Grow Fans With Facebook Groups – Arne Giske
SUMMARY
In this episode, Arne Giske of the Millennial Entrepreneur Facebook community and Millennial Entrepreneur Podcast, shares tips on how to grow a Facebook group organically. His has reached 21,000 members in less than a year.
According to Arne, seeing Facebook groups as a marketing and sales channel is a sure way to kill a group. It is crucial to view it as a branding channel instead, and as a place where people get to know each other.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
You can leverage your Facebook group to grow your email list for free.
Emails lists are the most valuable real estate and so is engagement.
A Facebook group is not a marketing channel. It’s not a sales channel. That’s the most sure fire way to kill a group.
A group is not a sales environment.
When you’re trying to build a group for your business, you have to understand how people consume in groups.
People come to groups to consume, learn, and be entertained.
A group is a lot more community-focused. It’s a branding channel. It’s a spot for people to get to know each other, and it’s a conversation starter.
Growing a Facebook group can help you find an incredible network, grow your business, get leads, and make connections.
TRANSCRIPTION: GROW FANS WITH FACEBOOK GROUP – ARNE GISKE
Kamala Chambers
Welcome to training Tuesday. On this episode, we’re going to talk about how to grow fans with a Facebook group.
Luis Congdon
All right, today’s guest is Arne Giske of the Millennial Entrepreneur Facebook Community and the Millennial Entrepreneur podcast. He’s somebody who was able to grow fans on Facebook very quickly with over 21,000 members in less than a year’s time, and he continues to grow. It’s been incredible to watch his growth, so we’re going to bring him on the show today.
Hey there Thriving Launchers. Today, we’re going to be talking with Arne. He’s a client, a friend, somebody who’s had a significant impact on the world through his Facebook community.
Without further ado, Arne, are you ready to launch?
Arne Giske
I’m excited.
Luis Congdon
Arne, I want to ask you. Tell us a little bit about how you were able to grow fans with your Facebook group, and how utilizing Facebook and Facebook group organically have changed your life?
Arne Giske
I could go on for hours, but I’ll keep it short.
Creating A Space For Entrepreneurs To Grow Fans
Arne Giske
Just two days ago, we hit 20,000 members, and as of today, we hit 21,000 members, and I started this group over a year ago. I launched it on July 1, 2016. It’s called The Millennial Entrepreneur Community, and I created it as a space for people like me, young entrepreneurs that just wanted to get some support, connections, level up and find some great resources.
I’m super excited I had the opportunity to lead this community and blow it up to a new level, and kick start it. Thanks to podcasting. Shout out to you on that one.
It’s just been a hell of a journey. Being able to grow fans has been a lot of fun, and we blew it up.
Grow Fans With A Facebook Group
Arne Giske
Building a Facebook group has been instrumental in my personal and business development. It’s helped me find an incredible network, grow the business, get leads, make connections, and just 10x everything.
Kamala Chambers
I want to hear some of your tips on how you grow fans with your Facebook group.
Arne Giske
Yeah, definitely.
Grow Fans Without Paying Facebook
Arne Giske
One thing I always tell people is not to pay Zuckerberg to grow your groups. I see people spending tons and tons of money on paying for ads to grow fans with a Facebook group, but it’s not the best way to do it.
There are a million ways can grow your Facebook groups for free, and my favorite is changing up your mentality about your online presence.
The whole reason I started a group was to get everybody in one place.
Best Form Of Communication To Grow Fans
Arne Giske
I start this real community, and have this back and forth engagement because I found that my style of content and communication fit well with the group; short posts, discussions, a few pictures, videos, and livestreams, and such, and that’s just the best format for a Facebook group. If I were using more images, I would be on Instagram.
When I had that realization that what I do and how my message fits, and my goals for this community was best for a Facebook group, I pointed all of my other social media channels back to the group.
Always Lead People To Your Facebook Group To Grow Fans
Arne Giske
If you go on my Tweeter, if you go on my website, you can even go to my personal Facebook profile, everything leads back to the group. Every media appearance I do, they say, “Where should people come find you?” and I always send them to the group. That’s one of the ways to grow fans.
Having that consistent mindset for over a year now has helped me skyrocket a lot of things and grow fans.
Kamala Chambers
Are you concerned about things changing with Facebook? It seems you’re relying on all of your traffic being in one place. You don’t have your email list growing if you’re pointing everything back to the group.
Are you concerned about that at all?
Arne Giske
Yeah, definitely.
Understand Facebook’s Algorithm To Grow Fans
Arne Giske
That is one thing that’s always in the back of the mind a little bit. It’s about understanding the algorithm.
One thing I’ve been able to master is how to play by the rules of Facebook and get tremendous results. That’s what I’m able to teach other people, other Facebook group owners. It’s how to dominate the newsfeed of their group members, and continuously show up over and over again for them to grow fans.
Grow Fans And Your Email Lists Through Facebook Posts
Arne Giske
For example, yesterday, I was able to grow fans by 650 just off of two Facebook posts. I asked people if they wanted my guide to group growth, and about 250 people commented. Then, I circle back, and they’re on email list now. Now, they’re in the funnel.
Then, I had another post where I said, “Hey, do you guys want to check out the sales funnel template that I had that was good at converting new subscribers to customers. Just let me know if you want it in the comment.” Also, it had over 400 comments.
You can strategically build your list, and get them off the platform if you know how to manage that.
Luis Congdon
Yeah.
Guys, Thriving Launchers, you guys know I also teach how to do Facebook stuff which includes how to grow fans. Arne’s a pro, and it’s been amazing to watch his growth.
Effective Facebook Posts To Grow Fans
Luis Congdon
One of the things I highly recommend to you when you want to grow fans is not to be afraid to make posts saying, “Hey, would you like my cheat sheet on how to do X, Y, and Z?” “Are you looking to have a six-pack within the next the three months? I got a 12-week training program. If you want it, comment ‘yes’ below, and I’ll send it over to you.” This kind of stuff works to grow fans.
What other things do you find works to create engagement? Let’s talk about building engagement because it helps you grow fans.
Kamala asked about algorithms changing, collecting the email lists, and yes, people like Ben Settle and Todd Brown, whom we’ve had on the show, will harp on email lists day and night, and say it’s the most valuable real estate.
Utilizing Engagement To Grow Fans
Luis Congdon
But, engagement is also one of the most valuable pieces of real estate or one of the most valuable pieces of information that you can gather and utilize. Engagement is something that is hot on Facebook and Instagram to grow fans and following.
Kamala was my first tutor on Facebook, and one of the things I found is asking people questions.
What are some of the things you like doing Arne you have found helps to create that quality engagement?
Arne Giske
Yeah, great question.
Understand The Social Science Behind Engagement To Grow Fans
Arne Giske
There are a few reliable ways to get engagement, and we talked a little bit about the algorithm side of it. If people comment, it shows up more, and you will grow fans.
The real strong part of engagement is the social science behind engagement of what makes people want to like a post or comment or have a reaction.
Some of my favorite ways of getting engagement are structuring a post into mini stories or call to actions or something to prove a point even if I’m not trying to generate an email or anything like that.
How To Structure A Post To Create Engagement And Grow Fans
Arne Giske
First, I structure my post by starting with a pattern interrupt. That’s something like throwing some emojis in the top or having one of those statuses like “feeling curious” or “feeling excited.”
The reason why this works so well is that the majority of people don’t do it. This gets people to stop their endless news feeds growing for just a second, enough to be thrown off guard, and that’s what the pattern interrupt is for.
Then, you have to throw a headline that is only relevant to the people that you want to keep reading or keep watching or keep consuming.
Have A Relevant Headline To Get Attention And Grow Fans
Arne Giske
Let’s have that example of a post about the group growth cheat sheet. Nobody is going to want to drop a comment if they’re not interested in growing their group. It’s a cool way to pre-qualify people for your post and get their attention.
Then, you can follow it up with like a mini story or something else to prove a point, and then get a call to action with something as simple as a question like “Do you guys want this?”
Luis Congdon
Those are all solid tips, and I love that.
Social Engineering Works Both Online And Offline To Grow Fans
Luis Congdon
One of the things Arne is talking about is social engineering and understanding the way social dynamics work online, and truthfully, they work offline; radio, television, and magazines.
This is stuff that’s been around. You can go to the greats. You can listen to some of the interviews we’ve had with, for example, Bryan Kurtz. This guy has studied this science and now, people like Arne and us, the millennials, are applying this science to Facebook, and the stuff works.
How Valuable Likes And Comments Are To Grow Fans
Luis Congdon
Not just equals likes and comments. Some people will argue and say, “They are just likes and comments.” No, these likes and comments equal to dollars and relationships.
I’ve been watching Arne over the last year or so, and one of the things I’ve seen Arne do is he started a podcast. He built leverage with that. He started his group, created more and more leverage, and now, I see him going to speaking gigs, and I’m like, “Man. Let me get in there. Make an introduction, brother.” Watching this is incredible.
Likes, comments, and shares are not just a like, a share, and a view of someone. It’s a lot more. There’s a lot more value.
Likes And Comments Mean More When You Grow Fans
Luis Congdon
In one of the training modules I have in the Profit From Facebook that’s about it’s not just a like or a comment. It’s a lot more. What is it mean?
One of the things that also creates engagement, and this is something I like Arne, is controversy. That’s just how I wired.
Create Controversy To Grow Fans
Luis Congdon
I’m wired. I have some strong opinions about things. The more evolved I get into marketing, and just into becoming who I am and being more secure with myself as a person, I’m becoming more clear that this is my opinion and I’m excited to share. This is how I feel, and being a little bit controversial.
I had a guy recently who asked me, “Hey, how much are your prices?” He’s somebody I’ve known for a while. He was a lawyer and went to a very nice school. I told him how much I charge for my sessions, and he was like, “Get F.. No way. Get F. You’re scamming people. It’s just easier to make money online, isn’t it? You can charge these ridiculous prices.”
Arne Giske
And he’s a lawyer.
Luis Congdon
Yeah. “Show me your W2 form.” and I went and wrote about it and how this guy was insulted about my prices.
I said, “Look, I’ve had my teeth knocked in. I paid a lot of money to learn this, I’ve suffered greatly. I was sleeping on the couch at one point. I was homeless at one point. I was begging and trying to eat crumbs that the big people were dropping.” and it’s controversial for a line to start that way.
What did that end up doing?
A very well-known marketer and email copywriter picked it up. He has an email list of over 60,000 people, and he wrote me and said, “Hey Luis, can I share this with my audience?”
Sharing Thought-Provoking Things To Grow Fans
Luis Congdon
One of the things I’m encouraging you guys to do right here if you are interested in creating more engagement is to share some thought-provoking stuff. Don’t be afraid if you’re Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, or you’re a meat eater.
I eat a lot of meat, and recently, one of the posts I’ve been thinking about is “Vegans will hate this post.” That was going to be the first line because I like lines where people are like, “Whoa! Vegans will hate this.” It’s like you’re going to read it or you’re thinking about posting how you’re feeling. I’m feeling curious.
Grow Fans And Get Thousands Of Organic Views Within The Day
Arne Giske
I had one just the other day. This was right before I hit 20,000 members in the group. I said, “Today, we’re going to hit 20,000 members in my group.” I tricked all of them just to prove a point. It worked. “Tune in to see how” and I did a live stream, and that got 2,000 organic views within the day.
Kamala Chambers
I love it. That’s great.
Arne Giske
Yeah.
Kamala Chambers
I want to hear a little bit more about managing a group that size. It takes some paroling to make sure people aren’t just dropping garbage and dropping spam bombs. I’d love to hear just some of the ways you manage all of that.
Arne Giske
Yeah, great question.
I think setting the tone in a few different areas helps a lot.
Set The Tone To Manage Your Group And To Grow Fans
Arne Giske
Ninety-nine percent of my posts are not promotional. They’re not even lead generator comment ladder posts. It’s a discussion, tips, value, pictures, or whatever else. When people see me posting all this kind of stuff, it inspires them to think outside of the box of just regular link dropping, spamming, and everything like that, and sets the tone for how they can show up in this group.
Set Clear Rules To Keep A Valuable Space And Grow Fans
Arne Giske
I make the rules very clear. I have a set of moderators, and I consistently remind people, “Hey, we have rules in here. We follow them to keep this as a valuable space. If you don’t want to follow them, you’re out.”
It helps when the whole community knows what’s going on, so they can play by the rules and stick around. Those who don’t follow the rules don’t stick around, and they’re not coming back.
I have a handful of moderators that are volunteers. These are people who are active in the community that with tag me in spam posts, and I say, “Hey, I appreciate you looking out for the group. Do you want just to get moderator privileges and be able to remove them yourself?” and they’re like, “Yeah, sure.”
Kamala Chambers
That’s fantastic.
I’d love to hear about how you’re using your podcast to grow your group as well.
Arne Giske
Yeah, great question.
Build A Community-Focused Platform To Grow Fans
Arne Giske
I had started the podcast before I started the group, and I had that epiphany that I needed a group to move people to one spot where it’s a little bit more community-focused and not as one directional of a producer and listener.
I changed my podcast intros and outros. I put a call to action on my website, and over the next few months of doing that, that funnel a ton of my hardcore listeners back into the group.
Kamala Chambers
That’s great.
Before we round up here, is there anything you would say that people need to know about growing a Facebook group?
Arne Giske
Yeah, absolutely.
Don’t Make Facebook As Marketing And Sales Channels To Grow Fans
Arne Giske
I think the biggest thing I teach people is that a Facebook group is not a marketing channel, it’s not a sales channel. That’s the most sure fire way to kill a group.
Arne Giske
Then, you can figure out what’s produced, and how to get results from it.
Offer Something Free To Grow Fans
Arne Giske
For example, that comment ladder post with more than 250 people asking for my stuff, I’m not selling them my course in the group but, I’m offering them a free lead magnet.
People come to groups to consume, learn, and be entertained. If you can give something they want to consume for free, that takes them off the platform.
Then, you’re ready to go, and you’re in a new sales environment.
A group is not a sales environment. It’s a lot more community-focused. It’s a branding channel. It’s a spot for people to get to know each other, and it’s a conversation starter.
Observe How Other Groups Grow Fans
Arne Giske
If you guys are out there curious about starting a Facebook group for your business, take a hard look at those groups you enjoy being a part of and see how they communicate, navigate, promote, and get results because chances are, there’s a lot of people doing it the wrong way.
It’s not chances are. I know there are a lot of people doing it the wrong way.
You have to be very tuned in to how to communicate to get results, and not piss off your members.
Luis Congdon
I love that. That’s great advice, Arne.
Facebook As A Profit Generating Machine And A Way To Grow Fans
Luis Congdon
Thriving Launchers, we’ve been sitting here talking about how to use Facebook organically for profits and the number one thing all three of us are going to tell you, Kamala, Arne, and myself, is Facebook is a profit-generating machine.
One of the things Russell Brunson said on our show is where people gather, there’s money to be made. There are billions of people on Facebook now gathering around which means there are lots of money to be made and Arne is a proof of this that you can do it very quickly and you can do it strategically without a whole lot of work, just the right proper leverage effort.
Create Curiosity To Grow Fans
Luis Congdon
If there’s one takeaway I’ve taken today, it is that I could utilize creating a little bit more interest as a way to create a little bit more engagement and to grow fans.
Also, I could go inside my group or Arne’s group and start looking at some of the things that he’s doing and reapply some of this stuff because there is always something to be learned from other people and other experts.
Arne, it’s been a real blast to have you here. Thriving Launchers, we’ll see you on the next episode. Keep thriving you all.
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