Kassaundra 0:01
I've been sharing about using social media and your teacher business for a while. But it's time you've heard from a teacher printer just like you. So today I'm chatting with my client, SB Linton all about her Facebook group. SB is the owner of autism classroom.com. And the self contained autism teacher and specialists Facebook group, as well as an author and consultant who has been in special education for over 20 years. So teacher authors, go ahead and reheat that cup of coffee, because I'm your host, Cassandra Foster. And we're about to get schooled in socials. Alright, welcome back to school and socials. I'm so excited today to have one of my amazing clients, SP Linton here with me. And we're going to talk all about what it's like to have a Facebook group as a teacher printer. So thank you so much for coming on SB I appreciate it. I would love if you could share a little background about your business, who you are and why you decided to start marketing your resources on social media.
SB 1:07
Okay, sure. Thanks for having me. Yes, I'm SP Munson. And I run the autism classroom, that comm website. And so I started off as a classroom teacher teaching students with autism, special needs, I decided to go ahead and get a master's in working with students with autism. And so it was like a graduate certificate Master's in severe disabilities. From there, I really wanted to start helping families a little bit more. And so I felt like okay, let me see what I can do on this thing called the internet. And because it was kind of new. And so, way back then it was new, because it's been over 20 years for me. And I really just started trying to help teachers in that manner. So the website provides strategies and information and tips for teachers that will hopefully help them in their autism classrooms. Awesome.
Kassaundra 2:07
Yeah. And this is like near and dear to my heart. And I love working with SP because I'm a former special education teacher, as you all know, and I worked in an ABA specific school. So almost all of the kiddos on my caseload had had autism, it's really great that I get to connect and work with her content, it really lights me up. So So you, when did you kind of take the jump to marketing your resources on social media.
SB 2:35
I think after having the website for a while, I knew I wanted to help teachers and work with teachers and share information with teachers. But with the website, it's kind of like a one sided conversation, where I'm just providing information, providing information, providing information, but I also knew there was more out there. And so as social media grew, or the idea of social media grew, I like the idea of possibly having a platform where you can have some give and take. Yeah, so I could be providing some information. But also I could be hearing back from somebody to see either what their challenges are, or just even having, getting ideas off of them to so bouncing ideas both ways. And so I love that idea of using the social media in that manner.
Kassaundra 3:26
Yeah, for sure. And definitely, as special educators, we're, I feel like kind of hardwired for collaboration for Absolutely. So having that back and forth was really important for you. Absolutely.
SB 3:37
There's a lot of teachers out there that they might be the only special educator in their building, or especially when you get into the the niche that I have working with students with autism, sometimes they're the only autism classroom in the building, and so that classrooms are very challenging. And then you're the only one there you don't really have anybody to bounce ideas off of. And so that way, having the social media community kind of helps teachers, we get a lot of teachers that are saying, Oh, great, I'm glad somebody else can understand what I'm going through, or I didn't know there were others out there. Right. I'm sure your stuff like that. And so it's been really nice to have that. Awesome.
Kassaundra 4:16
And so it sounds like that might have been a catalyst for you creating your Facebook group. But why did you decide to create your Facebook group? And what is your Facebook group about? So
SB 4:28
the Facebook group is no, we're just talking about it talking about it. The Facebook group is for teachers and specialists in self contained autism classrooms. And so the purpose of the group is to help them answer some of those questions that they might have, like, you know, how do I even get started doing this? What do I do to set up the classroom? What kind of supports are there out there for me? hope I answered your question.
Kassaundra 4:54
Yeah, no, that definitely answers it. I think you've definitely created that committee. Today because as I go in, and I help SP with her Facebook group, I'm seeing posts like that all the time, people who are starting out in a self contained classroom, and they're asking, like, where do I start? What resources do I need? And you've built a great community where not only can we come in kind of as experts, but other people in the group are also answering those questions for people, which is really lovely. So what kind of benefits have you seen from having a Facebook group as a teacher printer?
SB 5:26
I think some of the benefits for sure would be just having that dedicated community, like you have a community right there, of like minded people were looking for some of the same things. Another thing that I like is, if I have something to share, it's easy to just share it there. And it goes out to a lot of people. Yeah. So if I have a new venture, or if I have a new product that I'm creating, or have made, it's an easy place to kind of share it. And then the people that that need to find it find it. Right, right. And if they don't want it at that point, they don't they don't take it. But it's, it's there is a place for them to, to get information from us quickly. One of the other things that I like as a benefit is for again, I keep talking about the fact that sometimes teachers are out there on their own, but we can clearly see that it is helping people who don't really have someone else to reach out to. And I think that's one of the bigger benefits for me. Yeah, yeah, it also helps me keep a pulse on what's going on out there. So sometimes I might think, oh, okay, I think I know what I might need to create or make next. And then just from hearing and seeing some of the questions that people are asking, I can shift and say, Okay, well, maybe that's important to me, but it's not important to them, they're right out there, the same question as being asked like three and four different times a month. And that tells me that that is a need for the group. And so over the past year, there have been at least two or three times where I've shifted something I was creating, and, and geared it towards what those questions were asking.
Kassaundra 7:12
That's awesome. In an earlier episode on Facebook, I talk a lot about how groups are great for market research. So that's definitely like a testament to that, right? You were thinking, Oh, I'm gonna create this thing. But then you are able to look and see what people were asking about in the group. And you realized what's most important to them. So you can tailor your resources to that, which is so important. And I think I love that you brought up how it kind of extends your impact, because there are teachers in there who need support and need help. And I know you do some consulting, and you can't help them all one on one. But you've created this community, where other people who've had those experiences can also help them which I think is really amazing as well. And I know, just from a personal standpoint, SP just relaunched one of her courses. And the Facebook group was a really integral part to marketing that new course. Because we vet members coming in, we have really strong membership questions. So we know that the people in the group are our target audience. And so we were really able to pull in and hear those pain points and tailor the course to what those teachers needed. And the teachers from the course who have I'm sorry, the teachers from the group, who have bought the course so far are loving it because we were able to take what they needed, and bring it right to them, which I think is really amazing.
SB 8:38
Absolutely, you make a good point. So that was kind of one of the points that I was trying to make up. So in the course, I had a course it was set up. I had things in there. But there were two specific questions that people kept asking. And so I did go back and I added two more videos, pretty in depth videos about those things, so that when they got the course those questions could be answered. And if without the Facebook group, I would not have done that. I would not have known that. And so the market research is real.
Kassaundra 9:11
Yeah, for short, the market research was great. And we knew we already had like what we call a warm audience, people who needed support and needed help with the type of resources that you were creating. And so that kind of created a perfect storm for us to refresh that course and rerelease it to everyone in the group, which was awesome. So what is your favorite thing about having a Facebook group?
SB 9:36
Again, I think it's the benefit that it gives to the people that come in the group because you can see it through the likes in the hearts or if they ask a question and someone in a lot of people offer good answers. We have a group where people are offering good solid answers and helping them so you can kind of see that camaraderie with the teachers and it. The other thing I think I've mentioned it, it helps me kind of just put a finger on the pulse of what's going on what do people need? That sometimes they're asking what kind of things to buy for their classroom, what kind of curriculum they have, what kind of work tasks, so it just helps me just see what they're needing. And it helps me to kind of figure out what to do relate it to supporting that. Yeah,
Kassaundra:so it's definitely like a benefit to your business. But it's beyond that we've been able to, you know, cultivate a really engaged community that supports each other, which is really amazing to see. And I think that's definitely at the heart for us, like all of us who are teacher printers, right, we really want to extend our impact and help as many teachers and students as possible. And that Facebook group has allowed you to do that, which is amazing. Yeah.
SB:And it's a benefit to the business too, because a lot of times, so what I've tried to do was when I was creating blogs for the website, create blogs based on what people might be looking for. And so there are a lot of times in the Facebook group where when they do ask a question, we can direct them right back to the blog. And so that is getting hits to the blog, right? Yes. And it's also giving them the information that they need. And so I feel like that's kind of been a good thing, too. It's definitely helping the the website numbers, because people are going to the website to read the information. And it's a double benefit. Yeah.
Kassaundra:And it's definitely building your trust as an expert in that field. Because people can look, go to that website and see all the information that you have to offer them. Is there anything that's like your least favorite about having and running a Facebook group?
SB:Yeah, I would say the least favorite would be, you know, if you have a busy weekend, or, you know, if you're doing things just during the day, and you don't go back and check. So just being aware that you do need to monitor it, yes, that but that's where you come in.
Kassaundra:That's where I help out for sure. That's
SB:where you can't you do it all alone, right? Like it's it's a it is a Facebook group, but you you have you have somebody either monitoring or helping or just checking up because there are times where people will post things that you don't necessarily want to be there, it might not relate to the topic of the group. Or it might be self indulgent, where they're just like promoting something on their own, or it just doesn't have anything to do with what you're talking about. And so you want to monitor and make sure those things go out. And so that would be the only downside, like if I'm doing something for the weekend, and I don't see that particular type of posts for two and three days, and it's up in the group. That would be, you know, a negative, but luckily, we don't have that problem. Because we we take we monitor, you know, we we monitor and we make sure. So only the Spam is something like that. So I can only downside. If
Kassaundra:you are starting out with a Facebook group. As you get started, you can definitely probably handle it on your own. As you grow larger, you're going to really want to make sure that you have those strong questions that they need to answer to get in for a membership, you're going to make want to make sure you have strong guidelines. Facebook gives you some but you can also add some we've added some along the way as we've been working through this and seeing what people are posting about and asking about, I think one of the biggest things for us was we realized that people were looking needed support, but they were giving so much information, especially about like their students. And so we wanted to make sure that our group was still, you know, ethical and followed guidelines that it needed to for education. And so we have added, you know, a specific guideline about how much information you should be sharing, when you're posting asking for support. And that has helped really keep issues to a minimum, but just kind of keeping your eye on it. And going in, I would say probably from my standpoint, just going in for like 10 minutes a day. And just making sure that like people are posting what you want to post about. And you can also set up in Facebook groups, like moderation alerts. So if there's things you don't want them posting about, you can have Facebook, flag it for you. But again, as it grows, sometimes you might want to consider bringing on a team member, which is what I do, as part of my social media management for SBS. I go in a certain, certain days a week and I make sure that I'm letting people in who are going to be good for the group. I'm making sure that I'm answering questions and promoting anything of ESPYS that might be helpful for people and just making sure everyone's kind of following those community guidelines so that we can have that really strong and engaged group.
SB:Absolutely. And it has been such such a help because I remember when we started it was I said, I'm just gonna try this thing out.
Kassaundra:You said I don't know if I should keep doing this or not.
SB:I'll try this thing I call the Facebook group. Let's see how It goes and then it, it grew. And then it grew. And then it grew. And it was it's real. It's been really nice. And so a couple of times, we'd like either text or something and say this thing is really going good like this is really working. And I certainly I certainly appreciate it. Because even the idea of the question, you talked about having the questions before when people go to join the group, I didn't, I didn't know about that, like, you helped me with that. And you made it so that it's very specific. And you really get in the folks that want to be in here, not people just randomly joining groups, because then they would probably randomly just put up information. And that will be harder to monitor. And so I think it's been very helpful. Having those specific questions. And then like you said, as we grew, that you found a need for another question that we had to put in there to just to make sure that it is really an ethical place. And, and it's still a good place for people, nobody wants to come in and like just get dumped on. Right, right. Like it was random stuff, they are coming there specifically for something. And we wanted to try to make it be helpful to them. For
Kassaundra:sure. And I think this is a good example, that if you're thinking about starting a Facebook group, it's not a set it and forget it situation, it is a little intensive, but it's eat a little easier to grow than some other social media platforms. And there are so many benefits, like SP has already talked about, I mean, you're extending your impact, you're creating a community for those teachers that you really want to help, you are also getting those business benefits, because you're getting that market research. So you know what teachers in your niche need. And you are also being able to try out new resources with them, see what they think about it, you're able to have that warm audience. So when you launch something new, you know that there's a group of people out there who are going to benefit from it, you do not need to go and find them. So though it is a little more hands on in some aspects, the benefits can definitely be amazing for your business.
And something I did learn from you is that you can you can schedule out some of the things you need to do. And so when at first it just seemed kind of overwhelming to me. Just seeing that you're like, Okay, listen, we can do this. It was very helpful. And and you can schedule things out, you can plan things out, even if you're just starting, you don't have to start and it posts every day, you can say okay, well, I'm just going to start the group and, and start to build a community. Yes, right. Just get people in, talk to them answer their questions, give them a lot of value for what your topic is. And I also learned that Canva could be a good friend. Yes, for sure. For like creating some images or questions or things that you want to talk about. But I think you can start small. And we did start small. I mean, we just start at the beginning. I do remember using some of my products to put the Facebook group Lincoln, so that kind of helped people know what was there that it was there. Yep. And then that might have helped it to grow a little bit. But you can start small and just give people ideas, more so than selling them things, especially when you're first starting. You're just using it as a place to build community. And once they realize, okay, that they can learn from you that they can have some trust in what the information you're giving them. Every once in a while when you do have some kind of adventure or something that you're starting or promoting. You can put that in there too. And they'll know, okay, this person already helped me with this, this and this, maybe how to try this because this probably will help me too.
Yeah. And I think it's good to know, like, SPS group has grown pretty large. But we still typically don't post every day in that group. I mean, like every other day, every third day, because there are conversations already going on in there, which I think is a benefit of a Facebook group, right? If someone comes to you for Instagram, they're coming for you. And you have to pump out all of the content, but your Facebook group things are moving and grooving in there. And you don't necessarily have to be posting those things to make it happen or even to find opportunities for your business. I mean, I think the only time we've posted every day in the group is when we were launching the course and that was like a specific thing for a short amount of time. And now we're back to like every other day and every third day. And so you don't always have to be the one putting out the content. Content is there for you and things are happening for you, which is really amazing and very different from other social media platforms.
SB:It is amazing because at first when when I first started, I felt like Okay, I gotta answer every question. But then there came a time where I started to realize wait a minute, that person just answered the question and it is a good answer like it is a solid answer and the other person Put a little heart or thank you to that other person. And I'm like, Okay, this is good. And so that is, I see that for sure.
Kassaundra:And the great thing, too, that I've noticed in the group is that people who have been in the group for a while and have grown that know, like and trust with you, when someone new comes into the group asking for something, they already know about your resources. And they'll be like, hey, there's a blog post over on autism classroom.com, that you're really going to like about this. And so they actually start promoting your business for you, because they have gotten into and know the content and know the information that they can bring to other people, which I think is a really amazing thing that I've seen come about in the Facebook group.
SB:I've seen that too. That always puts a smile on my face. Yeah, for sure.
Kassaundra:Yeah, it's just, it's so nice. Knowing that all of the hard work that you have put into something someone has found valuable and found it valuable enough to share with someone else. That's definitely really awesome. Thinking about teacher, foreigners using social media, running a Facebook group, any other tips or tricks that you might give them about that?
SB:I think I mentioned starting small, and it's okay. It really is Okay, to start small and work your way up. I like using Canva sometimes, because you can pre you can pre plan or do whatever. I think that even in the Facebook group, it's probably important to keep your colors and fonts consistent, too. I know they talk about that when you're marketing and things like that. It just, it just makes it look uniform. I didn't do that at first. And sometimes I switch it up still. But if you make it consistent, then they kind of know that's from you. And they get to, to know your your style. I'm not great at that. But I think it would be important if you don't do what I did go ahead and make yours consistent. The other thing is, I definitely think once you really get serious about it, you should consider hiring a VA or looking for a BA again, you can start on your own, you can get started. I think you can have moderators, too, in Facebook. But even if it's just a small amount of time to have somebody just check on those days when you can't check. I think that is I think that's very helpful. But you can add this to your marketing efforts for sure. Yes, even but don't, I wouldn't expect it to grow instantly, right? So because sometimes I have some other friends that I talk to about the Facebook group or having a Facebook group and I say, just get it started. And then let it build. And then you can kind of start worrying about the marketing later. Just start feeding into your people, sharing information with them, get to know them, get to know what they like what they're asking, and then worry about that marketing part. This is really about building a community first. Yes, it's definitely
Kassaundra:the long game. Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh, I can't even remember when we started working on this
SB:space, either. It was definitely a year and a half. Yeah, for
Kassaundra:for sure. Yeah. And we started out with just a small amount of people. And we were just answering questions for people and like throwing links to like freebies and blog posts in there for people to see what SB was making and putting out. And now we've gotten to the point where we were able to, like, do all those posts launching that amazing course for you. And it was really beneficial. But it started out and it was all just community building, and it was small. And then we built up that trust over a while and new members came in. And now like I said, we're having members suggest ESPYS resources to other members, which was amazing, because now you don't sometimes you don't even need to do the marketing because other people are doing it for you.
SB:Right. And the number has grown. Do I share the number? Yeah, go for if you're comfortable with it. Yeah, I mean, it's there's over 7000 people in that group. I know. And I can't even believe we click each one to get it. We got
Kassaundra:it each one of those members up
SB:over the course of I'd say a year and a half, maybe two years. I need to look it up and so I'll know for sure. But it started small and and again with me saying I'm really not sure about this. I don't know. Let's try it and it has just been a really good journey for me. And I'm glad to have you a part of that journey because you listen if you if you weren't guiding me, I don't know where I'll be actually I had a hard time clicking onto this. So the tech part made so but it just has been really good. I definitely would recommend to anyone who can carve out some of the time I wouldn't want them to have it take up all of their time but if they carve out some of the time, or even just tell themselves Okay, for 10 minutes a day, I'm going to do this or do that. I think it's worth it. Yeah,
Kassaundra:I think if you're starting out and you know, your resources are solid, you created a good amount of resources you have, like other marketing avenues, like your email marketing, or your website up and running, and you're feeling comfortable with those things, that would be a good time to add in your Facebook group. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Like if you're just opening your TPT store, or you're just starting your website, like throwing a Facebook group. And on top of that, probably pretty overwhelming. So getting some of those other like marketing pieces really solid, so that you have information to give people and send people to and then starting that Facebook group is really where the sweet spot is for sure.
SB:Absolutely. Awesome.
Kassaundra:Well, thank you so much for joining us today. SB where can people find you if they'd like to check out your resources?
SB:Absolutely. You can look at autism classroom.com. Or you can find me on Instagram at autism classroom. Awesome.
Kassaundra:All right. So definitely, if you guys have questions about running a Facebook group, let me know. And I'm sure maybe I should ask, but I'm sure if you wanted to kind of pick SBS brain to she is always very open to working and collaborating with other teachers and teacher printers. So I'm sure she would be happy to answer any questions you had as well.
SB:Absolutely, yes. And so if you go to autism classroom.com You will see the link at the bottom for the Facebook group for the Instagram. You'll see my email and you can send me an email. Awesome.
Kassaundra:Perfect. Thank you. So thank you all right, cool coffee friends. Thanks so much for listening. If you're loving getting schooled in socials, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Also, I would love it if you left a review so that other teacher authors like you can start getting schooled in socials too. All right, I'll see you in the next episode.