Social Selling Sisterhood Podcast Episode 13: Interview with Michelle Swan: Facebook Groups 101

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Hi, friend. Welcome to the social selling sisterhood podcast. I am Lindsay Dahling ER and I have many titles. High school, Spanish teacher, dog Mom, world traveler and direct seller. I empower women to run your direct sales businesses the right way. You can earn the money. You deserve to live the life of your dreams and travel the world. Now we got that out of the way. Let's get started. Hello. Hello, everyone. This is Lindsey, and I am back for another episode of the podcast. And today we have our first ever guessed on. I am so excited to be chatting with her and for her time and sharing with us today. So her name is Michelle Swan. And Michelle, Do you want to just start off and tell us a little bit about you and your journey? Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on Lindsay. I know that. We've been talking about this for like over a month now, so it's just super excited to see you in your podcast taking off. So, like when they said my name is Michelle Swan. I am a social media manager. I'm the owner of Blumen Social and I helped busy the boss lady's save time and connection more consistently, authentically with their audience, particularly through Facebook groups. The reason I put this on that is that phase. But groups are one of the best ways to generate leads and also to keep your fans just falling in love with you over and over again. Only actually love that I have so many questions. No. All right, all right. So you kind of already touched on about why it's important for women and direct sales toe. Have a group. But if there is someone out there that doesn't have a group right now, why would you tell him it's so important? Well, I would say that it's important because it gives your people a place to keep going back to, You know, even if you have, just if you don't have a group, that's okay. Right now, everybody's got to start somewhere, and even if you have a baby group, you know that's OK as well. When you have that group, you have a specific platform that's all your own. Um, of course, it's through Facebook, but you can actually go there and you can create your own brand voice. You can create your own image. You can set yourself apart from every other direct sales person out there with whatever makes you personally unique, whether that's your look, your energy, the way that you talk. Though you know your knowledge about your products, you have the opportunity to shine and set yourself apart. But at the same time, all of the people that join your group if they ask questions, really, they get to get the information that they're actually after without feeling like nervous or pressured. And then they can keep going back in there toe, learn a little bit of time. One particular thing that's really great for groups with direct sales is that, you know, right now a lot of people can't have parties. Party is a slow down. So much and virtual parties do you know their thing. They happen and they're fantastic. They do take a lot of energy, and we can't always plan as many virtual parties as we physical parties because virtual parties 10 steak, How much longer space of time. If you have a group and you are running short on virtual parties for a month, you can host a group party on your own. You could have mystery hostesses. You can have guessed hostesses. You can bring other people in your team on there. So it just creates another space for you to keep your business going and constantly share your passion. Share your value. I love that I love that. Absolutely. I love Facebook groups. I'm totally a fan of a Facebook group. Now, if you have someone who is like brand new to direct sales and has never don a Facebook group before, what are some like top tips you would give them on either getting started or maybe even reviving a dead group? Okay, so with getting started, some of the most important tips are First off, make sure that you're picking a smart name. The name of the group is so important because you want to make sure you have a couple of key words in there that are relevant to you know what you're doing. You won't always check with your company and make sure that you're allowed to use the company name. If you want to do that before you go and do that, you know when you're in direct sales you really need to pay very close attention to the rules of their marketing. A lot of them don't allow any ads whatsoever on Facebook, but with a group you can still promote yourself constantly. But you won't make sure people are finding you. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. So making sure that you're picking a relevant name, you can even put your name in the group name so that if you have friends, they could never know that they're joining the right place. And then your about section is also super important. You wanna say very clearly right there in the beginning. Why this group exists, Who it's for, how it's helping others. And then what you would like to see from other people. Do you want them to ask questions? Do you want them to engage? Do you want them to book? Do you want them to join your team being very intentional with your call to action at the end of your about section? Okay. Awesome. Now is there like a sweet spot number on how many times a day people should post in a group? What are your thoughts on that? Because I've been in groups before them have been 20 post today. And then I turned the notifications off. So I'm just curious what you think about that right on. And that's really going to depend largely on how much people talk in the group and then how big the group actually is. I am part of some smaller groups where there's only one or two post today. People talk a lot, and it's really great. It still creates that space that I want to go back to and keep creating those conversations and learning more from others. But then I have another group that I'm in. It's open to all business women. It has over 350. That wasn't members, has a probably between 20 to 100 posts today. I think I watched a video where she said that she had 20 million notifications in one month from this group. Oh my gosh, how it I could not handle. That s so that's one of those groups that, like I get tons of value in there because there are so many different expertise of this and different zones of genius and women don't just talk this as they talk about life and time management and meditation and, you know, health and wellness and everything else you could possibly imagine being a businesswoman. I love that. Yeah. Um, don't Sorry. Oh, so So I would say, as long as you're being consistent, consistency is key. You can't post once a week and then go back in the following week and overload them with, like, to post a day and then go back down, follow the third week and only post like three times. Create a schedule for yourself. And if it helps themes really do work. People work for people. Teoh, Um, like Manny Monday. Yeah. Yes. Things really do work to help people get consistent with their scheduling posts. I say, that's my team all the time. I like guys. Even if you're on vacation, there's a scheduling option for posts nowadays. Gradual those out. And then you're showing up every day, and your people don't have to know differently. Yes, that's another. That's another awesome tip. You're absolutely right, Leslie. Thank you for pointing that out. I actually creating content in advance. You can schedule yourself out with intentional value for however many weeks you would like, But then still pop up in the group when you're just in the moment and it still feels authentic, it feels you and it gives you a chance to showcase another part of yourself. I love that. That's awesome. Um, okay, so now I have my group set up. Should I be sharing that on my personal profile? Like, Do you have any tips for us on how to get more people in there? Absolutely. So I definitely say that, you know, you should be sharing with the world on your personal profile what you're doing. You are your direct audience, your friends on Facebook, your family. You know you don't want to spend them. You don't want to bombard them. You don't want to overload them, but they want to celebrate you. They want to share your winds. So even if they're not buying from you all the time, they want to know that you know what you're up to and that you're going after your dreams. So I do say, to share to your personal profile. Um, I basically like to break things down on, like, business pages and groups into, like, an 80 20 rule. So you're doing strictly No, expectation value 80% of the time you're selling 20% of the time. You can even go a little bit farther and break that down to like 90 and 10. But that's specifically for your group and your Facebook page if you have one. Um, on your personal profile, you can actually get in trouble with Facebook if you over sell on personal profile. So when it comes to personal profiles, I would even go like 95 5% like do not sell more than by percent under personal profile. But that means that you could still be sharing your group, telling people what Europe Teoh even just popping in with an excited face and showing some products and say, I'm so excited to try this brand new product that's still sharing with your friends and your direct audience, and you could tag your group so that they can go there and follow it. I love that. Yeah, I have been doing a lot more even on posts that aren't specifically like me, you know, geared at my company. But my fingernails air in it. I'm like, Oh, and then I just like, tied at the bottom I don't say anything. It just tax there at the bottom, just in case. Just real subtle. Exactly. And it works the other way to when you're creating a post in your group, you can tag your personal profile. It'll show up there as well. Only I think about that. That's a really great tip. Yeah, let's do it somewhere. Yeah, I never thought about that. Um, you did mention business page. So if I, you know, I'm just getting started. This is my first direct sales company. Would you recommend me focus more time group business page like, what's your take on that? So my take is that if the company that you're with allows you to have a business page as well, absolutely do it. I would focus more of my energy into my group because that's where your audience actually wants to be. A wants to engage. Facebook groups are actually optimized with the algorithm, basically, literally has community groups in their mission statement. So this is a very important thing to the people that run Facebook. So that's where a lot of your energy should be going. That's gonna be where you can sell where you can build your audience. Or you can create those sands and really developed relationships because best business is always built on relationships. Your Facebook page, however, gets to act like additional business card. You get to talk about your new 10 members at you've enrolled your new products, your sales goals that you've hit. If you've reached a new milestone in your career, that should always have, like, up to the information and just celebrating the crap out of all of your winds. Okay, I need I need to go back to my business page because I am kind of been like, All right, which one do I have the most time to focus on? I'm going to choose my group, and then my business page kind of, you know, gets in the it's on the back burner. So I definitely need to do that. I love how you called it the, um, your digital business card. Because that's that's so true. Because it shows up on Google, right? Google search of age because their public okay. Yeah. Yep. That's smart. That's a great tip. Um oh, gosh. I was gonna ask something else about, so I don't necessarily need to build relationships on my business page. I want to try to funnel those people probably into my group, right? Yes. I mean, you absolutely can build those relationships on your page, but getting them into your group so that there around people with a similar interest is a is a goal. Okay, awesome. Um and then I'm assuming that we should be going live and posting pictures and doing all that in our group, just like we should technically be doing on our personal pages. Well, right, right. Yeah. Ap a Muslim. Never share too much value. A za long as you're not giving what you're proud of. Extra free. Yeah s Oh, that is so true. I love that you can never share too much value. That's a great thing to get into. Especially I feel like new people's mind. But even my own, I'm always like, Well, how much do I say? How much do we share and yeah, I don't think unless there's something that your company doesn't want you to share I don't know that you can share too much with people you know who can help people too much. Another reason that I really love when people engage with their group is over there over there. Business page is because your group is a place where you can actually showcase your personality A lot of these people and might not be your personal friends. But think of who they are. Think of what else they have going on their life. Obviously, we have more things going on than just our fingernails. I'm a mom. I love animals. I love Starbucks so I can post about all of those things in my group, and it just creates that personalized connection with everybody. I love that. Um, so now talking just a little bit about brand because I feel like that's kind of what you're you're hitting on. Do you have, like, a You know, I've heard before Have your your top five, your top six things that you post about, like on your personal profiles. You kind of recommend that in a group two or less more, Or does it depend? It really depends on you know your comfort level. I would say, you know, don't overwhelm yourself. If you have too many, it's going toe feel very disorganized, and the whole group is gonna just feel disjointed. So five is like a good baseline. I sense some people do three X and some people do nine. So I would say that once you get to 10 and above, it gets really kind of muddled faras people not knowing what to focus on. Yeah, I was gonna say they're gonna come and be, like, not really know what your groups all about, right? And totally make sense. Yeah. And I would say the mortar focuses. You have the morning to be utilizing those themes so that people know to expect certain things on certain days. Oh, that's a good idea. I didn't think about that. So I could do, like, travel Tuesday, for example, in my group, even though my groups not about travel. But that's one of the things that I really love. Right? Okay. All right. Maybe I have toe have to relook at my schedule. Posts that are coming up. So how did you How did you get into this? Like, how were you? Like I need to help women and Facebook groups. You have, like, a cool story or even a not so cool story, but like, how did you decide todo So I have a not so cool story When s so I've had my company for a little bit less than a year now. I was in a corporate job that I absolutely just hated. I literally I was in the leadership training last summer and one morning I was literally crying to one of my coaches on the phone because they didn't want to walk in the building. I knew I had to leave. My education was in marketing. I loved marketing. I love the power potential of social media. So I was like, OK, I'm going to do that. I was so passionate about it. And I started off thinking that I wanted to run ads. It wasn't really my thing. And then I thought that, you know, I just want to do graphics, and that wasn't consistent enough. So I tried a few different things, and it was actually with, you know, a coach that I'm working with right now that has known may for a while through this whole journey literally, Um who is just like, you know, I see that you're really good at this. This and this and I think that you would really shine and groups, and I want you to give a shocked Yeah, And so I beat him, worked with her within helping grow one of her groups. So it's just kind of took off for May. I love it. I am totally passionate about people and connecting them and building those up into relationships. I truly believe that above all else, no matter what else you want your business to be your brand for your business and your Brandon life have to align. Mm. So I love that. That's not the reason why I love groups. If it gives you the perfect space to do that. Ooh, I love that. That's really good. Now that has me thinking, huh? On I love how it evolves. Like I mean, I feel like it's not a journey. If you were like, Okay, I'm doing this and I'm sticking with it, you know, it's I feel like it's so much better when you're evolving and you're trying things out. You're like, I don't That's not quite it either. That's not quite it either. I mean, even with my direct sales company, um, you know, I've been with I don't even know how many before this one. And I like some things about this one, and then I switch didn't like some things about this. What you know, and you've gotta find you've got to find your perfect fit right. Then you find, then you find your success and you learn more. You invest in a coach. Um, I love that I really love that. So would you definitely recommend to women in direct sales to invest in the coach? Or is there at a certain point that you would recommend they do that? I would say first when you're first starting out, died it into your team. Whoever it is that recruited you, they are essentially started there, essentially agreeing to coach you to lead you. And they're they're trying to build a team under them. So these air all of like your tribe lean into each other in your coach doesn't have one, or you're the person recruited you. It doesn't have one. Ask if they can create a group Just figure team so you can all collaborate and talk to each other. No two people are gonna have the same ideas. No two people gonna have the same zones of genius. So really just lean there first, because these people that are on the exact same mission is you as you advance. If you feel like you're needing to level up and urinating more than absolutely invest in the coach, hiring coaches is one of the smartest decisions I ever made in my life. Not just my business. Awesome. Yeah, I totally agree. Your team space. Can you give a tone of value like Tana Value? Um And then sometimes there does come to that point where you're like, OK, I'm ready e Just a little bit more in a car. She's definitely nice for that. Yeah, I love that. And don't just look to your direct team, look and see if they're like regional or national teams as well. That's a great point. Yep, because everyone's on multiple teams. I'm sure unless viewers like just starting a company important part of that, like very first level I. So what has been your biggest success so far? Honestly, my biggest success is just starting. I was terrified to start, Um, it was so hard. I got a lot of support, moral, emotional mindset, and the thing is, it's a it's hard, no matter what you're doing. Running with businesses hard right? But you can either stay where you're at's and be uncomfortable in a place that you don't want to be, or you can take that leap, do the hard and scary thing and be uncomfortable creating an amazing life that you actually have control. I love that. And that will speak, I'm sure to everyone listening as well, because that's one of the things I hear most commonly from women who have joined like my team and direct sales and other women. One they wish they would have just started earlier because, like, you know, what was that? What was I waiting for? You know, it's not that big a deal. There's no penalty if I quit. You know what? Why not? Kind of. Why not do that for you? Yeah, I love that. So I assume you're very glad you got started. Very glad I got started. Yes, I just want to share, like a quick quote, because I do love just happened. Quotes. I don't know who this is by what's kind of old cliche one, but it still matters. If not you who, if not now, when, Ah, love your thinking about it. You would do whatever it takes to make the leap. I love that. I love that so much. So what's next for you? So what's next for me? Is building my own client base. I'm doing both. Do it for you and do it with you programs and plans for women who are in various levels of their business. So might do it with you. Plan is for people that are just starting their groups or who have a baby group that, um maybe isn't very active or they're really just wanting to grow what they're not sure if it's everything is set up properly, and that's a big coaching process from May. So you get a lot of personal one on one attention. But then, once that group grows beyond the point where you have the time to manage it and pay attention to it, that's where my do it for you comes it where I get to do the moderating. I get to schedule your post. I get to take a lot of that stress and pressure off of you and free up your time to build your team. Drive your sales and focus on what you after what's actually important to you, which is living the life that you've created. Right, right. I love that. I didn't even think about the Do it for you. Option. That's really cool. Um, so I'm going to at the very end, ask everyone held, they can connect with you because I'm sure some listening are gonna be like that. Sounds really appealing, but super quick before we get off. Um, what's your favorite personal development? Booker Podcast. Do you have one? Oh, my God, is a hard question. I know because there's so many hard question And I have been reading so many books I love audible because I mean, listen in the car or like even through my Alexa in the shower. Sorry, if that's tm I know I do that I totally I bought a Bluetooth speaker and it's in my shower. Yes, or even leg while I'm cooking. Whatever. So it's hard to pick up. It's the Pacific Book. The one I'm a reading right now because I'm constantly learning is one million followers. My favorite, one of the most entertaining when the one little probably read again is called you're a badass. Buy gentle zero. Yeah. Yeah. Favorite podcast. You know, I really love the school of greatness by Louis House. Oh, that's a good one. That's really good love. I haven't read a million followers, but I have seen it posted somewhere. Maybe in our mentor ship group were, and I'm not sure, but someone recommended that. Yeah. And I'm like, Oh, I need to add that cause I'm the same way. I feel like I always need to be learning to stay up and to motivate myself. Honestly, Yeah. So, um, do you have any time management tips besides listening to things in the shower? Because I do that as well. Yes. Um, some a big fan of time blocking. You know, I set aside in my calendar. I have, You know, I'm a single mom of two Children, so I set aside family time in my calendar every single day. Nobody's loved a book with me during that time, but then throughout the day, I have specific tests that I completed specific times that are blocked up for certain things in the mornings. I take the time to write down my three big goals for the day I planned them around those pre blocked out sets of time. And then I have a set of, like, many goals that are just bonus tasks. So if I complete nothing else today, I am for sure going to complete those three goals. If I get past those wrinkles, What's next? You know, that's always the question. Once you reach ical, what's next? So you have all those little things that fill in the rest of the time and you just block those out. I love that I love the idea of bonus tasks because I feel like I always put like, one giant list and then, like, I need to get this needs organized in some way. And yeah, and the listen never ends, and it just so overwhelming. And if you have too many of them in front of you, you don't know where to start. And you step into much time actually thinking, Where do I start? Yep, totally been totally been guilty of that, for sure, I think like I read somewhere that the average American woman has over 300. I don't want her to do list. I totally believe it that I do Yeah, I do, too. Now, I'm I kind of envisioning minus giving me a little bit of stress. Okay. We'll move past this. Yeah. All right. So if a woman is listening to this and has time to do one thing in her business today, but just one speaking of the priorities, um, what would you tell her to do? What would you recommend? It's a hard question. I know that's a hard question, because everybody is going to be in a difference. Bozz. Right to say I'm already established already have my group. What's one thing I could do to move my business forward today? Created called Action? Yeah. If you're If you're in your group in your engaging and you're getting people to talk, you know, it's easy to build relationships. It's easy to talk to people. It's easy to be excited about a product you love for most people, in my experience, it's hard to actually ask for the body. Yes, yeah. So as long as you're not going over that you know, 80 20 rule, create that cold action and get yeah, it doesn't have to be by my thing. It can be literally on your personal profile joined my group. It could be a book party. It's convey be join my team. It could be so many toe print things. Yeah, especially if we're following that 80 20 rule that 90 ton role Because I think so many women thinks they get in their own mind and they feel guilty asking right? And I mean, I'm get I'm guilty of that. I know I'm like, Oh, I feel about asking, Yeah, but we shouldn't because that's that's what you're doing in that group is your building those relationships And when you're doing that, that's kind of whether they're guys, that right there there to support you is. So don't be afraid, especially when you know that what you're asking them to do is going to benefit them so much. And that has to be. The focus is not like what it does for you. But when it does for them, Yes, yes. Oh, my gosh, So much good stuff in there. I hope everyone loves this as much as I did cause I really, really loved it. So now tell our listeners how they can connect with you, and I'll also put everything in the show notes, guys, so you can just link it. But please tell them how to connect with you. Because I don't want to. Absolutely. So I'll send you the link for my website and then both of my op. Both of my like freebies. One is all about creating engaging posts, my tops. Seven tips for that. And then the other one is all about some strategies to help you grow your group. So I'll send you the link for those. My website is blooming social dot com. And then the other way that you can connect with me is if you're friends with Lindsay, you can stop her friends list and look me off message. Meharry, come over to my business stage, which is blumen social That is blooming without the G. Okay, great. Yes, guys. And I will link all of that for you because I know you're gonna want Teoh find Michelle, connect with her and, um, grab some of those freebies. That sound amazing. I'm definitely going to do that after I get off here, so Well, thank you so much, Michelle, for your time. I really appreciate it. And sharing your story and all your tips with our listeners. I think there is definitely content in there. No matter whether you are just getting started or whether you have been in drug sales for years. Some really, really great reminders. And I know everyone loved it as much as I did so much. I'm so honored to be on here. And I'm so happy. Yea, thank you.