How to use forums (and Facebook groups)

[ay47]

I think Facebook groups vs Forums is like radio vs podcasts. I forgot which book. But MJ talks about how he prefers podcasts because they are permanent.

I love this forum . Every single question I have has interesting answers. I always Google my question + fastlane forums these days.

So if u want a place to start, add value to this forum. I'm sure other pp search the same way I do. + U get the awesome feeling of pp calling u out on bs when u r not.

 

[Tom.V]

Bump for many good reasons.

1. Great content shared by @Andy Black as always.
2. Great discussion on how to use Facebook Groups.

Facebook groups are literally CHANGING THE GAME for my business.

Every single day I am in there looking for new ones that get closer and closer to my target market for my business.

Every single day I am in there posting valuable knowledge bombs to help people out with their questions.

Every single day more and more people reach out to ME to connect and learn more about me and my business.

Throughout this process I am constantly building a growing network of like minded individuals (akin to Fastlaners) with whom we all help one another out in one way or another. It's an incredibly powerful thing given the reach to incredibly targeted group of people. No longer does moving mountains take months, but rather seconds to days when you find the "zone".

Just from Facebook groups and Facebook prospecting, my business is on track to multiply monthly revenues 10x over the next few months. Just through this channel.

Word begins to spread like wildfire and that's a great thing when the word is good. Provide value to as many people as best you can, and the market will repay you in dividends. Facebook groups just make that really, really easy to do with the right approach and consistency.

 

[luniac]

u know what im gonna go to the Unity2D reddit once a day to see if i can help people,
thanks andy.

 

[David Fitz]

Facebook groups work for getting clients but it is a long term game plan.

I've been active in a few cleaning business groups since the start of December.

All I do is ever answer people's questions. I don't post any marketing tips or the spam the groups. I simply wait for people to ask about a question about their website, SEO or Google ads. Then I reply with some advice.

I signed up a client this week who came from a Facebook group. I've also got a call this week from a guy who was in another Facebook group.

 

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[MattR82]

I saw this first hand today. A guy I live with just loves to help people in the area he is an expert in. It's easy for him to do (through fb groups) and I can see he genuinely loves that it takes him one minute to stop people from making a mistake that would cost them thousands and months of work.

Some people do ebooks on what he is doing and charge a few bucks for it. He just got a msg offering him between 500 and 1k for a little extra 1 on 1 help. That's a lot of ebook sales they need to make to catch up to him

He's an English teacher overseas, that's a nice little amount of cash for him.

 

[MattR82]

This sentence completely encapsulates why I'm in this forum and Facebook groups.

I came because I didn't want people to lose sh*tloads of money building stuff, to find no-one wants it.

I ended up getting clients, and "content" out of it...

Glad you did! For some weird reason it took me awhile to get my head around your giving concept but it really sticks with me now.

 

[MattR82]

I have helped numerous friends over the last few months with the same problem, and can see it's an issue that gets a lot of engagement on the bunch of Facebook groups here. The biggest one having over 60 thousand members. There is someone already putting out excellent free value, really amazing info that I also link friends to to supplement what I have already told them. However, I'm a bit hesitant to put myself out there on the group discussion. Even the guy with excellent info for people has issues with trolls despite the great feedback he gets from many. It's a large local expat group in our city, and many of the older established members have a rather caustic and bitter view unfortunately.

I'm definitely a bit lost at the moment, trying to find a balance between giving value, when, how and if to monetise it and validating the idea before putting too much work in.

But I feel the best advice here is to focus on helping people without even thinking yet about what I can get out of it. I don't want to get involved in negative flame wars on Facebook groups, and there obviously seems to be a need from looking at the engagement already on the groups and the pretty steady influx of requests for help from my own circle of friends. So I think I am going to go ahead and put together my own detailed pdf and video and possibly host it on thinkific's free version or similar (giving it away). Those enrolled then get access to a private Facebook group I would create, and maybe a webinar with discussions with friends I have that can also be very helpful. Then see what opens up from there. Who knows.

It will probably save me a bunch of time in the long run anyway to be honest, rather than the haphazard way I have been helping my friends out which I enjoy but mostly is really repetitive.

 

[Andy Black]

I have helped numerous friends over the last few months with the same problem, and can see it's an issue that gets a lot of engagement on the bunch of Facebook groups here. The biggest one having over 60 thousand members. There is someone already putting out excellent free value, really amazing info that I also link friends to to supplement what I have already told them. However, I'm a bit hesitant to put myself out there on the group discussion. Even the guy with excellent info for people has issues with trolls despite the great feedback he gets from many. It's a large local expat group in our city, and many of the older established members have a rather caustic and bitter view unfortunately.

I'm definitely a bit lost at the moment, trying to find a balance between giving value, when, how and if to monetise it and validating the idea before putting too much work in.

But I feel the best advice here is to focus on helping people without even thinking yet about what I can get out of it. I don't want to get involved in negative flame wars on Facebook groups, and there obviously seems to be a need from looking at the engagement already on the groups and the pretty steady influx of requests for help from my own circle of friends. So I think I am going to go ahead and put together my own detailed pdf and video and possibly host it on thinkific's free version or similar (giving it away). Those enrolled then get access to a private Facebook group I would create, and maybe a webinar with discussions with friends I have that can also be very helpful. Then see what opens up from there. Who knows.

It will probably save me a bunch of time in the long run anyway to be honest, rather than the haphazard way I have been helping my friends out which I enjoy but mostly is really repetitive.

Create a FB group and invite people into it when they ask you questions? Say that you'd like to help others in the group who might have the same questions?

The course will write itself.

 

[MattR82]

Yep. Obviously a lot less exposure than regularly posting in public groups but it's a start. Still a good idea to post there but will have to be selective about it unfortunately. Someone I used to work with was actually kicked out of a group last week after giving what I thought was good advice. However he was really named and shamed by the moderators who are faaaar less experienced than he is. Quite frustrating for him as it's also a local expat group. Bit of a wild west out there.. funny what the interwebs does to some people..

Starting small and helping others that I can will also really help me grow my skill set and enable me to bo be a bit more confident and active on the larger groups.

Didn't mean to hijack your thread but I strongly agree with the benefits of using fb groups and similar platforms. (Not without their little issues in this case though). I do an absolute tonne of learning from being in groups and seeing discussions. I find it more engaging and faster (and somewhat more.. natural? Conversational?) than forums.

I'm getting a start on it this week so will post back how it goes. Thanks for the info as always guys

 

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[Andy Black]

Yep. Obviously a lot less exposure than regularly posting in public groups but it's a start. Still a good idea to post there but will have to be selective about it unfortunately. Someone I used to work with was actually kicked out of a group last week after giving what I thought was good advice. However he was really named and shamed by the moderators who are faaaar less experienced than he is. Quite frustrating for him as it's also a local expat group. Bit of a wild west out there.. funny what the interwebs does to some people..

Starting small and helping others that I can will also really help me grow my skill set and enable me to bo be a bit more confident and active on the larger groups.

Didn't mean to hijack your thread but I strongly agree with the benefits of using fb groups and similar platforms. (Not without their little issues in this case though). I do an absolute tonne of learning from being in groups and seeing discussions. I find it more engaging and faster (and somewhat more.. natural? Conversational?) than forums.

I'm getting a start on it this week so will post back how it goes. Thanks for the info as always guys

100% not a thread highjack. Totally on topic.

Funny you say that, I too find Facebook groups more IM style than forums. They encourage conversations where forums seem to encourage discussions or debates. I initially found that frustrating, but now I'm rolling with it.

I'm literally off a conversation with someone in a FB group about whether I'm doing content marketing or not. I'm arguing that when I help someone in their thread I'm not content marketing. When I repurpose that reply and post it on other platforms then I *am* content marketing. He's arguing that I *am* content marketing and using forums as a channel. I disagree, but we'll record our chat and maybe it will be useful.

 

[MattR82]

I agree with you. You've been helping me for years and I've never bought a thing from you lol.

I also think that entrepreneurial endeavours in general rub some certain specific people the wrong way sometimes. The guy that gives a tonne of great info away on one of the largest groups seems to think it is a dirty word. I don't think there's a problem with it (obviously) if you are seriously helping people and have your priorities right and do things in the right order.

I'd be interested in seeing the chat for sure.

 

[Aaron T]

Well said.

I was a bit taken back by it when I saw it (Even though I wasn't directly involved in the conversation) but if your main goal is to start by helping people, fb groups and the like is a no brainer, and worth dealing with the occasional pissed off idealist I suppose.

I agree and the key is to not let the negativity get to you because you will eventually reach the right people and help the right people, and get help from the right people. It is a sales like mindset. You are one No closer to a Yes. If you are successful or trying to be a success, you will hit roadblocks like negative people. But you will also meet some amazing people that far outweigh that negativity.

Let the negativity get to you, then you already lost.

 

[MattR82]

I haven't done that linking to posts thing in Facebook groups. The content is so transient it's hard to find. What I have done a lot is start answering someone, find I write something quite meaty, then copy/paste/slightly amend it to other groups, LinkedIn, my blog, and even TFLF.

I can't quite picture what that guy did. Like an AMA or just mentioning he'd do a free call? I'm on social media platforms quite a bit, but have so far avoided AMAs or offering free calls to all comers. The AMA might be interesting. Free calls would have to be much more restricted.

A solid few days of replying to comments isn't how I use social media... that sounds like a full-time job, while I make it the sand or pebbles that fit between the rocks of my day.

It doesn't sound like that much fun either tbh. Maybe group calls, or those live Q&As might work? (FB live? Webinar?)

He set the bar high with that though, so I'll think about what effect me doing something similar might have.

Question to ponder: "How can I 10x the number of people I help in one day?"

He was doing similar to you, helping people by commenting on pain points in groups. Then when people would initiate a private conversation with him he would talk, and then if it felt right, offer a free strategy call. No idea how long the call was though. But he wasn't making it public that he was offering a free strategy call. Then in the call, if it felt right he would make a,soft offer, if they hadn't enquired already (which many did). If they didn't take it up, he would give them 3 things to help move forward with their situation (I think it was related to digital marketing in this instance).

When he posted about this process on another group to show what's possible by doing this, he was inundated even more with pm's and signups. And made the figures kinda available to show the results, in the same post. Made the point that he want taking on any more clients at the moment, but this is what can happen.

I was thinking about your question of how to scale helping people x 10. You are already across a bunch of platforms, Yeah?

I don't know for sure, but is your posting on Snapchat, YouTube etc kind of random in when they are uploaded? I really like the webinar/fb live idea to reach more people but not get bogged down in too many 1 on 1 calls like you said. I was a member of a course that did a live webinar once per week (60 to 70 mins, about product licensing, with a different topic every week), at the same time every time. I enjoyed it so would plan my previous night and that day around it (because of the time zone I was watching it at 7am every Friday morning). Watching a live webinar that I can be involved in by typing questions was MUCH more appealing and interesting to me than viewing a pre recorded one. I used to look forward to it so much and knowing it was always on, at the same time, the same day kept it always in my mind. They had evolved the webinar over the years and didn't even bother using live video anymore, just audio from about 5 people running it, all in different locations around the US, and they used like a PowerPoint slide show style. Didn't feel like I was missing out not having the video of them. Maybe a mix of both would be good. But as they were all in different locations.. I don't think I want to watch a video with a bunch of little boxes with people's faces in them. They did an introduction at the beginning on a slide with everybody's face on it so you knew who was doing the webinar that week and had a visual of them to sort of make a connection to the voice.

This is just my opinion and how I feel, but I preferred the webinar with a login to Facebook live. Weird as it's a bit harder to access. Maybe it's similar to the concept of people not valuing something because it's free if you know what I mean.

You got me thinking now.. I would find it really cool to see you do a webinar at the same day and time every week, where you spend some time linking up with some well known FLF titans with audio (or even some of us small fries) and you could dedicate some time at the mid way point or end to making it an AMA for others (hopefully relating to the topic you are discussing that week), including people on forums and Facebook groups that reach out to you as a result of your helpful posts - You could offer access to the webinar where they can discuss and see something relating to their problem - rather than offering a strategy call 1 on 1. I'm sure you would see it mentioned and shared within those groups pretty quickly.

I'm not enrolled in the course I was talking about anymore, so a spot just opened up for me to watch a great webinar on a Friday morning (Thursday night for you I believe, hint hint ). I would be fascinated to see something like that!

 

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[Andy Black]

Apart from using Facebook groups for helping people and identifying pain points, I can't believe how much I learn from being in them. I purposely stopped following most friends and my feed is full of comments and questions from groups. Now instead of using Facebook to waste time I'm always learning. It's such an easy and enjoyable way to do it. Pretty much every waking hour of the day I'm learning some serious gold.

That's been my experience too. I don't think you have to unfollow friends, you can just stop liking their posts and like the other ones. Facebook then sorts your feed out.

 

[MattR82]

I can't give you a list of groups, just search for what you are interested in learning and join them. You find out pretty quickly which are gold and which are garbage. It's not like I open every post, probably 1 out of every 5 or 10 or whatever it is that I scan through on my timeline till I see something interesting.

 

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[Andy Black]

So obvious I overlooked this approach! I do have a FB page, blog, and a separate forum, but no followers as of yet! I'm going to join a couple of FB groups related to my content and link it from time to time to build that audience!

Don't build an audience? Build relationships?

 

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[Andy Black]

Correction: Relationship! Changing my mindset seems easier than it is, but even referring to customers as an audience rather than relationships, automatically dismisses them as a spectator rather than a consumer involved in the process! Thanks for the reminder!

Blimey... and then this post popped up straight after: Stop Building Stuff

 

[MattR82]

I've been joining a lot of groups lately. Learning about online course creation. Seen a few people giving out some great advice and value, but overall it's overwhelmingly full of people just trying to hook people in.

I'm aware of it, and see right through it, but a tonne of people don't. It's a bit of a cancer...

Don't post shit with no value. Don't add people as a friend and send them bs messages pretending to be friendly and in the same position as them when all you are trying to do is sell to them. Don't post dumb effing fake pics of your "new house in spain"

I'm so sick of these leeches, and the course creation scene seems to be full of them. Sad thing is they are on both sides though. One of these guys asked to see what course everyone is working on (so he can fish them later, he also happened to forget to reply to the questions asking what his course is about, I'll let you guess what it is lol), but the results were not pretty.

Huge lack of people selling courses on anything worthwhile. God damn there is a bunch of crap out there. But that's for another topic.

 

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[MiguelHammond10]

I'm learning the whole process of getting everything established and
running and this post helped greatly. I'll continue to follow your thread and
progress. Thanks! @Andy Black

 

[Andy Black]

Thank you for this post! I've been told that I should make a survey or some ability to gauge whether the service I plan on offering is in need, so this provides me with the information I need to get closer to the demographics I am trying to reach.

Maybe it would help to reframe?

From

"the demographics I am trying to reach"

To

"the people I am trying to help"


Personally, I wouldn't survey people. I'd get in there. Help people there and then. Take it to a call if they reach out.

What would happen if you engaged the market in hand-to-hand combat instead of surveying them?

What would happen if you welcomed the high-friction?

 

[CDM]

How to use forums (and Facebook groups)

I'm going to braindump some of my learnings about using Forums and Facebook groups.

Spammers won't get it, but I'll direct them here and they may slow down long enough to learn something.



For those trying to "validate a need" (I kinda hate that phrase), then forums and Facebook groups are a fantastic resource. Not only do people nicely group themselves for you, but they'll chatter about problems and issues they have. They'll also ask questions and you can respond by answering them.

I've produced a ridiculous amount of evergreen content by chattering away in forums, noticing where I repeat myself, then creating threads to point to in future.

In case you didn't spot the parallel to building a business:

1. I find and engage the market - where they are already.
2. I respond to questions and problems people already have.
3. I immediately help people instead of "building stuff".
4. If I find myself answering the same question over and over again - I go create a solution that I can point people to all the time.
5. Before I create the thread (solution) I already know it will help lots of people - because it's a need that many people have already had.
6. The content (solution) was created out of solving real-world problems, rather than solving problems I think people have.

Added benefits:

1. I immediately start getting known as "The XYZ Guy" - because I help people with XYZ.
2. People already start reaching out to me about XYZ problem.
3. People already start referring me to others who have XYZ problem.

Why create a blog and try and find out what content helps people and resonates with people when you can go help people immediately in a busy forum or Facebook group?

Why stare at a blank page struggling to create a new blog post when you can help people immediately in a forum or Facebook group?

Why try and get your blog ranked when a forum already has a much better SEO juice than you'll likely ever get.

Finally... if your goal is to help people and build relationships (hint: do this and get paid then you're in business), then why the feck don't you do that immediately instead of "building stuff"?

I’ll be implementing this immediately.

Good stuff Andy.

 

[DavidIonesi]

How to use forums (and Facebook groups)

I'm going to braindump some of my learnings about using Forums and Facebook groups.

Spammers won't get it, but I'll direct them here and they may slow down long enough to learn something.



For those trying to "validate a need" (I kinda hate that phrase), then forums and Facebook groups are a fantastic resource. Not only do people nicely group themselves for you, but they'll chatter about problems and issues they have. They'll also ask questions and you can respond by answering them.

I've produced a ridiculous amount of evergreen content by chattering away in forums, noticing where I repeat myself, then creating threads to point to in future.

In case you didn't spot the parallel to building a business:

1. I find and engage the market - where they are already.
2. I respond to questions and problems people already have.
3. I immediately help people instead of "building stuff".
4. If I find myself answering the same question over and over again - I go create a solution that I can point people to all the time.
5. Before I create the thread (solution) I already know it will help lots of people - because it's a need that many people have already had.
6. The content (solution) was created out of solving real-world problems, rather than solving problems I think people have.

Added benefits:

1. I immediately start getting known as "The XYZ Guy" - because I help people with XYZ.
2. People already start reaching out to me about XYZ problem.
3. People already start referring me to others who have XYZ problem.

Why create a blog and try and find out what content helps people and resonates with people when you can go help people immediately in a busy forum or Facebook group?

Why stare at a blank page struggling to create a new blog post when you can help people immediately in a forum or Facebook group?

Why try and get your blog ranked when a forum already has a much better SEO juice than you'll likely ever get.

Finally... if your goal is to help people and build relationships (hint: do this and get paid then you're in business), then why the feck don't you do that immediately instead of "building stuff"?

THANK YOU for posting. I believe that this aproach is also a blueprint for business in general. Businesess are built for people not for profit, at least they should be constructed this way. Profit is just an indicator of how much value you offered. Profit is a symptom.

It's paradoxical how in order to care for our needs we have to take care of the needs of others

Your post helped me directly as I recently started a personal blog and my main traffic source is FB (also considering blogs now). You helped at least one person here. Once again, thank you!

 

[Andy Black]

Got it and I see that you can help people in various situations. But then again, how do they identify you as the Google Ads guy and come back to you with their problems?

I’m not in any groups trying to be any type of guy. It’s just that over a period of time of helping folks they get to know what I’m good at. Find groups you want to be in, and join in the conversation. Become a valuable member, someone people want to engage with.

 

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[luniac]

Sounds good. Let us know how you get on.

You may find this call interesting:

• Who have you helped?

listening now, also made quora profile as well.

I spend so much time on the internet, i might as well answer a question here and there, it can't possibly hurt me

 

[Andy Black]

Someone asked how to introduce yourself in a new group.

Here was my reply. Curious what you think:

What would you do if you went into a club house full of business owners working away on their laptop, on their phone, or chatting in small groups?

Would you announce from the doorway that you did web design, Google Ads, kitchen redesign, etc?

Or would you wander over to the bar and get a coffee. Then look around the room and see who’s having a chatter about something and go join them?

 

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[David Fitz]

Glad you found it valuable.

Curious what your main takeaways were, and what you'll do different.

Become the XYZ guy in the group. I joined a carpet cleaning group and I see one guy be constantly tagged as the Facebook ads guy. He must be getting a ton of business from that group.

Reuse content. People will ask the same questions so make a thread and then tag people in it and then post that thread on your other social platforms.

Just help people. Don't be spammy. I see it in the groups where guys come in and straight up ask "who needs help with their website" no one replies to them because it's spammy.

 

[EarlOfChina]

I am finding this thread EXTREMELY valuable.

I am just wondering - does anyone know a way to easily find *questions* being asked within large facebook groups? Is there some kind of advance search or something?

 

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[Andy Black]

I engage if it's about thing's I know but mainly try to keep it to the marketing side.

I get tagged sometimes. I still think I'm getting my name out there so in another few months it could get better.

Get in there. Being known for websites, SEO, and Google Ads is only a small part of what people refer you for. The rest is that you're friendly, helpful, have manners, turn up on time, etc.

 

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[LPPC]

Love it! Very relevant to where I'm at right now. Thanks @Andy Black

 

[MattR82]

Inbound Lead Generation WITHOUT Buying Ads
(I wrote this recently in reply to someone.)

I started this years ago and it started generating leads for me, to the point where I get inbound emails, Facebook messages, Forum PMs, or Skype messages ... every. single. day.

Here's what I did, and the mindset I had (and have), and why I think it works.

...

Find busy forums or Facebook groups where you can *** help people ***.

It's important to get your mindset right and go looking for people you can help, NOT to go looking for people who you think will pay you.

Join in and help people. Respond to questions. Start writing. Your expertise will tumble out of yourself in your desire to help people.

When you've tidied up your post, you can then drop it onto your blog, and other places where you can help people.

Look at some of the posts I've started in here. Many (most?) of them start as replies to someone. I then repurpose them and drop them on my blog and into other Facebook groups.

...

Want to position yourself as "The XYZ Guy"?

Help people with XYZ.

...

How has this looked for me?

1)I've literally grown my business in the last few years by inbound leads. People from forums and Facebook groups either contact me direct, OR they refer me to other people. I'm positioned as "The XYZ Guy" and that makes me easily referrable. This has resulted in 6 figures of revenue for me.

2) I've built a big network and even if I stopped posting I'd still get inbound leads for a good few months (maybe years). Last week I had 4 excellent Skype calls. One was from connection I made cold on LinkedIn, 2 were from people who've read some of my content and were super excited to speak to me, and 1 had been referred to me by someone who read my content a couple of years ago.

3) I've a MASSIVE library of content built up now. I'd consider myself incognito online. I've not been trying to "build an audience". I've been trying to help people, and it's built a small following (and "social proof"), and a load of content that I KNOW helps people, and that I can now package up to use as the "lead magnets" and email courses for paid advertising campaigns.

...

Why is important that you want to help?

1) People can sniff out all that content marketing lead generation cr@p within seconds. You'll get little traction if you adopt the "content marketing" strategies that are touted by experts who want you to buy their content marketing products or services.

2) People won't refer anyone to you if they think their friend is going to get hard sold to, pitched, or generally meet someone who they're going to be embarrassed sending them to.

3) People like to help people. Simple really. If you helped them and they know someone else who needs that help then they'll WANT to refer them to you.

4) Create an imbalance in the world. Give without expectation of anything in return. The universe and the world will try and correct that imbalance.

Too foo-foo for you? If someone had a $99 30 minute call with you and you talked for 2 hours then you're going to be super grateful. If they don't charge you more then you're going to recommend the heck out of them to other people.

Over-deliver and it'll come back in other ways.

Got it?

...

What's your takeaways?

What will you incorporate into your own strategies?

...

If you've any questions fire away.

I love this.