Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / How to use Facebook groups to grow your wedding business!
Transcript
- 0:00Love it, or loathe it, Facebook is still a great place for you to build
- 0:03your network, you can access multiple communities for couples and wedding
- 0:07pros in just a couple of clicks.
- 0:09But in my experience, most of you are not using these
- 0:12communities to your full advantage.
- 0:14So in today's episode, I'm going to be sharing my insider tips to help you
- 0:17and your business get noticed online.
- 0:20I'm Becca Pountney wedding, business, marketing, expert, speaker, and blogger.
- 0:25And you're listening to the wedding pros who are ready to grow podcast.
- 0:29I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
- 0:32examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
- 0:36If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
- 0:40and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business, doing what you
- 0:43love, then you're in the right place.
- 0:45Let's get going with today's episode.
- 0:49As the owner of multiple communities on Facebook.
- 0:51I see people joining my groups almost every single day, but only a few of them
- 0:57actually use them to their full advantage.
- 0:59And only a few of you actually make a difference to your wedding
- 1:02business by using those groups.
- 1:04I want that to change because these are great resources
- 1:07for you to grow your wedding.
- 1:08So today I'm going to be sharing with you three different types of groups on
- 1:12Facebook that you can use and access, what the pros and cons are of all of
- 1:16them and how you can better use them to grow your wedding business and
- 1:20get in front of the right audience.
- 1:22So let's get straight into it and talk about the three different
- 1:24communities that are available.
- 1:27Now, most of you will be part of some Facebook communities.
- 1:30In fact, you may even be part of mine.
- 1:32They're very easy to find you just search for groups on Facebook and you can find
- 1:36a group for almost anything I'm in all sorts of groups on Facebook groups, for
- 1:40people who love musical theater groups, for people planning trips to Disney,
- 1:44and of course, wedding communities as.
- 1:47The three types of groups that we're going to talk about today are these
- 1:50first of all, those couple communities.
- 1:52So these are the groups which are designed for couples who
- 1:55are planning their wedding.
- 1:56These are potential clients.
- 1:58So the kind of groups where it's brides getting married in
- 2:00Hertfordshire or brides to be 2022.
- 2:03The idea of these communities is that brides and grooms can talk to
- 2:06each other and get help planning their wedding or find suppliers.
- 2:10The second kind of group is those free communities.
- 2:13So you may be part of mine is called wedding pros who are ready
- 2:15to grow, and it's a completely free community for wedding professionals.
- 2:19Like you, who can come on there, meet each other talk and get
- 2:22some help growing their business.
- 2:24The third type of community we're going to talk about is
- 2:26a more private paid community.
- 2:28I have one of these as well, and maybe your're part of it.
- 2:31My wedding pro member's lounge is a paid community for wedding professionals where
- 2:35there's a smaller but more quality-based, uh, network of supplies to network with.
- 2:40And other additional benefits that we'll talk about more later.
- 2:43So we're going to talk through each of these groups and how you can
- 2:46make the most of being part of them.
- 2:48The first set of groups we're going to talk about today
- 2:50is those couple communities.
- 2:52And if I'm honest, these are my least favorite groups out of all of them.
- 2:56However, they're kind of a little bit helpful.
- 2:58And so I'm going to talk about where you can make the most out of them.
- 3:01They're going to be more useful to you if you're starting out probably rather
- 3:05than if you're more established, but take a listen and see whether these
- 3:09groups are right for you or not.
- 3:10So let's start with the pros and the cons.
- 3:13So the pros of these groups is well you're right in front
- 3:17of the right kinds of people.
- 3:18So people say to me all the time that they want to get in front of more
- 3:21couples, how do they find more couples to get in front of rather than just other
- 3:24suppliers, and here is a place where couples are hanging out all of the time.
- 3:29So that's a great reason to use them.
- 3:31The other great thing about them is they're free to access,
- 3:34so you're not going to lose anything by being part of them.
- 3:36It's a little bit of free advertising and you never know what might come of it.
- 3:41However, the cons may outweigh the pros.
- 3:43So for most of you, these people in these.
- 3:46Probably are not your ideal client.
- 3:48They often are, um, price hunting or looking for cheap offers and deals, which
- 3:54most of you probably aren't looking to do.
- 3:56And actually they can get quite annoying.
- 3:58They can be very spammy.
- 4:00Uh, most of the couples don't want to talk to each other, so they're
- 4:03just there for the information.
- 4:05So there's not much of a sense of community.
- 4:07And quite often in these groups, you'll just find streams and
- 4:10streams and streams of suppliers.
- 4:12Advertising themselves.
- 4:13And they can come across looking a little bit desperate, however,
- 4:17it is the right kind of community.
- 4:19So how can we make the most of these groups if we're part of them?
- 4:23Well, first up, find some to join in your local area, search for
- 4:27your county search for your town.
- 4:29Look for the word wedding.
- 4:31They're probably more useful to you than joining some of the UK massive groups.
- 4:36The second thing you need to do.
- 4:37As soon as you have joined the group is to read the rules.
- 4:40So you don't break any rules and then turn your notifications to off.
- 4:45Like I said, these groups can become very irritating very quickly, and
- 4:49actually you don't need to be seeing all of the posts all of the time,
- 4:52these groups aren't useful to you in terms of growing your business.
- 4:55I'll talk about why they're useful in a minute.
- 4:57So you don't need to see all the posts of people all the time.
- 5:00Looking for photographers, florists, cheap deals on whatever
- 5:03it is that they're doing.
- 5:04Or more likely, just lots and lots of suppliers spamming the
- 5:08group with their own offers.
- 5:10Turn your notifications to off.
- 5:12You don't need the noise in your life.
- 5:14You don't need the spam, switch them off now.
- 5:18So why would we want to be using these.
- 5:21Well, what I don't want to see you doing is posting and being
- 5:25one of those spammy suppliers.
- 5:27You don't need to constantly post in the group looking for couples.
- 5:30If anything, it can make your peer a little bit desperate.
- 5:33And like I've already said for most of you, your ideal couple are
- 5:37probably not hanging out in this.
- 5:40However, there are other things you can do in these groups to really get noticed.
- 5:45So instead of posting spammy offers post useful information that might
- 5:51resonate with an ideal client.
- 5:53If you write blog posts, for example, why not share some of your helpful
- 5:57tip blog posts in these groups?
- 5:59If there are genuine couples in the group looking to get married, the blog
- 6:03post is going to be much more useful to them than any kind of sales post.
- 6:07You can also use these groups to share tips, tips, and advice
- 6:11in your area of expertise.
- 6:13This positions you as an expert and shows people, you know
- 6:16what you're talking about.
- 6:17If you see couples asking questions in the group and it's about something, you
- 6:21know, the answer to then reply to their questions and show that you're the expert.
- 6:26Maybe even say, if you want to ask me more questions, you can find me on
- 6:29Instagram or here's my email address.
- 6:30I'm happy to speak with you.
- 6:32This could lead to more of a.
- 6:36The other way you can use these groups is if you have a very basic offer,
- 6:41most people in these groups, like I said, are looking for a bargain,
- 6:44they're not looking for a bespoke item.
- 6:46They don't have huge budgets to spend.
- 6:48However, if you have a very basic offer that you offer, maybe in the
- 6:52winter or the off season, perhaps a simple version of one of the products
- 6:57that you offer, you could share.
- 6:59In that group, maybe once a month or something like that, but you don't want to
- 7:03be offering your bespoke services in there because chances are no one's interested
- 7:07and you're just wasting your time.
- 7:09We don't want to be putting loads of sales posts into these groups.
- 7:12If you want to stand out from the crowd, share blog posts, share tips because
- 7:16not many other people are doing that.
- 7:18And that's much more useful to those couples than just getting bombarded with.
- 7:24Now the other thing I want to say to you is try and avoid promoting yourself in
- 7:28these groups, but to promote other people.
- 7:32Now, this may seem a bit counter intuitive, but we've all seen those
- 7:36posts where someone, some poor bride or groom posts in the group to say,
- 7:41I'm getting married on the 22nd of July, 2023, and I need a photographer.
- 7:46Is anyone available?
- 7:48Now what happens is all of a sudden, every photographer from up and
- 7:52down the land starts posting and commenting and basically advertising
- 7:57themselves and their services.
- 7:58Pick me, pick me, pick me.
- 8:01Not only is that massively overwhelming for the couple who probably are not doing
- 8:06their due diligence, if that's how they're looking for a supplier, but also it just
- 8:10makes you look a little bit desperate.
- 8:12If you're just jumping on the back of any single person.
- 8:15That's asking that question in the group.
- 8:18What is much more effective in these groups is when
- 8:21somebody else is tagging you.
- 8:25So if someone's asking in a group for a videographer or a cake maker, and you're
- 8:29not tagging yourself, but other people in the industry are saying, you absolutely
- 8:33need to use this person, or you should definitely check out this person is so
- 8:38much better than when you tag yourself.
- 8:41Now, how do we achieve this?
- 8:42Well, it's kind of organic is going to come out of the other things we're going
- 8:46to talk about today, but you can also get in the habit of tagging your own supply
- 8:49friends so that when they see a post that is relevant to you, they'll take you back.
- 8:54So for example, if you're a photographer and you see someone looking for
- 8:57a cake, Share the cake makers that you like working with on the
- 9:01thread, they'll be thankful for it.
- 9:03Tell them that you've done it.
- 9:03If they're not in the group, screenshot it and show them so that when someone
- 9:07in that groups now looking for a photographer, they're likely to tag
- 9:10you back and it looks so much more impressive under one of those threads.
- 9:14When other people are all recommending the same person, rather than all
- 9:18the people saying, pick me, pick me and recommending them themselves.
- 9:22So to recap, if you're going to join these free groups on Facebook,
- 9:25join them, check the rules, and then turn the notifications off.
- 9:28So you don't get bombarded with spam, try and avoid just sales posts
- 9:33actually post something that's useful to the couples in that community.
- 9:36Blog posts with helpful advice, share tips or reply to people and
- 9:41offer them help and advice, and then give them a call to action come
- 9:44to your Instagram or your website.
- 9:46Perhaps you've got a lead magnet that you could share with them
- 9:48that answers their question.
- 9:49Share that in there, if it is within the group rules and try
- 9:53not to promote yourself, it's so much more impressive when other
- 9:56people are tagging you on threads.
- 9:58So if you see people looking for suppliers, get into the habit of
- 10:01tagging your supplier friends, because I promise you they'll start to return the.
- 10:07The second group we're going to talk about today is the one that probably
- 10:10most of you are already part of.
- 10:12And if you're not already part of my free community wedding pros who are
- 10:15ready to grow on Facebook, go ahead and join it right now because it's a great
- 10:19resource and you get access to me as well.
- 10:22Most of you will be part of some or maybe many of these groups.
- 10:26So let's go through the pros and cons of these free wedding pro communitys.
- 10:31The first pro is once again, that it's a free to access.
- 10:34Most of these communities are free.
- 10:36You can just join them and answer the questions.
- 10:38As long as you are a wedding business and keep to the rules, you can
- 10:41be part of them free of charge.
- 10:43They also give you access to usually a fairly large amount of
- 10:46people in the wedding industry.
- 10:48Again, sometimes you can find them by county or by country, or perhaps they are
- 10:52even world wide, you can also get some free tips and advice in these groups.
- 10:58Big wedding experts like me, or like Kelly Mortimer, uh, all sorts of different
- 11:03people have these groups and you can get a little bit of access and a taster
- 11:07of what they're like to work with.
- 11:09Now.
- 11:09What are the cons of being part of these groups?
- 11:11Well, the first con is that they are large so it does make having
- 11:15any kind of community within the group, quite difficult.
- 11:18People join them to make connections, but then there's so many people
- 11:21in there and so many posts and so many different things.
- 11:23It's actually quite hard to make genuine connections.
- 11:26Although I am going to give you some tips and advice about how to do that.
- 11:30Also in these groups have a real mixture of people.
- 11:33Some people join them because they're just starting out in the industry.
- 11:36Some people join them because they're brand new.
- 11:38Some people join them as students because they're dreaming
- 11:40about being a wedding planner.
- 11:41Some people in these groups are really well established.
- 11:44Some people want to take their businesses.
- 11:45Seriously.
- 11:46Some people just want to offer stuff for free.
- 11:48So you have a real range of people, and it's quite hard to
- 11:51know which of those people are the most beneficial to connect with.
- 11:54So you have to do a little bit more work.
- 11:57But, like I said, they're great spaces and I definitely recommend being part of them.
- 12:02I would recommend limiting how many are part of it can be quite
- 12:05overwhelming if you're in loads of them.
- 12:07So join one, see if you like the vibe of it, take a look at the leader,
- 12:11find out who they are, what their credentials are and whether they're
- 12:14worth listening to and whether or not you like the vibe of the group.
- 12:17These groups can be wildly different depending on who's leading them
- 12:21and how the culture of the group and the community is, for me.
- 12:25I like my communitys to be positive spaces, to be places where people
- 12:28can feel very welcome and can ask their questions and not feel stupid.
- 12:33I have been part of some wedding communities where people can be quite
- 12:37nasty to each other in the comments, or quite rude to people who are starting out.
- 12:40And I absolutely don't tolerate that.
- 12:42So when you join these free groups, if you don't like the vibe of the
- 12:45group, that's absolutely fine.
- 12:47It's free.
- 12:47Just leave it and find another one that you've get on with better.
- 12:51Don't feel like you've got to stick around in all of them is better
- 12:53to just have a few that you engage with regularly rather than being
- 12:57part of loads and loads of them.
- 12:59So once you found the group that you like, how on earth do you engage with it?
- 13:02And how do you make the most of it for your business?
- 13:05The first thing to do is to make sure you read the group rules.
- 13:09I cannot tell you how many times people join my group and then
- 13:12start posting spam in it because they think it's a couples group.
- 13:15Even though it's got the word wedding pros in the.
- 13:19That is the fastest way to get evicted from a group or to just
- 13:22frustrate the other group members.
- 13:23So make sure you're reading the rules.
- 13:25What can you do in that group?
- 13:26And what can't you do in the group?
- 13:28Some groups won't allow links.
- 13:30For example, others will, some groups won't allow you to go live.
- 13:34Others will so make sure you're taking a look at the group rules and sticking
- 13:37to them because you want to make a good impression on the group leader
- 13:40and the other people in the community.
- 13:42So if you break the rules, as soon as you join well, it's probably
- 13:45not going to work out so well.
- 13:47The second thing is as long as it's within the rules on the whole is a
- 13:51really good idea to make an intro post.
- 13:53As soon as you join the group, you can't do promotional
- 13:57posts in groups on the whole.
- 13:58However, when you first join a community, there's that little
- 14:01window of opportunity to say, Hey, I've just joined this community.
- 14:04I'm really excited to be here.
- 14:06This is who I am.
- 14:07I'd love to connect with some of you.
- 14:09Thank you to whoever owns the group for letting me be part of it.
- 14:12Tell me how I can make the most of being in this group or something like that.
- 14:16You have a short window of opportunity to do that.
- 14:19If you wait a few weeks, then it suddenly looks a bit spammy.
- 14:22However, if you're genuinely excited, you've just joined the group.
- 14:24It's a great opportunity to introduce yourselves and make yourself visible to.
- 14:29People tell people what you do, who you are, where you're based and the kind of
- 14:33people you're looking to connect with.
- 14:35And I promise you not many people do this.
- 14:38I'm an owner of many of these groups and people join them
- 14:40and then they just stay silent.
- 14:42It will really stand out.
- 14:43If you do the intro post, when you first join, the second tip for you is
- 14:49when you're part of these communities is just, don't be invisible.
- 14:54Just because you're in there showing up, looking at things doesn't mean
- 14:57anyone else knows you're there.
- 14:59If you join the community and never say anything, you're effectively invisible.
- 15:03Now that may be fine if you're just there to try and soak
- 15:05up some of the free advice.
- 15:07But if you genuinely want to build community, build a
- 15:09network, find people that you.
- 15:11Uh, have to promote you or to work with or to work with on styled shoots.
- 15:16Then you've got to show up.
- 15:17You cannot be invisible.
- 15:19Being invisible is never commenting, never posting, never replying to
- 15:23comments, never showing up to live videos.
- 15:25And just being a lurker is very easy for us to just lurk around and not actually
- 15:30do anything proactive, but it's not going to benefit your business to be that way.
- 15:34So what can we do to be proactive and to start showing up?
- 15:37So people start to notice us while the basic way is to ask questions, use the
- 15:42group to ask questions, ask questions that seem really obvious to you, but
- 15:46you just need a bit of help with ask questions about where people are based.
- 15:49Ask questions about who might be based locally to you perhaps say I'm based.
- 15:54Hampshire.
- 15:55And I'd love to meet up with some people.
- 15:56Is anyone based there and want to go for a coffee, give people a reason to respond
- 16:01to you and to notice you ask questions, no question is too silly in my group.
- 16:06I always say that because I want it to be a safe space where you can ask
- 16:09anything if you're brand new and you don't know where to get a contract from
- 16:14asking the group, because I guarantee there'll be someone with more experience
- 16:17who can help you out with that kind of.
- 16:20If you're looking to open a new bank account or use a new piece of
- 16:23software and want some feedback on it, asking the group, because there
- 16:26may be people who've already used it.
- 16:28And by showing up and asking questions, you are starting to become visible.
- 16:32People are starting to see who you are and to recognize your face.
- 16:35And it's going to be much easier for you to then carry on building
- 16:38connections with those people.
- 16:41The second way you can stop being invisible is to answer
- 16:44people's questions in the group.
- 16:46So if you see people asking questions and you know the answer
- 16:48to them again, don't stay silent.
- 16:50Don't wait for someone else to answer it.
- 16:52But just say, in my opinion, X, Y, Z or I use this piece
- 16:56of software and this is why.
- 16:58Or I used to use that.
- 16:59I didn't really get on with it very well, but now I use that, however,
- 17:03please try and be polite, be responsible.
- 17:06So don't answer questions.
- 17:07You don't know the answer to and be real, be human, be kind.
- 17:12I've seen people answer questions in a really kind of condescending way.
- 17:15Thankfully not in my groups because I'm very protective about my community.
- 17:19Just because you think a question silly doesn't mean that you
- 17:21should answer it in a rude tone.
- 17:24Be kind.
- 17:24If you want to build connections, you've got to be kind to people.
- 17:27You've got to help people out, but go ahead and answer questions because it
- 17:30helps your face to become visible and it shows, you know, what you're talking
- 17:34about and that you're worth connecting.
- 17:38The next piece of advice I have for you is to start taking some
- 17:41of these conversations offline.
- 17:43And by offline, I don't mean off the internet.
- 17:45I mean, out of the groups.
- 17:46So for example, why not drop into someone's DMS on Instagram?
- 17:51If you've been chatting to them over some comments, just say like, oh, it was
- 17:54great to chat with you on Becca's group.
- 17:55Um, I know you wanted some help with contracts.
- 17:58Here's the contact that I use.
- 17:59It'd be great to connect with you and start having a more in-depth conversation.
- 18:04Or perhaps try and meet someone for coffee or go to a networking event and meet
- 18:08them there, carry on those conversations.
- 18:10If you want to build true lasting relationships that can lead to
- 18:14promoting each other, working together on styled shoots.
- 18:16or just having a great industry friend, you have to start taking
- 18:19some of these conversations offline.
- 18:22Now I mentioned Instagram DMS because we all know that Facebook
- 18:25DMS are just a nightmare.
- 18:28Messages go into my messenger that I don't find for weeks because they just seem
- 18:31to disappear off the face of the earth.
- 18:33Whereas on Instagram, they definitely seem to pop up more frequently.
- 18:37So if you're looking to connect with someone and take that conversation
- 18:39offline, then why not drop into their DMS?
- 18:43The final tip I have for you is to make sure your personal profile is up
- 18:47to date with your business details.
- 18:50Often we join these groups as our personal account, which I absolutely think you
- 18:54should be doing, not your business.
- 18:56And then we start answering questions and commenting, showing
- 18:59up on those conversations and people want to know who we are.
- 19:02So what do they do?
- 19:03They click through to our personal profile, to kind of stalk us
- 19:06and to look at who we are.
- 19:08I have lost count of the amount of you that do not have your business details on
- 19:13your personal profile, visible to people.
- 19:15So when they click on you, they have no idea who you are and what you do,
- 19:18make sure your profile is updated.
- 19:21Your personal profile should be updated with who you are, what you do, links
- 19:24to your Facebook group links to your community, links to your Instagram links
- 19:27to your website, so that if someone's curious and comes across you in the
- 19:31group and wants to connect with you or work with you, they can just click
- 19:34on your face, go to your profile.
- 19:36Then head over to your business website or your Instagram page, if
- 19:40you haven't updated your personal profile, go ahead and do that.
- 19:43Now, before you start being really visible in these groups, because it's kind of
- 19:47hampering how successful you can be if you don't have this information updated and
- 19:52it will literally take you three minutes.
- 19:54So go ahead, get that updated and start showing up in the free groups.
- 19:58And like I said, if you're not yet part of mine, wedding pros who are ready to grow.
- 20:01Do come along?
- 20:02Show up is a safe space to be where you can be vulnerable.
- 20:05Ask questions, answer questions, and make industry.
- 20:09We've talked about those bride and groom, Facebook groups.
- 20:11We talked about the free communities for wedding pros on Facebook, which now
- 20:16brings me on to the third category of group that I want to talk to you about.
- 20:19And that's paid for membership communities.
- 20:22Now, these paid for communities for wedding professionals are
- 20:25usually not just on Facebook.
- 20:27So you'll have a Facebook group community, but you will also have
- 20:30more of a membership community or members portal that you can.
- 20:33As well, however, I think the Facebook group or wherever your group is meeting
- 20:38is a place where you're going to build the most genuine connections, which is
- 20:42why I'm talking about that here today.
- 20:44Now, what are the pros and cons of these membership communities?
- 20:48Well, the pros is definitely that they're much smaller communities
- 20:53full of committed people.
- 20:54I see that in my own members' lounge.
- 20:56If I look at my members lounge group versus my free group, guess
- 21:00what everyone's showing up and being real and sharing their
- 21:03questions in the membership space.
- 21:05Why?
- 21:06Because it's a smaller group of really committed people.
- 21:09Whereas the free group has people from all over the spectrum.
- 21:13Brand-new or, or not really interested in business or just a
- 21:16hobby or just dipping their toe in.
- 21:18If you're paying to be part of a membership community, it
- 21:21shows that you're really serious about growing your business.
- 21:23Therefore, the quality of people within that group is much, much higher.
- 21:28They're really committed and they're all there for the same reason that
- 21:31they want to build genuine connections.
- 21:33So it's a great place to get started.
- 21:36The second pro is that you get really high quality business training.
- 21:39You will find sporadic business training in these free communities,
- 21:43but it is just that, it's sporadic.
- 21:45I will occasionally do training videos or little tips and hints
- 21:48in my free Facebook group.
- 21:50But if you want the full training, the guest experts the full
- 21:54information about how to make reels or how to do email marketing.
- 21:58Be at wedding shows, then that's where you're going to be in the paid community
- 22:02to get that it's a higher quality level of training on a regular basis.
- 22:07And the other pro of these is that you get really good access to the group leader.
- 22:11If I have a member of my group, I will go above and beyond to do as much as I can
- 22:16to help them in their wedding business.
- 22:17Whereas if they're just in my free.
- 22:19I just don't have the time, energy or resource to give them the kind of
- 22:23attention I want to, so I'm much more likely to work closely with my members
- 22:28than I am to people in my free group, just because they're committed and they're
- 22:31there to be helped and I'm there to serve.
- 22:34What are the cons of these groups then?
- 22:36Well, obviously the biggest con is that it's not free.
- 22:39The other groups I've mentioned so far today are free, but like anything,
- 22:43if you want really good quality service, you've got to pay for it.
- 22:46We can't expect to get everything for free all of the time.
- 22:49So the con of being part of the membership.
- 22:51Is that you have to pay for it and they can range my membership community is
- 22:5520 pounds a month, but they could be anywhere from 10 pounds a month, right
- 22:58up to a hundred pounds a month, depending on who the group leader is, what you get
- 23:02from being part of the group and what kind of client you're trying to attract.
- 23:08If you're part of one of these paid communities, then how
- 23:10do you make the most of it?
- 23:11How do you make sure you're making the most of that investment?
- 23:13Because now you are putting money on the line.
- 23:15You want to make sure you're getting a good return on investment.
- 23:18Now, the first thing to note is actually these groups could
- 23:21be very, very affordable.
- 23:2220 pounds a month may feel like a big amount of money.
- 23:25But when you think about that, that's five pounds a week, which is kind of
- 23:28only a bit more than you might pay on a coffee in a week and you get really
- 23:32good quality training and access to professionals and most importantly, a
- 23:36place to build contacts and ask each other for really high quality advice.
- 23:41There's nothing more lonely than being in the wedding industry or owning
- 23:44your own business and just being on your own all the time, your friends
- 23:48and the family don't really get it.
- 23:49They don't know the ins and outs of the industry.
- 23:51So having a really good community of people that you can ask when you
- 23:54get stuck or, you know, are there to support you or cheer you on when
- 23:58you're doing something new is really, really vital to help you grow your.
- 24:02So how can we make the most of it?
- 24:03Well, the first thing is to do that introduction posts, like I talked
- 24:07about before, and this is even more crucial in the membership.
- 24:11I would encourage anyone who joins my membership community to do exactly this.
- 24:15And again, I see a lot of people not making the most of it.
- 24:18I had a new member the other day who was absolutely refreshing in the way
- 24:22that he introduced himself to the group.
- 24:24And he got loads out of it because lots of people are replying to him.
- 24:28And then he was replying back to them and engaging with the community.
- 24:31So he'd only been part of the community a few minutes and he'd
- 24:34already started building connections.
- 24:36Why?
- 24:36Because he made the most of that introduction post.
- 24:39Building real relationships with the people in the community,
- 24:42following them on Instagram.
- 24:44And I guarantee they will remember him now because he really interacted
- 24:47with them on a personal detail.
- 24:49So do make sure you do go ahead and put an introduction post into the group as
- 24:53soon as you join, or if the group leader introduces you, make sure you're then
- 24:57introducing yourself underneath their post and replying to the comments and
- 25:00talking to people who say hello to.
- 25:04Secondly, if you're in a membership community, ask all the questions.
- 25:10The whole point of being in this community is so that you can get
- 25:12help in growing your business.
- 25:14So don't be embarrassed.
- 25:15Don't be shy.
- 25:16Ask the questions.
- 25:17That's why you're there.
- 25:18That's why everyone else is there.
- 25:19We're there to learn and to grow.
- 25:22So whatever question you've got, make sure you are asking the question just
- 25:26like in the free group, but I guarantee you'll get a much better quality of
- 25:29response in the membership community.
- 25:31Why?
- 25:32Because it's full of those people are really committed to being there
- 25:34and wanting to make good connections.
- 25:37The next thing in these groups is they're really safe spaces to be very vulnerable.
- 25:42Now we don't like being vulnerable.
- 25:44We like to pretend that everything's fine, but actually we can get the most out
- 25:47of these spaces when we are vulnerable.
- 25:50When we say we're struggling with something, when we say we're not
- 25:52sure how to do something, when we've got a really difficult client.
- 25:56Uh, subtly talk about it so we can get some help in how to deal with it.
- 26:00So we have the confidence to deal with some of these issues
- 26:03in a professional way, but with professional help, so do be vulnerable.
- 26:07If you're struggling with something, that's the time to really utilize
- 26:11these groups and memberships to get the help and support and encouragement.
- 26:15Absolutely need.
- 26:16And it's a much safer space to do it in these paid for communities, because
- 26:20like I said, everyone's there for one reason it's a much smaller group
- 26:23of people in the group is not full of hundreds of other people as well.
- 26:26So it's a great place to be.
- 26:30The next tip I have for you is to make the most of the training.
- 26:33There is some really high level training.
- 26:35If you look in my wedding pro members group, I have high-level
- 26:38experts every single month.
- 26:40And the great thing about these membership communities is it allows
- 26:43you to access really great levels of training for a really affordable price.
- 26:47Why?
- 26:48Because.
- 26:49Benefit from my connections in the industry.
- 26:52And from the fact that there's lots of you putting into that group to make it work.
- 26:56So for a small, monthly fee, you get access to trainers that would usually
- 27:00spend or charge you hundreds of pounds to go on their courses and to access them.
- 27:05But through your connection with me, you get access to them and they are
- 27:09real people that you can interact with.
- 27:11So make sure you're putting those dates in your diary, turning up.
- 27:15Asking the questions to those leaders, you can get your personal questions
- 27:19answered within the community because it's a small group of people.
- 27:23So make sure you're making the most of those training sessions showing up
- 27:26to them or putting them in your diary and rewatching them at a later date.
- 27:31You also get access to whole libraries of previous training sessions as well.
- 27:35So do make the most of those before you go ahead and buy other
- 27:38courses, because there may be a session in there that can help you.
- 27:41So if you're stuck with something like email marketing, accounting, Instagram
- 27:45reels, Facebook advertising, SEO, Google keywords, Google analytics.
- 27:50Well, ask your group leader, or go into your member's portal and see if there's
- 27:54already a training session on it.
- 27:55That's part of your membership and therefore free for you to access.
- 27:59Don't go ahead and stop buying additional training when you've
- 28:01got access to all of this training as part of your membership price.
- 28:05And if you're in my community, one thing I always say is if there's something
- 28:09you need training on, tell me about it.
- 28:11And I will go ahead and find the best experts for you.
- 28:14Bring them into the group again, using my connections.
- 28:16So you get access to that training for free as part of your.
- 28:20If you don't ask, you don't get.
- 28:22And whenever someone asks in my group, I will always do my best to find a
- 28:26great expert, to bring in, to talk to them about whatever subject it is.
- 28:30The other great thing about showing up to that training is that you're
- 28:33always getting up-to-date training things like Instagram and Facebook
- 28:37and SEO change all of the time.
- 28:39So every few months you can get a new expert into one of those membership
- 28:42communities and you can make sure you have the latest information.
- 28:48The next thing you need to be doing.
- 28:49If you're part of these membership communities is showing up and commenting.
- 28:53If you're watching the weekly live videos or you're watching the
- 28:55training, don't watch them in silence.
- 28:58Make sure you're interacting, commenting, talking to each other.
- 29:01So people start to recognize your name.
- 29:03Although we're online when we're all watching the same video at the same time
- 29:06and talking to each other, we start to feel like we're building relationships
- 29:10with people and we start to remember them.
- 29:12So interact in the comments, reply to other people's comments, be friendly,
- 29:15say hello to each other, help people out and answer their questions.
- 29:19This is a sure fire way to stand out and to start being noticed.
- 29:23If you never show up and you never comment, no one's ever
- 29:25going to know you exist.
- 29:27The final thing I want you to do if you're part of these membership
- 29:30communities or part of mine is to make sure you're looking for
- 29:33opportunities to help other people out.
- 29:35We love to help other people out.
- 29:37And when other people help us out, we want to then help them in return.
- 29:42So if you see people asking questions or feeling vulnerable, or being stuck
- 29:45with something, Offered to help them.
- 29:48And again, in the paid for membership communities, you know, that
- 29:50everyone's there for the right reason.
- 29:52And therefore it's a less scary prospect to offer to help because they're not
- 29:55going to bite your head off they're there because they want the help.
- 29:58So go ahead and offer them help.
- 30:00You can share resources with them.
- 30:02You can share ideas with them.
- 30:04You can offer to jump on a call with them and, and walk them
- 30:07through something and guess what?
- 30:09You'll build a relationship with them so that then they will want to start
- 30:12recommending you to other people.
- 30:14And this is when we go full circle.
- 30:16Remember right back when I talked about those free bride and groom wedding
- 30:19communities, and how you want other people to be commenting your name
- 30:22rather than talking about yourself.
- 30:24Well, this is how it happens.
- 30:26I see this happen all the time with my membership groups.
- 30:29They're all in the membership together.
- 30:30They start to get to know each other and they know what each other does.
- 30:34And then when those posts come up in those bride and groom's communities, guess what?
- 30:38They're all promoting each other because they're all part of the same community.
- 30:44Whichever groups you're part of on Facebook, whether it's the bride and
- 30:47groom groups, the free groups, or the pay for membership community, it's
- 30:51really important that you don't be invisible and you make the, most of the
- 30:54opportunities start implementing some of these ideas that I shared with you,
- 30:58whether it's the introduction post.
- 31:00Asking a question, being vulnerable, even going live in the group and talking
- 31:04about something, talk about an experience you've had and how it can help other
- 31:07people start taking those conversations, offline, meet people for coffee.
- 31:11That's how you're going to get the most of these communities.
- 31:14If you're interested in being part of my paid for for membership community,
- 31:18the wedding pro members lounge, I would absolutely love to have you.
- 31:21So I've created a special offer just for you, the podcast listeners.
- 31:24If you go to the link in the show notes and use the code podcast, you can try
- 31:30the one month for free for one pound.
- 31:32That means you can see if you like the community.
- 31:34See what I'm talking about and for just one pound.
- 31:36You can access all of those trainings as well.
- 31:40So go ahead, go to the show notes and use the code podcast to get that special.
- 31:45If you've enjoyed the tips in today's episode, why not go
- 31:48ahead and share it with a wedding industry, friend, or colleague.
- 31:50So it helps them out too.
- 31:52And if you love the show, please go and help me out by rating or reviewing it.
- 31:57I'll see you.
- 31:57Next time.
- 32:01One thing I love about the wedding industry is the other amazing
- 32:03people you get to work with.
- 32:05If you want to meet like-minded wedding pros, just like you, then
- 32:09why not join my free Facebook?
- 32:11Wedding pros who are ready to grow.
- 32:12Come to meet some new connections, hang out with me and hopefully learn some new
- 32:16things too just search for us on Facebook.