Why do I hate Facebook?

It’s all about the people who post too much and send me distracting messages in the middle of the day. Like…I know I seem like I’m on Facebook a lot but a majority of it is automated.

People who post too much are my pet peeve. In fact, with some of my peers, their social media posts have gotten so frequent that I’ve had to leave their groups and pages.

And the sad thing is, most of the time they’re people I’ve known for years. But it’s not anything personal.

I just would rather log in to help out a fellow freelancer or business owner, or score that next client project.

I know what you’re thinking…

Why don’t I just shut down my account?

Here’s what is actually stopping me from deleting my account, and how you can use this as an opportunity to make Facebook a more worthwhile experience for your business.

1) Facebook Live

I get it. Video can be a bit terrifying. I’m an actor’s daughter and the camera and theatre have been in the background of most of my early memories, and many of my recent ones.

I even took acting classes and participated in the drama club throughout my school years. But I still get butterflies in my stomach when a camera is pointed in my direction.

However, with practice, I learned to love the camera. And if you’re willing to embrace it, and accept that you won’t always look or sound perfect all the time you will too.

Even just doing a few, private practice runs on camera makes a difference. The first few times you don’t even have to show the videos to anyone.

Just focus on becoming comfortable with having a camera in front of your face.

And trust me. It’s totally worth it. Because people watch Facebook Live videos three times longer than pre-recorded videos.

But how do I really know that? Facebook Live helped attract attention to my podcast in its first couple of weeks. And it helped grow my podcast from 10 views to hundreds of views.

All that happened, because I took the time to sit in front of my webcam and explain what the pre-recorded episode is about in my own words. Consistency helped as well. 

What should you do a Facebook Live about?

Well…a lot depends on what your goals are.

What do you want people to do after they listen to your Facebook Live?

Talk about things like:

• Special announcements and news such as content you’re producing, upcoming launches, etc.
• A teachable, quick series of tips based on your profession or personal experiences
• Broadcasts of events you’re running. 

But for god sake, please do not be like my Facebook friend who Facebook Lived a concert she attended while dancing in the mosh pit.

The constant, up and down motions of her cell phone camera made me feel like I wanted to throw up. And the sound quality was terrible. If you’re doing an event broadcast, get a tripod.

And make sure it’s an event you actually have permission to film.

And invest in a mic that hooks up to your mobile phone or laptop.

2) The groups feature

As I mentioned before, I love the “groups” feature.

Because I’ve finally cracked the code of using it in a way that doesn’t piss people off.

It’s really about offering value, and not being the slimeball that promotes their shit, without:

• Introducing themselves
• Bothering to get to know what their fellow members are there for.

To give you an example of that, I’m going to show you a screenshot of something I posted in a Facebook group recently:

But why aren’t the admins deleting my post?

The reasons are actually quite simple.

First of all, I’m one of the most active participants in the group’s events and discussion threads (both the promo ones and the non-promo ones).

Not to mention, I’m not technically breaking any rules, according to the rules of the group:

If you go back and read the message I wrote in the Facebook group it is definitely being of service. 

Because it is offering a resource that will be relevant for not only freelance writers who are part of the group; it’s also providing value to any freelancers who might want to outsource their writing in the future.

But why is this so relevant to this specific group?

Here are the first few lines of the landing page for the Facebook group to sum up why that’s the case:

And that is a perfect match because the goal of the group is the same as the resource I’m sharing with the FTF Facebook group.

It’s basically two writer who decided to share their experiences and advice for other writers.

Remember how I mentioned in the post that I interviewed a fellow FTF member?

FTF is short for Freelance to Freedom (Project).

Therefore there’s the additional, added benefit of the focus of the episode being yet another member of the same online community.

And…I mean, the coolest part of these online groups is the fact that you feel like you’re part of something important.

Like…if you want to celebrate a win, or ask for advice, you’ll hear from people who understand what you’re going through.

So…suddenly the same people who wanted to reap the benefits of that community actually wanted to pay attention. Because a group member had something important to say.

In fact, this was such a clever idea that my guest tweeted about the episode not long after my Facebook post. Yes…she totally saw it. And she included the founder of FTF in the conversation:

Nutritionist to professional health writer – Behind the scenes with Leesa Klich https://t.co/V7xmqnkEs9 via @LeesaKlich & @rosiemay_r – @leahkalamakis thought you'd like this one! #freelance #writing #healthwriter

— Leesa 'soapy clean hands' Klich, MSc 🇨🇦 (@LeesaKlich) August 4, 2018

3) Taking the time to talk to people

 Showing up online from time to time and expecting nothing in return makes a huge difference, from a marketing point of view.

Yeah, I totally get it. The end goal is still to make money and build relationships, but the thing is, well…it won’t always end that way. But people have friends, and people will talk about their good experiences.

So here are a few ways Facebook has helped me in the past:

1. I found someone who audited my online branding and did an amazing job at it, and because we’re multiple time zones away, there’s no way I would have met her in any other way (Jamie Di Dio Aoyama of Studio Aiuto)
2. Finding podcast guests with valuable things to say was a total breeze. All it took was multiple messages about calls for guests, in multiple groups.
3. Yolanda of Suite 532  helped me fix a MailChimp glitch with very little notice. And months later, she joined my newsletter, followed me on social media, and interviewed me as part of her Socially Awesome blog series.

But why did this happen anyways? I made the effort to consistently show up in a small handful of Facebook groups, and help people without asking for anything in return.

And the only time I sold something to them is if they said they wanted to buy it (or knew someone who did).

So…if you get nothing else out of this post…

Here’s what I want you to remember.

If you have a business and want to get traffic through your posts, treat every interaction with potential customers like something with a karma-like pay-off.

Because that’s how it works. If you:

• Make the effort to share other people’s’ work that interests you on your social media platforms
• And you take time out of your busy day to answer people’s’ questions

And you don’t:

• Drop a link in every group you can find and “hope for the best”
• Only use Facebook groups to promote something you’re selling

People will get used to seeing you around the groups they’re part of and spread the word about all the cool stuff you’re doing (but not instantly).

And now…over to you…

What kinds of Facebook interactions have you benefited from the most?

Feel free to share in the comments section below.

And if you require more info about how this process works, check out my podcast episode on forming meaningful online communities.

I also have a useful resource for engaging with your audience, which is available in a free, 7-day long email series. 

Let's chat

Please add a comment below if you'd like to discuss this topic. – Rosie