Suzanne Proksa:
You. Hey, welcome to another episode of Business Mojo and Margaritas where I get all up in your business in 20 minutes or less. I am Suzanne Proxa, your host, business strategist and coach for female entrepreneurs and Mud Jams just happen to be a client attraction and marketing. So let's not delay any further. Let's dive in. Hey, hey. Lady Loves here with another episode of Business mojo and Margaritas. I am pumped the hell up, sister.
Suzanne Proksa:
So today I have got to talk about this, what to do if the Facebook and Instagram apocalypse had your business sideline. So it's no secret to anybody in online business that Facebook and Instagram took a little dive, little vacay the other day. Oh my goodness. People were freaking out. People who run their whole business on Facebook or their whole business on Instagram. We're freaking the hell out, y'all. So listen, I'm not going to hate on you or give you any shit if you're one of those people. Don't worry.
Suzanne Proksa:
I am just going to help you diversify a little bit so that this doesn't freak you the hell out. I cannot tell you because I've got just like a massive social media following and such. So I saw so many women saying that they didn't have anything to do, they couldn't get anything done that day, they couldn't do any work. And they were so pissed and upset and freaked out and what if it doesn't come back and what's happening? And just like mass panic. It was crazy. And I was thinking to myself, like, why are you panicked? Because there are so many other places you can be and so many other things you could be doing. What is the big deal? Well, come to find out, there actually are a crap ton of people who are just using Facebook or just using Instagram or the two. And they literally had nowhere else to go.
Suzanne Proksa:
And they were just so dumbfounded that they never even thought about making other content or anything like that while the downtime was happening. So the day was just a total freaking loss, just a complete loss with people, like posting things like, I don't know if you'll see this, but I'm trying. It was just this whole desperate, desperate thing. It was really something. And then you had the people come out and I kind of did, who came out and said, see, this is why I did send out an email that day. This is why I tell you people to diversify. But there were other people who were like, this is why you shouldn't count on Facebook, like very specific. This is why you shouldn't count on Instagram.
Suzanne Proksa:
Very specific. And then there were people in the other camp who were posting that it's all going to come back and it's all going to be okay and everything. And those are the people that are selling really pricey products around Instagram and Facebook and stuff like that. So it was just really interesting to watch the back and forth. And so the delightful thing about your hostess with the mostest y'all is that I am not attached to either or any platform. I believe in diversification. I believe in getting visible in the places that matter. And for some people, that could actually mean no social media, no shit.
Suzanne Proksa:
But that's not super wise in this day and age because everybody wants to get to know you and everything. I mean, just think about it. People creep your stories. People want to see what you're eating. It's crazy. Like if you think about it, the celebrities and other people in business and stuff, the stuff that they're posting, it's like people want to know some pretty nitty gritty level stuff like what you're doing on the day to day. And so it's really important that you do consider that in any strategy that you put together. Now, I don't want to freak you out with the word strategy.
Suzanne Proksa:
I know that a lot of times when we strategists come at you with that word, people freak out. And I don't know how to do strategy. I just want to do my thing. I want to sell my health coaching. I want to sell my packages. I don't want to deal with all this shit. I get it. I totally get it.
Suzanne Proksa:
So here's the deal. So again, the title is what to do a Facebook and Instagram apocalypse had your business sideline. If you are one of these people that was in a mass panic and didn't know what to do, or even if you are someone who is, that's just where you're spending your time. Let me just encourage you to consider branching out to some other areas, especially if business is not going super well for you. Usually if your business isn't going super well for you, of course there's a variety of reasons that that can be happening. That's why you dive in with a coach, so you can dive into that stuff and figure out what the issues are, make a plan to fix it, and then really kick some booty. But it's certainly possible that one of the reasons is that you're in the completely wrong places. And I see this with health coaches all the time.
Suzanne Proksa:
I just discussed this on another podcast today. That the thing that breaks my heart is that there's a lot of women just like I was bursting into the health coaching scene as an example, who of know everybody's on Facebook, right? So the first place you go and you start looking for stuff is sometimes and often Facebook. Well, what do you get? You get coaches who do a lot of their business on Facebook. Where do they tell you to be on Facebook? Where do they tell you to go? Facebook groups. It's a gold mine. Here's the problem. If you're a health coach and you're trying to sell weight loss to moms yeah, there might be some moms in those entrepreneur groups that you're hanging out with and posting so fast and furious that your fingernails are about to fall off. But that's not your whole audience, and they may not be the ones who are going to pay.
Suzanne Proksa:
Those women are so damn busy and concerned with other things that I'm not 100% sure that that's the best place to be. So instead of spending so much time and so much energy in a place just because some experts told you to, regardless of what you're doing, who your audience is, what you're trying to sell, consider where your people are actually hanging out. Where do they go when they sit down at the keyboard and they need to get some information on the problem they have? What do they type into Google? Where does it take them? That's what you want to know. So if you know selling weight loss or with hormone balancing or something like that, then you want to go to Dr. Google and see where people are landing when they search for that. And you know better than I do what exactly they're going to search for as far as what you're doing, you type that in, you see where it takes you. What are the links going to more than likely, if it's health related, it's going to Pinterest and it's going to YouTube, and it's going to blogs. Meanwhile, these hardworking health coaches, where are they posting? Do you see the problem? A complete waste.
Suzanne Proksa:
The other place, where else is it going? It's going to magazines. It's going to publications. If you're not there, if you're busy hanging out, you're at the wrong party, girl. You are at the wrong party. Have you ever done that? I've done that as a child. Don't tell. I had some terrible friend. I've had the worst friends in life.
Suzanne Proksa:
I swear to the gods. I had somebody tell me there was a party somewhere and we were all geeked about it, went and realized that they were playing a joke. And this was like a party with some really hardcore individuals. It was terrifying. But anyway, I digress. So if you are at the wrong party, don't expect to get very good results. Don't expect to make a lot of friends because you're in the wrong damn place, okay? Just like in real life. So when your people go to Google, even if you're a business coach, what are they searching for and then where does that take? You know, business coaches, people in the coaching industry in general, a lot of them are doing the whole Facebook group thing, posting those value posts day in, day out, and five different groups, X times a day, interacting with people, talking to people.
Suzanne Proksa:
And certainly they're making money doing they don't if it's working well, fantastic. If it's not working well and you're going broke, then it's time to look at some other again while you know, the instagram and Facebook experts are like, they're never going to go down. They're never going to go away. Okay. Oh, then you got the people on the other side of the fence. Facebook's going down in flames. Y'all you know what, here's the reality. Let's just be realistic.
Suzanne Proksa:
Facebook is not necessarily going to be forever. Do I think it's going away tomorrow? No, but do you remember something called MySpace? Do you remember oh, no, I forgot the name of it. It started with a P. It was that video platform gone. How many platforms have you seen come and go eventually? It's very possible that Facebook will do the same. We just don't know. But the other thing is that if you watch the news, you know that Facebook's constantly in it. They're constantly in trouble for something.
Suzanne Proksa:
Something's constantly going wrong. So they're constantly out know, defending and throwing money at lawyers and stuff like that. Money eventually can run out, although I think they're very rich. I'm just saying that money can eventually run out. And if you don't think that they lose some people every damn time that they land in the news with something that they did that wasn't real. Kosher I don't know. People are pretty skeptical these days. Have you noticed? So while yeah, it does seem a little far fetched, it's going to go away.
Suzanne Proksa:
It's going to go poof. Oh my God, you need an email list and that kind of thing. It's really good strategy to get yourself diversified. Not only for those reasons, but because I can't tell you how many people following my lead went over to LinkedIn and were like, oh my gosh, my business is finally thriving because I told them to get their asses on LinkedIn. Now they're actually making money. LinkedIn is not this stodgy thing anymore. LinkedIn is a very interesting place to have some conversations. People actually interact.
Suzanne Proksa:
When I did my 30 days to visible challenge, I dare say at least 50% of the people came from LinkedIn. That is nothing to sneeze at. That also brought all those new people into my group. There's probably more than 50% now that I think about that. It brought new people into my group and onto my list and everything. Do not underestimate LinkedIn. Again, not this whole stodgy thing you guys are used to. But what I will tell you is you do get a lot more creepers trying to connect with you there.
Suzanne Proksa:
It's like the new dating site. It's weird. So I'm to the point now where I almost decline just all men because it just seems like I get creeper, creeper, creeper, creeper, creeper. So I don't accept a lot of those, but I'm there to connect with women anyway. And one of the things that you guys may have noticed lately that I am owning about myself, my brand, and my services is that I'm happy to help people, but I am here to help certain women and with programs, services, et cetera. My group is my group. I created it. I put the work in what I do on other platforms.
Suzanne Proksa:
That's the work I do on other platforms. It's mine. I own it. And I don't mean as in own, obviously my stuff is housed elsewhere. I don't mean that I own like LinkedIn or anything crazy like that, but I think you guys get what I'm saying. So here's the deal you need to look into. Where else can you go? So I'm just going to list some of these off now. Obviously there's Instagram, good for health coaches.
Suzanne Proksa:
People do go there for health related things. Although if you're going to choose where to go first, I'm still going to defer to Pinterest blog, the things that Google takes people to, which is Pinterest blogs, YouTube, et cetera. When people search for things, business coaches really have a wide variety of places they can go, which is super cool, which means that you can really tailor what you're doing to your strengths and the amount of time that you have. So let's just roll down the list. We already mentioned Instagram, pinterest works for everybody. LinkedIn, fantastic for business coaches and even product based businesses. I mean, way back when I was an Etsy seller, I was on LinkedIn and completely kicked ass on LinkedIn back in the day between was it 2004 and 2014. So something to consider on YouTube, anything that has to do with educating people via video is obviously YouTube worthy.
Suzanne Proksa:
Publications are not just for famous people. This is a thing I just talked about as well in another podcast, is that a lot of people think it's only for people who are super famous, have a ton of clients, et cetera. It is not. I was a newbie when I got published in Huvingdon post and back then, while it still is now, actually. You know, it takes effort to get published. So publications are going to help get you that expert status and make you stand out and give you a much farther reach of people who are going to be paying clients as opposed to some of the social media sites. And then of course, there's podcasts. Podcasts are freaking hot right now.
Suzanne Proksa:
It's no longer just business people listening to them. So I would definitely stalk some podcasts and see what's out there in the same arena as what you're doing to see if that might be somewhere where you can grant your expertise and get more exposure. Then there's Summits, definitely good for coaches and the like. But there are also Summits for health related topics that you can get your booty in on. I cannot remember the name of it, but there is one company that puts on like, oh my gosh, like four to eight different Summits a year. I used to pay for these things on the little jump drive, but they're so good and what a great opportunity for you to show your stuff. Live events are fantastic, and you want to bring them to your community whenever you possibly can. And wherever that community is, is where you bring them, and you may have multiple places.
Suzanne Proksa:
So I do love to have people come to my Facebook group again. We're talking about what to do if that know, crashes and burns. I also have a Member Vault site which has an area, a hub for people who are on my email list, and it does have quiz, questions and things that I can ask, so it can be made interactive if you get creative. So Member Vault is definitely a tool for your business to look at if you think that that's something you want to look at. My affiliate link is susanproxa.com MV. Check it out. And then again, I mentioned the groups. I also feel like I create community on LinkedIn by chatting with people.
Suzanne Proksa:
I feel like I create community on Instagram. I work on it more and more. Am I the best instagrammer? No. I know what to do. I just don't have the time. In my day. If I could do stories all day, I would. I would be posting a lot more short videos to my wall and on IGTV like crazy pants.
Suzanne Proksa:
But I am a live video love, so I love live video and people love me on it. So that's obviously a place that I spend as much time as I possibly can. And Instagram provides a lot of outlets for that, for community, for me. So I really want you to start thinking about those things that you can add in to supplement what you're doing. And if you feel like the whole Facebook and Instagram thing has just got you wanting to piece out on, you know, maybe look at some of the other options that may be better suited to what you're doing anyway and see how you can bring those into your strategy. I hope that this was helpful for some of you and that you took away some tidbits that have you feeling a little better about the whole apocalypse and your business. Hey, I do have a fantastic guide that I've had out for a while that people rave about. It is called the Facebook Disenchanted Girls Guide for Marketing.
Suzanne Proksa:
You can pick that [email protected], so I hope you found that helpful. Much love to you guys. Everything's going to be okay, even if Facebook and Instagram peace out again. Just make sure that you have a diversified plan in place so that you're not just taking sies all day when Zuck decides he's going to accidentally pull the plug. All right, talk to you guys soon. Thank you so much for listening to another episode. I'm so glad you decided to roll with me yet again. Hey, if you loved it, please give me a rating and some little comments on itunes.
Suzanne Proksa:
And hey, if you're thinking that working together with my crazy self. Sounds like a fantastic idea. Hunt me down. Suzanproxa.com that K is before the s, you can find all of my coaching information, my blog, my courses, all of the things. All right? In one spot. And with that, I will see you in the next episode. Gorgeous.
