Ep 16: How to Build an Online Community Without a Private Group w/ Sarah Williams

Jun 7

How to Build an Online Community Without a Private Group with Sarah Williams

If you've had the chance to hear me talk previously, you're likely aware of my stance on Facebook groups not being true communities. And today, my special guest, Sarah Williams, is here to strengthen that viewpoint even further. Personally, I do not have a private Facebook group for my business. I know many others share the same thoughts. Sarah Williams, is a highly successful business owner with a multi-seven figure income, who has built a thriving community without relying on a private group. Together, we'll delve into the specifics and uncover the strategies behind her impressive accomplishment.

For those who don't know Sarah Williams, she has run a brick and mortar business for about eight years. In 2017, she ventured into the world of subscription boxes before they became popular. Her subscription box business took off, leading her to teach others how to start, launch, and scale their own subscription boxes. Sarah also hosts the Launch Your Box podcast, which is a must-listen if you haven't subscribed yet.

Favorite Community

I want to know from you, what is your favorite community that you have ever been a part of and what did you love about that community?

It's probably not going to be a shocker that my favorite community was Tribe. Before I took the Tribe course, I was in a coaching group and I felt just like in this big sea of people. And that was probably my own fault because I didn't participate. I was just a wallflower, a lurker. And so I felt like even when I did participate, I didn't get much interaction.

When I joined Tribe, It just felt like you had to participate. There was no other option. There was constant engagement inside the group and people were engaging with each other. So it felt like a whole new level. You were in a group with a lot of people, but you felt seen and you felt heard in that group. That was something I hadn't experienced before that.

A little PS from Shana here. I was the Director of Community for the organization she is talking about for 3 years. Alright… onward with the rest of the article.

Business as a Whole

So tell me a little bit about your business as a whole. Who do you serve? What kinds of programs do you have?

The business started from the brick and mortar store, which I no longer have, and is now a warehouse. I have been serving local customers for a long time now. We ship all over the country, but it's a customer that loves something personalized. They love to give gifts.

We do a lot of personalization and my subscription box is called the Monogram Box. It is a seven figure a year subscription box, which we personalize, pack and ship out of my own warehouse in Texas. That's the anchor of my business. We have a large e-commerce business aside from the subscription box, and we also have the other side of the business, which is the coaching and educational side of the business called Launch Your Box. That's the program that I put together about two years ago that will help other people like me who are interested in starting their own subscription box. We've had over 4,000 students (and growing) inside Launch Your Box and I just love seeing them launch their own subscription box in their own very specific niche.

As mentioned earlier, there is a newly developed course called "Scale Your Box." This course focuses on what steps to take after you have successfully launched your subscription box and introduced it to the world. The question then becomes: how do we expand and grow our subscription box business? Drawing from my own experience of scaling my subscription box from 44 subscribers to nearly 3000 subscribers, I aim to provide insights on the path to follow and teach others to embark on a similar journey.

Creating Connection Without a Free Group

What do you mean when you say that you have a community but it's not within a private group?

The subscription box membership is my community. I get to love them every single month with this box that I've customized just for them. I get to talk to them and I get to interact with them and I get to engage with them. Connection is so important in any business and with anything that you're selling.,. As an entrepreneur, I initially chose not to have a Facebook group. When starting out, I was the sole employee responsible for various tasks such as packaging, shipping, and monogramming. Adding a free group to my already full plate seemed like a burdensome addition. Instead, I questioned why I couldn't simply carry out the activities typically done in a free group directly on the main page where everyone could see and participateIf you were not already a subscriber, my goal was to make you want to become one. That's how I engage with my entire audience, whether it's on the coaching side or the product side of my business. Instead of keeping things behind closed doors, I believe in doing everything openly. By involving everyone, it creates a sense of connection and engagement that attracts more people to join and participate with me.

If you were to tell somebody, here's how you can create a community outside of a private group, what are those actions, what are those things that you're doing? How are you starting those conversations and getting them connected more with you and with each other?

If I was going to have a private community, it would include my subscribers, those paid customers. To effectively communicate and engage with my audience, I interact with them directly on the page. One of the main methods I use is going live. Every week, I go live and have conversations with my subscribers. During these live sessions, I give shoutouts to my subscribers and encourage them to participate by commenting. I often ask them to let me know their location and which subscription they have. The response is instant, with subscribers eagerly sharing their experiences, such as having the ultimate box, the combo box, or being part of the t-shirt club.When people observe the love of my subscribers, it becomes evident that they genuinely cherish what they receive. This immediate visibility allows those outside the club to witness and appreciate their enthusiasm. Therefore, the primary step is to engage in live interactions with your audience and establish a strong connection with them. While some individuals may feel safer in a private group setting, creating an inclusive community on the public platform will naturally attract and resonate with such individuals.We don't want to always do things behind closed doors because nobody else gets the benefit of that. It's like if you had a party in your front yard, everyone, all the neighbors would come, everybody would show up. But if you only had that in your living room, the neighbors wouldn't just pop over and ring your doorbell if you didn't invite them. So we're just having a party in the front yard, just inviting everybody to be a part of It.

Creating the VIP Experience

How do you deal when there's this expectation sometimes that there's this private VIP experience. How do you still create that kind of special experience outside of calling them out in lives? Are there other ways that you do that?

I have the opportunity to discuss the box items exclusively with my subscribers on Facebook. For instance, I can make a post saying, "Take a look at the envelope I included in your subscription box last month. It's a special gift from me to you." Without revealing its contents to everyone, subscribers enthusiastically comment, saying, "I absolutely adore my free gift! The special bonus is amazing. I'm loving it!"Everyone else gets to witness the experiences my subscribers are having. It's not all kept hidden. For example, if they received a bag in their monthly subscription box, I can make a post featuring my own bag and its contents, inviting them to share what's in their new bag by sending me a text. As a result, they start texting me pictures of what they have in their bags. I then have the opportunity to share those pictures on social media too. I can say things like, "Look at what Shana had in her bag! Check out Julie's bag and the items she puts in it. Look how cute Kelsey's bag looks!" This way, I can share these subscriber stories on my pages, stories, reels, and posts.And as a result, my subscribers feel seen and heard, just like what I cherished about my own best experience. They are now prominently featured on my pages and across my social media platforms, as well as in my emails and on my website. This makes them feel like I have carefully curated a gift specifically for them. It's a powerful way for me to continue fostering a sense of community. What's even more exciting is that everyone can see this thriving community, and naturally, everyone wants to be a part of it.And so then they feel seen and heard, remember that was what I loved about my best experience. My subscribers are now featured on my pages and in my social media, they're in my emails, they're on my website. So now they feel seen and heard. They feel like I've curated a gift just for them. That's a way that I can keep creating that sense of community. But everyone can see and everybody wants to be part of that community.

You are then giving them your platform in a sense and highlighting them, highlighting your community by sharing some of the things that they have shared with you in your stories or in your post.I love that you are leveraging your platform. So it's not the Sarah Williams show. It's the community. Your platform is for your community, not just for you and building your brand.

Yes and I'm doing the exact same strategy on the educational side of my business, specifically with Launch Your Box. While the members of our paid program have access to a private group for training and coaching, we don't have a free group leading into it. Instead, we utilize the page as our platform and community hub. When we show up on the page, we highlight our members' successes, showcase their boxes, and encourage others to subscribe to them. Additionally, we feature training sessions when I go live on that page. It's an effective way to engage and connect with our audience.

Every Week I go live on that page and I give them a short training on a topic. I call it Monday Momentum. It’s idea is to get their Monday started off. We look at the things that we're working on this week. In doing that, I'm giving free training, and am serving my audience before I ever ask them to buy anything for me. While I'm serving them, I'm talking about my members and about posts that were in the group yesterday and members join that.

Just like the subscribers were on the other page, the members are joining and they say, “yeah, I saw that. I love the training”. People that are not part of the membership then get to see all the things that we're doing behind closed doors in our living room. We're having the party in the front yard and everybody wants to be a part of it. will cause them to be paying members later.

Oftentimes you're actually talking to your subscriber, you're already talking to the people who are loyal lovers of your products and of your services. And that comes across, which probably makes you feel more inviting, more connected, and you are selling without selling because you're speaking to them as if they already are a part of your community.

To enhance your comfort in that setting, you can employ a strategy where you conduct your Monday Momentum session with your Launch Your Box students on a public page while simultaneously streaming it within your private group. This approach provides reassurance because you receive feedback like, "hey, all the members are watching," which contributes to your comfort level. The advantage lies in the familiarity between you and your students, as you possess knowledge about their businesses and can address their questions in real-time during the live session. This is in contrast to solely broadcasting on a public page where you may be uncertain if your members are seeing or engaging with the content, leaving you unsure if they will join the live sessionBy streaming the Monday Momentum session in both locations, I create a sense of comfort by connecting with my community—the people I know and engage with regularly. It's like having a conversation with familiar faces. Additionally, I warmly welcome anyone else who wishes to join in on the discussion. If my words during the Monday Momentum session ignite inspiration and motivate others to take action, that's fantastic. The fact that they witness me interacting with my members during the live session may entice them to become part of this ongoing experience. They want to be part of the vibrant energy and valuable exchanges happening right there, consistently.

Connecting with Members over Text

Do you use your email and your texting to drive people to those lives and to that content that's happening on your Instagram and your Facebook page?

Yes! Texting is great for that. Every time I go live, I text my list with something like: “Hey, it's time for Monday Momentum, grab your coffee and come say hi”.

I extend an invitation to them every week, and if there are individuals who don't wish to receive that weekly text, I don't necessarily need them on my list. The purpose of the list is to encourage and foster engagement.

I can go live and initially, there might not be many people present. In those moments, I realize that I forgot to send the text. However, as soon as I quickly send the text while going live, hundreds of people start showing up, as if they were eagerly waiting for it. We have trained them to join us on Monday mornings, so as they enter, they greet us with enthusiasm. Sometimes, we even provide them with a keyword and ask them to include it when they say hello. This way, I can identify those who have come directly from the text, and they excitedly say, "Oh, I have to give the keyword! Let me go and say hi to Sarah."So as we continue the conversation, they start asking questions through text messages as well. They might say, "Hey, I just watched your Monday Momentum. I have a question about this. I didn't get a chance to ask it during the live session." This allows for a two-way conversation via text, creating an additional sense of community. It provides them with a comfortable space to ask questions, even if they're not confident participating in a public live session.

Advice From Sarah

If you were to give one piece of advice to somebody who doesn’t really want to manage a private group of people who aren't paying subscribers to my business, or whatever it might be, what piece of advice would you give them as they try to create this community in a public forum?

You said something a little bit ago about people thinking that there's more engagement inside a group. There's only more engagement inside the group because you're more engaging inside that group. I want you to think about how you can do the same things that you would do in a group on the public page. Don't overthink it. Just show up and figure out how you can serve your audience before you sell to them.

Show up and give value and create conversations. When you start creating those conversations on your public page, it's going to just generate more conversations in your post and your videos. Don't overthink it. Just start showing up and bringing value and you're going to create that engagement on your page.