Cave to the Facebook Pressure

The irony of blogging about Facebook to a culture + generation of people that are averse to joining social media platforms: is anyone going to benefit from this post?! oh hellz yeah. Someone is going to read my words of wisdom and tell their mother’s brother’s cousin’s best friend’s aunt’s sister. BAM! viral. Just. Like. That.

Ok maybe not.

But it needs to be said and hopefully YOU can pass along the information to the damn Facebook holdouts in your community.  Here’s the issue: Business owners are still holding out on creating Facebook accounts.  Countless yoga teachers are among these hold outs.  And I get it. I truly do. I’ve been inside your head. Want to see?

As a yoga teacher, self promotion makes me feel yucky. I strive to release my ego and I worry that it will feed it. Honestly, I prefer personal connection and interpersonal communication. Social media is an annoying distraction. I’d rather have a personal conversation in real time over a cup of chai. I totally get social media is good for my business, I just have some sort of a mental block around diving in.  WTF is a #? I totally don’t understand Pintrest but Instagram is kinda fun!.

Ya see what I did there? I got right in your pretty yoga teacher brain. I get you. We come from the same space. I’m just a little different.

I am not a hold out.  Quite the opposite. I am a self proclaimed social media junkie. I registered for a Facebook account as soon as they would let me without an .edu email address. I hate admitting this, but Facebook is an open browser on my computer 99.99999999999999999999999999999999% of the time. The Facebook and Facebook Pages Ap are probably my two most used aps on my Iphone. My financial advisor hubs has been pushing Facebook stock on the reg these days. It’s one of his recent favorite pics, simply because he sees how much I utilize it for just about everything – business, family and friends.

So, here’s the deal. Social Media isn’t a fad. It’s here to stay. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, Instagram and blogging platforms are and will continue to be essential mediums for you to grow your studio, your kula and your following.

The beautiful thing is, you don’t have to be personally active on Facebook. You can sign up and create a Fanpage, which is different from your personal page.  It’s essential that your business fanpage is not a profile page. Profile pages max out at 4k friends. There’s no max for likes of fan pages. You can also designate another administrator of a Fanpage to help you out!   If you want, you can even manage your all social media from exterior platforms like Social Oomph and Hootsuite. However, the point is, they need to be managed. The key to social media is the social part. You actually have to interact with your community.

Social media is just an advertising switch you have to flip

20 years ago, you would have purchased a print ad in a local newspaper. Today you post that same ad on your Facebook fan page. The awesome difference is, you get to actually engage with people and respond in real time to their reaction to your “advertisement.” Now seriously, come on. How awesome is that? It’s almost like a newspaper you picked up at Hogsmeade, but better because the people don’t just wave, they talk back! That’s got to be a sliver of personal communication- right?

Cave. It is essential to your business. If you have questions or need help, post a comment or email me. I got you, sister!