Social Media Sprint: How To Optimize Facebook | PoP 328

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Social Media Sprint: How To Optimize Facebook

Do you have a Facebook business page but you’re not sure what to post? Are you posting content that is relevant to your ideal client? How much value are you adding to your Facebook audience, if any?

In this podcast episode, Joe Sanok speaks about how to optimize your Facebook page and how to engage with your ideal client through curating relevant content.

Podcast Sponsor

Before Practikat existed, therapists were unable to find products for their practice in one place. Practikat is the first online marketplace exclusively for mental health professionals to buy and sell original products online.

In This Podcast

Summary

In this episode Joe Sanok speaks about how you can optimize your Facebook page and posts for better engagement and reach.

What Is Social Media

It’s the combination of socialization/connections and media.

In private practice we often think about how you can use media get people to come to your practice. We don’t often take the social aspect into consideration.

Know, Like And Trust

This is the process of getting people to know you first, as they get to know you they will start trusting you.

Your Ideal Client

Knowing who your ideal client is will help you develop the ‘voice’ you use on social media. Look at your overall strategy and how it relates to your ideal client.

When you want to reach your ideal client on Facebook, if you are posting 5 times a week make sure that you are adding value:

  • Make sure that 3 posts are adding value in the form of linking to a blog post, sharing tips or an inspirational quote.
  • Showcase a bit of your personality in 1 post to personalise/humanise your feed so as to keep the ‘social’ aspect alive
  • The last post can be used to promote your business/services

Ideas Of Things To Post

  • Adding value – share tips and think about what people would like to share
  • Your personality – pictures of an activity you did over the weekend or things that you are interested in. You don’t want to be posting pictures of your food and overloading your business page with things that belong on your personal page.
  • When promoting your business keep it simple with an impactful graphic and give them the option to click through to your website. This allows the person viewing the opportunity to participate in the call to action or just continue scrolling.

Facebook Pages

Having sub pages or multiple pages is not recommended.

If you have multiple specialties in a group practice, view the Facebook page as being the hub of that. Have different themes for different days addressing all these specialities.

Best Practices To Use With Facebook

People should know within 3 seconds of landing on your Facebook page who you are and what you do.

  • Do Facebook lives
  • Use your logo as profile picture and make sure that it is of a high quality
  • Have all your updated business information on your page (opening hours, location, link to your website etc).
  • Add some of this above information in your cover photo
  • Ensure that your logo or URL is included in your posts so that this can be visible when your posts are shared
  • Engage with your audience and people relevant to your industry
  • Using an automated reply so that your responsiveness is highlighted

Useful Links:

Meet Joe Sanok

 

private practice consultant

Joe Sanok helps counselors to create thriving practices that are the envy of other counselors. He has helped counselors to grow their businesses by 50-500% and is proud of all the private practice owners that are growing their income, influence, and impact on the world. Click here to explore consulting with Joe.

 

 

 

 

Thanks For Listening!

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Podcast Transcription

SOCIAL MEDIA SPRINT – HOW TO OPTIMIZE FACEBOOK
PRACTICE OF THE PRACTICE
POP 328

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This is the Practice of the Practice podcast with Joe Sanok, Session number 328.

INTRODUCTION
[JOE]
I’m Joe Sanok, your host, welcome to the Practice of the Practice podcast. I am here in the Radio Center 2 Building in beautiful downtown Traverse City. And life is good in the Sanok family and businesses. Hope everything is going awesome in your world. If you’re new to the podcast and we keep growing by leaps and bounds. First, thanks so much for being here. Thanks for spending time with us. And if you’ve been around for a while, I know we have people that have been here since episode one.
Really glad that you’ve stuck around and shared this with people that you’re connected with. I’m so excited to share with you. We’re going to be doing a short sprint about a few podcasts in a row coming up. It’s going to be Social Media Sprint. And this was actually recorded within my Next Level Practice communities. So, Next Level Practice, as you’ve probably heard is this awesome ecosystem where we do live trainings. We do hot seats with people.
People get put into small groups. We also, you know, probably every month, every other month, we do a longer training, so, like a ten-part blogging series. And then, we also did– I think a twelve-part, we did some other– something parts. I recorded so far in advance. It’s hard to remember what exactly is happening right now. And so, in Next Level Practice, we’re seeing people really level up quickly. And there’s a cohort launching. It’s only $77 a month, or usually, it’s a $100 a month if you want to get in at any time. And so, you can sign up over at practiceofthepractice.com/invite. But, you know, for me, what’s really great about it is you know, when we’re first starting a practice, we don’t really get that hand-holding.
It’s a great way where we can serve a lot of people. But, they can also really help each other. And so, for these next three days, I’m going to be sharing with you a little behind the scenes with that in regard to Social Media Sprint. We’re going to covering Facebook. We’re going to be looking at Instagram and Pinterest. Then, we’re going to look at Twitter and LinkedIn and so, it’s going to be pretty exciting. And here we go.

[JOE]
Cool! It’s 11:30. We’re going to kick things off right now. So, why don’t you just cover what we’re going to be doing over the next three days with this Social Media Sprint? Sam and I are going to be working with you and saying hello and giving you some great advice. Sam, how are you today?

[SAM]
Yeah, I’m doing well. Thanks.

[JOE]
That’s great. I’m doing well. I’m doing well. Had a busy morning so far. Now, is Sam’s video coming through okay to everyone? If it is, just in the chat, put “Yes”. And then, we’ll know that all of our settings are kicked off perfect. Okay. Cool. Thanks, Katie. Alright. Cool. Well, why don’t I go through kind of what we’re going to talk about today and kind of what we’re going to cover in this next half-hour. So, we are going to be starting with what is social media and kind of looking at those words.
We’re going to talk about know, like, and trust, and how that plays into social media. Then, we’re going to cover kind of an overall strategy for social media, talking about your ideal clients. So, a lot of this kind of back-end stuff, before you ever consider what social media platforms to be on any of the actual strategy, we want to like everything we do know the why behind it.
Then, we’re going to talk about what you need to do in social media. But, even more importantly, what you need to not be doing in social media. And then, we’re going to talk about specifics today of Facebook. And then, tomorrow and Thursday, we’re also going to be covering Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, and have maybe a little bit of time for questions. But, even if you have questions, you can always drop that into the Facebook group.
We’re going to dive into the content and then have a little bit of time for questions. But, we have all the Q&As throughout the month as well. And we’re active in the Facebook group. So, I wanted to start with just talking about this word “social media.” Now, when we think of just the word “social,” in the chat area, put what you think when you just think of the word “social.” For me, I think about hanging out with friends and family. Like this weekend, we went camping with a couple of families, hung out on the beach and played spike ball, played in the water.
To me, that’s socializing. So, what do you think of when I say the word “social?” Drop that into chat or if you’re watching this recording, just think for a second when you just hear the word “social.” Like, “Hey, let’s be social.” What do you think? And then, when you think of the word “media,” what comes to mind? For me, it’s kind of like this one-sided relationship. I think billboards. I think people putting out content in the newspaper, radio, kind of traditional media. And so, if we pull apart “social media…”
It’s the combination of these two things of socialization, connections, and media. And often times, in private practice, what we do is we think about social media like the media site. How can we get people to come into our practice? How do we get people to listen to my podcast? How do we get people to do something they don’t want to do? In the same way that a billboard is selling something like a granola bar and it uses all these sexy people to show you, “Hey, if you eat this granola bar, you’re going to be sexy.”
That’s how we often approach social media and that’s not looking at the other side of the coin where it’s the social sites, the culture side is jumping into the party. Gary Vaynerchuk talks a lot about social media. He’s written a book called Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. And he uses the analogy of each social media platform being like a party. And so, when you walk into a party, you don’t just start throwing out your business cards. You don’t just start telling everybody how great you are.
You get to know the party. You connect with people, you talk with people. And so, the same sort of thing, as we talk about social media, we start with this as social people around there to look at pictures of their grandkids. They’re on there to look at an infographic on Pinterest. They’re on there to see what the president just tweeted. They’re on there for different reasons and we want to jump into that party rather than disrupt that party. So, at its core, we don’t want to disrupt the party.
We want to make sure we understand that kind of area and what we’re doing there. So, another principle I want to chat about is the idea of know, like, and trust. Zig Ziglar is one of the greatest kinds of business teachers of all the time. In a sense, he was the first one to do something like a podcast, where he had these little– there were just cassettes that you could buy. And he called it, I think, it was like Automobile University. And the idea was that when you’re stuck in your commute, you actually learn something during that time about your business rather than just be stuck listening to music. And so, he was one of the first people, it was teaching business principles while people were stuck in a commute driving to work. So, Zig Ziglar talks a lot about know, like, and trust.
Really, what you’re taking people through is this process of first. They don’t know you exist and then they know you exist, and then, they like you, and then they trust you. So, think back about my wife Christine when I was in high school, when I was a senior high school, she was a junior. My friend, Phil, said, “Hey, I know this girl who can get us cheap snowboarding tickets and she’ll drive us out to the Snowboarding Hill.” And so, Christina, she could give us these cheap tickets because it was through a school she had gone to when she was younger. And so, all of those tons of women in the world who don’t even know I exist, now, this Christina, she knows I exist. So, she knows me.
Then, there’s even fewer women that like me. So, then, I end up weaving people out. And she weeds people out. We go off to college and reconnect. And then, we end up trusting each other and getting married. Now, that’s true with our businesses too. It’s just as important to say who’s in as it is to say who’s out. The way that you define your brand, the way that you talk on social media, the way that you talk on your website, all of that points to who is in. But, even more importantly, who’s out? So, if you EMDR, for example, with people that are dealing with trauma and people that are dealing with all sorts of things that have gone on in their life.
Well, that also means that you don’t serve a certain population. Maybe you don’t serve girls that are cutting. And maybe you don’t serve angry boys. And maybe you don’t help couples. Maybe you just help individuals that have been through sexual violence. So, knowing who’s an annoying, who’s out is part of you clarifying how you talk in social media. And if you don’t do that work ahead of time, of who your ideal client is, and who you’re trying to attract, then, you’re going to just say, “Oh, I need to be on everything and then nothing’s going to work.”
Alright, so, one of the first things we want to look at is your overall strategy and how it relates to your ideal client. And Sam, I’m sure you have some ideas as well on how to attract an ideal client. I’m going to give you a chance to chat a little bit about that in just a minute. But, we wanted to start with who are we trying to attract, who is the decision maker in the relationship. So, for example, if you’re going to work with teens, is it teens that are reaching out for therapy, or is it usually their mom or their dad?
If you’re working with co-parenting, is it usually the mom or the dad in that situation. And so, really looking at not only who are you trying to attract, but, is there someone that’s the decision maker in the relationship that picks up the phone, or sends you an email, or automatically schedules through your EMR on your website. And so, thinking through that, and then, how does that person make decisions? And so, that’s going to lead us through a number of different social media platforms. So, we may want to have some bedrock, you know.
Instagram, things that are there, but that’s more because we’re working with college students. We’re working with people that are more visual. Maybe we work with designers and we help them, you know, through counseling. So, thinking through those specific areas, and the specific social medias. Now, I would say Facebook is almost it’s as essential as a website at this point. You have some sort of presence and some sort of, you know, a couple times a week posts that you schedule out. And we’ll go into some of that strategy, that’s where people are at least on Facebook. And so, you’ll want to at least have some Facebook presence. So, in regard to ideal clients, Sam, what are some thoughts or observations you’ve had with working with so many different clinicians.

[SAM]
I think one of the most important things when it comes to Facebook and reaching ideal clients is to add value. So, I’ve kind of broken it down maybe every 5 posts. Make sure that they are added values. Whether it be tips, or blog posts, or inspirational quotes, three out of the five should add direct value to the ideal client. And then, I would say, one, to showcase a bit of your personality because as we were saying in the beginning, social media is a great way to interact with people. So, not just kind of showing them your brand, but, showing them a bit of who you are. And then, having one promotional about your services, so, we don’t just use social media just to promote your services the whole time and try to get people to book an appointment with you because they’re going to see that as promotional.
But, I think, as you said, we’re getting kind of connecting with them by adding value. So, having three out of five posts, I’ve added one showcasing your personality and promoting your services.

[JOE]
I love that breakdown because oftentimes, I think, people, they know what to do when it comes to promoting. But, they think it is kind of slimy. And I think that sliminess happens when people aren’t providing value. And so, that the idea and having some tips, and so, let’s just take that example of maybe someone that works with teenagers, and so, if we think through, okay, it’s August. A lot of teens are going back to school. What would be some tips, Sam, that you would say would fit in those three posts that are providing value?
What comes to mind for you?

TIPS – TEENAGERS GOING BACK TO SCHOOL

[SAM]
Well, we’ve actually just helped a client design posts for children, specifically, for how to get back into the back-to-school routine. You could just kind of research that and grab some few tips from the web on, you know, reinforcing bedtime, or you know, mealtimes, things like that, getting back into the swing of things. And so, yeah, you can basically just anything that’s kind of rid into your ideal kind when it comes to tips and advice, any tips and advice that you give in consulting sessions.
You could just grab that and put that on a post. Obviously, that adds a lot of value to people on your Facebook page.

[JOE]
Yeah, and I think that even just thinking, “Well, what are people likely to share?” When I think about having a four-year-old and a seven-year-old, and putting together lunches, you know, three to five days a week for them, that doesn’t have to necessarily anything to do in counseling. But, it does because you know, if I’m less stressed as a parent, if I feel like, okay, if I get a big package from Cosco of the squeezies and granola bars, and kind of plan out their meals for the week, and then have most of that prep done Sunday, I’m going to probably be more present every morning when I don’t feel like getting out of bed. And you know, even doing little things like getting the coffee ready the night before, maybe that’s going to help me a better parent in the morning. And so, those little things, oftentimes, do you think, “Well, that’s not really counseling.”
But, it is. Because if you’re focusing on, you know, parents of young kids like myself, those are things that I am on social media already for. You think about all the videos that you watch share, or you say, “Oh, you know, to your friends, you tag him and say you’ve got to check this out, or you share it with him.” It’s not somebody’s promotion. It’s usually these tips or these hacks like I never thought of. How cool that you can get that stain out with that thing.
Those are the things that if we say, okay, I’m a counselor for families. But then, what’s all the family life stuff that I’m going to work on and share. Those are great tips that you can do. I’d say also even just going on, you know, Huffington Post, looking at the lifestyle section, you can find a bunch of great articles that you just share other people’s articles if you don’t have the content. Now, what about Sam, you said, spotlighting your personality.
What does that look like? I know a lot of therapists, they kind of say to themselves, I don’t want to reveal too much about my life and I’m worried about that. What would you suggest are things that you would put in the appropriate or needed side, and things that you would say that might be over sharing too much.

[SAM]
And it’s funny. I’m actually chatting with the client who loves cats and so, she wants to showcase that on her Facebook page. So, she likes to post a bunch of cat memes. And so, I would say that’s appropriate. I mean, you know, people love memes. They love anything that’s humorous or funny. They will share that. And but, I would say, again, I can kind of keep within the ratio. I mentioned doing kind of overload in the page as cat memes and not a lot of added value for the client.
I just keep it within that ratio. And things that I would say is not appropriate on your business page would kind of be, I would say just kind of think, and you know, what you share on your personal page. So, I would say, kind of well, you could include photos of what you’re doing. But, you know, like photos of your kids or your food, things that you share on your personal page. I would say keep that off of your business page because ultimately, people aren’t really interested in that.
They’re following you for your expertise. So, as much as you want to showcase your personality. Don’t take it overboard with too much of your private life. I mean, I’d say rather than posting photos of yourself, post things that you’re interested in, maybe an activity you did on the weekend, or as I said cat memes, just things like that.

[JOE]
No, I think that’s a great point. When you said cat memes, I right away thought like “Oh, no. Is this therapist going to be like a crazy cat lady?” But then, it’s like if you follow that 1 to 5 ratios, then, you should have all this other stuff. And so, it’s kind of peppered in there versus, you know, it’s all cat memes and everything. And maybe, that’s what they want. Maybe they have therapy cats or something. And it’s like that’s who they want to attract. And so, they’re going, you know, weed me out because I’m more on the dog side, even though, Cat’s more on the cat side. So, then, what about the direct pitching?
How do you do something that’s a call to action that doesn’t feel slimy? So, I think that’s one of the biggest questions, not just on Next Level Practice, but even with Mastermind and Slow Down School. People just don’t want to be slimy. And really quick, in the chat, if you have follow-up questions, we’ll weave those into the conversation and see some questions came in. I’ll be monitoring that, Sam, so, you don’t have to jump in there. But, you know, how do people do a call to action that doesn’t feel slimy but actually gets people in the door for counseling.

CALL TO ACTION

[SAM]
I’d say keep it as simple as possible and make the call to action as impactful as possible. So that, if people want to know more, they can click through to your website. I think it becomes kind of slimy as you would say if you’re trying to put in too much information without your Facebook post. I think, kind of the best way to do it is to mention your offering or your service, and kind of in a simple post with a really nice, clean, impactful graphic. And then, just say, you know, take care for more information, make people interested.
They can just kind of scroll pass and they don’t feel like you’ve pushed them to whatever service you’re offering.

[JOE]
Well, I think, even just how you’ve been speaking is a great example of that. It’s natural for you to say, “Well, when I was working with this client on this area, you know, those that are here may not know that you work directly with clients.” Our goal for this isn’t to sell you. But, you’re then, just saying, you know, when I work with counselors, when I help them with their social media, here’s what happens. And we can kind of use that same sort of thing where we might say, one thing I’ve noticed with families that I work with, without revealing, obviously, confidential or sensitive information, is that most families have these questions.
Boom, boom, boom. We often cover this by addressing it through these tips. If you’re interested in talking to a therapist at Mental Wellness Counseling, here’s our phone number or contact us here. That, then, becomes sort of that content is part of it. And then, it’s not just trying to get someone to make a decision that they wouldn’t otherwise make. The other side of slimy that I would say I see is when it feels like you’re trying to get someone to make a decision based on just like fear, or like, “This could happen,” or, “Do you want your kid to end up in prison?”
Of course not, like, that’s kind of an extreme example. But, you can find smaller versions of that too that when you’re really basing most of your content on fear, not on the reality, that’s when I think that we tend to lose people. You can do that in a way though that is accurately sharing statistics, and the people realize that there’s, you know, an opioid crisis, or that most kids are not sleeping enough. That’s not fear. That’s just informative. I see a few questions coming in.
Sam, how do you feel about focusing on two different ideal clients, on social media, let’s say?

FOCUSING ON DIFFERENT IDEAL CLIENTS

[SAM]
Yeah, I would say, rather, kind of become successful in engaging with the one, I would say focus on one first. I think it’s always better to kind of simplify things and become an expert in engaging at that one ideal time. I think once you feel like you’re able to connect with that ideal time successfully, and you actually feel like you’re getting that specific ideal time through your Facebook posts, and then, I would say, you can maybe move on to another one.
But, I think, the more targeted you’re posting is, the better and more engagements, and the more response you’ll get from it.

[JOE]
Yeah, and I think that what I’ve seen successful clinicians do with their practices is maybe they start helping angry kids. But then, they also add frustrated parents. And so, it’s connected but not the exact same. And so, kind of saying, “Well, what’s the DNA of my practice here?” And so, maybe it’s, you know, we do more family work. And then, we’re going to do Mom Monday or we’re going to do like Tantrum Tuesday. And having kind of a theme for each of the days of the week as you grow your specialties. But, they’re all somehow connected.
I mean if you’re all over the place where you do EMDR with people with trauma, you also help people that are having eating disorders, and couples, and depression, and anxiety, you’re really not going to be known for a specific area. And you’ll just be seen as a generalist, and not be able to charge as much, and also not attract as many people. A couple of other questions that are coming in that I think relate to where we’re at this is Angela asks Sam.
I noticed you gave advice before in an older Facebook video to folks not just share other people’s posts on your Facebook. If it provides value to your ideal client, then, it is good to share. So, I think that’s a great question from Angela. What are your thoughts on that? I have some thoughts as well.

[SAM]
Yeah. So, I would say, you know, if it is valuable and it’s from a critical source, then, you are– well, you can share your page. But, I would just want to limit this because ideally, you want the funnel to be from your Facebook to your website and promoting your services. So, I would say, and if you find it to be very valuable and you have the time, then, I would say redo it on your website at your opinion to it. So, if it’s like a blog post, and then, I would say take the thoughts that they mentioned in their blog post.
Rewrite it but add your thoughts to it as well. And then, it can be something that you post on your Facebook page and people link back to your website. So, ideally, you always want them to be linking back to your website. You don’t want them to come to your Facebook page. But then, send them somewhere else.

[JOE]
Yeah, and I think that there are those reputable sources. So, it might be a Huffington post article, or I think videos, it’s hard to produce a bunch of amazing videos. So, if you find some great parenting videos or ones that are on depression or happiness, sharing those, but then, in the comments rather than just share it. Maybe put something like in Wellness Counseling. “We help so many people around feeling happier” This is such a great example of people finding happiness through having cats and dogs, or through rescuing pets, or whatever the video is. So, then, you’re tying it back to your brand as well. And then, Jamila asks, “Could a link to a blog post be a promotional or call-to-action?”
I would say that it could be both. So, if you pull parts of the blog post, actually, put it within the social media, where you say, “Here’s the Five Tips that We Give Around Getting Back on a Good Schedule for Sleep When You’re Starting School Back Up for Elementary Students.” And “Here’s the full blog post.” It could be really helpful within it. So, kind of the question you want to ask yourself for the three out of five that Sam’s talking about is, if someone just read that, could they leave and get something away from that without ever clicking on something?
That would be more on the content side. That’s adding value. It’s just– it’s great on Facebook. I could never leave Facebook. It would be totally fine. When we were saying our call to action, we want to say, “Okay, they have to do something that’s the action to call to action.” We want them to click on the blog post to help them build that trust, or to build that likeability. And so, if we’re taking them through that “no.” Well, do they know that we exist?
Well, the more they’re on social media, you know, occasionally, boosting posts here and there, but not overdoing it. They move from they don’t even know Mental Wellness Counseling exists to they know now how we do have them like us. Well, we provide content that it has to do with their personality that helps them how do they trust. Well, they really dive a little bit deeper and that’s where a call to action of going to some blog posts or some other things can be really helpful.
Sam, what do you think in regard to that?

[SAM]
Yeah, I think more likely or not, a bog post is adding value and obviously it’s about a specific product offering or service offering. And so, I would say, as long as you include in the description kind of what the blog post is about, and how you can get value out of it, then, I think getting them through is still adding value that’s not kind of tricking them to get to your website with ulterior motive.

[JOE]
Yeah, yeah. And I think, Nathan, he has some questions and raised a point. And I think his question said, “But, didn’t you do that with your therapies, Joe?” I think he was referring to kind of the fear-based thing. I do think that I did add some fear to it. But, I also, when we look at the stats. I believe that the way that I’m promoting it, when I was trying that for a few weeks, that the quiz was trying to add value and get people to really think differently about it.
It did have some shock value there that some people could have seen as being slimy, which I wanted to test it out and see how well people kind of noticed it. And so, those of you that don’t know, I used the Gottman’s. They have a quiz that kind of walks you through how close or likely are you to have an affair. And so, I had created a quiz for Facebook that kind of walks people through that. And because it was based on sound science, it did kind of make it stand out a little bit.
I can totally see how it could be perceived as using that fear-based thing. That’s a great question and I wanted to make sure I address that. Also, another question, which group practices would you recommend or is it possible they have sub-pages? So, I would say, having sup pages or multiple pages on Facebook would not be recommended. Sam, what do you think about that?

MULTIPLE PAGES ON FACEBOOK

[SAM]
Yeah. I agree. I think it can get confusing and also you kind of spread yourself too thin because then you have more pages to focus on as opposed to just one where you can make more of an impact. Yeah, it would be more apt to say if you have multiple specialties in a group practice, review the Facebook page as being kind of the hub of that kind of have multiple arms. And so, maybe you have Family Friday. And you have Couples Wednesday. And I have different themes throughout it. If you have a lot of people, and then, also look at other social media as focusing in specifically on other groups. So, we know that 80% of users on Pinterest or female, half of those users are moms. And so, if you’re focusing in on either of those demographics, then, you’re going to want to have a Pinterest kind of presence there.
Maybe you have a few boards that have a few different strategies. But, when you’re looking at Facebook, and say, you want to keep that whole brand under one arena, rather than have multiple brands. So, we have some people had just received new clients. Congratulations for the new clients! Jonathan asks, “Is there a ratio for how often a Facebook post should have a call-to-action? Is call-to-action synonymous with promoting services?” That’s a great question, Jonathan. I’ll kind of answer some of that, Sam, you can jump in too.
I would say, call-to-action is any time you’re asking someone to do something. So, call-to-action could be sign up for our email list and get our five tips for anger management. It could be “read this blog post.” It could be “go to our page and watch this video.” Usually, it’s taking people from all of social media, putting them into your funnel. A call-to-action wouldn’t be sending them to Huffington Post. That would just be promotional activities for Huffington Post.
You’re just giving good content. So, a call-to-action is promoting anything you do, promoting services would be part of one of those. So, it may be a direct call-to-action for you to sign up for counseling, or to schedule an intake call, or you know, do an exploratory call. Or maybe, you might have some even that you’re putting on for couples. So, that’s how I would kind of parse that out. Anything to add to that in regard to kind of the ratio there, Sam?

[SAM]
You know, not pretty much thing to say. I think like what– when I was talking about my ratio idea earlier, I was saying promoting– in terms of promoting your services, I literally was talking about, you know, setting up or encouraging people to book an appointment with you. I would say that getting them to read a blog post is still added value.

[JOE]
Yeah, great, well, we’ve got about five minutes left in this Social Media Sprint. And we’re going to be talking a little bit more tomorrow and Thursday, each day at the same time. But, Sam, I want to give you a chance to just say here’s some bullet point best practices with Facebook. You know, consulting, coaching with people all the time, you get to see these trends even more than I do. The one big thing that I would say is the tip is do more Facebook Lives.
The more that you can be getting good at speaking, at quickly saying, here’s some bullet points around a very specific topic. That’s something that’s going to make you stand out. I would challenge anybody to do a Facebook Live every day for a week. And I guarantee you, your friends, or people that you know, are going to be like dang, you’ve been Facebook laughing a lot. I know that’s going to happen. I did that own experiment with me. Sam, what are some quick tips that you would give people from the trends you’re noticing with Facebook?

TIPS FROM FACEBOOK TRENDS

[SAM]
So, just some basic things, I think having your logo as your profile picture, and making sure nothing is cut off on your cover photo, making sure it’s high quality, making sure you’ve added all your business information that it’s up to date, things like opening hours, location, link to your website about your counseling practice. You want people to know within 3 seconds of landing on your Facebook page who you are and what you do. So, I have some of their critical information in your cover photo as well. And then, just making sure that on your actual posts, you include your logo or your URL. And obviously, the nature of social media is for people to share things. So, if they share your posts, you want them to have your logo or URL included. And then, you’re keeping the descriptions short. And if people want to get through for more information, obviously, they can. And then, just engaging with your audience. So, if people comment, reply to their comments, and also you know, liking, following other people that are relevant to your industry and engaging with their posts, and then, also testing things and seeing what works, so, posting at different times and then looking at your Facebook Insights, and seeing when you get more engagement with others, and then, adapting your content strategy accordingly.

[JOE]
That’s awesome. A few other kinds of things that Facebook business pages now offer is they have an automated reply that you can now have. So, if someone sends you a Facebook message, then, you can have it say, we do our best to keep up with messages. Please know that this is not HIPAA compliant or confidential. If you want to call our phone number or email us, here’s those details. Facebook shows your responsiveness to other people as to how quickly you respond. And so, that’s really helpful in changing that. And to then get people that reach out to you that way to get a quick reply.
If you don’t have a website set up yet, I’d say getting your Facebook page set up, you may change your logo or those sorts of things over time. But, that’s something that you could get up this afternoon. I hope my brother-in-law who’s an ophthalmologist get his whole Facebook page set up in about an hour and a half. And that was more because he didn’t have his copy all kind of written out or understood who he wanted to write about. And so, I would highly recommend getting that up.
A couple of quick questions about Facebook Live, do we do it from a business page or personal page, or just business? So, what you want to do is start by doing it regularly through your business page. Occasionally, you can do it through your personal page. But, it really depends on what your personal page is. If you’re kind of promoting your activities on a regular basis, then, I’d say you can keep doing that. If you’re on there, primarily, around friends and family, that’s going to get annoying to your friends and family to constantly see Facebook Lives from you if they’re about your business. But, doing it once in a while, that’s going to help remind your friends and family that you also do therapy.
You also have this growing group of practice. So, when you’re creating– the last question we’re going to hit is how do you make sure that your logo and URL are being shared? Probably, the best thing that you can do is when you have photos that you post, put your logo right on it. Use something like Canva to make sure that there’s that small watermark on there. You can also do that with videos and a number of other things. We’re going to be here tomorrow and Thursday talking social media wherever you’re getting stuck, we’re going to take these questions in the chat. So, if there’s extra things about Facebook that we didn’t hit on, tomorrow, we’re going to be diving in even more over the next couple days to social media.
Same time tomorrow and make sure you follow the links. We’re so glad you’re here. And Sam, thanks so much for your time today.

[SAM]
Cool. Thanks very much.

[JOE]
Alright. See you, everybody. Alright, so in tomorrow’s social media sprint, we’re going to be talking all about LinkedIn and Pinterest. So pretty excited about that and if you’re interested in Next Level Practice, we have cohorts starting. Usually, every other month or so, and they are cohorts of between 30 and 50 people. And that’s something that’s pretty cool if you join is you’re going to get early access to Killin It Camp, which I haven’t really talked much about. But, we are planning a conference that we want to be the largest gathering of private practice owners that’s ever happened. And so, we’re going to be doing that out in Estes Park n Colorado in October 2019.
The tickets for that won’t go on sale to the general public that early bird until January 2019. But, Next Level Practice people will get first dibs and they’re going to get them super cheap at $500 each, which is actually going to cover all of your lodging, all of your food, and– the YNC of the rockies is actually going to be transportation rom the Denver Airport. Also, so, you don’t even have to rent a car if you don’t want to. So, a super cheap conference, we hope to have hundreds of clinicians all in one spot. So, you can find out more at killinitcamp.com. But, if you’re going to go to any website, I want you to check out Practikat.
Katie and her team have been doing an amazing job of bringing together so many members. So, imagine if you’re going to buy my paperwork packet. And then, you were going to buy, you know, maybe an infographic from someone else. And then, you go to another, you know, consultant website and buy something, the goal is to have all of those things in one spot, where you can just say, “Oh, I want to buy this and this. I’m going to download this.” And it’s all going to be in one spot instead of you having to go to all these different websites. And what’s great is Practikat is vetting each person talking to each consultant making sure that they’re the highest quality. So, it’s all in one spot.
I’m so excited about Practikat. So, head on over there. Thanks for letting me into your ears and into your brain. Have a good day.

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