MANILA -- Planning to build your own online community? Here are some tips from the founder of the highly influential Facebook group Home Buddies.

In a recent virtual interview with ABS-CBN News, Frances Cabatuando said her best advice is to have a goal of solving a certain problem, noting that many people tend to focus too much on their own passions and interests.

"When you start a community, don't start with just the passion point, but start with a problem. Feeling ko 'yun 'yung pinaka-effective eh," she said. "Because when you answer a specific problem, there's function for you. Hindi na lang siya superficial or you're not just going to share. It's not going to be one-way."

"When you're solving a problem, there are more people invested in it," she stressed. "So try to think of what you are trying to solve in the world, and create a community around that para may function 'yung group."

Cabatuando started Home Buddies at the height of the pandemic after realizing that there was no Facebook group that allowed Filipinos to exchange ideas about home-related topics.

Using her experience as an advertising executive, she built the Home Buddies brand with the goal of making it big as the other communities she follows online at 300,000 or so members.

The group became a massive success, with 3.1 million users including local celebrities like Slater Young and Kimpoy Feliciano.

• The new Mr. Fix It: How Slater Young is empowering every homeowner to DIY

MAKE IT A SAFE SPACE

When asked what she thinks greatly contributed to the rise of Home Buddies, Cabatuando spoke of the importance of creating a "safe space" that allowed members to be seen and heard.

She positioned the Facebook group as an "online barangay," with her as the Mayora and the members as the kapitbahay or neighbors. This, she said, "humanized" the community and made users stay even after the hype.

"I always say, 'Be the kapitbahay you wish to have.' So when we keep reminding these people na we are all humans here, dapat walang yabangan, dapat walang inggitan, walang namba-bash... When you try to make it inclusive and safe, that's I think what made people stay," she explained.

"It's one thing to bring people in, na maraming budol dito, but there's also the element of, 'Kasi si Mayora welcomed us here and made it safe. It's the reason we are staying and we acknowledge ourselves as kapitbahays,'" she added.

• Home Buddies founder launches travel-themed community

SET RULES

And while she did not expect Home Buddies to be as big as it is today, Cabatuando still made sure to set rules in place to keep the community organized.

One of these is setting a day of the week for members to promote their home-related products and services for free. Called Monday Market, it was one of Cabatuando's ways of helping small local businesses.

The initiative also allowed Home Buddies to focus on interesting finds, questions, and other topics for the rest of the week, instead of the community being filled with advertisements.

"There are people na magme-message sa akin, na maiiyak sila. 'Ma'am, thank you po sa program mo kasi nakabenta ako ng 10 in one day and that's the biggest na nabenta ko ever.' And minsan sobrang kurot sa puso sa 'kin... Feeling niya ang laki ng naibigay ko sa kanya at nagkaroon siya ng kabuhayan," Cabatuando said.

"I just merely created a platform and sila pa rin 'yung naghirap for it. Doon ko na-realize 'yung impact ng Home Buddies," she added.

KEEP CREATING

From there, Cabatuando listened to the needs of the Home Buddies community and created more social media campaigns.

One of these is Labarangay, a month-long event which is inspired by the annual Labor Day celebration. She and her team created art cards to help carpenters and other workers effectively promote their services to members.

"We created a mini resume for them to help people visualize kung ano ang kakayahan nila, and we were able to get them get by during the pandemic [kasi] nagkaroon sila ng trabaho. So that's also one of the things I am happy that Home Buddies is able to deliver," she said.

Cabatuando is planning to keep expanding the Home Buddies brand by making it available in other platforms. She also intends to generate more video-focused content and share more stories with a bigger audience.

"Of course, Home Buddies is still very much active. We plan to go beyond Facebook and expand in other platforms. We're building our own website or digital magazine," she said.

"Always ask yourself, what's in it for the community? Always try to think of what they are looking for, so try to create more content like that and how they will earn from your group, how they will learn, and how you make it safe for everyone to participate," she ended.

Related video:

Watch more News on iWantTFC