Transcript

Welcome to Compassionate Side Hustle Strategy, hosted by Rochelle Sanchez. I'm a business designer and mindset coach, and I help side hustling solopreneurs like you quiet your inner drama and build compassionate systems that allow you to show up consistently and authentically in your business.

No matter what background or culture you were raised in, or even your current setbacks, economic status, identity struggles or labels, You deserve to do what you love for a living. So let's go together! and find that next best step for you on your journey.

Today I've got 6 Tips for Using Facebook as a Marketing Platform for Your Business.

I know Facebook can be a very heated topic for many people. You may not even be using it because you've given it up. Maybe you have a burner account or you use a friend's account to be on it because you've set some boundaries for yourself because it's just not the vibe you need in your life right now, and that's cool. I'm definitely not here to try to convince you to use Facebook if you aren't already. This episode is mostly about how to use Facebook if you know for sure that your ideal clients are using it.

Maybe you know of other businesses just like yours who have had a lot of success using Facebook as their primary social media platform, so you're trying to find your own way of using it that doesn't feel like you want to tear your own eyes out of their sockets because Facebook is a whole thing. Bottom line - if you don't want to use Facebook, then don't. If you do, or maybe you're curious why someone like me is still using Facebook and hasn't sworn off Mark Zuckerberg forever, then stick around.

So let's start by getting grounded with some education on Facebook, and then I'll walk you through some content marketing basics specifically for using Facebook, based on what I've done and what my business peers have done.

How Facebook Works

Bottom line: Facebook is a for profit company. I know that their mission statement is that they "give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together," but they are a business, And the way they make money is by having people on their platform, and the way they do that is by providing helpful tools and technology for people like you and me. That being said -- you and I are also for-profit companies, right? We are business owners, and we expect to make money from what we provide. Facebook makes money by providing lots of tools and an entire social media platform.

And I'm like anyone and I can get pretty angry at Facebook if I'm in that kind of mood. But a trick I use when it comes to appreciating Facebook is this: I have way more access to people and opportunities using Facebook than I would just walking down my street, holding a sign. If standing outside my front door, holding a sign with my website on it, is the alternative, then yeah, Facebook is pretty powerful and helpful.

It doesn't excuse the scheisty things they might be doing with personal information or how they don't take a stance when politicians misuse the platform, or how it is rife with scams and misinformation that go unchecked. But for my purposes and within the world I can control and feel safe in, it's helpful for me as a business owner.

Facebook can and has helped me market my business. 

But the key to remember is that I never expect Facebook to do my marketing for me. It's simply a tool, and it's constantly changing. So generally speaking, don't expect Facebook to get the word out for you about all the amazing work you're doing. And that's exactly why we're here today, to talk about good practices and things you CAN do that will be helpful for your business, using the tools provided by Facebook.

Okay, so that's my soap box.

6 Tips for Using Facebook as a Marketing platform for your business

Here are 6 Tips for Using Facebook as a Marketing platform for your business. Let's dig in.

Format your content for Facebook.

That means use the current Facebook image dimensions. That means use video, most likely. That also means paying attention to how much of your copy is showing above the cut-off. That means editing content that you originally wrote for Instagram, so that it fits on Facebook. And not saying things like, "check the link in my bio" as your call to action. So, simple things like that. Make sure you're formatting it for Facebook, specifically.

Focus on engaging and interacting with your audience instead of just posting content.

 This means use Facebook groups and events as the top of your funnel, but make sure that your strategy isn't just "I posted 25 things on my Facebook page and only 30 people saw them, and no one has booked a discovery call." There are a lot of people on Facebook, sure. But that also means there's a whole lot of noise and content and competing for screen time -- both by other businesses and by the algorithm that's also trying to show paid ads so that Facebook can make some money, too. That's their business model. They provide the Facebook platform and they make money via ads. But an example of engaging and interacting with your audience on Facebook instead of just posting content might be:

1. If you're hosting a challenge, then make an event for your challenge so that it shows up in the "suggested events" for people who are searching for your kind of content.
2. Doing more livestreams natively on the Facebook app, to see if Facebook shows that you went live to more of your Page followers.
3. Using stories on your Business Page. Maybe you're familiar with Instagram stories? Well, Facebook has those for Businesses, too. Which leads me to the next tip...

Use the tools provided by Facebook.

Keep your business page up to date and try to fill out as much information as possible using what's available. I recommend thinking about who your competitors are -- the ones that people could possibly hire instead of you. Look at the media on their page, meaning are they posting vertical content? horizontal content? video? maybe they're using the Facebook cartoon avatar a lot? Just look at that kind of stuff. And based on what you see, consider sprinkling some of that kind of content on your own page. Because if it's working for them, it will probably also work for you. Maybe.

Use the Meta Business Suite/Manager.

I think that's what it's called. What I mean is that you can go to business.facebook.com and once you get your account set up, you'll see that they offer all kinds of tools. They have a content planner that's pre-filled with special social media days that are coming up, so you can plan ahead if your audience enjoys those kinds of, "Happy Pancake day" kinds of posts. They also have a built-in scheduler, which in ideal situations would work better than a third-party scheduler like Buffer or Hootsuite, but again, we can't really predict anything about what will work on Facebook these days. I'd say go ahead and experiment with using your own scheduler and the built-in one and see which posts get more traction.

Spend time in relevant Facebook groups interacting and engaging with other members of that group. 

There's no shortcut or tool for this, unfortunately. What I mean by engaging and interacting is reading other people's posts and replying in your own words, or asking open-ended, follow-up questions on the posts where you know that you can add some value if you had a little bit more detail. Pay attention to what each group's rules are for promoting your own services or links. Most groups these days are run by a business owner who's using it as a lead generator for their services, so just be respectful of that. But it doesn't mean you can't make great connections inside the group.

For content creation, specifically:

Lean more toward personal shares.

More photos and videos of your face, smiling and/or talking. So not stock photos. Not the cute stock illustrations. Not Canva templates. Show YOU. Your face. So cut straight to the punch and create that personal connection with whoever is seeing your content. We all complain that people don't see our stuff, so make sure that for the people who do see your posts, you're making a strong personal connection with them. And that means using your face and your voice and probably video.

Work on your copywriting.

If you're not familiar with that term, copy writing, as in "w-r-i-t-i-n-g" and not copyright as in trademark. Copywriting is basically the words you use. In most cases, there are certain words and phrases that will resonate with your ideal client and what they're going through right now. What I've noticed is that people who aren't experienced with social media copywriting tend to be too grammatically correct at first. Or we try to fit as much into each sentence as we can, because using sentences with complex structures is how we're taught in school. To improve your writing, there are editors like the Hemmingway App or Grammarly where you can check if your sentences are too long or confusing. For content improvement, I recommend asking people for feedback. Like go to your mastermind or your business coach and show them the link to a post that you hoped would have resonated with your ideal client, and ask for feedback on why it didn't get a lot of traction. Sometimes it's not about the writing, but sometimes it is. And external feedback is always helpful when you're trying to analyze why something didn't take off on the internet.

Avoid Using External Links

And finally, avoid using links in your posts. Facebook's schtick is that they want you to stay on Facebook. It's designed to keep you on, because again, remember that their business model is based on ads, right? I know it's tempting to say, "Sign up for my event, here's the zoom link to register." Or "Read my blog, here's the post on my website." Unfortunately it's been shown that Facebook doesn't like it when we share links that might take people away from the Facebook platform. The workarounds are again, to use the Events tools, or to just post your content directly on Facebook. Like uploading the video directly, or copying and pasting your blog post into Facebook.

So let's recap my 6 Tips for Using Facebook to Market Your Business:

• Format your content that is for Facebook.

• Focus on engaging and interacting with your audience instead of just posting content.

• Use the built-in tools provided by Facebook.

• Spend time in relevant Facebook groups interacting and engaging with other members.

• Be smart with your copywriting and lean toward personal sharing.

• Avoid using links in your posts. Post or upload your content directly inside Facebook.

I hope you found these tips helpful!

Maybe some of it was new to you or maybe it was just a good refresher on how to use Facebook the way Facebook intended.

If you would like some feedback on your Facebook content or your overall Facebook strategy for your business, I invite you to sign up for a strategy call with me.

As a business designer, I like to use a compassion-first method to simplify your visibility strategy and create systems that will make outsourcing easier (and more affordable) when you're ready to grow. It starts with a few smart first steps, so go ahead and grab a spot in my calendar so we can get started.

Visit my website, https://www.rochellesanchez.com for the application for a one-time consultation. There are some questions for you to answer so we can both prepare for our meeting. Then we'll get together for an hour and dig into what you've got and where you can improve, and you also get a full week of email access to me for any follow-up questions and to get feedback on what you're working on as a result of our time together. It's fun, and I think you'll enjoy it. Visit rochellesanchez.com and hit the "work with me" button to get started.

And yeah! All right, thanks for listening! See you next time!