In a world where Instagram Influencers get paid $1.2M per post and podcasters get to sell exclusive rights to their podcast for $100M— community entrepreneur Toni Trevillion isn’t doing too bad for herself.
She turned a Facebook Group into a multi-million-pound business that literally helps millions of people in their day-to-day lives.
Just wow.
I was fortunate enough to be on the backstage of the first episode of the Community Leader Spotlight series where Convosight CEO Tamanna Dhamija interviewed Toni as they went deep into Toni’s journey with her Facebook Group network ‘On A Budget’.
Today, Toni, who is based in the UK, has around 4 million members in her Facebook community network in different group categories such as DIY, gardening, crafts, cleaning and even gaming.
In this post, I’ll be sharing with you some of the key takeaways from this deep-dive interview with Toni. While I’m confident that these takeaways are actionable and juicy, I still highly encourage you to watch the full interview here.
Everyone Starts From Zero
🌟 Like everyone, Toni started with 0 members. Then 600 members. Then a thousand. It kept growing to what is now a nearly 4 million-member network of Facebook Groups, or what feels close to 5% of the overall UK population!
Listen To Your Community
🌟 One of her keys to success was listening to her community. She asked them and dug deep into their wants, needs, and all this information allowed her to learn exactly how she can help and serve them better. This led to the rapid growth of her network of groups.
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help
🌟 Around 4-5 months in, she brought in a moderator. Eventually, hired Carol, her first admin (who was also tuned in to the FB Live!). Toni knew she needed help if she wanted to grow DIY On A Budget to greater heights—and help she got!
Earning Her First Income From Her Group
🌟 The first time she monetized, she charged a modest £40 per post (roughly 4,069 INR). It was humble beginnings for Toni’s group, and it took a while before she was able to lock in her first paid campaign. Check out the interview below to hear the full story!
Keyword Alerts For The Win
🌟 Listening to her members has always been vital. Toni used Convosight’s Keyword Alerts feature to learn more about what her members are talking about. This added insight allowed her to work with her member’s favourite brands.
To learn more about this feature, you can check this out here.
If you haven’t installed Convosight on your Facebook Group yet, go here and click Login with Facebook.
Build Your Portfolio
🌟 One fantastic tip Toni has for those who are just starting out to monetize is to engage with a brand, even if it’s for a low amount (or even free). As long as you build a case study and get a testimonial from the brand, you will be able to leverage this experience and portfolio into a paid brand deal down the line.
General Wisdom From Toni
🌟 Never put all your eggs in one basket. Always be testing. There is no overnight success—some of the quotes I loved from Toni. We talk to her now, seeing how successful she is and how big her community has become. But she also started at 0. There is no overnight success, and what she achieved now is a result of HARD WORK and CONSISTENCY. There are more amazing nuggets and quotes from Toni in this interview, based on her own personal experience scaling her Facebook Group into a multi-million-pound company.
Over To You
I don’t want to give it all away in this post, so I highly encourage you to check out the interview.
Toni has built a great business on the back of an amazing community from how I see it. Suppose you thought building a million-dollar company was not possible through just building a community. In that case, Toni’s story is a testament to the fact that anything is possible if you put your heart, mind, and the necessary hard work into it.
If you have any suggestions or feedback on our Community Leader Spotlight, please let us know. You can even email me directly at nix@convosight.com if you have suggestions or if you want to request a Community Entrepreneur for us to interview. If you would like to nominate yourself, shoot me an email as well!
Leads digital marketing and content at Convosight. I’m passionate about all things marketing and growth, e-learning, and community building. If you’re awesome and made it all the way here, could you do me a favor and share/tweet this post too? Forever grateful!