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Promoting your business in the North Shore Mums Facebook Group

Our Facebook group is a place for mums to connect, not for businesses to self-promote. The guidelines below explain exactly what is and isn't allowed, and how our moderation team makes decisions.

Business Hour

The only time business posts are permitted is during our bi-monthly Business Hour, held on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month, 8–9pm.

To post during Business Hour, you must either:

Recommending Your Own Business

You may suggest your own business in response to a member's request only if:

  • You are a current advertiser on the North Shore Mums website, and
  • The post is current (active within the last 24 hours). Please do not search for older posts to comment on.

Keep your response to a single comment that includes all relevant information, such as:

  • Contact details

  • A link to your Directory listing so our moderators can quickly verify your advertiser status.

Recommending Someone Else's Business

Genuine peer recommendations are among the most valued parts of our community. To keep them trustworthy, you may only recommend a business if:

  • You have personally used that business, and
  • You have no personal relationship (friend or family member) with the business owner or staff, and
  • You have no professional relationship with the business (as an employee, contractor, or member of the same networking group).

Please note: If it becomes evident that a member is consistently recommending the same business and has a connection to it, those comments will be removed, and the member will be warned. If any member is found to receive financial compensation or incentives for making recommendations, they will be removed and blocked from the group.

If you are aware of members recommending businesses with whom they have a personal or professional connection, please contact us.

Anonymous Recommendations

We understand that some topics discussed in our group are sensitive. Our policy on anonymous comments is as follows:

Anonymous comments are permitted only on genuinely sensitive posts, and only when the comment includes personal context explaining why the member is making the recommendation based on their own experience.

A comment that simply names a business with no personal context will be removed, regardless of whether it is posted anonymously or under a full name. For example, a comment that says only "XYZ Medical Centre" or "I recommend ABC Photography" with no personal detail does not meet our guidelines.

A comment such as "I personally used this service during a really difficult time in my marriage and found them very helpful" would be considered to contain sensitive personal information and may be retained even if posted anonymously, provided it does not appear to come from someone with a personal or professional connection to the business.

This policy applies equally to every member and every business in the group. Anonymous comments are not removed because of the business. They are removed when they lack genuine personal context or when patterns suggest the comment may not be from an independent client.

How We Determine Whether a Recommendation is Genuine

Our moderation team looks at a range of factors when assessing whether a recommendation appears genuine, including:

  • Whether the member posting has a visible connection to the business (shared posts, tagged photos, mutual networking group membership, etc.)
  • Whether multiple comments recommending the same business appear to come from a connected network of people
  • Whether the recommendation includes genuine personal experience or reads as promotional in nature
  • Whether the same member is repeatedly recommending the same business over time

Our moderators are volunteers and work hard to keep the group fair and consistent for everyone. If anything is missed, we welcome members to flag concerns directly so we can review.

Sharing a Positive Experience

If you have had an outstanding experience with a local business and want to share it unprompted, you are welcome to do so during Business Hour (1st and 3rd Tuesday, 8–9pm).

We limit unsolicited endorsements to Business Hour because it is not possible for moderators to verify in real time whether an unprompted recommendation is from a genuine new client or from someone with a connection to the business.

You can also support local businesses by leaving a testimonial directly on their North Shore Mums Directory listing.

Multi-Level Marketing Companies

No posts related to MLM companies (such as Isagenix, Arbonne, Herbalife, Avon, etc.) are permitted under any circumstances, including in private messages to members.

Other Policies

  • Discreet business posts are not permitted. This includes sharing photos of products you sell, thanking customers publicly, or asking for opinions on something you sell.
  • Business research or "baiting" posts are not allowed (e.g. asking how to market your business, what to charge, or whether people would use your service).
  • Bloggers and website owners may not share links or copy and paste article excerpts. You are welcome to post a free ad during Business Hour.

Paid Advertising in the Group

If you would like to run a paid advertisement directly in our Facebook group, our Premium Package and Facebook Turbo packages are great options. Find out more.