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Tips & Talk 14 – Facebook Business Pages vs Facebook Groups
10th June 2021 • Gift Biz Unwrapped • Sue Monhait
00:00:00 00:14:12

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It's time to answer the questions. Should you have a Facebook Business Page? What about Facebook Groups? Today we cover how these are different, the pros and cons of each and what my recommendation is for your handmade product business. I believe when we're done, your answers will be clear! CONNECT with me here: WebsiteFacebookInstagram SUBSCRIBE to the podcast: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify PAY IT FORWARD by leaving a rating and review. I'd love to hear your comments. Tell me how the show has helped you or a specific guest or point that had an impact. You can do that right here. Thanks for listening!

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Transcripts

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Hi there.

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I see that you made it over to the new tips

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and talk portion of the podcast.

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These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

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things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

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Today, we're going to talk about the difference between Facebook business

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pages and Facebook groups.

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As with anything with your business.

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Some things are going to be right for you.

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Some things aren't,

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maybe both a page and a group would be right for

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you. And you'll be able to clarify that as we go

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through, but here's the thing just because you can doesn't mean

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you should.

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In other words,

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Facebook pages and Facebook groups are available for everybody,

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but just because they're available doesn't mean that you should do

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them. Depends on what your goals are for your business,

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where you are in the development of your business and what

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your purpose is for using not just pages and groups,

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but social media platforms.

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Overall, before we get started,

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I want to clarify what I mean by a business page.

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And this is really important because when you start with Facebook,

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you create a profile,

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which is your personal name.

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So for me,

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it would be Sue Mon,

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hide on Facebook,

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and then everything that I create,

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then moving forward on Facebook should be a subset.

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If you will,

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underneath my profile,

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Sue Mon height,

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I know that people are still doing this today,

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setting up a business page,

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but it's really a profile.

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In other words,

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they're going in and creating another account.

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That's really then another profile,

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but they're naming it,

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their business.

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When you start an account with Facebook,

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you start a profile and the profile should be your real

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name, not a fake name,

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not some crazy,

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additional name that you want to make up.

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It should be your real name.

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And then underneath that will be any other pages or groups.

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So it's all connected together.

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If you don't set up that way,

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you can be shut down and you don't go through all

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of this work of getting followers only then to be shut

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down because you didn't set it up correctly.

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Now let's talk about what the difference is between a page

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and a group.

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And when you should,

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or when you shouldn't have either of these,

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a page is what you would use to represent your business.

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I recommend that everybody who has a business should have a

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Facebook page.

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Let's think about how we work in our daily lives now.

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And people want to know if you have a website,

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it's almost like having credibility for business that you have to

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number one,

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have some type of website presence,

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but also be on not just social media,

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but be on Facebook.

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I mean,

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that's where people look in the very beginning.

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That's why I say absolutely positively.

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If you have a business,

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you should have a business page.

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There are some cons to having a business page.

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One of the problems with having a business page is you

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feel like you put posts up on your business page and

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nobody sees them.

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And it's true for every hundred followers.

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You have,

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maybe three of those followers are going to see a post

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that you put up.

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So you're going to say to me then,

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well, Sue,

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why even do it?

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Is it worth it in the first place?

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Why should I even bother the reason that you're going to

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want to have a Facebook page?

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Even if you get so little visibility,

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just organically,

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when someone's scrolling the feed,

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like I said,

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3% give or take,

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but if someone directly goes to find you on Facebook,

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then you'll be there.

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Then they'll see you.

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So there is visibility if it's customer initiated,

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but there isn't visibility.

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If it's organic,

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if you're expecting to put up a post and then someone's

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going to see you right away,

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that doesn't happen.

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Okay. 3% to me is almost zero.

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However, when someone wants to go and research your company,

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maybe they've just heard about you.

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And they're thinking about buying a product from you,

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but they want to know a little bit more about you.

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They're going to want to see that you have a website

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and they're probably going to want to see that you're on

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Facebook. So for that reason,

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you should have a page.

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And the other reason why you should have a page is

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if ever you're thinking that you want to do any type

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of Facebook ads for attracting followers,

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for selling product,

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for initiating any type of communication with the people who are

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already following you or attracting other people to follow you,

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that is all done from a Facebook page.

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The other reason is Facebook shops,

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another sales channel opportunity for you.

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You can set up Facebook shops in a couple of different

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ways. Now you can direct people to your website,

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to where all of your online products exist already.

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Or you can set up shops right inside Facebook,

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which is literally turnkey.

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You can put products up there.

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You can have customers buy through the Facebook mechanisms that are

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there and get shipping labels.

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All of that,

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there's a whole new it's called Facebook shops,

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turnkey system within Facebook so that you can sell products there.

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So it's for visibility.

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When people are reaching out and searching for you,

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you can run ads and you can sell your products.

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Those are the reasons to have a page.

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That's why I say every single handmade product business should absolutely

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have a Facebook page.

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Now, how do you work that page?

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Given that I told you only about 3% of people will

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ever see that information organically.

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You want to post on Facebook so that people who are

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initiating a contact with you will see that your account is

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active. I would suggest two or three times a week.

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You're posting something new on your Facebook page,

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knowing full well that the majority of your followers are not

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going to see any of the posts,

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but the people who are coming to your page will now

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let's move on to groups.

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And I think this is where some confusion comes in because

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people are thinking,

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Oh well,

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there's groups available.

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So I should start a group.

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Well, let's talk about what a group is for and the

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pros and cons,

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and whether you should have a group as a handmade product

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business. And I'm going to jump to the end first.

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And then I'm going to clarify this where I say that

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absolutely everybody should have a Facebook business page.

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When we come to Facebook groups.

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My answer is,

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it depends.

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And let me explain why I say that a business group

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is virtually a gathering of people coming together for a specific

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purpose. Some of you I know does by who's here are

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already in my group gift biz breeze.

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If you're not feel free to come and join us,

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we are a very defined group of handmade product,

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business owners or people who are considering turning a hobby or

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a craft into a business and want to start rubbing shoulders

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with other people who have it's all based on business,

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learning, business development,

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questions, and answers assistance with the business.

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So it's a very defined group.

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It is not a place to go place your product and

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sell. So it's not a buy sell group.

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It's very defined in terms of what the group is.

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Probably all of you are part of other groups that are

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specifically related to your product.

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So maybe you're part of a group that talks about soaps.

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And so that group could be,

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where are you sourcing your product types of issues that you

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might have when you're creating your soaps or adding sense to

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the soaps or all those types of things.

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Very product specific,

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lot of groups like that on Facebook that are specific product

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creation groups,

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depending on what industry you're in baking candle,

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making jewelry,

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pottery, all of that,

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a very defined purpose,

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gathering a specific community together towards a specific goal.

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The fabulous thing about groups is there's a lot of comradery.

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There's a lot of engagement and interaction that's free.

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You can easily join groups.

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So then we circle back to the question.

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Should you start your own group?

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Here's the big question for you to ask yourself about that?

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What would be your business purpose about starting a group?

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A Facebook group takes time.

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You need to monitor the group you need to be in

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there regularly interacting with members and promoting the conversation.

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So a question to ask yourself is,

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would the results of a Facebook group align with specific goals

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you have for your business?

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Let's cover three examples of Facebook groups that are formed for

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a purpose that could align with handmade product businesses.

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If you have a certain element of education as part of

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your handmade product business.

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So let's say you are a knitter.

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And so you sell your knitted,

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scarves and mittens,

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et cetera,

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but you also have patterns or teach knitting.

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A group could be a wonderful way to bring all of

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your students together and add additional support that lays on top

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of the educational programs that you have.

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People are then joining the group to get additional direction from

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you. Another example could be,

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if you are involved with your local community,

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maybe you gathered together business owners from within your community.

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And together you work towards creating promotional efforts that drive people

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into your downtown area.

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Maybe there's a sidewalk sale.

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That's put on things like that.

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So you're establishing yourself as a business leader within the community.

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How that helps you with your handmade product business is perhaps

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you're looking at getting placement within some of the local boutiques

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or you're looking for consignment opportunities.

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A third idea for a group could revolve around your product

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specifically, and the people who would be using your product.

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So your ideal customer,

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let's say you have a product that is focused on babies.

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So maybe it has to do with potty training or toddler

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clothes, things like that.

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You could create a group that is all moms.

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You have similar interests,

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similar challenges with your children,

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your product serves one need,

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but it could be a whole conversational support group for moms

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of young children.

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And I have a bonus idea for you straight from one

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of our Breezers Nene from Nene soaps.

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She's created a VIP group for her customers.

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Here's a snippet from a recent Instagram Maive,

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where we talked about her group.

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So Nene you're product in your group,

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and it's your friend,

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your family,

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and your customers.

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You have created a special place online.

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That's private,

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VIP people have to be directed there to know about it.

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And then you're offering specials to them.

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It is fabulous to hear that this is such a success

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and that you're getting business from your group.

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That amazing.

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The one thing I will say with that is when people

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join your group,

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you can ask them three questions.

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If you join the breeze,

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you'll see that I have three questions there.

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One of my questions is are you willing to share with

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me your email address that is really,

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really important.

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And the reason is if Facebook ever decides to shut down

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groups, you have no contact with them.

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You know,

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this is the only thing that you need to be cautious

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about on social media platforms,

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anywhere, Facebook,

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Instagram, Pinterest,

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anywhere that if they change the rules,

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the only way you have access is through that platform.

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So if for some reason something happened,

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gosh, they shut down a group.

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For some reason,

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you've lost all those people who are in your group.

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How else are you going to contact them?

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The only way you know them is through Facebook.

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Let's summarize this.

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If you're considering a Facebook business page and you don't have

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one yet thumbs up 100%.

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Yes. As a product based business,

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you want a Facebook page,

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Facebook groups.

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You need to decide based on what we reviewed here today.

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And I'm going to go back once again to saying,

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just because it's available to us,

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doesn't mean you have to do everything.

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And now you should have the information that you need to

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decide. Exactly.

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What's right for you.

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That's a wrap.

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I bet get to the point kind of girl.

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And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

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sessions. Now it's your turn.

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Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.

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Share your handmade products with us.

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We want them,

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