Once upon a time, not so very long ago, the blogging community was much smaller and tightly knit. Blog posts tended to be more freewheeling and personal in nature, and bloggers and readers alike interacted within the comments section of each one. When you wanted to discover new blogs to read and follow, you either clicked on a commenter’s name to learn more about them or you perused a blogger’s prominently displayed blogroll.

Things changed quickly as more and more bloggers entered the scene and social media— particularly the explosion that was Facebook!— allowed them to expand their platforms. Some quickly and intuitively learned to evolve and grow, embracing content marketing and turning their blogs into side hustles or full-time businesses. For others that started blogging simply as an unpaid vehicle for sharing thoughts with a like-minded, relatively small community, that evolution was and continues to be a challenge.
Confidence comes from knowing you're not alone.
-Brandi Riley
Facebook groups are an amazing way to foster that sense of community, allowing you to interact with your readers or customers and just as importantly, allowing them to connect with each other. One of our absolute favorite groups for bloggers and influencers is Brandi Riley’s Courage to Earn community. Brandi is a blogger, blog coach, book author, and contributing writer to several sites, as well as the founder of the Mastermind group Courage to Earn More and the Courage to Earn More retreat. She began the Courage to Earn Facebook group as The Blog Money Challenge to encourage transparency and empower bloggers to build relationships and earn money from their websites. Today, it is an impressive network of digital entrepreneurs at all levels, learning from, motivating and supporting each other, over 4900 members strong.

We loved having Brandi join us this week on the Businessese Influencer Marketing Podcast! Tune in to this episode as we talk about:

* how Brandi grew the Courage to Earn group into an engaged and empowering community
* tips to encourage new members to join your group
* the need for moderation and leadership within a group
* the importance of discourse and how to allow conflict
* keeping up with changes in the Facebook algorithm
* staying relevant as an expert in your community
* the power of NO: setting boundaries and prioritizing your time to get things done
* one thing to do every day to build your business
* advice for new bloggers

(We may or may not have mentioned that we also have a private Facebook group of our own, Businessese HQ. Join us over there and let us know of any other topics or experts you’d like us to feature!)

Resources
Brandi’s websites: Courage to Earn and Mama Knows It All
The Courage to Earn Facebook group
The Crossroads and Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion on Amazon