Facebook – beginners information for your business

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

I’m still seeing it constantly – small business owners, struggling to know the basics of Facebook.  So here are the things that you MUST know to get started.  From here, just take it steady and slow – you can’t learn it all in 5 minutes, just do it bit by bit.

Profile

Your profile is your PERSONAL page.

Facebook doesn’t like you having a fake one for your business, as that is a way around it’s rules.  You can create a new profile that is more business orientated, but why bother honestly?  If you’ve been ‘misbehaving’ on Facebook, stop, because it will affect your business.  Nothing on social media is secret!  You can change the privacy of each post, but I don’t have time for that.

Some people don’t like to show anything about their business to their friends.  Why?  Friends aren’t as supportive sometimes as you might like them to be.  But if they have a choice of using another company or you, wouldn’t it be better if they use you?

I’m shocked how many business owners haven’t posted anything on their timeline about their business.

But, be discerning – don’t over do it either, otherwise people will get bored and tune out or unfollow you.

Be careful to set your privacy settings.  I only share my information with friends, but my profile is public.  See the picture below for the location of the privacy settings.

Page

This is your business page.  It is where you post stuff about your business and go live.  Then you share it to your profile or group if relevant.

You can invite friends to like your page – I do this about once every 6 months.

You can create events on your page – this is helpful if you run courses or do workshops.

Create a pinned post at the top of your page, with your key piece of information or event.  For example when I’m running a free course, the information will be pinned there, so that people don’t get confused when seeing lots of other posts about it without the join up info.

Fill in the about information – check contact details, location and description.  Include everything you do – otherwise they may never find out.

 

Group

A group is a community, where you can interact with your clients more.  This may or may not be relevant to your business to create.  For instance, it might not be useful for a clothes shop, but would be for a coach.

Create a post with the ‘rules’ for how your group will run and pin it, so that it is always displayed at the top of the group.  E.g. can other people post about their business?

Add a description about yourself and the group, so that people who join know what it is about – so many people don’t do this and lose community members because of it.

Set the privacy settings – normally to ‘closed’ – so that no one outside can see what is written in there.

Link it to your page.

Do NOT add people into your group without asking them – this really upsets them.

Do NOT tag everyone in the group overtime you post – this really upsets them!

Some people choose particular days or times of the day to interact in their groups and reply to comments, as otherwise it can be overwhelming to reply straight away to loads of comments through out the day.

Other Groups

Read the description.  Read the pinned post.  Follow the rules.

Interact with others and be helpful before you post your stuff.

Don’t put an ‘F’ or ‘.’ as a comment, so that you can see other peoples comments.  Instead click on the 3 dots in the top right hand corner and ‘Turn on notifications for the post’ (see photo above).

Please check the files for information that has been created especially for you – if you are in a group for information, the most likely thing is that FAQ’s have been written up.

When asking a question go to the [search] function first and see if it has already been asked.  How much effort do you think someone will put into asking your about the latest lash product for instance, if someone else asked the same 3hrs earlier?

Be polite – say please and thank you.

Don’t read it if you don’t want to.

STEP AWAY – you are being judged on your behaviour in a group, there is no need to argue or convince other people that you are right.

Nothing is ever completely private or safe – don’t post if there would be a problem if someone copied your post and shared it elsewhere.  There are nasty people on Facebook who will do that.  Don’t be one of those people!

Personal Friends

As I’m running a business I’m careful on Facebook.  If someone is annoying I ‘unfollow’ them.  I hardly ever unfriend or block.  I only unfriend when I find people have been basically watching me for a year, but never interacted.

Time Line

Your timeline is your personal updates on what is going on in facebook land.  First come your memories from before, then the page updates from any pages that you set notifications to ‘first’.  Then there will be updates from friends.  NOT all friends – just the ones you’ve been interacting with recently.

Stories

Stories are relatively new, and Facebook really wants them to grow, so if you use stories, you will get more traffic.  You can have stories on your personal profile or your business page – I just stick to using them on my page.

Stories only stay for 24hrs.  So what’s the point you might say?  Stories are in my opinion a useful way to share stuff personally about you, so that potential clients can get a feel for you, without cluttering up your page.

So I might share something silly that happened, a picture of a dog, a piece of music that cheered me up.  I actually do it on Instagram and then share to my facebook page – so it’s fine to have repeats.

Facebook Lives

Facebook loves video.  If you do a facebook live, it will be seen more than a post – it’s just in the facebook ‘algorithm’ as they call it.

I know it’s a bit scary, but once you’ve done a few, you will get more comfortable.  You can do them on your stories for a while if you like, so that they don’t last.  Or find a supportive group and practice in there first, before going live on your post.

They don’t have to be perfect.  You can have notes.  Plus you can practice them beforehand if you want to.  But please smile and breathe!

It’s just about giving your clients or potential clients a chance to get a feel for you.

Facebook Adverts

It is possible to get people to like your page and set notifications to first so they always see your posts.  But generally other wise you will only reach a certain number of people with your page.

Inevitably you will need to do an advert.  The recommended thing is NOT to ‘Boost’ your post, but use the ‘Ads Manager’ instead – I find the phone app easier to use for some reason.

Do NOT do an advert for likes – generally people end up with useless people in countries that are not useful for them, it seems a little dodgy.  Instead, do an advert on a facebook live that you have already had good interaction with, so you know it’s popular.

Hacks & Viruses

It’s unwise to get involved in chain messages or chain Facebook posts – they just fill up timelines with repetition and are like a virus because they take up space.

It’s unlikely the message saying ‘THIS IS TRUE’, or asking you to share and copy to your timeline to warn everyone about something catastrophic is real.  Check Snopes.com for updates on hoaxes.

Don’t click on links from people you don’t know.

Don’t add a Facebook friend again when you are already friends with them – it’s likely not them.

The cute girl/soldier who just added you, who has no mutual friends to you, is likely not a real person.

Generally

The most important thing is to remember, that just because it’s online doesn’t mean you don’t have to work at creating relationships.  Think of your posts on social media as a conversation – are you being boring?  Are you only posting about what you want (more clients), or are you also sharing information, being interesting and being helpful with no agenda?

If you are selling a network marketing product, please don’t use the technique of being vague about what you do and not mentioning the company.  It is unwise, only attracts people who don’t know about network marketing (so are a bit daft), and makes you look bad.  The rest of us do know what you are trying to do!

Time Management

The biggest complaints about facebook are how it eats into our time, other people’s poor behaviour and the struggle to consistently show up.

I recommend that every now and again you look at the groups that you get notifications for and if they are not of value any more, either leave or switch notifications off, so that you don’t keep clogging up your notifications list (they will still show on your timeline if you stay in).

Do NOT waste your time disagreeing with people or arguing on there – if you have enough time to do that, honestly, I recommend you find something more important or interesting to do with your life.

Consistency has been my key issue as well, due to handling my fibromyalgia and Lyme disease.  What I tend to do is tune in to my week ahead and think about what posts I would most like to make, with some gaps for spontaneous stuff and lives.  Then I will create the posts, and schedule them onto my page or in my group.

 

To Learn More

Things change constantly in Facebook land and always will.  We never like their updates, and it can be a pain to keep up, but they like to keep improving.  They are a business, it is not bad that they need to make money.

I follow ‘Mari Smith’ on facebook – she updates us about all the important changes.  But you’ll also find that there are people running social media groups, where for a small fee, they update you and do small trainings.  Ask on your social media feed for recommendations, and I’m sure you will find someone amazing.  It might be useful if you are running a business on facebook.

In Conclusion

Take it step by step.
Don’t do anything you don’t want to & be wise, but don’t be put off by fear either, and just have a go.
Try to manage your facebook time, so that it doesn’t take over your life.
Remember it is for creating relationships – treat it just like you would walking down the street and meeting strangers/friends.

How Journalling Helped Me Turn My Year Around

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

I have become a HUGE fan of journalling this year!  I started in June and it has really helped me to reduce stress, improve my Lyme disease, enjoy being with the kids more and make important business changes.

Come and join me in my Facebook group ‘Create your dream life with the mummy whisperer’ for more regular tips and my free ‘Time for Change’ course.

Here is a quick video I did about to encourage you to use it this year if you need to make a big change:

Why?

Writing stuff down is pretty magic.  It empties the mind of stresses and often helps discover a solution more easily.

It gives perspective on a problem and helps to see if things are not as bad as you think.  Or even highlights when something is worse and you’ve been letting it go on to long.

The notes help me really integrate healing/personal development I do and make sure I learn new stuff fully.

By doing a 3 monthly review I discover that I tend to have achieved much more than I thought (I tend to be quite hard on myself), and it helps me make a change to problems in the next 3 months.

How it works

As you can see, my journal is really simple.

I started with one page per day, but it’s more like 2-4 pages per day now.  The key things that have helped me are:

At the beginning I make a note of what I want to:

  1. Monitor – this tends to be things I forget to do that are good for me, like dog walking.
  2. Treatment routine – my current treatment routine, so that I can monitor what does and doesn’t work.
  3. What I want to achieve over the next 3 months
    1. at home
    2. for the Mummy Whisperer
    3. and my salon.

At the end I review the 3 months (or year if it’s December) and do a summary of what happened and then review what did and didn’t work.  This will give me my focus for the next 3 months.

For each day I will highlight in the margin important things that happened e.g going somewhere special with the kids or something happening at work, and some options that help me track my health e.g. exercise.

Most days I’ll make notes from a meditation, do some personal development or read something that I want to make notes on.  Those notes go on the plain pages, so that I can also track when I was studying different things.  At the end of the 3 months I particularly review these, as I find it helps make sure I’ve really learnt/integrated new info.

I use a gold highlighter to underline important pages that I want to be able to find again, and sometimes little labels if it’s notes I need for work.  I LOVE STATIONARY!

I’m going to enhance my notes section for this year and use it for To do’s, memories and doodles of things I want to create/manifest in my life.  So it’s going to be more colourful, hence definitely needing more stationary 😉

 

If you are looking to make a change and aren’t sure where to start, I can’t recommend journalling enough.  It doesn’t have to be complicated, a plain notebook is perfect, just add a margin to highlight key points and put the date in.

Let me know what you think and remember to come into my Facebook group for helpful online courses.

 

Look after yourself every day!

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

I’ve been chatting to lots of mums recently about taking care of ourselves.  Often they’ll say something like ‘oh yes, I always go to Zumba/Yoga’ every week.  One thing!

Here’s my vlog about why we need to do a little something for ourselves every day.  Why our vibe is so important and why WE are so important – we are the heart of the family and the heart of the community.  If you don’t take care of yourself and think you are important, why will anyone else respect you?

Come and join my Facebook group ‘Create your dream life with the Mummy Whisperer‘ and I’m going to post every Sun night/Mon morning with a thread that we can use to be accountable to do something for ourselves every day.

 

Reciprocity

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

I can’t pronounce the word, but I’m passionate about creating reciprocal relationships.  Together we are so much stronger.

Watch my video below and let me know what you think – do you have businesses who support yours, or do you find that many will take the help that you give and then give nothing back in return?

 

 

There are some easy tips as well:

  • Like their page.
  • Set notifications to first so that you don’t miss anything.
  • When they do a Facebook live, click the button to be notified when they go live, so you don’t miss anything.
  • When relevant share to your clients or friends – it can be really helpful for their stats and for your clients, and is more interesting than constant promotional posts.
  • Don’t discount, add value and combine services with another business

For any small business looking for social media support and advice, with an intuitive edge, then check out Inga Deksne on Facebook.  I’m part of one of her subscription groups, and it’s really helpful to keep me up to date and kick me into action!

Oh and remember to come and join my Facebook group ‘Business with a heart’!

Mid-Year Review And Plans for rest of 2017

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

A confess – I’ve been beating myself up loads for not quite achieving what I had wanted to achieve by now.  Are you in the same place?

Then please watch my video and do the exercise I mention below ….

 

 

  1. Sit down for 20-30mins and think about this year.
  2. Look through your diaries/schedules to remind yourself what happened
  3. What have you achieved in work, health and life?
  4. Make a good long list.  Don’t focus on what you didn’t achieve, focus on what you did manage.
  5. The more you write, the more it will flow
  6. Then take a couple of deep breaths, now that you are feeling more grateful to yourself and ask yourself….
  7. If there was only 1 more thing that you could achieve by the end of the year, what would your heart love you to do?
  8. If you could manage 2 more things what would they be?

 

Let me know below what you discover – it could be really surprising!

5 Top Tips For A Foggy Brain

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

I’ve just started a theme called #CelebrationFriday in my Facebook group ‘Create your dream life With The Mummywhisperer‘ – a way of focussing on what we can be grateful for, rather than how exhausted we feel!

Today I’m celebrating making a huge breakthrough!  Check out my video where I explain what for me is a massive improvement in my cognitive abilities.

The damage the Lyme Disease did to my brain was way worse than ‘Mummy Brain’ or ‘Fibro Fog’ had ever been – and it was a huge dent to my pride to literally not be able to do things I used to be able to do (Accounting, Project management, remembering more than 1/2 a page of to do’s etc).  So I’m really chuffed to have been able to turn back the tide.

My 5 tips are:

1) Supplements (I take Omega oils)

2) Far Infrared – check out my review 1 and review 2 on how our brain needs oxygen &a circulation

3) Positive thinking and EFT (Emotional Freedom technique) – to get out of my own way and not make matters worse (If you are interested Melanie Bundock is my go to person for EFT)

4) Tap dancing – I’m pretty awful!  But the timing and sound of the tapping is definitely helpful and I’m very grateful to Excel Performing Arts for starting up their Adult classes (and being patient!).

5) Playing the Piano – I’d forgotten EVERYTHING – but slowly and surely I’m getting better and remembering more than just chopsticks!

I hope this gives you a feeling of light at the end of the tunnel if you are struggling with similar problems!

(If you need some help with issues like this, I do a small number of Lifestyle coaching and healing sessions each week, and I’d be happy to help).

Review of Extreme Self-Care By Cheryl Richardson

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

I know how tough it is to decide wether to read a book or not sometimes, so I thought I would review this lovely book for you by Cheryl Richardson.  You may get enough from these points, but if you like it, you might want to consider getting the book and working through each chapter over the next 12 months.

Here is my Facebook live video where I talk about why I decided to read this book and I cover each point in more depth:

Part 1

Part 2

  1. Where are you depriving yourself or over giving?
  2. Tell yourself you love yourself in the mirror 3x per day
  3. Be willing to disappoint people and be honest about what you do or don’t want to do
  4. Add rhythm and routine to your life, so it can flow more.
  5. Where can you let control and ask for help – she recommends a ‘things you can do to support me’ list.
  6. What is an absolute ‘yes’ and ‘no’ – reduce your To do’s by 30%
  7. Are you living or working in a soul nourishing environment
  8. Protect your sensitivity – reduce the noise & news if it affects you
  9. Take stock of your health and any actions that need taking
  10. Stand up for yourself
  11. What passion are you ignoring
  12. What is your first aid pack for when things go wrong?

If you have a question about this, feel free to pop a comment in my Facebook group ‘‘Create your dream life with the Mummy whisperer‘ and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.  If you’d like a bit more help with brainstorming the changes you need and challenging your assumptions, then feel free to pop me a message to book a 1to1.

Qualifying for ‘Business with a heart’ Review

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

I would love to support other businesses ‘with a heart’ by highlighting you on this blog, but there are a couple of criteria (please don’t take this as judgment!).

Success

Now don’t worry if you aren’t there yet, so many business owners are doing well, but still have some barriers to break through – come and join me in my ‘Business With A Heart‘ Facebook group and maybe we can support you to finish off the ones still to be done (I’m still working on them too)!

  • Are you paid more than your employees and fairly considering the hours you work?
  • Do you get some time off from your business and take holidays?
  • Are you working reasonable hours, so that there is also a balance of rest, relaxation, social life, fitness, family life and relationships etc?
  • Can you afford to take care of your health?
  • Are you creating a pension and future security?
  • Does your company have a good reputation?
  • Does it mean you are financially independent – so you can pay for all your bills?
  • Can you provide for you portion of your family’s needs?

Criteria

  • Are your full time employees paid as such e.g. NI and holidays?
  • Is your business based upon your own unique idea or USP?
  • Are you trying your best (it’s difficult I know) to consider your environmental impact?
  • Do you believe there is enough space for all businesses, so you don’t need to target other businesses, or take clients from them?
  • Have you managed to keep your heart and joy in the business, without succumbing to cyniscm (realism is fine!).
  • Do you pay your taxes?

Now of course, there is some of my own bias in here, and I might adapt these criteria as I go along.  I’m basically thinking that success at the price of your health, your heart, your employees, other businesses, or orang-utans, is not success in my way of thinking.  Big global corporations that don’t pay their taxes, wouldn’t pass my criteria (although I would never suggest paying more than you need to of course).

Business with a heart – is it viable?

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

Business with a heart – is it really viable, or is it some daft spiritual nonsense?  That’s going to be my journey and investigation over the coming months.  It’s going to be ‘interesting’ and hopefully it will be inspirational and give us all hope!

Here is my first Facebook live video, talking through why I’m so passionate about it:

I’m not ignoring the fact that a business does need to:

  • Make profit – it’s not a dirty word, it’s what gives it stability and means there can be reinvestment
  • Market itself – i.e. let the world know it is there
  • Sell to clients – i.e. learn what the clients need and how the business can help them
  • Watch cash flow – numbers are important, as cash is what makes a business succeed or fail.
  • Make decision based on business needs – I remember being told that as owners we ‘work for the business’ and never to forget that we owe the business the right decisions.

‘Success’ is a funny old thing and can be measured in many ways.  But I like to think of us proving that a Business with a heart can still provide:

  • A fair income (so many business owners earn less than their employees)
  • a pension
  • ‘Healthy wealth’ – where you earn enough to be able to look after your health, house and family
  • Provide for your family – there is that saying about when you visit a small business you are paying for a little girl to learn to play the piano – and it is so true (but dance in my case, and both children!).

But I’m hopeful I can prove that long term profit and a more secure future can be made without:

  • Being cut throat or vicious
  • Lying, stealing or manipulating
  • Trying to damage someone else business or target them
  • Treating staff badly
  • Losing your morals or ethics
  • Losing your soul and becoming cynical and bad tempered

 

Do you have a story about your business that I can post?  I would love to – to support you and also to give hope to other struggling businesses.  Get in touch via my Facebook page.

 

 

Rest vs Relaxation

Posted on by MummyWhisperer

Here is my first post for my new blog posts aimed at helping your to heal your lives with lots of simple tips and ideas!  Yay, I’m so glad to have got this up and running at last, as I’m brimming over with ideas.

This video talks through the difference I experienced recently between rest and relaxation – so simple and yet so powerful.

Watch the full video (it’s only 8mins) for more detail and information about what is coming up here and on my Facebook groups:

Relaxation: Stress relief, fun, enjoyment, getting yourself out of every day life for a while.

Rest: giving your body a chance to heal, recover, recuperate and regain the energy lost.

Remember, if you don’t want to miss my tips, then you need to do the following:
– Like my Facebook page and set notifications to ‘first’
– When you watch a live video, click the arrow and select to be notified when I go live
– Join my Facebook community ‘Create your dream life‘ for more support