How to Use Facebook to Grow Your Coaching Business
Facebook has 2.7 billion active users. I need you to take a minute and let that sink in. 2.7 billion. Do you know what that means for you? It means your clients are definitely on Facebook. The challenge is knowing where to look.
I get it. Facebook can be a real shit-show. It’s sour, it’s sweet, it’ll kick you in the face and then tell you how pretty you are. It’s the platform we love to hate, know we should probably get off of because Zuck is a dick, but won’t because it’s too great a resource.
So, what’s a person to do?
You find your Facebook lane, learn how to maneuver it and use Facebook to advance your career. That’s what.
One day we might have a better option and we’ll all leave Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg behind, but that day hasn’t arrived yet, so here we are.
1.Figure out where your people are and go to them
If your Facebook strategy has been to post on your page and hope the right people see it, you’re never going to progress. That’s not how this works.
Facebook created groups for a reason. It helped bring like-minded people together, rather than us being this massive sea of disconnected people.
USE THEM!
You don’t have to create a group of your own. I mean, you can, and if you have a good reason to, then by all means, I’m a fan. But don’t start one just because you think you have to. There are already thousands out there full of your people.
First you’re going to need to figure out who your people are and what kind of things they’re interested in. This shouldn’t be too difficult. Once you know, start doing some searches inside of Facebook and see what groups pop up.
Before you click to join, check out how many members they have and how active they are. Just because a group has less than 1k members, doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time. Smaller groups may be perfect because you won’t get lost in the throngs of people.
I’m always a bit weary of joining groups that have hundreds of thousands of members. They’re often dumpster fires of people promoting and never actually contributing anything meaningful. So, be mindful of that. It’s also okay to try some out, see if they’re your speed, and leave if they’re not.
2. Stop trying to be everywhere all the time
I recommend choosing 2-3 groups you feel are most aligned with you and focus on those. Trying to contribute and be an active member of many more groups than that will easily lead to burnout.
Ideally you’ll post to your personal profile every day - at least once for something to do with your business and at least once something personal/funny/not business related. Then spend some time going into each of your chosen groups and engaging.
Also related - trying to focus on too many different social media platforms is going to burn you out. I’m a fan of choosing one and putting all your social media efforts into it. Facebook is my platform of choice. My instagram is for something totally different and it’s not a priority.
I found that trying to come up with a strategy for both platforms that felt aligned stressed me out. When I decided to focus solely on Facebook, things flowed and my business grew.
Trying to be everywhere all the time is not conducive to growing your business.
3. Engage and add value
When I tell you to spend time engaging in these groups every day, I don’t mean you have to create your own post in those groups every day. You definitely don’t need to be doing that.
What you need to do is interact with other people’s posts. Don’t just leave a thumbs up or a heart react and leave. Comment!
The more you show up, comment and allow yourself to be seen, the higher your return will be. You’re a coach, right? So, go be a coach! This doesn’t mean give unsolicited advice. You’ve got to be able to gage how people need you to show up, but I trust you can figure that one out.
People need to see you repeatedly before they’ll remember who you are and start following along.
4. Relationship Building is key
This can’t be the “me show.” If your thoughts are constantly centered around your own needs, you’re going to have a tough time connecting with anyone.
Stop focusing so much on how you’re going to get people to hire you, and instead, focus on how you can show up and serve them. What are their struggles? What do they need help with? What are they interested in? What are they curious about?
This is the Them show.
Instead of seeing them as potential sales and numbers first, see them as a human first.
Building relationships doesn’t happen overnight, but if you’re genuine and consistent, it’ll happen faster than you think.
5. Consistency is everything
This section is short and sweet because it’s self explanatory. Consistency is everything. People need to see you again and again and again. Everything you post plants seeds. What do you want to grow? Whatever it is, make sure you’re showing up every day even when you think no one is paying attention.
They are.
7. If it doesn’t feel good, stop doing it
If you hate social media, stop using it. I know that’s a bold statement, but it’s true.
Social media is a powerful tool, there’s no denying it, but if you absolutely hate logging on every day, it’s not going to do you a damn bit of good.
I could give you strategies all day for how to try and hate it less, but the bottom line is, forcing yourself to do something you hate every day isn’t conducive to a successful business or life.
I’m assuming you got into this business because you want to leave behind a career you hate or are burnt out from. Why do things now that are giving you those same vibes?
There are other ways to grow your business that have nothing to do with social media. I’m not going to dive into them here, but if you need permission to skip over social media, here it is.
8. Create a Facebook Business Page
You’re not doing this because you’re going to use it to post all the time and see a bunch of success. Posts made from your business page aren’t likely to get a lot of traction. That’s fine. We’re doing this for another reason.
Facebook Business pages are a great place to give people a preview of your business and an easy way to contact you. This is especially important if you don’t have a website or any other web presence.
I like to use my business page to collect testimonials. I have my clients go there to leave reviews, then I pull the reviews off there to use on my website and for social media posts. But, having them leave reviews on my business page means people can easily see how happy my clients are, oogle my 5-star rating and be interested enough to seek me out.
9. Facebook Ads
I’m not talking about boosting a post all willy-nilly and hoping for the best. Do some research, learn what makes a good Facebook ad, figure out a budget that feels doable and run several ads at once to see which one performs the best.
Once you find your ad that resonates, turn the other ones off and put more money into that one.
I recommend looking into hiring a Facebook Ads expert, because there’s a lot of moving parts and pieces here, but when done correctly, you can see major return on investment.
10. Collaborate!
Get together with other coaches whose work compliments yours and collaborate on projects! You could do webinars or masterclasses together. You can cross-promote to each of your audiences for a broader reach.
Why do alone what you can do together?
Collaborations are powerful. We’re stronger together and I can speak from experience when I say - the business collabs I’ve done have progressed my business more than just about anything else.
All-in-all, the time and energy I’ve put into Facebook has had a huge impact on my business. Not only have I continuously been able to connect with my dream clients, but I’ve built relationships that have transitioned off of Facebook and into “real life.”
What more could we want? Business growth and new soul-friends? Sign me up.
If you’re ready to dig into your Facebook strategy but know you need help along the way, check out my Strategy Sessions! 90-minutes to sort out what’s going wrong and how to make it better. Neat!
