Facebook for your Business

Facebook for your Business

Hello, today I’m going to be talking about Facebook for business. 

If you are a lightworker, a very heart centered person, sensitive and empathetic, if you really feel the feelings, and you really don’t like tech much, it may actually be helpful for you to be on Facebook. 

If there is such a massive departure of all the good people leaving social media, then Facebook becomes a less positive space. Now I know, it’s not our responsibility to make Facebook good. There are things that I don’t like about Facebook but it is a place where you can show up and connect with people. If you choose not to be on facebook it’s a lost opportunity, not just for you in your business, but for the people that you serve, because they are looking for you. If they happen to be on Facebook, and it’s easy for them to find you.

It’s kind of thwarting their opportunity to grow and thrive and flourish and transform, if you are simply holding back because of a mental aversion. If you can kind of get past this then you’re going to be able to help people more. 

 

Before I was running a business, I was not on Facebook and it’s not really something I’m massively in love with, for so many reasons. However, I wouldn’t really have a business if it weren’t for Facebook. I’ve grown my business over six years and part of that has been through using Facebook for my business. 

I have been through the ups and downs of wanting to release Facebook and choosing to stay. So I understand all the different feelings around Facebook and its suitability for me and my business.

I’m just going to talk from a place of having realized that this is good for me and good for my business, good for my clients, for me to show up there. If you don’t have a social media platform yet, and you’re trying to decide which one. I would say Facebook is an okay place to start. 

There’s another blog I have about which social media to choose which social media platform. So I would recommend checking that out if you’re not really sure.

If you’ve decided, yes, Facebook’s for me, I understand how it works, I have some connections here already, then the first thing you need to know is for business, it’s against Facebook’s terms and conditions for you to conduct business from your personal profile so they’ve created a business page option. 

LISTEN ON THE PODCAST

That’s the first thing to note is that there’s your personal profile, and there’s your business page. However, you can’t set up a business page without a personal profile, you can’t run ads without connecting it up through your personal profile. So don’t get confused about where you’re showing up. 

 You know, if you use Facebook, just for friends and family, it’s going to work much better for you to have a Facebook business page but if you’re really only on there for business, then it’s okay people will just find you.

 It can be really helpful to leverage your current contacts to help grow your business because word of mouth is such a widely successful way to build a business. I would say the two main pillars of business growth are your current network and referral sources and your content creation. 

 

Something that is so great about social media and Facebook is that you can connect on both those levels using Facebook as a tool. You need to go in the top corner, there’s usually a button or you can click Create, and you create a business page.

There are three things that I think you need when you’re setting up your Facebook business page. These are that you will want a banner at the top, you will need a profile picture and it’s really helpful to focus on your ‘about information’. 

 For the banner I like to use a tool called Canva. It’s a free tool, you just sign up with an email address. You just type in the search field, Facebook, then you’re going to see a lot of templates that they have. And I want you guys to make your banner using the template called ‘Facebook Cover’. 

 

The good thing about Canva is that it will help you because it’s got all these beautiful templates in there that you can simply choose one, that one that you find appealing, you can bring in your words, your colors, your images, and make it your own, then you can just download it as a JPEG and bring it into your Facebook business page. 

 

The second thing you need is your profile picture. So if you are an entrepreneur and working with you is the service, then I would think it’s great to have your picture. Sometimes people like to put their logo as their profile picture and that’s okay. However I think if people are working with you, they’re going to meet you eventually and it’s important that you get used to posting pictures and videos of yourself, it’s gonna just make your business go so well. 

 

So even if it feels a bit uncomfortable at first, I know for me it felt uncomfortable at first, hopefully you will get used to it over time. What I see is that people get used to it over time. So if it feels really wrong, right now I feel you, I have been there.

 

The third thing you will need to fill in the about sectionion, it’s helpful if you can just fill in as much information as you can write as much as you can about your business, how you help people, what your values are, fill the about section as much as possible. 

     

And then your business page is ready to go.

There are so many reasons why I think the Facebook pages are important. One of them is that their SEO is great. If anyone ever typed in your name, it’s going to show up in the Google search as your Facebook listing, which can be really helpful if someone’s trying to share your information with someone else.

 

It’s helpful to run ads. I really like running low cost ads to help my business grow. As a business owner, it is just a normal expense to spend a little bit of money on ads. Even if you don’t love Facebook, and you mostly show up on Instagram, the running of ads on Instagram and Facebook is controlled through your Facebook account. 

 

Usually, you can run ads on Instagram from inside the app but it doesn’t give you many options. It’s quite limited. So I like having all the businesses I work with set up with a Facebook page. If we’re running ads, it just makes it so much easier. And it gives people something to share. 

 

It also gives you a place where you can practice creating content. Like I said before, one of the important pillars of growing your business is creating regular content. On Facebook, there are lots of different kinds of content you can share. You can share an image, you can share text, you can share live videos, or pre recorded videos. They have now stories on Facebook, and I think they even have reels on Facebook. Stories and reels are things that have come over from Instagram. 

 

If you are at the beginning, don’t worry too much about all of those options. Just focus on writing some blog style mini article type posts, so text only posts, and posting some pictures or videos of you with captions that just explain what you’re talking about. 

 

If you just made a couple of bits of content every week, you can then share them to your personal profile. It also helps you to  practice talking about your passions, how you serve people and what your business is all about. 

 

You don’t have to post every day. But the more you post, the better you get.. I just like to stay in practice and help the content creation muscle get stronger. So the more you do it, the better you’ll be at it and I really encourage you to create content as much as you can. Don’t deplete yourself but do keep trying. 

 

It’s very important that you can write the content for your posts so that later on if you decide you want a website, you’ll be practiced at writing content about you, about how you serve people and about the challenges your clients face and the way you help them move through that.

 

Alright, think that’s enough about Facebook for today, but if you have other questions, please let me know and I’d love to answer those either in a comment or as another video. I hope you have a beautiful day and I’ll see you soon. Bye

 

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Do you just want to talk to me about your business and website?

I’d love to chat. You can book a free chat and we can discuss website set up and all of the other things I mentioned here. We can even set it all up of ryou and save you the headace. 

Go ahead and book a free chat here: 

Those days when you want to throw your laptop at the wall

Those days when you want to throw your laptop at the wall

Do you have those days when you are working on the tech stuff in your business and you get to the point where you’re so frustrated that you want to throw your laptop? 

I certainly do. 

And because I spend so many hours of my working time laptop dealing with tech I have had to develop some tools to help me in those moments. 

These are kind of like my rules of play or my rules of engagement for working with tech and how to deal with those moments of complete frustration. Those moments of just hitting the brick wall, being in some horrible vortex loop and hating it.

This can happen any time when using technology. 

You know the scenario:

You are trying to do a “simple” thing and it either hits the brick wall.

You want to save something and it just won’t save.

You want to edit something and it just won’t work

or something like that. 

Or you end up in a vortex – you want to do one simple thing and suddenly you’re being asked to sign up for another thing and then you have to pay for something else and then you need another tool to link those two up to each other and you don’t even really know what they do. Your head is spinning and the rage is rising.

So here are 3 things I adhere to when it comes to tech frustration:

  1. Watch the narrative
  2. Space clearing mist
  3. Set a timer

1. WATCH THE NARRATIVE

It’s so important to be aware of the stories you are telling yourself as you work on the tech stuff in your biz. 

If you are trying something new like setting up a website, running ads to Facebook or creating images in Canva and it isn’t working. What are you making this mean? What is your inner dialogue? Are you thinking thoughts like: “I am not techie”, “this is hard”, “Facebook sux” “this is not my zone of genius” {insert yours here}. 

It happens to me when I’m learning something new. I get to the wall or the vortex and I don’t like it. 

I am pretty tenacious and sometimes I think I can just push through and “make it happen”. 

And sometimes I do. 

And sometimes I get really frustrated and get totally disheartened. I get rejective and start wanting to tell a story about the whole thing being a really bad idea.

Once a story is running it’s important to consider how that narrative informs and dictates other realities in your life.

For example, if you try to run ads on Facebook and they get rejected, do you then say that “you just don’t understand” and “Facebook is crap”.

What do you say?

The same thing can happen to 100 people and there are probably 1000 stories you could be telling about that same experience.

One person might make it mean that they are learning something new and that is sometimes uncomfortable where another person might make it mean they suck and tech and can’t move forward in their business.

What you make it mean is the ONLY thing that is within your control.

If you can’t understand what I’m saying here or you find it hard to be aware of your thoughts I recommend meditation and a good life coach.

Those 2 things have helped me find the spaces between my thoughts and my awareness.

This is a powerful development that will help you in all areas of your life, as well as how you feel about tech.

I personally love Vipassna meditation and try to go for a 10 day retreat every year as well as meditating daily as my home practice.

Do you have a meditation practice?

It’s a business tool and a life tool you won’t regret acquiring.

2. SPACE CLEARING MIST

I have 2 space clearing mists I love. I have the Australian Bush Flower Essence Space Clearing mist and the Anima Mundi Palo Santo Protection Myst.

Sometimes, if I am having tech gremlins or even just working with a client and we are getting a bit tense with our progress over a tech fart, I will spritz the heck out of my space with one of those 2 and just take a moment.

Traditionally, Palo Santo is for warding off evil spirits.

But what are “evil spirits” if not our own mental tensions, negative thought patterns and bad mental hygiene?

Sure, maybe your neighbour did put a hex on you.

Or maybe you just need to breathe and become aware of the  magic inside you.

Either way, I find that somehow, space clearing mists help. Even if they only smell good and there’s a placebo effect.
By the time I’m that pissed off I don’t really care what is helping if at all. Bring the nice smells and hex removal.

3. SET A TIMER

The other day I was working with a group of clients on Facebook ads. As well as creating and publishing ads for clients myself, I was mentoring a small group of women to set up their own ads accounts. 

I had a client with a pressing deadline and a decent budget and 5 ads rejected due to misleading claims with another client whose account was disabled due to circumventing Facebook ads policy. 

Then I had one of the students who I was mentoring have her catalogue rejected and another one whose Squarespace site stopped connecting to her Instagram as soon as she followed my instructions to set Instagram up in Business Manager. 

So as well as my own ads failing, and possibly failing my clients I was also failing to support students. 

I could have made this mean that I’m no good at ads and that I am not fit to teach others ads either. And then I could decide that Facebook ads are crap. And I might even decide that I’m not cut out for online business. 

What I did was contact support, and they told me there was a glitch which was making ads rejected when they shouldn’t have been. 

This gave me a red flag that Facebook’s servers might be having other glitches too and that it just wasn’t the day for working on Facebook ads. 

This is so often the case. 

As well as the old “turn it off and turn it back on” trick, I find this third approach a sanity saver. 

How long are you going to swirl in a vortex or headbutting a brick wall before you walk away? 

Some days, it’s better to just walk away. But how long should you try? 

I usually allow about 30-minutes maximum to headbut/swirl and then I walk away. Because most times I have those moments, I find out a week later that “Oh yeah there was a {XYZ} issue that day and everyone was {effected in some way}”.

So just choose a timer, do as much as you can and then walk away. Come back a day or 2 later. 

I actually just checked all of those disapproved ads now (24 hours later) and they are all approved! 

Oh Facebook…

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“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

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Feeling yuck about running ads?

Feeling yuck about running ads?

When you think about running ads, do you feel concerned that you’re going to be intrusive? Do you have an issue with the way that running ads might fit with your values?

For a long time I felt like:

  • Ads are gross
  • Paying for ads is yuck
  • and I didn’t want to do it

But over the last 5 years in business, I see that Facebook is not doing business people any favours: they are not sharing your content with people who like your page.

Organic (unpaid) reach is hard work and not achievable for most people given our time commitments. And Instagram is the same story now since Facebook bought it, and brought in the algorithm.

For some people, it is just as hard on Instagram as it is on Facebook to connect with their audience. 

Truth is Facebook and Instagram are not putting our content and posts in front of the people who actually like our page and sometimes not even with people who engage with us.

What I’ve found from using ads, is that I can easily see how  many people are seeing my posts. I can also see how many people are engaging with them or clicking through to my website. 

I no longer feel annoyed that I’m not getting better reach nor am I angry with Facebook and Instagram for not helping me. I am helping myself. 

Plus, it’s not expensive. Ads can be as low as $1.33AUD a day (current lowest price 16.6.2021).

THE REALITY IS:

Your audience are going to see ads

They will see ads from big budget marketers

They will see ads from mattress companies

They will see ads from weird underpants makers

And they probably don’t want to see those ads

But they DO want to see your content.

They liked your page. They followed you and engaged with your content.

If they see YOU and your ads in their feed instead of all that unwanted advertising – they are actually going to be happy rather than inconvenienced.

They ARE seeking your help, and it’s actually quite ok for you to share your content and offers via ads.

AND if you are going to spend time making content, it’s worth spending a couple of dollars to make sure people actually see it – isn’t it? 

Otherwise, what’s the point of creating content? What tick box are you filling? 

Better targeting for Facebook ads: mine your own interests

Better targeting for Facebook ads: mine your own interests

If your ads don’t feel like they’re working there are a lot of things we can tweak to get better results.

One of those is targeting. But what do I mean? 

When you are creating your ad, and you’re in the “Ad Set” you can choose “Interests” – this is one of the best tools you have at hand.

But what should you put in there? 

I have a great way to mine for ideas; it’s in your own Facebook profile. 

Here’s how you can find your own Interests and use them in your next ad

Did you know that you are served specific ads based on posts & pages you’ve liked, things you’ve typed in the search bar and websites you’ve visited?

Facebook calls this your “Interests”.

You can find your interests by going to:

Account > Settings and Privacy > Settings > Ads > Ad Settings > Categories used to Reach You

Why would you look at your interests?

Quite often

Your client is you

6 months ago

or 2 years ago

In which case, your interests are her interests and you can get great ideas from there. Alternatively, in a market research interview, your interviewee may be willing to let you see their interests. You might need to teach them how to find them 🙂

How did you go with the video? 

The best way to make use of this video is to work along with me. 

Watch it again and:

  1. Find your interests
  2. Create an ad using one of those interests

If you get stuck comment or get in touch with me and I’ll make another video

 

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Do you just want to talk to me about your business and website?

I’d love to chat. You can book a free chat and we can discuss website set up and all of the other things I mentioned here. We can even set it all up of ryou and save you the headace. 

Go ahead and book a free chat here: 

Are Facebook Ads worth it in 2021?

Are Facebook Ads worth it in 2021?

Are Facebook ads worth it in 2021?

Is this the real question – because the easy answer for me is yes….

I would say that the real questions are: 

  • What is valuable to YOU?
  • What is your time worth?
  • What is your content worth if no-one sees it?

Is it worth making content if NO-ONE sees it?
It’s quite likely that is the current reality of your Facebook content….

“I pay my respects and acknowledge the people of the Yuin Nation, traditional custodians of the land on which I live and work. I also pay respect to all Elders — past, present and future.”

Do you just want to talk to me about your business and Facebook ads?

I’d love to chat. You can book a free chat and we can discuss your business, Facebook ads or we can even set it all up for you and save you the headache.

Go ahead and book a free chat here:

3 ways to improve your Facebook™ Ads image

3 ways to improve your Facebook™ Ads image

What makes a winning Facebook™ Ads image?
Well, there are virtually unlimited factors involved so I’m going to make it simple and today I’m going to share 3 ways to easily improve your Facebook™ Ads images.
So, let’s get to it!

The three tips are:

  1. Contrast
  2. Authenticity 
  3. Text

Check out the video for the whole lesson. There are a few notes below to summarise. 

1. Contrast

Number one is to have an image that contrasts with the rest of the feed. Some people suggest a contrast in colour. Facebook’s™ branding is very blue so you could consider using an orange toned image to stand out from it all.
Another contrast to consider is moving images compared to still images. That’s why video works so well.
Alternatively, simply having an image that is somehow really different from what is popular right now can create a sense of it being “novel” or new and trigger a response in a viewer’s brain.
The human brain loves novelty.

2. Authenticity

Audiences are very ads savvy.
Do you ever find yourself quickly scrolling past a post once you realise it’s an ad?
I know that I do.
So one option is to create an image that looks just like a part of the native feed. By that I mean – a post that looks like it was published by your cousin or aunt or best friend rather than a shiny, perfect, polished business trying to sell stuff to you.
Test out images of you in a more personal and authentic setting walking down the street. You will have seen these ads before – that is why they’re doing it!

3. Text

Did you know that if your image has more than 20% of the image covered in text, your ad will not get as much reach?
Well, that’s how the robot rolls.
You can manage the amount of text on your Facebook™ ad image by following the instructions on the video.
The link to the Image Checker is HERE.

Comment below and tell me if this helped.  Have a great day 🙂

Want more help with Facebook™ Ads?

I am happy to launch the Facebook™ Ads Simplified eCourse. Pop over to the info page and find out if it’s the right thing for you:

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Do you need a hand with all the different ways your business can show up online? Video, Facebook, website, Instagram, Facebook ads, email marketing. The list can be overwhelming. 

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