How to grow your Facebook group.

Jeeni Blog

Helping the next generation of talent to build a global fanbase

How to grow your Facebook group.

Times are moving fast when it comes to social media, in particular the use of community groups to target your audiences with event, streaming and watch-parties going live every second of the day all around the globe.

All of a sudden it feels like everyone except me is an expert at creating successful Facebook groups, so I decided I would take some time to try and unpick why are Facebook groups so successful.

Had the groups been going for years and grown their members organically? Did they have large budgets and were they spending loads of money on Ads? Were they all marketing experts? Did they engage large teams of enthusiastic influencers?

To my surprise I found that in most instances these assumptions were just not the case. Rock The Lock Down, founded by Lucy Pardoe & Ollie Hughes, is a great example, with over 887,000 members in less than 6 weeks.

I finally had to admit I was missing the critical ingredients for a successful campaign.

I only watched a selection of YouTube Videos, so not exhaustive, and I will watch some more tomorrow, but in the meantime to save you time, these were my key take-aways.

1. Make sure you take extra time to set up the group correctly, with an accurate, yet brief description. Check to make sure you have completed all sections, not just the about, which is the mistake I made.

2. Get as many people as possible to like your landing page, so that you can invite all of those people to your community group. Really simple and easy to use, but Facebook only allow you invite 50-100 in one day to stop you spamming. Which is what I also did!!

3. Make the group public, as you want as many members as possible to grow and contribute to organic growth.

4. Create as many discussions and engage with all your members as often as you can, be as helpful as possible, share and like and answer their questions. Be a guru, be supportive, open, honest and kind.

5. Use a bot to run competitions, contests, have freebies and giveaways , looping the bot back to join the group.

6. Join other relevant groups, share those groups and contribute as much knowledge and wisdom as you can helping members in those groups. It’s all about genuine and engaging conversation. Write guest posts and contribute wherever you can. Share and reuse your work on different sites, saving time and money. Keep the content helpful and meaningful. Cross-promote as often as you can and contact group's admin to share your group.

7. Test, test and trial Facebook ads that are targeted and specific, making sure you have set up demographics and location settings.

8. Create an exciting and interesting email campaign to support engagement from existing and new customer databases.

9. Interlink and entwine your groups posts and comments on You Tube and use back-links to improve your SEO.

10. Remember groups are for genuine enthusiasts who love music, or food, travel etc, and members do not want to see any information that is not relevant to what they love.

At the end of the day this is all about them after all!

In the meantime, please feel free to invite friends to our Independent Musicians and Performers Group and we will soon be at 2,000 members.

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03
Sep

Music Tech Startups announce strategic alliance for the greater good of the Musician and Performer.

We are delighted to announce the strategic alliance between Jeeni and California-based AmplifyX, the only FINRA and SEC compliant platform that allows investors to build a portfolio by directly funding musicians. The alliance was arranged by Kelli Richards, Jeeni Managing Director USA, who was mentored by Steve Jobs at Apple where she launched and managed the Apple music and entertainment division. This represents a major advantage for Jeeni in the USA, our most important global territory in terms of artists and revenues. We gain access to more rising stars along with their followers and fanbases, with mutually advantageous joint promotions and publicity. The partnership will officially kick off at the end of August with a global streamed concert, featuring our 10 most popular artists from both sides of the Atlantic, and will be co-branded between Jeeni and AmplifyX. Co-founder of AmplifyX Bobby Kamaris says, “Our companies run in an adjacent space helping independent artists, and our philosophies and motives are very very close. What you guys at Jeeni have done in putting it together and launching is actually incredible.” Co-founder of AmplifyX Adam Cowherd adds, "Did you know that artists take home only 12% of the $43 billion spent on music annually, according to Citigroup? [1] The hip-hop artist Russ put it perfectly when he said, 'The music business isn’t set up for the artists to get rich. It’s set up for everyone else to get rich off the artists.' [2] If you start looking deeper into the music industry, one of the first things you’ll discover is how broken it is. Artists are the nucleus of the business, but somehow they’re the individuals left with no ownership of their Intellectual Property (IP), inhibited creative freedom, and only a sliver of the earnings. There are so many entities involved in the value chain of music that it has created a convoluted industry structure that lacks equality and transparency. When we break down the mechanics of the music industry, we see just how many hands are in the pot: record labels, managers, producers, booking agents, and streaming platforms. A report by Ernst & Young highlighted the post-tax payouts of streaming revenue and identified that record labels are taking nearly 75% of the payout. [3] Why are artists today signing with record labels?" Jeeni Founding Director Shena Mitchell adds, "This is an exciting opportunity for Jeeni to develop strong relations with USA partners. AmplifyX is focused on building a new framework to fund independent artists with their unique platform for artists to raise capital from nontraditional sources. Our visions are entirely complementary and aligned." Jeeni, is the social music platform that brings artists closer to their fans, and shares revenue ethically. Jeeni is presently raising funds on Crowdcube and is 110% overfunded with 4 days to remaining. If you want to see our pitch click HERE.

11
Oct

Jeeni's Pick of the Week - Flamingods

Jeeni's Pick of the Week is International psych explorers Flamingods. A four-piece, multi-instrumental band from Bahrain & London who were founded in 2010. The group explores and experiments with an array of influences from western psychedelia, jazz and indie to a wide-eyed obsession with music from the East. Using a vast selection of instruments from the Middle East and Asia. The band marries this with western instrumentations of synthesisers, guitars and drums. To create a potent sound all of its own that they call ‘Exotic Psychedelia’. As well as touring the UK and Europe numerous times the band have played at many festivals. Including Glastonbury, End of the Road, Green Man, Fusion, Into the Great Wide Open, The Great Escape and SXSW. Bands like Flamingods are the type of exciting artists that Jeeni supports on our platform. By creating showcases, supporting creative talent and promoting them to an audience on jeeni.com Flamingods newest album ‘Levitation’ digs deep into themes and sounds of the early Middle East and South Asia 70s psychedelia, proto-metal and British pop. The Bahrani-bred and London-based band pull out a masterful collage. During the process of writing and recording ‘Levitation’, Flamingods found themselves living in the same continent for the first time in four years. It’s this unified process that lends a feel to the new music and has allowed them to make good on their early potential. ‘Levitation’ is the follow-up to their breakthrough 2016 album ‘Majesty’ and follows their ‘Kewali’ EP release for Moshi Moshi in 2017 and a one-off release with Dan Carey for his Speedy Wunderground singles club. Since the release of ‘Majesty’, Flamingods have been travelling the globe. Spreading their exotic psychedelia to the masses and getting people dancing from Austin to Amsterdam. You can catch Flamingods performing live Saturday, October 16th at the Wild Paths Festival in Norwich. JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience. Firstly we give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. Secondly we empower our audience and reward them every step of the way.Thirdly we promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect. Lastly and most importantly they keep 100% of everything they make. Check out Flamingods showcase here on Jeeni: Flamingods | Showcase | JEENI. Along with other showcases to add to your playlist.

05
Oct

Jeeni Spotlight - Mel Croucher

This week marks the start of a new blog series here at Jeeni.com, where we shine our spotlight on remarkable Jeeni people. Our first Jeeni Spotlight shines on our very own creator, Mel Croucher. Mel is an icon with a decades-long career, architect, journalist and founder of the British computer game industry, he has released countless albums and books, and has spent the last few years creating the free music platform Jeeni.com, where we have bridged the gap between fan and artist for a seamless musical experience. Mel is best known for creating Deus Ex Machina, a ground-breaking and innovative computer game that was far ahead of it’s time, bringing together music and gameplay in one effortless accomplishment. Although set in a dystopian machine-led world, the game is an allegory of Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man. Throughout the game, the player experiences each age from conception to the afterlife, including an old and feeble creature on the verge of death. What was especially fascinating about Deus is the way it was designed meant the music synced with each stage perfectly, something that was unique to the gaming world at the time of it’s release forty years ago. Mel wrote and performed all the music in Deus and has since had a lucrative career selling his own music, including albums Pimania and Hang Loose. Counting luminaries such as Sir Christopher Lee, Doctor Who himself, Jon Pertwee, and Steve Jobs’ mentee Kelli Richards among his collaborators, Mel has had a passion for music since he was a small child. Creating a platform for undiscovered artists to sell and share their music without being exploited by big names like Spotify and Apple Music has been a wonderfully fresh new take on the world of streaming, with Mel becoming a pioneer in music sharing as well as in the computer game industry. Jeeni is ‘a multi-channel streaming service for independent musicians and performers, providing a unique showcase to put undiscovered talent in front of a global audience’ says Jeeni’s US managing director. Mel is a force to be reckoned with and has worked with some of the biggest names in the music business such as Eminem, Prince, Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. Mel is not one to name-drop, however this Jeeni writer thinks it is important to highlight that Mel has worked with many more music industry veterans discretely, like Phil Collins and U2, as well as big names in other parts of the celebrity world such as the comedian Frankie Howard, who voiced The Defect Police in Deus. Beginning his career as an architect, Mel has gone on to create video games, written articles and in recent years has changed his focus to revamping the music industry with Jeeni.com alongside our CEO Shena Mitchell. He has faced many challenges in his glittering career, such as Deus being well ahead of its time, as well as more physical issues such as recovering from an accident that left him in a wheelchair for some time (Mel would now recommend calling a locksmith when you lock yourself out of your house, and don’t try to climb onto your own kitchen roof, leap towards your bathroom window and end up breaking yourself). As a writer, performer and creator, Mel is a genius. As an acrobat, less so. To find out more about Mel’s exploits as a video game creator, working for celebrities, and painful accidents, check out his book Deus Ex Machina: The Best Game You Never Played In Your Life or his website www.melcroucher.net. Here at Jeeni, we are so excited to welcome undiscovered artists to our platform that breaks down the barrier between fan and artist to create a unique relationship and allowing for easy interaction. How does Jeeni support artists? JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience. · We give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. And they keep 100% of everything they make. · We empower our audience and reward them every step of the way. · We promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect. · Join us at Jeeni.com

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