Ever since the coronavirus pandemic hit and the world got locked down, we’ve all been struggling to adjust to the new normal, i.e. masking up, social distancing, working from home, in some way or the other.
However, the one thing that tops this list is – teaching children at home and keeping them engaged.
If you’re a parent, you must have found yourself nodding your head to my last statement.
Well, do not despair. Because you’re not alone. Almost every parent has asked themselves – “why isn’t my child listening to me” countless times by now.
The simple answer being – You gotta have some special skills, experience, and training to master the art of engaging a kid at home.
Kajal Singh Chauhan, a former teacher, considers it to be a piece of cake.
The evidence lies in the fact that she’s running a Facebook group named Innovative Kids at Home (IKH), where she shares unique ways with parents to make learning fun for kids aged 2 to 12 years.
Kajal believes that to teach children how to open up and be accepting of new things, one needs to become their friend.
And that’s what she encourages parents to do who’re a part of her online community.
What started ‘accidentally’ as a means to share with her friends the everyday activities Kajal taught her kid, has blossomed into a tight-knit community of over 37,000 parents from all over the world.
“The parents get to learn about so many different activities daily. They practice the same with their own kids and keep them engaged – which is especially important in today’s time when kids are at home,” says Kajal.
In a span of 1.5 years, Kajal has managed to earn from her community while providing value to members by collaborating with brands like Dell, Lactogrow, Pediasure, ITC, Kutuki, to name a few.
From getting her first brand campaign through Convosight to reaching out to brands and pitching her FB group to them herself, Kajal has come a long way. (More on this as you read ahead).
In addition to her Facebook group, she manages a Facebook page and an Instagram community with the same name.
“Some of the best moments have been when members posted in the community that they could learn or were able to do a particular thing after watching my video. That’s what makes all the effort and hard work worth it.
I feel proud of myself when people come and ask me questions. I can’t imagine coming this far and helping them out on such a level,” smiles Kajal.
As you read ahead, you’ll know all about:
- The type of conversations that happen in IKH and what makes it different from other kids communities out there
- How Kajal is collaborating with brands herself and providing value to members
- 6 things that promise the highest engagement in IKH
- How Kajal manages spam in her community
- How her moderators are so much more than just a helping hand
But first, let’s dive into Kajal’s previous career and what actually led her to create this community.
Kajal’s skills and talent led her to become a Community Entrepreneur
Based out of Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Kajal holds a degree of Masters in Science.
She pursued Bachelors in Education and became a teacher after she moved to Alwar, Rajasthan due to her husband’s transfer.
Teaching the age group of 2-12 in a government school turned out to be pretty challenging due to children’s lack of interest.
But Kajal, as responsible as she is, took it upon herself to make those children learn. Hence, she started experimenting with different teaching methods, including motor skills.
A few things worked out and children started enjoying themselves, unlike before.
After a few years of successful teaching, Kajal was blessed with a baby boy.
She took a hiatus from teaching as she wanted to devote all her time to her new born baby.
It was last year, i.e. in 2020, when her son turned 3 and Kajal decided to get back to teaching.
But destiny had different plans for her. And 2020 saw the world locking down because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unsure whether she would be able to restart her career or not, Kajal got busy engaging her kid at home with at least 5-6 new activities every day.
She posted her kids’ videos as her WhatsApp status and sometimes shared them on her Facebook profile.
Seeing that, a lot of her acquaintances appreciated her effort and asked her to share her kids videos everyday with them.
Kajal started to share new videos of her kid everyday with a few of her friends in a WhatsApp group they had for a long time.
As more people expressed interest, Kajal decided to create a Facebook page.
With little knowledge but immense determination, she accidentally created a FB group. And that’s how Innovative Kids at home came into existence on April 21, 2020.
But when she realized this, she created her FB page as she intended to do in the beginning, and started sharing the videos there.
A few months later, something struck her mind and she shifted her focus to IKH group. (Most probably it was the power of communities that she sensed from the few city-specific groups she was a part of)
The first few things she did were:
- Changed the privacy settings of the group from public to private
- Accepted/declined member requests and set up membership questions
- Approved/declined posts
- Removed spam profiles and profiles that were not a fit
Today, her group’s health is pretty good. Here’s a snapshot of her group’s daily summary.
If you wish to receive your FB group’s daily updates on email and whatsapp, SIGN UP for Convosight now.
Learning and Inspiration are the cornerstones of IKH
Along with parents of children aged 2 to 12 years, IKH attracts parents of infants, home tutors, school teachers, and others alike.
All of them are constantly being inspired by one another. And most importantly, learning new things from each other.
The conversations in this group revolve around:
a. Study Material – The type of worksheets, books to buy, best schools in a particular area and more
b. Children’s health – The kinds of physical exercises that kids should do regularly, best soap, toothpaste etc. for them
“We regularly host contests and encourage members to get their kids to participate. Alongside rewarding the winners with gifts (like colors, worksheets, books etc.), we make it a point to acknowledge every kid’s effort by giving them participation certificates,” tells Kajal.
She further adds – “These contests allow parents to tap into their kids’ potential and showcase their talent.”
When I asked what makes IKH better than other kids learning communities out there, here’s what Kajal had to say:
“Ever since the group came into existence, we have been true to its intent. The discussions are focused on kids’ education, unlike other communities where they have diversified their topics so much that they have deviated from the group’s intent.
Apart from that, we never stop sharing activity videos when a brand campaign is going on as we don’t want any hindrance in kids routines.”
That said, word of mouth has played a major role in IKH’s growth. Parents get tremendous value from this community. Hence, they happily invite their friends and family who they feel would benefit from it.
Now, let’s go on to see how Kajal is earning through her online community.
Here’s how Kajal is earning through Brand Partnerships while providing value to members
“I extend my heartfelt gratitude towards Convosight because of which this has been possible. Arpita ji contacted me in September 2020 and that’s how I got to know about Convosight. In January 2021, I got my first brand campaign,” tells Kajal.
Through Convosight, she has collaborated with brands like Dell, Pediasure, Lactogrow, ITC, to mention a few.
In collaboration with ITC Classmate, Kajal posted how her niece is inclined to art and craft and that she got her ITC classmate origami notebooks. She further encouraged members to share their learning ideas for kids.
This post –
- Got members to engage
- Helped ITC Classmate expand their reach and increase sales (since most parents would love to buy it for their kids after seeing this)
- Helped Kajal earn from this collaboration
A win-win for everyone!
In addition to getting brand campaigns through Convosight, Kajal herself reaches out to brands for such meaningful collaborations.
Speaking of, she has partnered with numerous small brands like Saregama caravan, Flinto class, Kutuki, and others.
In collaboration with Saregama, IKH hosted a contest wherein parents had to fill a form, invite two of their friends to participate, and follow the brand’s handle on Instagram.
The winner got their hands on an amazing saregama caravan bluetooth speaker (chhota bheem edition) that comes pre-loaded with rhymes, stories, mantras, and more.
Amazing, right?
Simultaneously, the brand could widen their exposure and Kajal was able to earn.
All her earnings are spent on group activities and contests (which she earlier did from her own pocket) and on to the moderators.
“I learnt how to find brands and reach out to them after attending Convosight’s Monetization Masterclass. I also completed Aditya ji’s 30 Day Engage More Earn More Challenge in the FB group. Both of these have helped me learn how to approach brands,” tells Kajal.
Kajal has recognised the type of brands that are relevant for her group. She uses Instagram to find and reach out to them, and emails them, telling about her group.
If you too would like to know everything about approaching brands, check out this blog👇🏻
How to find brands and pitch your FB group to them? + Free Email Templates
Kajal’s learnings on reaching out to brands:
– Don’t assume that brands will respond to you after your first text. You need to follow up numerous times to get noticed.
– Language should not be a barrier. If you’re not well-versed in English, it should not bother you. All that matters is your talent and the fact that you are able to showcase the right information.
6 things that guarantee maximum engagement in IKH
1. Polls
“We do polls every once in a while to understand the needs of our members,” tells Kajal.
She did a poll when she wanted to know if parents are interested in educational board games. If yes, then what age bracket their children fall in.
Check out the votes below.
2. Nostalgic image posts
Whenever Kajal shares something that takes members down the memory lane, they love that.
Sharing an example below.
3. Question Posts
Kajal posts some basic everyday questions about kids every once in a while. And parents like engaging with them.
Sometime back when she asked if their kids sleep in the afternoon, parents jumped in to share their responses.
4. Live Sessions
Members enjoy when Kajal goes live in the community – whether to address their concerns or share something about her personal life.
Sharing an example when Kajal took a trip to her farm and showed the members around.
5. Contests
As Kajal said, she hosts a lot of contests in her group. Not only do members actively participate, but also show their excitement on group posts – whether it is an announcement post or certificate/badge distribution post.
In collaboration with Cretto, Kajal hosted a contest wherein she asked members how Cretto helps children. They followed the rules of the contest and went ahead and shared their answers in the comments.
6. Add a Prompt post
Add a prompt feature of Facebook is a boon when it comes to generating engagement in a FB group and Kajal loves using it.
She encourages members to showcase their kids’ photos. Sharing one from this year’s republic day.
Kajal’s foolproof way to tackle spam in her community
Fortunately, Kajal does not come across spam often in her community, but she has added keywords like link, url, www, youtube, etc. in Facebook’s Keyword Alerts.
Whenever any member uses any of these words, Kajal or her moderators are instantly notified and take the desired action.
If you have a lot of keywords that you need to track in your community, check out our Keyword Alerts feature.👇🏻
Convosight’s Keyword Alerts: The Foolproof way to tackle Spam
It lets you monitor spam words, admin callouts, brand mentions, and more. Most importantly, there are separate cues for each one so that things remain clutter-free.
Kajal’s moderators are integral to the community and have eased things for her
It was after her group hit 26,000 members, i.e. around January 2021, Kajal started hunting moderators for her community.
Obvious reasons – the group had grown enough that Kajal couldn’t do everything by herself.
She posted in the community and received hundreds of applications. She organised conference calls, explained about the role and what would be expected of the moderators, and came down to a few applications.
She screened those and finally shortlisted 2 candidates – Hetal Kadam and Swati Ankit Porwal.
“Both of them have stuck by my side since I chose them. They have come a long way and I really admire how they are carrying out all those responsibilities that I did in the past,” tells Kajal.
For the first 2 months, Kajal trained them and taught them how everything is done. She used to create posts herself and encourage them to post so that members recognise them and they can create a rapport with them.
Fast forward to today, her moderators are responsible for all these things in the community –
- Approving and declining member posts
- Accepting and declining member requests
- Creating activity videos and sharing in the community
- Organising contests, shortlisting winners, and preparing participation certificates
Because of them, Kajal is able to focus on other important tasks like –
- Reaching out to brands and pitching her FB group to them
- Posting about brand campaigns in the community
In addition, she posts ‘question posts’ in the group often and hosts live sessions once a month to address member queries.
“I go through the group conversations to understand what members would like to know about in the live session from me. And also refer to the insights shared by Hetal and Swati. We connect everyday at 6 in the evening to understand what’s going on with one another and also in the community.”
She further adds
“We have developed a strong friendship over time and have respect for one another. Most importantly, we listen to each other, take suggestions, and implement them.”
Initially, Kajal did not pay them anything. But, soon after she collaborated with brands and started earning herself, she started to give each of them 25% of the earnings from every campaign.
If you are too are looking for a Facebook group moderator, but don’t know how to get started, check out this guide.👇🏻
The A to Z of choosing the best Facebook group moderators
Kajal’s message for other community leaders out there
That’s some nice motivation!
We have our Facebook group, Growth and Monetisation for Facebook Group Admins where Kajal and thousands of other Facebook group 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! 💛