Community Building for Introverts - EPISODE 29
How do you turn a simple Facebook group into a paid membership with tens of thousands of members?
Aviva Allen was a kids’ nutritionist specializing in helping parents address feeding challenges around the time that she discovered mom Facebook groups. Disappointed by the lack of health- and eco-consciousness she found in the groups she joined, she decided to start her own, inviting 30 of her friends to join.
That group was Healthy Moms, which has since become a full community with 20,000 members that offers parents advice, shopping discounts, and a curated selection of natural, health-focused and eco-friendly businesses.
How did Aviva do it?
She started small, setting up a deal of the month and partnering with local businesses catering to the group’s demographic and aligned with their values.
From there, she grew, setting up a paid model for the businesses in addition to the membership for the moms. She approached new businesses to join. She started participating in events and marketplaces.
As you can imagine, this was tough for an introvert!
But she made it through by keeping her eye on the prize. She learned that you need to remind yourself of what you’re trying to build, in order to push yourself through those barriers.
“Embrace the uncomfortableness of it all. You have to,” Aviva says. “Because, as an introvert, you will feel uncomfortable doing these things… it’s a given. But if you’re going to get past that and get out of your own way, as they say, you have to. You won’t get to where you want to be without feeling weird sometimes.”
In this episode of the Quiet Powerhouse podcast, you’ll discover:
- How Aviva turned a 30-person Facebook group into a community with 20,000 members
- Why you should work on getting more comfortable with face-to-face meetings — and the #1 tip to help you clear that hurdle
- The pros of setting up lifelong memberships over annual
“I can appear to be extroverted… I can fake it for a period of time, but that really drains my energy. People are always so surprised to learn that I’m introverted. I feel like I can hide it pretty well.” — Aviva Allen
About Aviva Allen
Aviva Allen is a kids’ nutritionist specializing in helping parents address feeding challenges and the founder of Healthy Moms, a community that offers parents advice, shopping discounts, and a curated selection of natural, health-focused and eco-friendly businesses.
Highlights:
01:22 Introducing Aviva Allen
03:54 From Facebook group to marketing company
07:02 The awkwardness of asking people to pay
08:45 Case study: The Big Carrot
11:24 Face-to-face v. phone v. email
13:45 The biggest moment outside the comfort zone
17:34 Growing your business as an introvert
18:10 Get the giveaways and discounts!
21:59 Yearly membership or lifelong?
Links:
Healthy Moms
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