Anna Belanger conquers Facebook

One of the things we are always looking to do is to empower people so that they can create their own authentic online presence using social media.  

A friend and client, Anna Belanger of Anna Belanger and Associates, wasn’t using her Facebook page to its potential. After some regular proding from me to post more often (every day!) we finally agreed to have me create a list of Facebook status updates and she committed to posting daily for a month.

What happened next is exactly what I want to see happen with all of my clients.  Anna got into the groove. She realized that coming up with regular content wasn’t as hard as she thought and that content didn’t need to be all “important announcements”, but more engaging and varying things that would entertain and give value to her audience.

The growth on her page in the three months since she started posting regularly and engaging with her audience on a personal level has been incredible (a 50% increase!).

I asked Anna a few questions to share her perspective on how things happened:

Going back to the Fall, what were your Facebook habits?

I would post a status here and there. Usually I would only post if I had something to announce.

Did you find the idea of coming up with daily posts overwhelming?

At first I couldn’t imagine with a post everyday. I thought that I would be overwhelming my audience. However, now I look forward to the challenge and it’s interesting to see which posts get the most response.

What changed so that you no longer found it difficult?

Originally what changed was the list of posts you sent me. I didn’t think to look up stuff on pinterest or from other sites. I also found it less difficult when I saw my audience responding positively to the daily posts.

What changes have you seen since you started posting daily?

My following has grown immensely! We also started including our clinic openings and have found that last minute booking has increased.

Have you seen any direct impact on your business?

Absolutely, posting our openings and course availabilities has increased our booking. I also find that others on my page share our openings and courses and have increased visibilitiy to the clinic!

All it took was creating a list of 30 Facebook updates and scheduling them for a month to get into a habit and realize that creating content wasn’t nearly as difficult as she had feared.  

Take some time today and write down 30 status updates for your page.  They can be images, links, tips, quotes, things you like to do with your family or a million other things.  The key is to provide value or entertain your audience.  You know that audience best - what do you think they’d like to read about? 

Share some of the things of status updates you find work best on your page in the comments.  

Will you go write a list now?

Blogging: 3 tips

Blogging regularly is a great way to get people to your website (there's no reason to come back if there's no new content!), as well as to establish yourself as an expert in a field and to build community around a common issue. It's also really good for search engine optimization (SEO) and increasing your chances of being found in Google searches.

Here are three tips to help create blog content for your readers that they will find valuable and enjoy.

1) Posts don’t need to be long

People don’t commit to a blog post the way they do to a book or even to a magazine article. There is so much content out there to read that if you can say it in fewer words, do it. I think 300 words is ideal, but Google thinks quality content needs to be at least 500 words long. That means that I aim for 500-600 words but if your blog post is shorter than that, don't worry too much about it, just make sure some of your core content is longer.

2) Break big topics up into multiple posts

You have a topic you can’t POSSIBLY write about in under 500-600 words? Can you make it into multiple blog posts and create a series? I can write about blogging for far more than 500 words, but instead I will share digestible amounts of information more frequently. This means you could turn one post into three and save yourself some blogging time and the chances that your audience will get a lot out of what you had to say probably increased too.

There are some exceptions to this rule - a post that has a lot of valuable how-to information can actually do really well if it's over 1000 words, so play around with both and see what works better for you.

3) Write for your audience

I see this a lot - people blog about their topic as they would to their peers. Are your peers your audience? If they aren’t, are you writing above their heads? Keep your content easy to read for people who don’t know the ins and outs of your industry. Avoid jargon and always try to think about how you can take a few steps back from where you are to make sure nobody feels confused.

Do you think any of your posts could be turned into a series?