Did you know ‘recipes’ was one of the most searched terms in April 2020?
Well, the pandemic induced lockdown not only got us searching our favourite food recipes online but also cooking them ourselves.
Sure, Youtube gave us a list of recipes instantly.
But TBH, it could not be a saviour when we needed a ‘quick food fix’.
That said, Nazia’s Facebook group, Jhatpat Recipes, has got it all.
It’s a one-stop solution that caters to all your cooking needs ‘jhatpat’ (meaning instantly, or immediately).
Whether you want to:
- Know easy recipes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner
- Prepare a scrumptious dessert
- Know about a hack for quickly fixing some ‘cooking gone wrong’ situation
You just need to post it in this 4.8 lac member community and no sooner, hundreds of people (or Jhatpatties as Nazia likes to call them) will jump in to help you.😊
What started in 2015 as a means to seek help from others and share Nazia’s own knowledge of cooking, has grown into a warm and lovely community that’s making everyday cooking fun.❤️
Moreover, it is also a platform where homemakers are appreciated enough for all their efforts.
“I am extremely grateful to my family for always being there and supporting me in everything I did. Had it not been for them, things would not have been the same,” smiles Nazia.
She has had a beautiful time building this community. In fact, it is the best thing that ever happened to her. Here’s why.
“I’m working as a Community Manager at Cookpad, India’s largest online recipe sharing platform. And it is only because of my community, Jhatpat Recipes, that I got this opportunity.”
Simultaneously, Nazia also runs 2 other Facebook groups, Jhatpat Beauty and Health Tips and Wow Mom Club. While the former provides instant solutions to common queries of women regarding beauty and health, the latter helps them showcase their talent and promote their business.
Stay with me, as I will now tell you all about:
- How Nazia’s Jhatpat Recipes is a boon for homemakers
- Unique ways she relies on to keeps her members engaged
- How she managed to grow her gender-neutral community to 4.8 lac
- How she earns through it and stays ahead of spam
But first, let me tell you:
- What actually led her to create Jhatpat Recipes
- The type of members it has
- The core values of her community
So, let’s dive right into it.
School Teacher to Community Entrepreneur…. It was all Serendipity
An English (Hons) graduate and TTC certified, Nazia always dreamt of becoming a teacher.
Not only did she become one but also won the Best Teacher award in 2013.
Her interest towards cooking developed after she got married. Because there was a lot of feasting and partying at her place, she tried her hands on different stuff.
Yes, you guessed it right! Youtube was her saviour.
She experimented and nailed it. But also, ruined dishes at times.
So, she posted her concern in one of the food groups she was a part of back then.
Leave aside getting any solution, her post wasn’t even approved twice despite not violating any rules.
She of course felt bad. But, it didn’t stop her there.
Instead, that’s how she went on to create her own food group.
She was very clear of these things:
- There will be a very warm and friendly atmosphere
- Every single member’s concern will be addressed (for which she did not have post approval option in the beginning)
- Conversations around both veg and non-veg food will happen
Initially, it was just her family and friends who were members. But soon, they themselves started to invite other members and her group grew.
And that’s how it has been since then. Nazia has never invited members herself. The growth of Jhatpat Recipes has been completely organic.
From young bachelors to married homemakers, all learn everyday and enjoy being a part of Jhatpat Recipes.
And, these numbers are enough evidence to it.
- The daily summary of Nazia’s group (We call it ‘The 8 AM Email)
- Reactions on top image posts
Frankly, these numbers just blew my mind when I first saw them!
On another note, if you’d like to know more about Convosight’s 8 AM Email, check out this blog post.
Jhatpat Recipes has turned simple homemakers to talented chefs
The unsung and underappreciated heroes of our lives have got a platform where they are highly appreciated in the form of Jhatpat Recipes.
The space not only makes them feel special but also has helped bring out their inner talent and showcase it to the world in the best way possible.
Members make mistakes, learn from each other, and come back stronger . And that’s what forms the basis of these groups’ conversations.
They revolve around queries like:
1. Things that can be prepared with one ingredient
2. How leftover rice can be reused
“Although bachelors and college students do not interact much, they get so many easy breakfast, lunch, dinner recipe ideas and so much more just by looking at the conversations,” tells Nazia.
5 ‘never heard before’ ways Nazia keeps her group members engaged
1. Volunteer program
Sometime back, Nazia came up with the idea to take help of group members to actively engage with new posts. She named it the ‘volunteer program’ and posted about the same in the group.
Role and responsibilities of these volunteers include:
- Post a tip of the day
- React and comment on all new posts and make members feel special
- Post something engaging in the group each day like poll, fun/comedy posts, fill in the blank posts, and others such
“I have a total of 10 volunteers in my group who are really good. They volunteered for this because of their love for the community and I make sure to reward them from time to time,” tells Nazia.
2. Badges for Top Contributors
Nazia created some really cool name badges for the top contributors of her group and shared them in her gratitude post. Members loved this concept!
3. Showcasing members’ food on cover image
Every now and then, Nazia picks the best food image from the members and makes it her group’s cover photo.
‘My members feel glad when I do this and they feel even more confident when other members appreciate the picture and show their love,” says Nazia.
4. ‘Zara Hatke’ Contest
This contest was a total blast!
Members had to prepare and showcase their dishes based on five different themes including cooking with one ingredient, diet food without oil, starter foods, and others such.
In the post below, a member posted her entry and the engagement was just mind-blowing! (517 reactions and 136 comments)
5. Reward members with most comments
Apart from the members who are participating in the contests, Nazia makes it a point to pick members who are actively engaging with the posts. She rewards the ones with maximum comments.
How does Nazia earn through her community while providing value to the members?
Through brand partnerships.
Either through Convosight or she gets in touch with the brands herself, showcases her community and the amazing engagement and manages to seal the deal.
During lockdown, Nazia collaborated with My Playdate which is an online edutainment community where parents can find resources to make their parenting journey smooth.
To keep the little ones engaged in these strenuous times, Nazia announced an exciting ‘Junior Masterchef’ contest. In the post, they have segmented the children in different categories and shared the rules.
In fact, Nazia and the brand emphasised on encouraging children to participate and not overburdening them as all are winners.
No sooner Nazia posted this, parents started uploading the amazing dishes prepared by their young darlings.
Checkout this post where a kiddo baked a healthy fruit cake. (Looks yummy!)
Post the overwhelming response that they got, all children who participated in the contest got a certificate.
In collaboration with Amasha Masale, Nazia organised a contest wherein she encouraged members to prepare different dishes and post the photos and recipes of the same in the group.
Have a look at this post where a member posted some amazing photos of a unique dish: Fries with pizza toppings that got some great response! (364 reactions and 56 comments!)
Soon, her group was flooded with other such unique posts and crave-worthy recipes.
What stood out to me the most here was the way Nazia and her team announced the winners of this contest.
They announced 20 winners for the hampers (on the basis of best food pictures) who then qualified for the video round. From the entries of the video round, they selected 5 more winners who liked/followed/subscribed to both the page and channel of Amasha Masale and Jhatpat Recipes.
For the same, they did a lucky draw where one of the moderators went live. She had prepared slips with names of all those members who participated. She showed the chits to the members and ensured there was no repetition of names, shuffled them well, picked up, and announced the 5 lucky winners.
Through these collaborations:
- The members enjoyed, were engaged in preparing unique dishes, presented them in the best way possible, and earned hampers
- The brand was able to expand its reach
- Nazia was able to earn through it
However, whatever Nazia earns through these collaborations, she finds a way to give it back to the community only, either by organising more contests or by sharing it amongst her team.
From Strangers to Facebook Family… Such is Nazia’s equation with her Moderators
Firstly, hats off to Nazia that she managed her 3 million group all alone!
It was after she observed a spike in unnecessary links and spam/promotion on the group posts, she decided to onboard moderator(s) and started her hunt for the same.
She reached out to the top contributors of her group and they were more than happy to take up the responsibility of:
- Approving or declining member requests
- Approving or declining pending posts
- Scanning member profiles
- Replying to member queries
- Engaging with group posts
Today, Nazia has a team of 5 moderators and she is grateful to them for their efforts.
“Whatever I earn from the brand collaborations, whether cash or kind, I divide it equally amongst my family of moderators,” tells Nazia.
All 6 of them are closely connected over a Whatsapp group and keep each other updated if anyone is not available at a certain point in time. And, the others happily take over their responsibilities.
If you are struggling to find moderator(s) for your community, read this detailed content piece on Choosing the right moderators for your Facebook group: An A2Z guide
Nazia’s one-stop solution to stay on top of SPAM
It’s none other than the Urgent Alerts feature of Convosight.
She has listed keywords that are spam for her group under different segments on Convosight platform.
So, whenever any member uses them, she is instantly notified and is able to take action at that point in time from the same dashboard only.
“I use Convosight to tackle spam for all my groups. It has been really helpful and I am able to take a prompt action on all unwanted comments on posts,” says Nazia.
Nazia’s message for every community admin reading this…
That’s some nice motivation!
That said, we have our Facebook group, Growth and Monetisation for Facebook Group Admins where Nazia and hundreds of other power admins are constantly motivating each other and discussing ways to grow, engage, and monetise their communities. If you wish to gain some valuable insights, feel free to be a part.
Besides, if you would also like to get your story featured on our platform, please fill this FORM and we will get back to you.
Creating value in the lives of others with my content, little by little.✨
Working at Convosight, I do more than just wrangle commas. I’m passionate about innovating new ways to create super valuable and actionable content about Communities and Community Marketing at large, and sharing it with the right audience.
I also happen to manage a global community of power admins on Facebook, and that’s where most of my learnings come from.
Do check out my latest blogs and feel free to share them! 💛