The Business Coach’s Guide to using Facebook
With over 2.41 billion active users every month, Facebook gives you a massive base of people to connect and network with. To use Facebook as a professional networking and brand building tool, you should separate your personal profile from your professional profile.
Here’s a quick guide to promoting your coaching business and networking on Facebook.
To create a Business Page on Facebook, you need a personal profile. Any Business Page needs an admin, who is the person who manages the page. Although, your personal profile and Business Page are connected, nobody but you can see that connection. Facebook treats them like two separate entities, and so should you. Set up your Business Page here.
A Business Page is one of the best ways to establish your professional presence on Facebook. Pages are free and it is quick and easy to set them up. They also boast several free tools to help you achieve your goals, which as a business coach centre around connecting and networking with people, establishing credibility, and building an online community.
Your page will show information about your coaching business, your contact details and operating hours. When you set up your Business Page, make sure you use the Services Template and add a Services Menu so that potential clients can browse your offerings such a virtual coaching, one-on-one coaching, group coaching and assessments as a service. Remember to turn on Recommendations so that potential clients can review your business.
Top Page features for you:
Posting
The fastest way to share information on your Business Page is to post. When you are on your Business Page, anything you post will automatically be posted by your Business Page. You can add a call-to-action (CTA) button to encourage people to take specific actions such as read your blog, visit your website or signup for a webinar. Use our publishing tools to manage your posting schedule.
Messaging
Your Business Page comes with an Inbox, which lets you communicate with people on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. You can also use tools to organise your messages and create automate responses.
Tools
You can use free Business Page tools to connect with customers, build a community and grow your coaching business. You can even setup Appointments on Facebook to allow clients to book directly from your Page.
Insights
Insights can help you find clients who need business coaching. You can understand actions that people take on your page, such as how often they like, comment on or share your posts. You can also see insights about other coaches’ pages to learn about your industry and audience.
Promote a professional image
Your profile picture and cover image plays a big role in portraying a professional image and building credibility. Make sure that your profile picture paints you as professional, credible and as someone worth knowing.
Use your status updates to establish yourself as a thought-leader in your field with insightful, relevant and thought-provoking opinions. You can talk about current trends, share blog posts that you have written and other useful content, as well as ask questions to initiate friendly online debates. Make sure that the content you share on your Facebook Business Page is relevant to your industry so that people who follow or like your page find it meaningful and useful. A robust, active page that’s full of regular posts and lots of audience engagement is a great way to establish your voice and build your credibility as a coach while building your coaching business.
Grow your network
Business Pages on Facebook don’t have friends, they have likes. The people who like your page will receive your updates in their news feed. The more people who like your page, the broader your reach will be when sharing your news and views. You can invite people to like your page as well as suggest your page to all your email contacts.
You can Boost posts you've created from your page to get more people to see it and increase engagement. Perhaps, you’ve written a blog that you want more people to see or you are hosting a webinar that you want people to attend? Learn more about boosting your posts. If your goal is to get more people to like your Page, you can run a campaign to help achieve that goal. Learn how to promote your Page.
Join Groups
Facebook groups offer tremendous networking opportunities for professionals. There are any number of Facebook groups dedicated to various industries, professions, and interests. You can use your Business Page to join groups of colleagues, as well as groups where your potential clients could be found. You can customise your search for groups based on various keywords. As a business coach, you may want to use keywords such as “leadership” or “small business owners” (in your region) for example.
The more you contribute to the conversations taking place in these groups, the more your name will become recognized for your leadership and expertise. Focus on offering genuine advice and thoughts rather than being too promotional though as this is likely to deter potential leads.
Use Facebook Live
As a business coach, you can use Facebook Live to connect in real time with potential clients as well as for creating interesting and relevant content to share on other social media platforms. You could use Facebook Live to share your words of wisdom or to interview clients or other thought leaders.
Encourage reviews and endorsements
In this digital, highly connected age, people will take to the internet to research you before they hire you. They will look for success stories and testimonials online and they will also speak to other people about their experiences with you on forums and on social media platforms such as Facebook. Invite your clients and the people who like your page to submit reviews. Make sure that your Business Page is configured to receive reviews. To turn on reviews, login to your Facebook Business Page, Click on Settings, got to Templates and Tabs, and enable Reviews.
Collaborate with other coaches and thought leaders
You can add extra value to your audience by collaborating with other coaches and business leaders via blogs, videos and webinars. This will also help you to expand your audience and increase your chances of referrals. Hosting a webinar or speaking somewhere? Create an event page and people on your page and in the groups you’re in to attend your session. You can even see your RSVPs and get feedback from attendees.
One last tip! We recommend that you complete the free, self-guided Facebook Blueprint courses to help build your marketing skills on the platform.
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