Promoting your business in the North Shore Mums Facebook Group

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 advertise on our website. This could be:

A current listing in the North Shore Mums Directory or
Any other advertising on our website within the last 12 months (e.g. Annual Essential Guide, Banner, Newsletter & Facebook package, Advertorial, Promotion).

Recommending your own business in the Facebook group

North Shore Mums advertisers are also permitted to recommend their own business in response to member posts requesting recommendations, provided the following conditions are met:

You are a current advertiser on the North Shore Mums website
The post is active or new (within the last 24 hours). Please do not search for and comment on older posts
Your response is posted from your real, identified profile, not an anonymous or nickname account
You keep your response to a single comment that includes a helpful comment and insight as to how you can help them, and a link to your North Shore Mums Directory listing, so our moderators can quickly verify your advertiser status

A note on impersonating clients

Business owners must not post under anonymous profiles or nicknames while posing as clients or customers. This is a serious breach of our community guidelines and will result in removal from the group. Our moderation team can identify when this occurs.

Recommending Someone Else's Business as a genuine customer

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

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

Breaches of this policy

The following will result in action being taken against your membership:

Repeatedly recommending the same business when a connection to it is identified. Comments will be removed and a warning issued
Receiving financial compensation or any other incentive in exchange for making a recommendation. This will result in immediate removal and blocking from the group

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

Anonymous Recommendations

Some topics discussed in our group are sensitive, and we recognise that members may occasionally wish to make a recommendation without identifying themselves. Anonymous comments are permitted, but only under the following conditions:

The post relates to a genuinely sensitive topic.
The comment includes personal context that explains why the member is recommending the business based on their own direct experience.

What this looks like in practice

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 such as "XYZ Medical Centre" or "I recommend ABC Photography" does not meet our guidelines and will be removed.
A comment such as "I personally used this service during a difficult time and found them very helpful" does include genuine personal context and may be retained even if posted anonymously, provided there is no indication of 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 being recommended. They are removed when they lack genuine personal context, or when posting 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

We no longer allow unprompted business recommendations in the group. Because our moderators cannot verify in real time whether an unsolicited recommendation is from a genuine client or someone with a connection to the business, we ask that positive experiences be shared in the following ways instead:

Leave a testimonial directly on the business's listing in the North Shore Mums Directory
Recommend them on relevant posts when members ask for suggestions

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, publicly thanking customers, 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.