How to Sell On Facebook (A Plan for Facebook Group owners)

If you're looking to promote your online courses, you're going to need an audience. In the ideal scenario, you won't delay until after you've created your course to start building that crowd. There's something I've learned in my time as an entrepreneur - building a product and then going and finding the community to promote it to, is like making the cart go before the horse. A better approach is to build a community first. Then, you need to know exactly what they want, and then sell them the product.

The creation of a blog is a fantastic opportunity to gain a following for your online courses. It will help you to build a community of leads and customers that will provide you with a window into what they are looking for, want and are likely to purchase. In Facebook Groups, Facebook Group you can watch posts and tap into your audience's desires, languages, and areas where they're not getting what they want and give them the exactwhat they need, and with less effort than trying to figure it out by yourself.

In this piece I'll teach you how to establish communities using a Facebook Group, tap into that group for what they would like, before creating the group.

  A fatal mistake to avoid  

Through my many years of consulting as well as online course launches I've witnessed one deadly oversight that I'd like assist you in avoiding. That mistake is launching courses before having a community.

Maybe you've seen this happen, or worse yet, you've been there. It takes you a long time to create your online course. You're excited to make sales and serve and you work on your course online with awe-inspiring excitement - then open the course up to the public and...

... crickets.

There is no need to buy.

It's sad. And unfortunately it happens far more often than course designers would like to admit.

Instead of focusing on what may or may not sell it is recommended to put that focus into developing your community first. Once you're the head of your community, you'll find it's very simple to market and earn profits from your courses, coaching and anything else you want to offer.

When I began to build my own business, I was struggling to find a solid method to create a community around it. Happily, I placed the focus on my Facebook group than just about anything other than podcasting. When I think back the factors that helped me promote my online course with such incredible power, it was my Facebook network. The group was a powerful source of contacts, networking socializing and tapping into what an already-built audience was looking for.

  Create A Community Around Your Topic  

If you want to sell your online course to participants of your Facebook Group, you first need to build a group that is highly pertinent to your business and its niche.

As for me, I've built many groups. One that has been the most successful to me was my Podcasters Secret Weapon group as well as my Pay2Podcast groups (the latter being one that is paid for). A group that is specifically designed with podcasters allows me to sell to people in the podcasting niche.

If I'd created groups that focused on fasting, dieting, weightlifting or something other than my specialty I'd be able to build a community of folks who wouldn't want to take my online courses about podcasting.

If you don't already, I recommend you log into Facebook and start a brand newly created Facebook Group. When you've completed this process, you'll be asked to choose a title for the group. This brings us to my next tip:

  Create Your Facebook Group To Improve SEO  

When many people create an organization, they are trying to make catchy titles. However, on Facebook this doesn't go so well. If you consider Facebook as a sort of search engine, then you'll know that it's not super savvy in crawling for information - rather, it employs words that are more literal.

As an example, if your group was named "Fantastic Beasts" and the group is specifically for those who love gyms, Facebook doesn't know that. Instead, name your group, "The Weight Room" or "Gym Enthusiasts - Who Want to Get Rid." Make use of the option in the search box for your subject for your group's name.

If your group is specifically for Instagram or digital marketing users - put those keywords in the beginning of the title of your group. The only time you'd do good to be fancy with titles is if you've have a loyal following and are able to direct a steady flow of fans into your group. If you've got a solid foundation and large following (like Lewis Howes or Hal Elrod, for example) You'd be well to use your name in the title. If you do not have a large number of followers who are likely to look up your name in Facebook or who you can email to your group through advertisements, emails, your podcast and other mediums Use the words that reflect your course topic within your group's name.

  Have A Clear The Goals for The Facebook Group  

Akin to my first tip about creating a group that is niche-specific and is relevant to your intended audience for your online course The group must also to have a mission.

The purpose for your group cannot be to just to market products (including on-line courses) to members. Yes, you'll want to use your group to create leads for your , get clients, and make more courses available, however, don't frame it in that way.

One great example of a community with solid purpose is the Order Of Man Facebook Group. With over forty thousand highly active members, Ryan Michler's group has become an online community unlike most groups online. The posts on the group range from fifty comments and often in the hundreds. Men who are focused on their work can connect, discuss a clear topic: what it means to be a man as well as how to become a better man.

When you start a Facebook Group to build a group of people ensure that the group has a clear focus. You've probably noticed that that all of the groups I've listed are concentrated and possess a clear intention. A strong and focused focus will also help you later when you decide to sell your training course to your local community.

  Request People To join Your Facebook Group  

It's difficult work. When you don't already have a community in another location, you'll need work hard at this - but in the end, the effort will pay off. According to Arne Giske is a Facebook Group Growth Hacker told me on the Thriving Launch Podcast: "At first it'll need a lot of hard work. If you're new you're going to put some effort into it. Once you've built the community, you'll be able to be able to sell what you have. Not only that, you'll have a community which will let you know what they'd like and you can just build it and market to them."

The work required upfront is well worth the effort in the long run.

One of the best methods to build this community is simply posting Facebook posts. It's the method my customer Tim Hoover did with his Elite Fitness Group. Without an email address and no community yet the group was set up by Tim Hoover of posting posts inviting his followers to join his group. He's has over 500 extremely active members. Similar to my method when I first started and in a short period of time I stopped requesting for people to join my group because my group members started to recommend and add their friends.

This may seem daunting or time-consuming to establish an online community, especially if you do not already have an audience - but all of us started with nothing. For instance, take Arne Giske, for example. When he first started his group, when he first started it, he was only 23 years old, still living in a basement with his parents without a job and brand not yet a part of the internet marketing world. He adhered to his approach of continually inviting members of his intended audience to join his group. Today, the group is home to nearly fifty thousand active members. If you're an Millennial or entrepreneur, you should join the group and check out what he's doing so you can copy his tactics for your own group.

  Here are a few other ways you can tell the world about your community  

• Video ads appear on Facebook (if you're new to advertising on the internet, take it easy with this)
• Your audience via email, friends, and people who you think might be interested.
• Private Facebook message inviting people you believe would like to join the group as well as its content
• Link to your group in your menu bar or content on your website
• Posts on social media with links to your group
• Make a shout-out on your podcast about your group
• Asking friends to tell them about your group and to make posts about your group

  Increase Group Membership By Giving People Incentives To Join  

Membership can be rewarded by doing giveaways, offering special content, such as videos or other content that you don't release in other places.

You can also offer a little extra time to you through the group - - time that you won't be giving any other time. Such a speciality and exclusivity can help to establish you and your team as a go-to-spot for outstanding service and knowledge in your field.

  Here are a few suggestions for giveaways  

• Special PDF-based reports
• Unseen or coveted hacks that are typically given to your clients
• Videos for training and walkthroughs are what users are looking for.
• Free online courses

This is the kind of things that make people desire to send their emails attention, time, and support. This is exactly the reason people choose to be part of a group.

Offering giveaways and exclusive gifts precisely what Ryan Levesque did while the group was being built. Next Level Mastermind group (it's part of a paid course however he is able to demonstrate this example the best). When he was launching his group he offered an array of exciting giveaways. He gave gifts to the members who contributed the most content to his group (which encouraged members to post and they were willing to!). He also offered prizes for affiliates for those who joined with the highest number of members.

This strategy Ryan Stewman utilized to grow his, Sales Talk With Sales Professionals group to become the biggest and most active sales community on Facebook. Incentivize members to sign up. Make use of whatever you can. At first, it'll feel like you're giving away every piece of artillery in your arsenal however, as you build a community of devoted and thankful members - it'll result in dividends.

Offering so much for a group that is free may appear exhausting, but it's the way you're attracting attention. That's the way you're earning admirers. If you think it's tiring and you're not used to giving to get attention take a look at what Gary Vaynerchuck is saying in the video: "I Day Give Up Attention." In the world of sales the importance of attention is paramount. That's the reason the reason Coca-Cola, TMobile, and every giant corporation spends billions of dollars in advertising, as well as grabbing your attention.

You are trading some value in exchange for loyalty and attention - and later that helps you create the support of loyal customers and steadfast fans.

Join Your Facebook Group To Conduct Market Research

Now, we're getting closer selling, but we're still not at the point of being there. Right now you have a group. It's targeted, it's humming up and users are joining. You're providing value and building loyalty and participation.

The next step is to begin asking people about their problems. Find out what they need. Find out what they're doing and find out details about them, all to create an online course that's exactly what they want. That way, when you present them with an offer, they'll take it.

Keep track of their comments as well as their struggles, points of pain as well as all the necessary information to selling the course.

  Here are some methods you can conduct market research within your group:  

• Conducting polls within the members of your organization ( here's how to do that)
• Asking questions about pains
• Inviting discussions
• commenting on the statuses of others and provoking more conversations

Markets don't need to be hard, it's easy as simply asking. Note what's being stated and what's being asked for.

  Make Use of The Data Sell Your Course  

I'm not the biggest fan of the old saying "build it, and they'll show up." I prefer to have them come to gather and sell them what they want.

Like Russell Brunson has said in his book Dotcom Secrets In the places where people congregate, there are opportunities for business. Where it used to be difficult to locate communities that you could join and ethically use them for sales and marketing Facebook Groups enable you to accomplish this by yourself with a minimal expense.

Once you've reached out to a community you know the things they're looking for, they trust you and are more likely to buy from your.

It's not that difficult as you've put in the effort to build trust, create communications, and draw interest.

You'll need to begin discussing your plans to develop courses that meet the requirements of your target audience (which your time with them and research has helped you collect the information). By posting content and posts, you can how you're going to create an online course to help them solve the issues.

Instead of putting together your course only to fail in the event that no sales occur it is possible to sell your course to a set of beta participants. As the course is currently being tested and live the cost isn't as high, live and offers specialties which will not be made available until later. If you've conducted your research well, you're aware of what your target audience might be looking for from an online course and so it shouldn't be a problem to determine.

Since you've built trust and awe-inspiring attention, people are likely to be reading your posts and curious about what you're up to (which is crucial to the sales). Because you've provided free value you can only assume that the paid content will be superior and more worth the investment.

In my case, I've done this with my Paid2Podcast course and my ProfitFromFB course. These courses were validated by actual sales, which then justifies the need to market the courses to those who are not part members of my Facebook Group.

  Build Your Community Before You Create Your Course  

If you follow the suggestions I've provided in this piece If you follow these suggestions, there's no reason why you can't create a group of active people who is interested in your area. By doing this you'll avoid creating a course that isn't bought by anyone, simply by checking the information they're looking to acquire prior to creating a course that teaches the students precisely what they would like to understand.

Luis Congdon is a digital marketing expert for business. He's been featured and quoted in Chicago Tribune, Forbes, JP Morgan, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Huffington Post, Huff Live, Elephant Journal, and many other publications. For the free training in digital marketing to increase your sales online, head over to ThrivingLaunch.com