Free Communities and/or Groups

Hi folks, wondering if anyone with a free community/group would be willing to comment on how it is working to fill their paid programs. I'm debating creating a Facebook/Instagram Group or a Heights Community for "leads." I know some people save all their community efforts for after someone becomes a student and others use it to drive interest in their programs.

Love to hear everyone thoughts.

Thanks!

Hi @barb-mcgrath,
I have a free Facebook Group. The intent was to run challenges in the free group and hold networking events and such. The most frustrating thing is that the vast majority of members don't see posts. I've just recently started to reengage and the views are going up, but it's still only about 25%. I'm determined to get the group flourishing but I know it's going to take a lot of posting and asking questions and encouraging engagement, etc. I know you talked about not wanting to post daily, but I think that is necessary with a FB group. Which is annoying. I'm not abandoning the concept yet, but wanted you to know what I've found :(

I host three groups. Two paid, one free. The free one I don't allow any solicitations, even my own. So perhaps I'm the wrong person to answer this. : D

Of course, I'm always linking to my material when relevant to someone's post. If they ask about personal boundaries, I'll reply with as much info as possible and give them a link to an episode or two of my podcast for more.

These are already listeners of my show so it's more circular than anything. As for new leads however, there are people in the group that talk about (and talk "up") my paid products/programs, which does help getting the word out organically.

I have considered creating a free group to lead into a program I run, but wow… the effort involved would stop moving the needle for me.

So, my two cents is having a free group that pretty much runs itself can be a great way to get people interested in your products/programs. i.e., you can have members from the paid programs in that group as well.

But having a free group where you are the sole provider of the replies/comments… that makes me want to hide in a dark room until everyone is gone. : D

My paid group however… I love replying to them. They are invested. They are all about getting healthy and improving themselves.

Maybe it's like @tiffany-hoeckelman says. You need to stay engaged, constantly posting and asking questions, posting challenges, etc.

Yeah, if that's what it takes, dark room here I come!

Thanks @tiffany-hoeckelman and @paul-colaianni

I love the idea that it introduces people to a program but I am 100% with you that if it is all work for my team and I, I'm not so excited.

Thank YOU!

Yeah. I love the people in my free group, but there's absolutely no pressure on me to lead them to a sale or anything.

I like what @paul-colaianni said here:

So, my two cents is having a free group that pretty much runs itself can be a great way to get people interested in your products/programs. i.e., you can have members from the paid programs in that group as well.

But having a free group where you are the sole provider of the replies/comments… that makes me want to hide in a dark room until everyone is gone. : D

My paid group however… I love replying to them. They are invested. They are all about getting healthy and improving themselves.

Our approach going forward is to have both a free area of our community in Creator Climb, and our FB group (which was previously paid subscribers only) for "leads". (The channels inside the Heights Creators and T-30 channel groups are only visible to paying customers)

Like Paul said, the free area of the community will be designed to run itself over time, meaning that it will be on the lead to search around and find value there, rather than for ourselves to have to feel the pressure to always post.

I feel that recently, people have begun to understand that when they get a free community, it can be valuable, but it is on them to discover where that value is and what they can get from it. Whereas they also know that if they join the paid community, they'll get that value delivered to them more automatically through the generally higher quality posts and discussions which don't have to be hunted down.

Similar to the idea that you can learn something online by searching youtube for free, but if you want to have it delivered and explained to you step by step with guidance and feedback along the way, then you would purchase a course or program.

Our Live Workshop speaker in April is an expert at using Facebook groups to attract leads and will share with us all how to do that!

Great point about youtube. I find videos that contain lots of great tidbits, but never really full training or more in-depth. Makes sense!

PS: Want to "Like" your reply… Feature request Like / Love buttons for posts and comments! ;)

Yes, we agree, post reactions are planned!

Alright! (LOVE)(LOVE)(LOVE)

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We manage a group with over 1500 participants. I think the benefit of a free group is pretty much dependent on the topic and your niche.
If you solve a specific Problem, you can end up with a lot of "leomns" in your group over time. Most people solve the problem with your help and move on, but there are always the "hard cases" which can not solve the problem at all. Over time, more and more of those people come and stay in your group.
This can have the opposite effect on new members. Instead of hyped comments about how people solved their problem, the just see people whining.
But like I said, that might not be the case for every niche.

What software or platform is everyone running their group on?

Hey Robert I currently use Heights for paying students and am assessing whether or not I want to create a free FB group.

@robert-johnson I use a private Facebook group mostly, and Heights secondarily (for those who don't want to be on social media at all).

@robert-johnson most creators here are going to be using Heights or Facebook groups. Our live workshop speaker this week will be talking about how he uses free Facebook groups to grow his course business that earn 7 figures/year: https://www.creatorclimb.com/bundles/live-creator-workshops