8 Tips for a Successful VIP Group

So much of our business is built upon continuing to engage our existing customers so they will reorder, host more parties, and refer their friends. One of the most common ways we do that is by creating a Facebook group where we invite our customers to hang out and keep in touch with us. While this can be a really easy thing to do, it can be difficult to keep your VIPs engaged. And it feels like we’re always having to play the game of the Facebook algorithims to make sure our posts even get seen. Here are a few ways you can keep your audience engaged and help drive more sales to your business.

Tip #1 – Create a regular routine.

It’s human nature to love routine and know what’s coming. Creating a regular pattern for what happens each week keeps your VIPs more engaged. Plus not everyone will like all the content that you share so when they know what the pattern is they can show up for the content that they really like to engage with.

My routine in my group looks like this:

• Monday – FB Live where I pull winners from any contests and games we have played the previous week and share any updates or collections that are coming up.
• Tuesday – #TipTuesday – this is a great way to share Color Street tips.
• Friday – Game time – I always play a quick and easy game so I can send fun nail mail to my VIPs.
• Sunday – Shop my Stash – I put up 5-7 sets from stash. They are sold at full price but they save on tax and shipping.

Then on a monthly basis I have the following events.

• Girls Night In 2x a month. These can be lives or prescheduled posts.
• Customer Appreciation Bingo. This is held via Zoom and my VIPs have to qualify to attend by either making a purchase, hosting a party, or being a top contributor in my group.

Tip #2 – Have posts that aren’t about Color Street

I love to follow the 80/20 rule. That means that 80% of the content isn’t sales related and 20% is. That doesn’t mean that 80% of the content in my VIP group have nothing to do with Color Street, it just means I make a strong effort to post all sorts of things to engage with my VIPs in a more meangingful way. 

Think about what it is you love and what you’d love to share with your VIPs.

Here are some examples:

• favorite recipes.
• pet photos.
• kids activities.
• get ready with me posts.
• quotes.
• outfit of the day (#OOTD).
• your favorite ____________.
• music you can’t live without.
• books you’re reading.
• 30 day challenges (fitness, self-care, etc).

I think you get the idea! Coming up with regular topics that you can talk about helps you with creating content. That way you don’t have to think so hard about what to post.

Tip #3 – Post at least once a day!

When you show up daily for your audience, they’ll be more likely to show up for you. Go back to Tip #1. When you have a routine for your VIP group then it’s not hard to come up with at least one thing to post.

Secondly, go back to tip #2 and fill in the rest of the week with the categories that are easy and authentic for you to talk about.

I also often like to theme my months and create challenges so that there is easily something that I can post each day.

There are a couple of ways that I do this so it’s not so overwhelming and I feel like I’m attached to Facebok.

1. Spend 30 minutes or so on Monday and schedule for the week.

2. Spend a couple of hours once a month and schedule at least one post a day.

Tip #4 – Be engaging

The first part of this is asking questions in your posts. Guide your VIPs into the comments so it’s easy for them to know what to do. For example, ask them to leave a Gif or a photo. Or ask a specific question for them to answer.

Once they start commenting be sure to engage with them, and not just one word answers. Ask follow up questions, leave images of nailfies if they say they like something. The more you go back and forth on their comment the more engaged that VIP is, plus the more that post will be shown to your broader community AND the more your posts will continue to show up for that particular VIP.

Plus you’ll be surprised what you can learn about your VIPs that will help you with future conversations and the ability to customize the sets you send their way based of their interests and style.

Tip #5 – Go Live!

I get it – going live can be scary. But once you do it a few times, and feel the love of your VIPs it will become addicting. What do you do on these lives?

I already mentioned that I go live every Monday.  During those lives I just check in and say hey. I share things that are comign and I draw winners.

Other ideas for going live:

• demos and sharing tips on application.
• demos and sharing tips on removal.
• live girls night in.
• get ready with me.
• cooking meals and chatting.

Remember that live videos are going to get more organic reach so these are great for getting more engagement in your group.

Don’t forget to follow up with the comments on your video after the live is done and edit the post description with the highlights so those watching the replay know what you discussed and watch so they don’t miss out!

Tip #6 – Be consistent

It’s easy to show up in your VIP group when its rockin’ and rollin’! It feels good to have that interaction and you feel like you’re doing it right. But when things start to get quiet it feels like it’s time to pull back and frustrating to be doing the work with no reward. 

Remember that there are so many things at play when things get quiet. The Facebook algorithim might have changed. Maybe you need to change up your content if you VIPs aren’t loving it. A poll is a great way to ask what types of things they like to see. Your most active VIPs might have something going on that has caused them to be more quiet.

Here are a few things you can do.

• poll or survey your VIPs.
• play a game that requires lots of interaction like scrabble, guess who or a counting game.
• reach out privately to you most engaged VIPs if they’ve gone quiet and check in.
• reach out to your VIPs and ask them to comment and engage.
• reach out to your sideline sisters for some short term support and engagement.
• tag the VIPs in posts that you think would like the subject matter!

Tip #7 – Be You!

There are a lot of stylists out there, yes its true. Our businesses don’t grow because of the product we sell, they grow because of who we are. People will often spend more money for the same or similar product if its from a person/company that they feel connected to.

Our unique role is here is that we get to be ourselves. We get to connect with customers that we feel connected to. We get to build the business we want. And that means we don’t need to be anyone but ourselves!!!!!

When you show up as you, it will attract the people that are going to resonate and connect with you. That will be more likely to be SOCIAL on social media with you. Don’t feel like you need to emulate people that you see that are successful. You can take the techniques, graphics and ideas but add your own personality.

Tip #8 – Have fun!

I know this might not seem like a tip, but its really one of my favorites. How you show up in your group is felt by your VIPs. They joined your group because they had a good time in one of your parties or they were referred by one of your existing VIPs. Keep the fun going.

It can be overwhelming at times with all the incredible things coming at us that we can share and talk about that we can sometimes post things in a flurry just to try and get the information out. Don’t forget to keep the fun in your business.

Everything doesn’t have to happen right away. We don’t need to do all the things. The more you can focus on what is truly driving customers and sales to your unique business the more fun you’ll have and it’ll show in your community. People will want to show up more because you’re engaging and entertaining and make them feel like part of your community!

These tips will help revive your VIP group or keep them going strong. Remember that at the root of it all is having fun, being consistent and being you.