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Leslie Presnell
Hey, do you want to know what's possible for you when we work together inside the LocalPreneur Academy? Before you dive into this episode, I wanted to invite you to book a complimentary consult call with me so we can talk about exactly how your business will grow. And listen, I know hopping on a call can feel really intimidating. I've been there. I know it can be scary, I know it can be awkward, and I don't want you to feel nervous or pressured at all. In fact, I want it to be a really fun conversation. Let's like, seriously, how often do we get an hour just to talk about ourselves and our business to someone who actually wants to listen? I'll 100% lead the conversation so you don't have to be worried about being prepared or even knowing what to say. We're going to look at everything you're doing now to market yourself locally. Even if you don't think you are doing enough or it's not working at all how you want it to. We're going to figure out what's working and what's not working and why, and exactly what I'll do to help you inside the LocalPreneur Academy and how it will apply specifically to your unique business. And I know you likely have a lot of questions like how do I reach more people who live in my city? And how do I get people to stop scrolling and actually engage with my post? How do I get people to take action and reach out to book or buy? And we can totally cover this for sure. And anything else you can think of that's keeping you stuck and I'll share how I can make the process easier for you to grow your local business. I've been there and I have helped so many local business owners do this work too. So click the link in the show notes to schedule your complimentary consult. Call with me and I will talk to you soon. You are listening to the Grow youw Local Business Podcast where local marketing expert and life coach Leslie Presnell shares the strategies and the mindset to help you reach more people in your city and bring in a steady stream of clients. All right, let's dive in. Foreign welcome to episode 84. Today we are going to talk about Facebook and Facebook groups specifically and we're totally switching gears here. I feel like for the past month I've been talking so much about Instagram. I just came off a huge three day challenge during June where I taught you guys the local Instagram formula. We did it live over three days and I broke down the formula and I just taught it better than I ever have before. Over 300 of you participated and got my feedback on your Instagram, on your bios, on your content, and it was just so much fun. I love having a concept that I came up with years ago. You know, I teach the Instagram formula in episode two of the podcast, and it is by far my most popular episode. But taking this concept and just seeing how much this concept has evolved, the more I teach it, I teach it all the time inside my program and now teaching it live over this challenge and just seeing how much, how much it evolves, the more people I work with and the more people ask questions about it. So, yeah, just seeing the evolution of this simple concept of localizing your Instagram is so much fun. And to see you guys as local business owners saying how, you know, like, you're just not taught this, how there is so much marketing advice out there, but really simple things like putting your city in your bio is something that so many of you, like, didn't have. So, you know, these little things that are overlooked and how we're just not taught as local business owners how to localize our marketing and how to think of everything we're doing on a local level. So. But that's why we're here. But if you missed that challenge, all the replays are now housed inside of the localpreneur Academy. And that will just be part of your lifetime membership whenever you join us. So you get access to that and our entire course and your social media success path inside whenever you join. But like I said, for today's episode, I'm switching gears and we're going to talk about Facebook. I feel like I've been talking about Instagram so much and we've got to give Facebook some air time. And I want to talk today specifically about Facebook groups and how to show up as a business owner inside of local Facebook groups. So many of my clients have success inside of groups. They find clients inside of groups. They get referred in these groups. But I also know that Facebook groups can be kind of tricky because you're like, how do I show up in these groups? I feel kind of spammy and weird. And they can also be a rabbit hole that you can go down if you're not careful. They can suck a lot of your time and energy if you don't constrain yourself. So I just wanted to record this episode today to share my current thoughts for you on how to get the most out of local Facebook groups, how to be a Good member of Facebook groups and how to really manage your inside of a Facebook group. And I actually have a good bit of experience with local groups on both sides as the admin of a Facebook group and the owner of the group and as a member of other people's Facebook groups. So I think it just kind of gives me the unique perspective on both sides that I can kind of share with you today as well. I created a Facebook group for my own local business years ago, maybe in 2015, 2016, as a way for my audience to connect. And I also have a Facebook group for you guys called how to grow your local business. And that's just community around this podcast and another free resource for you. So if you're not part of that, definitely come join us. I will link that up in the show notes for you. And I teach a bonus training inside the LocalPreneur Academy as well about how to grow an online community for your business. Like a Facebook group, if that is something you're interested in. A lot of my clients do add something like that, like a VIP group or something along those lines, but today we are going to keep it about being a member in other people's groups, not necessarily growing your own group, because that's a whole other topic. So we're going to talk more about how to market yourself in other people's groups. And it's just very likely that there are already local Facebook groups that your ideal clients are in who live in your city. So I just recommend doing some research and joining a few. You don't have to join a ton. I don't think Facebook groups have to be something that take up all of your time. I would definitely set some parameters around this. Decide ahead of time when and how long and like what days you're gonna go in and be part of Facebook groups, like when you're gonna post and engage. Because like I said, it can be really easy for you to go down rabbit holes and get really lost in groups. So put some constraints around your time just so you are using your time wisely and you're not spending too much time in Facebook groups. But as far as joining Facebook groups and finding groups, there are groups on everything these days. There are groups based on specific topics or interests or hobbies. Or there are groups local, like local networking groups. Maybe they are local moms groups. Maybe there are even groups for people around certain ages to network and connect. Maybe there are groups for certain careers or even groups for certain neighborhoods or areas in your town. Maybe there are groups for meetups or just generic citywide groups, foodie groups. I just, I feel like there's literally, literally a group for everything at this point. You can search for Facebook groups or just click Discover on Facebook and see what you can find. Facebook will give you some suggestions based on your own interest. And I think that's important too. Like, join groups that you want to be a part of. That's going to make it more fun and enjoyable for you as well. And then you could see what groups your friends are in. You are bound to find some that you can join. But one thing that a client asked me recently was how do you actually be a business owner in the group and show up as the business owner when so many groups don't allow you to join as your business page? So a lot of Facebook groups have it set up, like when you request to join that you can only join as your Facebook profile, like your personal Facebook profile, not as your business page. And this is how my Facebook groups are set up as well. And for me, as the admin of this group, this was just my personal preference because I wanted to humanize the group and I wanted everyone to come in as the business owner. I did not want a bunch of pages and logos in my group. I wanted to get to know you as the business owner. To me, it's more personal. And that was just my personal preference. And I obviously cannot speak for every Facebook group admin out there, but if I had to guess, that's probably the case for a lot of these groups. They want to keep social media social and personal. They don't want a bunch of business pages just coming in and taking the personal connection out of it. And there's also just the spammy element that comes into it. And the groups just start feeling like it's one big sales page or advertisement, which just may not be the vibe that the admin was going for. That is not what I was going for with my group. So that's why I don't allow pages to join only you as the person to join through your personal Facebook. So one of my clients the other day, with this in mind, asked me, like, how do I get my business seen? How do I get people to know about my business if I'm in there engaging and interacting as me personally and not my page? Like, what's the point of joining all these Facebook groups and making this part of my marketing plan if I can't even actually be my page? So I do have a workaround for this. And my answer is to optimize your personal Facebook page. Because of course, if you are spending time in Facebook groups, commenting and sharing, the idea is that people are like, oh, who is this really helpful person? And they click on your name and they come to your personal Facebook page where they can see certain things about you and your business and learn more and go from there. So there are four things that you can for sure add to your personal page so that when people do click over to your personal page, they instantly know what your local business is and they can learn more and eventually work or buy from you. So the first thing you can do to optimize your personal Facebook page is to include what you do in your bio. So at the time of this recording, in the intro section on your personal page bio, you can write a little bio up to 101 characters. I know that's such a random number, but 101 characters. So short and sweet. But I would include what your business is here and just see what all you can fit. But just make it really clear what your business is here and what you do. The second thing you can do is you can also edit your details here in your bio section and you can add a workplace. So this is where you can also tag your Facebook business page. And I think this is really important because this will be clickable, so someone will be able to click from your bio over to your business page. So for example, you could say you're a photographer at XYZ Business, and they'll be able to click on XYZ Business and go over to your Facebook business page. The third thing you can do is you can include a link. I would include either the direct link to your website, or if you use a service like linktree, or you have a link that houses multiple links and buttons, I would include that link there. That way it's just super easy for people to click on over and find whatever they're looking for. The fourth thing you can do is change your cover image to be a graphic or image about your business. So your Facebook cover image is just the bigger photo that's behind your profile picture. I like to think of this picture as your billboard. So for me right now, and ever since I launched this podcast almost two years ago, I have had a graphic there showcasing my podcast. So when people land on my personal Facebook page, they see this big cover image of my podcast that says grow your local business. So they instantly know that I help them grow their local business. And you can even add a caption or other links in this photo as well. So I just Linked up my podcast there. So you can link to your services page or your website or really wherever you want to send people. But just think like what's a graphic or image that's going to make it super clear what I do, no questions asked and make that your cover image. It's like your billboard. Now you can leave your profile picture as is. I would just make sure that it's a good clear picture of you. Like make sure you are in it. I see so many people joining my Grow youw Local Business Facebook group as business owners who are not in their profile picture. Like it might be instead a picture of their pet or like a cartoon image or flowers or a quote or something else. If you are going to be interacting in Facebook groups as a business owner, I would 100% make sure you are in your Facebook profile picture. So many of us are doing very personal things with our clients. We're working with them face to face, hands on. We're going into their homes, they're coming into our clinics or studios or offices, meeting with them in one on one personal ways. They want to see who you are. This is going to build that like know and trust factor. Okay, so those are the four ways to optimize your personal Facebook page. Just so if you are engaging in these Facebook groups, people can still know what your business is. So updating your bio, including your workplace and tagging your page, including a link to your website and changing your cover image to make it be about your business. Now sometimes people are resistant to doing this because they're like well I don't really want to use my personal Facebook page for business. And that's totally fine. You don't have to post about your business on your personal page. Like you don't have to share with your friends and family if you don't want to. You don't have to post about your business regularly. But at least your page now has what you do and what your business is. So this can just be a one time thing that you set it up and it's done. And then if you choose not to post about your business, that's totally fine. Okay, so once all that set up, you are ready to start joining groups and start engaging as that local go to person and as the expert in your industry. So what does that look like? Does that mean posting content and promoting your services and promoting your business in the Facebook group? It depends. The first thing I would do is I would get really clear on what the Facebook group policies and guidelines are before you just start posting your own content and promoting yourself inside the group. If you aren't allowed to post about your business, then this could get your post taken down or you could get kicked out and banned from the group. So definitely get clear first on the rules. Different groups do different things. Some groups have different days or posts that they allow you to promote yourself. Some groups allow you to pay an advertising fee to promote yourself a certain number of times throughout the month. Some groups don't allow it at all. Some groups allow it all day, every day, unlimited. Every group is just different and you may even want to just reach out to the admin. If you're unsure, introduce yourself, tell them who you are, and ask them if it's okay to promote and post about your business and they'll tell you, I also think this is a great way for you to make a connection and build a relationship with someone who lives in your city and who has built up this amazing group that you want to be a part of. And here's what's important to think about and the way I always think about someone else's group and that I'm going into. This is someone else's social media platform that they have built up. They have spent hundreds or thousands of hours growing this group, maintaining this group, making this group an engaging place that you want to be a part of. They have even possibly spent thousands of dollars on marketing or advertising growing this group. Like, this is their group that they have put a lot of time and energy in. So I just remind myself of that whenever I go into other people's groups. Like, this is not my home. So I want to be super respectful of their rules and I want to play by their rules and I want to have a really good attitude about their rules because they're the ones who have done all the hard work and now I just get to benefit from it. Because now here are all these ideal clients who live in my city all in one spot, and it's this free, easy way for me to reach them. It's like, I wouldn't go into someone else's store and just start selling my products, but if they invited me in and said, hey, you can pop up here for the day and sell, I'd be like, okay, great. Like, tell me where I can set up, how much stuff can I bring? Can I bring my table? How big can it be? How long can I be here? I'm going to ask questions and then I'm going to follow their rules. So of course I'm going to have a great attitude about that, and I'm going to be the same way with their group. So if they do allow you to post in the group, again, just follow their rules. But I also don't think you have to reinvent the wheel with the content you're posting in the group. Like, make it easy for yourself. I think you can use a lot of what you're already posting on your other platforms, like what you're already posting on your own Facebook or on your own Instagram. Inside the LocalPreneur Academy, I have my clients come up with their local marketing plans so they know what they're posting and how often. And then the Facebook group post would just become part of that. And then I teach you how to evaluate what you're doing and what you're posting so you're not just blindly posting all the time and crossing your fingers every week hoping that you get a result. But every week and every month, we're troubleshooting it and we're getting feedback on it, and every week is just getting better and better. So your posts are converting at a higher rate. But a great place for you to start right now is just by resharing what you're already posting on your regular social media or things that you know are already working really well for you. And of course, if you want help with this, then just come jump into LocalPreneur Academy with us and we will help you create your local marketing plan, your content pillars, everything you need to make this a really easy system in your business. So something else to think about besides just posting your own content is how you can just add value inside of the group. And so when I'm thinking about how this is someone else's group and not my own group that I'm going into, it makes me want to be a really good group member. And that may mean not just posting my own content, but it may mean going in and answering people's questions and helping people when I can. I just want to go in and be of service. And I'm not going to be attached to how this comes back to me. Because I know sometimes we're like, well, I commented on Susan's post and I gave her so much help. I can't believe she hasn't reached out to work with me yet. Like, it's been three days. Like, where is she? But we can't be attached like that. Okay, so I'm just going to keep offering value because every post I comment on, every time I help someone, people are seeing my name, People are seeing me as the expert, they're seeing me as that local go to person, that local top choice. And that's truly what being an engaging member is all about. Sometimes I think this can be more valuable than even posting, just you going in and helping people when you can by commenting on their posts and answering their questions. This helps you show up and be the expert and you feel that when you show up as that person. So it gives you the opportunity every day or every week to go into these groups, to step into your expertise and that energy of being that local go to person. Because like I've said over and over throughout this podcast and like I teach my clients, when you become that local go to person, you have to show up and be that person every day. And that's how you actually become that person. So that starts with you just feeling what it feels like to show up as that expert and it can start in these Facebook groups. So when you can show up as the expert in these groups, you get to feel what that feels like. You feel what it feels like to help people, to be seen as that person who can help. And then people will start tagging you in posts and saying, hey, this person can help you. And it's just a chain reaction at that point. But it starts with you showing up in service and being unattached with how that value is going to come back to you. Okay, my friends, I hope you found that super helpful today. If you want to make engaging in local Facebook groups part of your local marketing plan or you just want help in general coming up with your plan, creating content, showing up as that local go to person so you can grow your business, then come join us inside the LocalPreneur Academy. This is my lifetime membership program. You'll get instant access to the course, weekly face to face business coaching and 247 support in our members only Facebook group. So you'll get lifetime access to accountability, support, education and mentorship. I hope I see you inside. Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode, I want to invite you to check out my program, the LocalPreneur Academy. This is the only program for small business owners who want to become the local go to in their industry with a steady stream of clients. You can find more information@lesliepressnell.com and I'll see you inside.