook, then don't get on

it. Just like, for the reason you just said that is not that

they're not going to show up with the right energy. It's like

showing up to a cocktail party with a sour look on your face

and standing in the corner. Yes, you know what I mean, that's

what I just visualized when you

said, yeah, totally, oh, I don't be here,

but I'm right work now,

right, right. And I'm going to be on my phone the

whole time, and I'm going to be acting like I'm busy. And, you

know, no, don't do that. What I would say is, and again, I don't

love every single thing about the platform, but I love

building my business, and I love reaching my ideal clients, and

so that's how my mindset has changed about it. It is a

massive free marketing tool, and I'm going to use it because I'm

a serious CEO and I have a business to build and people to

reach. So that's how I shifted my mindset about it, and how I

helped my my students shift theirs. And in terms of getting

caught in the feed, the bookmark system is brilliant. So make

sure you set up your personal profile the way we've talked

about. Make sure it leads to your email list and you do want

to have some content there, because if I go and look at your

Facebook personal profile and you haven't posted on it in six

years, I'm gonna be like, how serious is this person about

their business? So I'm not saying you have to post seven

days a week. I'm just saying throw a piece of content or two

pieces of content over there once a week. Take something you

posted on LinkedIn and throw it over there on your Facebook

personal profile, and then pick the groups you want to be in and

on the URL window. I'm not a technical person. I don't even

know if I'm saying this correctly, but you know where

you type in the browser, yeah, the browser, okay,

directly in your browser. Not even like within

the Facebook platform, saving correct talking about like

directly from I'm I'm over here on Google. Now I'm going to this

facebook group page instead of correct Facebook and then

searching for a page

correct Exactly. So when you like it, when you

find the group bookmark, it that little star that you see on the

browser window. Click it, it'll turn blue, and you can

categorize your you can create a bookmark that says Facebook

groups. And so just like you said, if you're on Amazon buying

some whatever for your house, and you're like, I need to go

check my groups. Then you just go to the bookmark tab, click on

Facebook groups, and each of your groups will be there. Click

on the group, go straight into the group, click on the next

group, go straight into that group. Set a timer, five to 10

minutes, because what you're going to find is you do not have

to be in these groups. 24/7, all day long. Every you know people

say. I mean, well, sounds like it takes up so much time. Okay,

well, building a business takes time and effort.

Yes, I have my pause. Let's underscore this,

this moment here. Let's recognize that sometimes we need

to do things that we don't love, doing that are uncomfortable, or

that take time, or that are more than just an easy button, like

quick answer, because those things don't exist. And like you

said, I love what you said. I'm a confident, serious CEO, and I

know that this is what takes the work. So instead of being like,

Oh, I have to go do that, it's like, Yay, I get to go and do

that, because that allows me the opportunity to actually reach

the people that I can help. And your business is nothing if you

don't have people to help

Correct, correct. And so set a timer. So let's

decide I want you to do but like a great way to start out with

this. Don't do what I did and get all gangbusters and choose

10 groups that was too much. I was like, No, this was a

mistake. So pick two to three, bookmark them, and Monday, 10

minutes each one or five minutes each one go in. Don't scroll

back through the whole history of the whole thing. Just scroll

back maybe a couple of days. See who you can help. What can you

like? What can you heart? What can you comment on? And then

you're out. Timer goes off. You're done. What you're going

to find is, if you went in there on Monday, and you go back in on

Wednesday or Thursday, there's not that many new posts, so

you're only going to have to scroll back probably eight or 10

posts. And again, you're looking to see where you can be of

service. Who can you cheer on? Who can you shore up? Who can

you share value with? And you're done. Timer goes off, you're

out. But when you do this consistently, week in, week out,

couple days a week, you would be shocked at how many people end

up saying, I see you everywhere, Tracy, and I'm like, Hmm, okay,

my strategy is working, you know? And then they want, they

want to join my free group. And I'm like, how did we connect?

Kelly, How'd you find me? And you go, Oh, we're both in the

XYZ group together. And I'm like, okay, the time I spent in

that group this week, it's paid off, because now I get to have a

conversation with you in the DMS, and now I get to see what

do I want to hire Kelly? Because she can take me to my next

level. Does Kelly want to hire me for the same reason? Or Kelly

and I collaborate on something, or be referral partners for each

other. These connections, we never know where they're going

to lead. And so that's to me, that's what makes social media

so exciting, is really connecting with other people,

being visible to them, being of service, having the

conversations that lead to conversions in some way. It's

not always that they're going to buy something from us. It could

be a conversion of a collaboration, just like you and

I are doing right now.

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you

point that out too, because truly that to me, that's also my

favorite part about social media, is the opportunity to

connect and and build and deepen relationships in that way where

you it's a space for that, even if it's not the place that

somebody finds you initially, they may end up going and

connecting with you there, as well as having seen you speak at

an event or listen to you on a podcast or whatnot. Like the

pathway to get there may be different, but like you said,

it's it's about having a place for that connection. And there's

so many layered pieces that you've talked about here, where

it's not just about going into a Facebook group, maybe it's about

having your own as well, and then pointing everything kind of

back to one place, so you have a primary source of where you're

connecting. Because, like you said about specifically with how

does this convert to email? Because I want to make sure that

we like explicitly say that is that option A is somebody sees

you in a Facebook group that you're both in. You helped them,

you sent them a link, you shared a tip, you whatever. Were a

human with them. Then they connected with that. They went

over to your profile, they saw what you do. They were

interested further, so they clicked, and then they joined

your email list, and they maybe also joined your Facebook group.

And if they join your Facebook group, they're responding to

questions upon entry, one of which is, go get my XYZ free

thing that you can have now you're on my email list. Yep, I

just want to summarize that to make sure they got me and the

whole point of this conference. Conversation very clear for the

listeners today. And is there anything else, any other

nuances, or anything else that you wanted to share about this,

this particular strategy, maybe I just want to, like, bring it

you've been growing your Facebook group for six years. So

I'm sure that there's people who've probably been in it the

whole time, and you have these super loyal people within there.

The conversations are good. The group itself has a reputation

when you're working with clients now who are just getting started

and who are starting Facebook groups, like, is there anything

that you notice about them? That makes them a good candidate for

this strategy or not. By for example,

it really has to fit their audience. So if they

have an audience that is hungry for education and knowledge,

that's a great person to have a free Facebook group. I'm trying

to think of an example of one. Well, let me give you some

examples of some good ones. One of my students teaches people

how to use photography and how to effectively use your digital

camera, all the bells and whistles of it. So gosh, if she

invited me into that community and I was into photography, that

would be a no brainer. Another one I mentioned, the parenting

coach, you know, of special needs families, health and

wellness is a great one to do, because you're giving tips and

education and you're really helping people. So nine times

out of 10, it's a it's a home run for most businesses.

Have you ever experimented with any other

platforms in the same kind of concept, like community based

platforms outside of Facebook? In particular,

I have not personally done that, because

anytime somebody has a community that is on mighty networks,

circle, heartbeat, Kajabi communities, the energy is not

there. It is not the same experience as a free Facebook

group. So I don't even bother with those. I have two paid

Facebook groups. That one is for my eight week group coaching

program, where all the students are in there for the eight

weeks, and then I have after that, they graduate into the

alumni mastermind. We have a free Facebook group for that.

Everything that I need for that mastermind is in that free group

in the guide section. And the way we organize everything,

there's no reason to have a portal of any kind. And in my

opinion, when we're sending somebody to Slack or to mighty

networks or circle, very rarely will they take that extra step.

They're just not going to go. And the engagement is not going

to be there, the energy is not going to be the same. That's

just my opinion. I've seen it time and time again. People go,

I'm so sick of Facebook, I'm leaving, and their whole

community is excited. They're like, Yeah, let's go. Well,

three months later, they're all back.

Yeah, you're like, oh, right, because these

things are all connected to so many other things. Yeah. I mean,

we're on the See, like my friend's birthday announcements

and stuff like that. So yeah.

I mean, people are on Facebook anyway, or at

least they were, and it's easy for them to come back, versus

downloading a mighty networks app and trying to figure out how

to use it. How do you set the notifications? How do you feel

like you're not missing everything? Where do you post

stuff? I mean, it's just yeah, it's not the same.

What about any tips that you have on building

strong communities and, like, encouraging engagement? If you

are a Facebook group owner?

Yes, I get this question a lot. One of the best

things to do is to give them a true community experience. So

consider that this person has walked up to your front porch

and rang your doorbell and you're going to let them in your

house. You wouldn't just let them in your house and not say a

word, right? You wouldn't just let them in and then walk away

and leave them standing there. But that's what a lot of people

do. They go ahead and admit the person into the group. They

never say another word to them. No, we want to give them a

really. If you walked into my house, Kelly, I'd be like, Oh my

gosh. Kelly, okay, here's the remote. The Netflix password is

this, would you like a snack? The pantry is over here. Drinks

are out in the garage. If you want to go play, you know,

whatever game we've got going out on the back patio with

everybody else totally can cocktail hour will be, you know,

at six o'clock, you know, I'm giving you the lay of the land,

right? That is going to create a much better experience for you

than if you walked in my house and I didn't say a word. So when

somebody joins my group, they get a friend request from me,

and they get a welcome DM, and the welcome DM says, Welcome to

the be a confident entrepreneur group. Kelly, I am so glad

you're here. And I share again, who I am, who I serve, how I

serve them. I remind them that they can promote their offers

anytime they're encouraged to network and whatever free thing

they've asked me to send them, it's on the way to the inbox.

And then I just simply say something about something like,

please reply back and let me know you got this message. And

you're gonna go, Yeah, I got it. And I'm gonna go, Cool, I'm so

glad you're here. How did we meet? And then you're gonna say,

Well, we're both in the XYZ group. Oh my gosh. How long have

you been in that group? And we are gonna have a conversation,

and that is going to welcome you in. Also, every Thursday, we

welcome in all new members with a with dedicated post, welcome

to the group. We're so glad you're here again. I remind

them, they can promote any time, and that makes people feel

welcome. We also do things during the week that they want

to engage in. You know, think about what are your people

looking for yeah people at their core, they want to be seen,

heard and validated. One of the best ways I can do that is on

Saturday, have a post that says, Hey, everybody. Share a social

media link for you. Put it in the comments and then find

somebody else to connect with or share your website. Tell us what

you do or. Or we'll do a post about, do you have your own

podcast? If so, comment below. Also fun things like, what's

your favorite color is sticky note? Now, does that have

anything to do with online business? I mean, kind of

because we all use sticky notes, but not really, but you would be

amazed at the amount of people who answer that question.

Oh, yeah, everyone wants to debate whether

tea or coffee is better all those kinds of things, right? I

love that you've set the stage, really, for, like, the

expectation of engagement right away when you are the first one

to engage and you invite people in to have that conversation.

And so that really says, don't just show up in this group and

lurk. Okay, thanks, yeah, and then you can create a better

environment. So that's great. And one more question I wanted

to ask you before we wrap up, too, just to clarify as well for

people, in terms of actually managing a Facebook group, I

feel like that can be something that feels a little bit

overwhelming, like it could take a lot of time, or it's really

challenging. So do you have a team that helps you, or how do

you manage the Facebook group interactions. Yeah,

I do have a team now. What my team member does

for me is she makes sure that all of our content is ready to

go, and then once a week, I go in and I schedule all the

content because I want it to post under my name and not hers,

because it is my community and I don't wanna lose the feel of

being the leadership of the group. In terms of post

approval. I have post approval turned on just because I want to

see what people are posting. And I also want to vibe check. Want

to make sure it's not a spammy, you know, somebody being spammy.

I also, if I, if I know the answer to what they're posting,

I want to be one of the first people to comment. You know,

hey, Kelly, I'm so sorry that you're having trouble in Kajabi.

Let me tag some Kajabi people for you, rather than just

leaving your post hanging there with nobody commenting. So it

would sound, it sounds like, and I know people are like, Oh, this

sounds like it's going to take up a lot of time. It really

doesn't, once you get in a rhythm of it. But when I first

started out, it was just me, and I did not have to, like, right

now in my group, you'll see, I think we do two posts a day,

seven days a week, sometimes three, depending on what we're

doing. But when I just started out with this group, I had three

days a week I could do something Monday, when Thursday, I went

live. Friday was an inspirational quote. That's all

I had time for. And in the meantime, I invited people to

join, and I welcomed them in, and if I knew that, and it's all

about connecting people too. Again, that Kajabi example I

gave, you're gonna appreciate me for solving your Kajabi problem.

The members in the group that are Kajabi experts are gonna

appreciate me, tagging them and showcasing them and, you know,

calling them to the front of the room and saying, hey, you need

to come help this person. So anytime that we can connect

people with other people, that also adds value and makes people

want to engage, it makes them want to stick around. Yeah. So

it sounds like it takes up a lot of time, but it really doesn't.

You just kind of have to decide how many posts a week you want

to do. What do they want to look like? How much could you

repurpose like we have every Monday we have a win post. We

only have four of those. We rotate them. We're not creating

a new one every Monday, right? And after a while, you'll have

enough content that you can start to repurpose some of this

stuff, like our quotes on Friday. I think we might have 20

or 25 that I've developed over the years, and we're just

rotating them, because there's no chance that people are going

to remember that I did that Henry Ford comment 60 days ago.

That's so true.

And I love that. Actually, this really fits into

what I teach in the 10 minute a day visibility strategy, where

it's just about building a habit and creating consistency and

choosing what you want to where you want to be, right? Yeah,

pick a place and try and live there for a while. Yes, keep

moving around, right? And that's how you create that. I see you

everywhere eventually, because you start adding to it over

time, rather than just trying to, like, go blast everywhere at

the same time at the beginning. So, yeah, any final words that

you'd like to wrap up? I'm sure you'd like to invite everyone to

your Facebook group.

I would love that. I also have a podcast, if

they love podcasts, it's called, Create Online Business Success.

And the free group is called, Be a Confident Entrepreneur, get

visible, grow your email list and your income. We've got

beautiful community, and I would love for your audience to join

us.

That's fantastic. The links will be in

the show notes so that you can connect with Tracy. Thank you so

much for sharing this strategy, which I think, like deserved a

little moment in the spotlight, because we've kind of, like you

said, some people have just completely skipped over

Facebook, and it still remains a giant free tool. So if you want

to commit to it and leverage it properly. We've had some really

great tips from you on how to do that today, so I appreciate you

for being here.

Thanks for having me.