The summit that doubled a gardening group in 18 days
DirtMagicians is a private Facebook group where people learn to grow food from other gardeners. When I joined it had 80 members. I found the people in bigger gardening groups, brought them in, welcomed each one and gave them reasons to stay: weekly features, live sessions and a free soil summit.
- Community growth
- Facebook group marketing
- Content
- Live events
group members in 8 months
members from Oct 1 to 18, 2021
join requests approved in those 18 days
active members, up 58
Find gardeners where they already talk, then give them a better room to talk in.
The summit
Seven days on soil, 175 new members
"Healing your garden" ran inside the group from October 12 to 18, 2021: seven days on building healthy soil over winter, with resources worth $750. To get in, you joined the group. I promoted it in partner groups, on Instagram and in DMs, ran a Facebook Live the week before with gift card prizes, then ran it again for latecomers.
Oct 1 to 18, 2021
- 263members, up 108%
- 175requests approved, up 372%
- 87active members, up 58
- 25posts, up 25%
How it grew
Four steps, every week
Group marketing
Show up in other people's groups first
I joined the big gardening groups and answered questions with real tips. When it fit, the comment pointed to DirtMagicians. A few copies did most of the work, and one was clearly the strongest.
What the outreach used
- Best comment"Join our food gardening community. We feature food gardeners every week for the community to learn from. Check out our latest guide on when to pick ripe tomatoes."
- Admin DMsAsked for a spot in their "Recommended by the Admins" list.
- Member invitesMembers got a reason to bring friends who grow food.
Inside the group
Every new member got a hello
From the report: a member's first post drew 27 comments and was seen by 345 people.
The routine
- Welcome postsNaming each new member.
- Group topics#gardeningtips and #gardeninspiration, so posts were easy to find.
- Polls and quizzesTo get people answering.
- Top contributorsPicked from Group Insights and thanked in public.
- DirtMagician of the weekA real grower sharing tips and photos.
Content
Teach one plant at a time
Branded posts in the group's colours: plant histories, health benefits, recipes and step-by-step care.
Swipe for more →
Where it started
A good idea with 80 members
The founder, Dee, wanted a place where new food gardeners could learn from experienced ones without feeling silly for asking. Almost nobody knew the group existed, while gardening on Facebook already lived in huge groups.
The groups we learned from
- School of Gardening182K members
- Gardeners119K members
- Green Gardening Tips220K members
- Home Gardening454K members
Rebuilding an account from zero
The old Instagram account was disabled, so I started a new one during the summit and took it slowly. Its job was to send gardeners to the Facebook group.
The plan
- ProfileA keyword-rich bio people could find in search.
- HashtagsA mix of popular and niche gardening tags.
- First hourReplies right after each post.
- CreatorsA short list of small gardening accounts to feature.
Big groups already had the audience. The work was earning a place in their conversations.
What I delivered
- Social media strategy
- Group marketing plan
- Comment and DM copy
- Welcome and member features
- Branded content
- Summit promotion
- Weekly reports
Agboola worked on my team for 8 months and helped grow our Facebook group from 80 people to 2,100 members. He is a great team player and very cooperative. He was able to deliver our initial success that we are now building on.
