Episode 18
Membership Groups are the New Classroom with Andrea Gribble
Welcome Andrea Gribble to Saturday Soundbites! Andrea is the Founder and CEO of #SocialSchool4Edu and is a natural-born cheerleader. She has a love for cheering people on, helping them do their best, and shining a spotlight on their accomplishments. In high school, she cheered from the sidelines, but in her career, she celebrates through the use of technology. Helping schools recognize their daily awesomeness and sharing that story with the world is her thing!
Veronica and Andrea talk shop and dive into Andrea's expertise on content marketing and how to reach your target audience. She also shares her entrepreneurship journey and how she uses the membership model to support her clients in reaching their communication goals. Be sure to take notes and be ready to learn from this amazing entrepreneur and communications expert!
Transcript
Veronica: [00:00:00] Hello? Hello. I'm excited because, so for welcome to Saturday soundbites, I'm so excited to have everybody here today. I have an amazing guest. You guys. When we log on for Saturday soundbites, we are going to learn. We're going to get content. That's really going to drive our business. We're going to talk about visibility strategy.
[00:00:20] Public relations, advertising, marketing, branding, digital communication, all the things you need to know to grow your business. That's what we're about here at Saturday. Sound soundbites. Now, if you're listening on our podcast, make sure that you hit the subscribe button because we want to make sure that you don't miss any episodes as they are made available to you.
[00:00:37] And if you're watching on Facebook, make sure you join us in the comments, say hello, let us know where you're listening from. And if you have any questions, drop them in the comments. Because our guests always love to see the engagement. And today we've got a phenomenal show for you guys. I am so excited.
[00:00:53] I have a professional that is going to just knock your socks off. So I'm going to go ahead and bring her to the stage Ms. Andrea Gribble, and she is going to share all of her knowledge. And we're going to talk shop. Hello? Hello.
[00:01:07] Andrea: [00:01:07] Veronica great to be here
[00:01:08] Veronica: [00:01:08] today. So excited to have you. This is fantastic. So tell us a little about who you are, what you do, and let's give some people some fantastic knowledge.
[00:01:19] Andrea: [00:01:19] Yes. Well, I'm Andrea Gribble and I am out of Wisconsin. You'll probably pick that up with my accent pretty quickly. Um, I run a company called social school for EDU. Um, we actually provide. Training for K-12 social media managers. So for school, social media managers, we provide amazing training through a membership program, a bootcamp program.
[00:01:41] And we, we actually started doing full management for schools and we do that for almost a hundred schools. So I love what I do, but I never. Ever Veronica would have guessed that I would be doing this today because I didn't even know that school PR school communications was a thing. Um, do you want me to just go right in?
[00:02:02] Yeah, I was
[00:02:03] going
[00:02:03] Veronica: [00:02:03] to say, tell us about it. I mean, clearly you're an entrepreneur, but how'd you get there? How'd you
[00:02:08] Andrea: [00:02:08] accidental entrepreneur? So, um, I went to school for chemistry and business and got a job in corporate America. Worked there, thought I was just going to work my way up. And, um, I was 35 and I walked into work one day and I found out my job had been eliminated.
[00:02:24] Um, at the time I was a single mom with two little girls at a house payment, the car payment and all those things to do. And I'm like, what am I going to do? I live in a really super tiny town. Um, I started looking for jobs right away, but, uh, another fellow woman, entrepreneur, uh, gene feting, she really encouraged me and said, you know what, Andrea.
[00:02:46] With your experience. And then, you know, I, I kind of liked social media. I never got any training in it, but she's like small businesses really could use some help doing social media. Like they don't have time they're running their business, you could do their social media. So that's how I started. Yeah.
[00:03:02] Facebook Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and that for small businesses, but they were all different Veronica. It was like a caterer, a photographer, an accountant, and they're all different niches. And so it's like, it's hard to learn what works and what doesn't. Um, and I got started though. Right? I got started.
[00:03:22] And that's what it takes when you're going to start a business. It's motion. It's action. You gotta, you gotta just get into motion. Um, and then. The superintendent at my small little school in Wisconsin, um, I went to church with him and he was actually my, my mom's. So he really just had it in his heart.
[00:03:40] Like we need to help Andrea out, you know, give her something to do. Maybe she could do Facebook and Twitter and YouTube for the school. And I thought it was awesome because I'm like, it's not really like marketing. You're just. Celebrating what's happening at the school. Um, and Veronica, this is a small school, 300 students.
[00:04:02] That's where I graduated from. Right. I graduated with 32 kids, so my class, and that was a big class for new Auburn. My girls still go to school there. I still live in the community. I loved it. And, you know, I could go on and on about kind of the journey, but basically I found out other schools needed help.
[00:04:19] I grabbed my second school and my third school. And now I lead a team of over 30, mainly women. I do have one gentleman on my team, uh, but definitely women owned run business that serves schools and we just, we love what we get to do.
[00:04:34] Veronica: [00:04:34] Um, that's amazing. I love that. And I love that you realized there was a story to be told in every niche, in every space, in every industry, even in small role.
[00:04:47] Wisconsin. Right? Like everyone's got a story. So tell me a little bit about that purpose or what, what about content marketing and social media really helps that story component. Talk about that a little
[00:05:01] Andrea: [00:05:01] bit. Well, schools are really getting they're competitive, right? They, they don't traditionally, they're not very good about tooting.
[00:05:09] Their own horn teachers are very humble, you know, and that they just, they, a lot of them just get in there and do the work and may have they had to do the work over this last year. Um, but with open enrollment, um, you know, school choice, some of those things, even public schools are having to. Get their story out there.
[00:05:29] And a lot of small communities, they don't even have a local newspaper, like new Auburn doesn't so how are they getting their news? Websites are great, but people aren't going there all the time. You've got to meet them where they're at. And so I knew because I went to new Auburn and I feel like I had an advantage going to a small school.
[00:05:48] I knew there were great opportunities, but we had community is seven miles, one way, eight miles, the other. People could choose to go to it's like, we need to tell about the, this, you know, um, great, uh, tech ed program. We need to talk about the way that we pay for college classes. You know, I know I've got a sophomore that's taking sociology and psychology that she's not going to have to pay for in college because she's getting to take it in high school, but we've got to get those.
[00:06:15] Stories out. So we basically built a system to make it very easy for schools to get their stories out consistently in a great way. Um, and connect those to parents because me as a parent, you know, I've got six kids, no Veronica, you know, and, and now they're older. Um, blended family. I got four step sons.
[00:06:34] They don't tell me what's going on at school. Right. Right. But if I can see what's going on and it's like, Hey, that was really good, cool science experiment that you did. Can you tell me about that? It starts the conversation. So I just, I think kids are amazing. I think educators are amazing. And if you can't tell, I get a little excited.
[00:06:53] I am a natural born cheerleader. I just, I like to get those stories out there. And so that's what I've done through my business. And then everything I've learned, Veronica. I share it with people across the country, you know, school communicators, like you are that, um, to make it easier, like what works, what doesn't, here's some tips and tricks and social media is always changing and, um, So I just have a big mouth and I loved love.
[00:07:23] Veronica: [00:07:23] Hey Justin, there's our, there's some of our friends. Yeah. I know
[00:07:29] Andrea: [00:07:29] Justin on your new role, I'm so excited for you. It's just awesome to see people grow and, and, uh, in their, in this profession, it's amazing.
[00:07:37] Veronica: [00:07:37] It absolutely is. And I would say too, the thing that, um, some folks struggle with when they aren't natural cheerleaders and they maybe don't come from a media background.
[00:07:47] When they do come into those roles, they don't know what tools are available to share content. I mean, the reality is when I got into communications, we were still faxing press releases on a fax machine. Some of some of our peers don't even know what a fax machine is.
[00:08:05] Andrea: [00:08:05] I still have that. Some people ask for fax numbers, I'm like, really do people have back?
[00:08:09] Like, can't I just send email you a PDF, but anyways, yeah.
[00:08:13] Veronica: [00:08:13] Yeah, I know it is. So what would you say are some of the trends that you're seeing, um, with the organizations that you're working with when it comes to. Not being able to relate to content. You've talked about, you know, Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and some of the obvious ones, but where do you see the holes being that communicators need to come in and support?
[00:08:33] Andrea: [00:08:33] Well was school communication. It's such a big job that sometimes social media can be almost an afterthought. And that's a mistake. Like we've, we've got to be able to leverage those stories, but sometimes it's finding the stories. That's what it's like. Hey, no, but I don't know what's going on. So I think the biggest thing is just getting a system to get those stories to you as this.
[00:08:55] Well communicators. So you can share those, obviously leveraging a district hashtag so that people can share out on their own Twitter channels and Instagram. We definitely see that Facebook is the primary channel. Um, a lot of our school communicators are a little bit scared of that right now, because of all the opinions.
[00:09:13] That everybody wants to share. Um, you know, in a pandemic, obviously in the election year, it's really been tough, but I know, and I see that people need the positivity from our schools. So it's just getting, you know, uh, kind of the right approach. And I really believe that you've got to have a good system to be able to consistently get those stories out there.
[00:09:36] And I think once you have that system, it's a lot easier to get gain the momentum. Build a following build that engagement, but you do have to have a focused effort on it. It can't just be an afterthought and Veronica, it can't just be spitting out information, right? Some people are using it as like a bulletin board and it's not, it's, it's a spot to celebrate.
[00:09:58] It's a spot to engage. Social media is social. So you want back and forth actually. And sometimes when people ask a question, it's not necessarily bad. So anyways, um, I guess those are some of the things that I see, but the hard part is, is social media is always changing, right? Just, I just want to share this with everybody who just got an email.
[00:10:21] I gotta put this post out. So Facebook analytics is going away and we're getting emails and all these people are freaking out. You guys, Facebook analytics, it's an app. It's a separate app that these books set up that they're taking away. Your Facebook insights. They're not going away. Okay. You're still going to be able to look at insights within business suite and you're in your ads platform and all of that.
[00:10:47] But Facebook analytics, was it just a standalone app that's going away that I never even really knew about. They started in 2018. So just, Hey, we always have something. You said Veronica. Yup. That's your takeaway. You guys don't stress. You are not going to lose all of the analytics that you need to look at how you're doing.
[00:11:06] You're not going to lose that.
[00:11:07] Veronica: [00:11:07] Yeah. Oh, good tip. Good to know. Cause I, people do freak out and it's real challenging. If you're not say you're an online business owner and you've got a team that works across the country, you're probably not the person managing the social media. So when you hear things like that, you get really freaked out.
[00:11:24] And I think it's very cool that you have a team, um, that a lot of us work with virtual teams. Tell us about how you jumped into this entrepreneurial ship life of. Digital business and how you comprised your team and some of the programs that you
[00:11:39] Andrea: [00:11:39] have. Yeah. So, um, well, I believe in sarong, one of my secrets is that I have the most incredible team.
[00:11:47] So surrounding yourself with people that are smarter than you, that have different talents than you is so, so key. Um, but I knew early on from listening to podcasts, um, that, Hey, I've got to get out free information. So I'm big on content marketing, you guys. And one of my primary. Roles running this business is content creation.
[00:12:09] I've got people that manage my team. I've got people that manage new clients when we sign them on for full management. Um, I've got a membership program that I'm gonna talk to you about, and I've got somebody that helps run that so that I can be just focused on delivering as much value as possible. Um, but it's really about just, you know, sharing what you, what you know, and, um, and then.
[00:12:31] Getting help to get those stories out there. So Veronica, I even have somebody that helps me with my social media. So I run a social media company, but I still have somebody that puts it all out there because you guys, I have video tips that I put out every other week. I've got a blog that I put out every other week.
[00:12:47] I got a weekly podcast. Um, I'm doing, I'm doing speaking. I'm doing webinars. I I've got a ton of one page PDFs and you can check all of this out on my brand new website, uh, social school for edu.com. Um, I do a newsletter every other week where I'm trying to share tips, but it's all around adding value.
[00:13:08] For hopefully someday a potential customer, many, many of the people that follow my stuff have never paid me one, one dime, and then, okay. I want to serve them too. Um, but we obviously do have other programs because I got six kids. So we do have some, uh, some bills to pay. So I got to, I got to, uh, to make some money.
[00:13:29] Um, and so then we've got, uh, programs that can really. Serve, uh, the schools where they're at, whether they're doing their own social media or whether they need us to do it for them. So,
[00:13:40] Veronica: [00:13:40] yeah. And I love that. Um, you touched on your membership program. Let's talk about that. So I have some colleagues who are not in the education space.
[00:13:47] Um, one in particular who supports insurance, um, Insurance agents across the country virtually. And so one of the things that we talked about was she asked, how do I get more visibility? How do I really get other people to know I'm available? And that I've got this service. And we started talking about our products and I said, what about a membership program?
[00:14:06] And she said, I don't know anything about that. I don't even know how that works. And I said, well, I know a little bit about it, but not a whole lot, but now I've got Andrea here. To drop some gems. So tell us about membership program. So
[00:14:19] Andrea: [00:14:19] I was knew that I needed to set up this community because a lot of people are doing social media for their school.
[00:14:27] And they're, they're the only one. Right. And so we're all on these islands and I've learned so much, I've been doing this now for seven years. So I've learned so much. I used to do like a one day training in the summer of summer camp event. And then I'm like, How can I serve these people for one day and leave them alone for 364 days and not help answer their questions or encourage them or inspire them or train them.
[00:14:50] So I finally just did it. And so this is how my membership works. I have a Facebook group. Um, it's a private Facebook group that they have to get approved to join, and they pay an annual membership based on their school to be a part of that group. I think one of the biggest things with a membership group and biggest mistakes people make is trying to throw too much in there and do too many things and have, Oh my gosh, we gotta have posts every day.
[00:15:16] That challenge them to do things. No. You need like one good piece of content a week and then let them, you know, because they're busy, let them, um, you know, either participate or maybe watch a recording. But what I do is every month I have all a webinar, a webinar with a speaker from across the country.
[00:15:37] Just last week I had Thomas Murray speak next month will be Leslie. Brewington the inspir president. Um, and so that's one week, another week, I just have an open, like an office hour type. Like we call it the social buzz. So it's just like, Hey, what's going on in your school? What do you need help with?
[00:15:54] What's working well, but it's just, I do it in zoom and we're just. You know, everybody can speak. Um, the third week I do a skill session. So how to, so this month it's how to, uh, Facebook ads, I'm a pro at Facebook ads. Actually, our other members are the ones that are teaching some of those skill sessions.
[00:16:14] Great. Yeah. And then the fourth week, I just do a work session, so it's like, okay guys, it's time to get her done. Let's do throwback, Thursdays, our goal for this next hour. I'm just going to be quiet. I'll answer questions, but we're going to try to get six throwback, Thursdays scheduled, you know, with all the yearbook pictures.
[00:16:31] And we just sat and worked on those and it was really powerful. Um, we're also, you know, we foster dialogue and answer questions and I have a whole bunch of resources, but you know, they pay, I mean, we still send them an invoice. We don't have any automated payments set up, but because I served. Schools. And normally they have to get like peels approved and they mainly pay by check.
[00:16:53] It works just fine. And then I have a membership manager that manages that. And so you can sign up online and then we'll, we email them back and then we email them an invoice. They pay for a year at a time. Um, and that's worked really well. We're over 200 members, uh, member. That's awesome. Yeah. And I just launched maybe two years ago.
[00:17:15] I think I've been doing it for about two years.
[00:17:19] Veronica: [00:17:19] Yeah. And so what I'm hearing you say for those of you not in, um, in, in different spaces, what I'm hearing you say is you just need to figure out where their pain point is, and then your membership program addresses the, the solution and, and that's brilliant.
[00:17:36] Andrea: [00:17:36] Yeah. And it's when they came to me, like, I wouldn't have been able to start there because I didn't know what I was doing. You guys, I wish when I started back back in 2014 that I had a group like this, that would say, this is exactly how you do it. And ask questions to people who have gone before. Um, so that I wish I would have, would have had that, but now I can create that.
[00:17:57] Um, and it's a really safe space, Veronica, where it's like, you can ask any question. Um, so yeah, it's really fun.
[00:18:04] Veronica: [00:18:04] Yeah, no, I love that. And what would you say are some of the challenges for people who are not social media savvy? Like if you've get a new person in your group and they're like, I know how to do Facebook because maybe I do it with my family or with my grandkids, but what's tick talk.
[00:18:21] And do I need it? I don't understand that. How, or how do you inside your group support people that are at different levels? Because we've got some folks who are just like, Hmm experts at it,
[00:18:31] Andrea: [00:18:31] right? Yeah. Everybody's at a different level. And that's why I can't like create one specific training, like an online course.
[00:18:38] That just wasn't for me because social media changes so often. So we record every training we do. So everything we've ever done, I've got hundreds of. Training sessions available inside that membership group that we can push them to. Um, but we did just, uh, last year launch a social media boot camp program.
[00:18:58] So this is a separate five week intensive program. Um, I'm getting a little bit of feedback or is my audio okay. Okay. Um, so the five week intensive program, the next, um, session is going to be this summer in July. I know we're going to fill up cause it's a, it's gonna be a popular time and you can check it all out on my website.
[00:19:17] But, um, that's what we really created. And that's taught by Stephanie sins. She's actually does all the training for my team and Veronica. She's a trained teacher. Um, and so she has. Excellent at what she does, but she really breaks down the system and Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. And here's how you do it.
[00:19:37] And, um, there's there's training, but then there's okay. What questions do you have interactive on zoom and then, uh, like what are you doing? Like what steps? What's an accountability program. So that's really what we built up and that's actually four people just beginning. And people who have been at it for eight, 10 years still really get a lot out of it.
[00:19:58] And so we just try to make that safe space, but, um, you know, a lot of screen sharing and things like that, it showing them exactly what to do. Um, but also just letting them know, sometimes you gotta YouTube it, right? So I create a lot of YouTube videos. You should definitely check out my K-12 PR tip videos on my YouTube channel.
[00:20:19] But you can just YouTube anything and it'll help walk you through it or get a reverse mentor, Veronica. So I've got kids that can show me how to use Tik TOK and, you know, Instagram stories or some of those things. Don't. And if you don't have kids of your own, think about the students at your school or a niece or nephew, they can teach you a lot about how you might be able to use it, you know, in, in your job.
[00:20:43] Like if you're an entrepreneur, um, or if you're a school communicator too.
[00:20:47] Veronica: [00:20:47] Yeah, no, I think that's so, so true now, uh, before we wrap up, cause I, I know we're getting close to time. I want you to talk a little bit about what it took for you to become an entrepreneur. Um, you know, because so many people, um, either by choice or by circumstance, especially in COVID were losing their positions, just like you did with budget cuts and everything happening.
[00:21:12] What does it take to be an entrepreneur and to get to this level? Cause I, for those of you that don't know Andrea, she is nationally known. Her reach is national. Yes. It's a super niche down group, but she shows up, she brings value and she's created something in a fairly short amount of time. So what does it take for someone to,
[00:21:34] Andrea: [00:21:34] well, Veronica, um, I had to sell my house and move in with my parents with two kids.
[00:21:42] It was not easy. And I almost gave up, I went, started looking for jobs after, um, about eight months into my job into starting this business. I was like, I can't do this. I was, I was laced with anxiety. Um, I went on medication for it. I mean, I was, it was awful. Um, not being able to even buy a bottle of water or a pack of gum, like it was serious.
[00:22:06] Um, but I just felt like God had a plan. For me, like, I wasn't meant to be in a cubicle, you know, um, working, working some quality control job, like he had bigger things. And one thing I had was, um, supportive family. Um, and so my now husband, but, but he was, we were dating at the time and he's just like, Andrea, you can always go back and get a job, but you can't start what you've started again.
[00:22:33] Like I just signed on my third school, you know, all of these things. And so it's like, that was definitely it. And then I think, you know, I basically just gave myself, okay, I'm going to give it everything I got for these nuggets. Six months. And then in those next six months I signed on, you know, eight, nine, 10 more clients.
[00:22:50] I think the big thing for, for my big step to grow was niche. It might seem scary, but actually I know exactly who I'm talking about. Two, every time I write an email that I write a blog that I do a video, I know who I'm talking to, and I've really gotten to know those folks. Um, So niching down is key surrounding yourself with people that can help you, you know, virtual assistance and those things, you've got to be able to delegate.
[00:23:17] If you don't delegate, you're not going to grow. You're not going to be able to scale. And then you've got to listen to what your customers need, um, and build the community so that they feel part of it because. Uh, Veronica that's what's so great about my membership group. I don't have to be the one answering every question and sometimes they'll do this Veronica cause we have this Facebook discussion.
[00:23:38] They'll email me and say, Andrea, this just happened at my school. Somebody was just arrested for, uh, an inappropriate, should I make a statement? I'm like, I want to help you, but asking the group because I'm only one person you're going to get other people, other schools that have actually dealt with it.
[00:23:55] And so building and fostering that community. Uh, is really key. And, uh, and that's what we've, we've tried to build. So, um, new
[00:24:04] Veronica: [00:24:04] things, those are amazing things. And I love that you shared your journey because that's what people are afraid of. People are afraid of what happens if I lose my house, what happens if I can't pay the bills?
[00:24:17] And sometimes. That does happen. Not always, but sometimes it does. And you are a prime example of how you just go for it. And that's what I love about your business, because your spark is just amazing. And I love, I love watching you do your thing. I appreciate the content. It's great. And I think a lot of people get value, but mostly I appreciate your spirit.
[00:24:38] So thank you so much for sharing.
[00:24:40] Andrea: [00:24:40] Thank you. And my other thing would be, don't ask for permission, right? Like nobody's going to give you permission to do things like get out there, add value, be authentic, um, and great things can happen, but you've got to be, if you have passion for what you do, obviously that's going to help.
[00:24:57] Um, so thanks so much for having me and definitely just check out my website, social school for edu.com. Slash resources. Cause that's where all like a bunch of my content marketing stuff lives there. Um, and I've got a really big event, a five day challenge coming up and I don't have the landing page done yet, but it's coming up the last week of April.
[00:25:19] And so again, I'm just jumping in and figuring it out. Yeah. Um, but anyways, if you get on my newsletter, which you can do on that, on my website, um, you, you won't miss a chance to
[00:25:28] Veronica: [00:25:28] be part of that. So that's fantastic. And if you guys are not on her newsletter, make sure you join it. I love it. I love the content that she shares.
[00:25:36] And if, if, even if you're not in the school business, this is a fantastic blueprint for any model healthcare insurance, business, oil and gas. You name it. If you need to niche down into a group, this is how you do it. So reach out to Andrea for support. Thank you so much, Andrea. We appreciate, thanks. Have a great day.
[00:25:53] Thanks. All right, folks that wraps up another episode of Saturday soundbites. I hope you found great value. Andrea is fantastic. Make sure you check out her website and her resources. You guys, this is a blueprint. This is literally a play by play book of how to be successful in. Reaching your target audience with social media.
[00:26:13] So make sure you get that information. So we're going to wrap up this episode again, if you are listening on the podcast and make sure that you hit subscribe so that you get all of our content, and if you're watching on social media and you catch this on the replay hashtag replay. So Andrea and I can come back and answer any questions you might have.
[00:26:30] Or just engage with you. So we're wrapping it up. Thank you so much for joining us. This has been Veronica. Sophia was out the soundbites and I'm wishing you lots of light joy today. Thank you so much.