#203: [Coach the Coach] Which Social Media Platform Should You Start With?

Michelle Leotta:
Well, hello there health coaches. We are back for another Coach the Coach session. And today I'm here with Lisa who is new. She's at the beginning of her coaching business. And it's feeling a little overwhelmed wish social media and putting her face on video. Lisa, thanks for joining me today.

Lisa:
Oh, you're welcome. I'm so happy to be here - excited.

Michelle Leotta:
And your face is on video like right now. So how's it feel?

Lisa:
It feels good but nervous too.

Michelle Leotta:
You look great. Your lighting's good. Your background is nice. I am literally sitting on the floor of my boyfriend's house recording against just like a solid wall, 'cause that's, you know, you do what you gotta do, but you're looking very professional over there. So good start.

Lisa:
Thank you.

Michelle Leotta:
Why don't you tell everybody just a little bit about how long you've been coaching and what's, you know, what you've done so far in your business?

Lisa:
Okay. So I got my health coach certification actually in 2018. I know that was a few years ago. My mother became critically ill and unfortunately I had to kind of just put everything on hold and I'm also a registered nurse. And so, I do work full time as a school nurse. I happen to be off in the summer and what I've been working on though, I feel like I've made quite a bit of progress lately with, uh, I've made two landing pages and by the way, I, my niche is to help post menopausal women balance their hormones, naturally gain energy, lose weight, and, uh, stop living so stressed out so that they can begin to thrive in post-menopause and actually enjoy life. I do have, I built a, my own website through WICS and it's called thriveinprimetimehealth.com. And um, so I've created two landing pages. This we actually three landing pages this week. Um, I have put up like a got Stripe together so that I could actually take a payment. Um, I've been working on my health coaching program, um, in HPU. So, I've been working on the email sequence and trying to get all those emails in order the four emails welcome ones. So, I'm doing all of these things, um, and feel like I'm really ready very soon to launch. And I'm trying to pick a health code, I mean a media platform.

Michelle Leotta:
Right? Okay. Sounds like you've been doing lots of stuff. I would argue you are already ready to launch, you know, we can start seeing clients with nothing more than a pen and a notebook. You know, you don't need all this stuff to start seeing clients. But, as you've been thinking about how you wanna market yourself and where you're gonna be sharing these landing pages and websites and things that you're working on, what, what like is, uh, encouraging you to seek out help? Like why, why not just start somewhere? What are the barriers what's getting in your way?

Lisa:
I keep going back and forth. Do I just start with social media? I mean, Facebook, I'm concerned about what I can put out there on Facebook. What if I put, can I put my, just the link only? There's a few, I'm just concerned about doing the wrong thing, I guess. And that's kind of holding me back. Can I just put out a link to a landing page and just post about some healthy content that would have... Eating content or what have you that has to do with postmenopausal women? Um, and then I'm not sure if there's part of me that wants to just start a YouTube channel and start with the videos. And I don't know if I should be in, oh, and then I thought of Pinterest, oh, wait a minute. Pinterest is a, is a website, you know, engine, like, I mean a, um, search engine, so maybe that's even easier. And, I'm just trying to think what is me, what is best for me that I would thrive in doing.

Michelle Leotta:
Okay, good. I like that thought process. Um, you also mentioned before we hit record, you were saying, I don't wanna be posting every day and feel like I'm a slave to social media.

Lisa:
Yes, yes.

Michelle Leotta:
Okay. So I wanna ask a couple different questions and we'll kind of work toward an answer here. For starters, when we think about postmenopausal women, which social media platform do you know, they are already on?They're already very active on? Like, do we know that they're using Pinterest, your friends, your...

Lisa:
I think they are. I definitely think Facebook

Michelle Leotta:
Mm-hmm

Lisa:
I think some are on Instagram. I don't think my guess would be probably not TikTok as much, but I could be wrong. Um, those would be the ones I, I would think.

Michelle Leotta:
And do you think that they're subscribing to a lot of YouTube channels watching the YouTubers? Yes. As like one of their main, um, one of the main places they're hanging

Lisa:
Out. I do. I do, because I, I know I watch a lot of YouTube video. My friends tell me they watch YouTube videos, so I do think they are there.

Michelle Leotta:
Okay. That's interesting. Cause I would say like, that's first and foremost, like you said, we can probably rule out TikTok. We can, you know, maybe if we had to pick between Instagram and Facebook, just based on what you already know about these women, you know, they're probably more active on Facebook.

Lisa:
Yes, definitely.

Michelle Leotta:
So that all sounds right in line. So when we're choosing these things, we wanna think about our target market, where do they wanna be? Where are they already showing up? Where are they active and engaged. Great. Okay. We got that. The next thing that I wanna ask you is if social media didn't exist because it didn't not that long ago, we all remember those days, right?

Lisa:
Yes

Michelle Leotta:
Then how would you promote yourself?

Lisa:
I guess in person? I mean, I don't know how else I would.

Michelle Leotta:
Yeah. That now let's just talk about that for a second. Because as you know, because you are, you know, an HPU member as well, we teach you how to do workshops. We teach you how to get booked on podcasts and which, you know, in the old days would've been a radio show or a, you know, being on morning TV, but you know, being in the media um, what about showing up, doing some speaking engagements? What about doing things offline before we talk about online? What about doing things offline?

Lisa:
Yes. And I think with COVID there was a big, you know, I had my concerns about putting myself out there in bigger, you know, settings. So, that kind of, um, held me back too. But now I don't feel that it would. So, I actually will be attending my church women's group. Okay. Um, this coming Monday and I already was talking to a few of them and I had a non-pay client friend of mine who was, um, you know, she said she needed the help and I just didn't wanna charge her. And so I was getting practice with her and then she told another lady in the group. So possibly from that, I, I that's a start, in-person.

Michelle Leotta:
I love that. And if you were to do some type of workshop or presentation or whatever for the women's group at your church, could you potentially bring that to other churches in your region?

Lisa:
I would think so.

Michelle Leotta:
I would think so. I mean, my goodness, there's this all, there's this existing network mm-hmm of, and I'm sure there's a women's group or different types of groups at every church that you could go to in your whole state.

Lisa:
True.

Michelle Leotta:
So that that's a great possibility. Okay. Where else in real life, not online, might you find your postmenopausal women? Where else are they hanging out?

Lisa:
Hopefully like, weight loss clinics. Um, I mean doctor's offices, obviously gyms. I would think some of them are in gyms.

Michelle Leotta:
Mm-hmm

Lisa:
That's, what's coming to my mind. Maybe yoga places. Uh, Pilates. Studios.

Michelle Leotta:
Yep. And when I think about yoga studios in particular, I guess, 'cause I've done a lot of yoga, but I always think that there are some studios that are really geared toward the 20 somethings. It's very trendy. It's very hot. It's very, you knower energetic, you know, the kinda class, like if I tried to take my mom to, she would be like, ah, I can't do this. I'm already too hot. So...

Lisa:
Yeah, that would be me.

Michelle Leotta:
So, are there studios... right. Are there studios that cater to a slightly older crowd?

Lisa:
Yeah, I'm sure there are. I'm sure there are. I, I, yeah, I haven't looked into them myself. I, I just have joined regular gyms, you know, and all, I haven't actually sought out post-menopausal women where they hang out at gyms, but maybe that that's obviously something I should do.

Michelle Leotta:
Look into. Yeah. Same with Pilates do is even with gym, some gyms are more of a, you know, a younger gym rat kind of crowd and, and of course anybody can go, but you may find that some gyms cater more exclusively to women, they cater more exclusively to an older crowd. It just has a more gentle vibe to it. But you wanna find those places because you know, if they're there, they are already doing something they're trying to do something for their health

Lisa:
Mm-hmm yes,

Michelle Leotta:
Which means, you know, they're gonna welcome learning more about how they can do that. So those are all great ideas. I love all of those. So Lisa, when you're putting your energy and your time and all your effort into marketing yourself, what have you thought about taking 50% of it at least and putting it toward getting yourself into these in person marketing opportunities instead of 100% of the time thinking I gotta put this on social media.

Lisa:
That's a good, that's a real shift that I think I need to, to do, to take. Yes.

Michelle Leotta:
And not that women, fifties, sixties, seventies are aren't on social media. They absolutely are. But of, of, of any demographic you could be targeting. Like these are women who spent most of their life without social media. So, they're very accustomed to the idea of doing things in person and perhaps less accustomed to coming across somebody online and then suddenly paying them a lot of money to, to, you know, become a client that may feel even more foreign. You may do better in person.

Lisa:
That makes sense. It does. But don't I, at that point I would need business cards, correct to... because if you show up in person don't you have to leave something with the business. If they're gonna consider you?

Michelle Leotta:
Well, these days it's a lot of, I'm gonna send you an email. I don't ever use business cards. Your have a conversation, a quick conversation. Hey, I'll, I'll email you about that. And then you do, and you know, what's at the bottom of your email, a signature, you know, and it's got your title and your phone number, whatever you need them to have. It's basically a business card, isn't it?

Lisa:
Yeah. Okay. That's thank you for that 'cause now that makes it easier.

Michelle Leotta:
Oh yeah. I release you from having to get business cards.

Lisa:
That thing. That's another thing I have to do now.

Michelle Leotta:
No, I had some printed up when I first started my business. Never used them. I had a bunch printed up a couple of years ago because I had just redone my whole website and it felt like the thing to do - never use them.

Lisa:
Wow. Okay. I'll avoid it.

Michelle Leotta:
Yeah. If someone's like, oh, do you have a card? You know, usually these days, what do you do when you meet someone? Oh, I'll text you my number.

Lisa:
That's true.

Michelle Leotta:
Or I'll email you. And they're like, oh great. 'Cause that's just easier. Anyway, they can't lose it.

Lisa:
That's right. We use email like constantly texting.

Michelle Leotta:
Yeah. Right. So don't worry about that sort of thing. Um, so let's say that let's see right now it's July. Oh my God. I had to think about that. What month is it? It's July. And if you spent July and August, maybe September putting effort into getting workshops, set up, looking into speaking possibilities, speaking engagement, possibilities. I would say you could probably get some things set up for the fall.

Lisa:
Okay.

Michelle Leotta:
Take some time. Right? You have to negotiate schedules and talk to the right people and whatever, but you could probably get that set up for the fall and most certainly could get things set up for the beginning of next year.

Lisa:
Mm-hmm

Michelle Leotta:
You might even be able to get things set up sooner. I don't know, but you know, some people have their calendar planned out in advance more than others, different venues. Um, and as you know, inside HPU, we have the steps that you will take in order to reach out to somebody, get the green leg at the, go ahead, pitch them a workshop, all that is there for you. So it's just a matter of putting the, the time against it.

Lisa:
Yes. And making sure I have the workshop together 'cause that's...

Michelle Leotta:
Yep. We'll help you with that too.

Lisa:
yeah. Sounds good.

Michelle Leotta:
Excellent. Okay, great. Because I have a feeling you're gonna make progress faster. You're gonna build relationships faster when you meet someone in person, it's kind of like the equivalent of meeting 1000 people online or a thousand people online seeing you because there's just one in person connection. It's so valuable.

Lisa:
Yes. That makes sense.

Michelle Leotta:
There's so much built in trust there. Good, good, good, good, good. Okay. So if you're doing that on this side, right in real life in person and you're meeting people and then you also are spending some time on social media. You don't have to put all your eggs in that basket. So, you don't have to post every single day or be the biggest, best YouTube star there ever was. You know what I mean?

Lisa:
Yes, I do.

Michelle Leotta:
You're uh, what do they say in investing? You're diversifying your assets, right? If you diversify the ways that you promote yourself, then it's not like, yeah. All your eggs are in this one basket with YouTube and it's do or die. 'Cause that's a lot of pressure.

Lisa:
Yes. And if it's based on the video that I tried to do yeah. That's I don't wanna put it all in that basket.

Michelle Leotta:
Right. Based on your experience so far, I mean, who knows? It could totally happen, but you don't wanna put that pressure on yourself from the get go. Right. When you, and now it was 2018 when you graduated. Right?

Lisa:
I did.

Michelle Leotta:
Yes. Did you feel, because I keep seeing this with health coaches, did you feel like when you graduated, you were told or somehow it was implied through school or maybe they just said to you that you're gonna find all your clients on social media?

Lisa:
I was under impression I could choose if I wanted to go social media route or in person. It, it, it, I never really thought about like most, both doing both or even both at the same time. Um, and there really wasn't the, uh, the part of the course that other than what they're teaching you, as far as healthy eating and so forth, there was no business end of it. So I was trying to figure it all out on my own. And then, like I said, my mother was ill and everything had to go on hold and she ended up passing away. But, um, yeah, I, I think they were, it sounded to me more like, you're, you're gonna go one direction or another, or at least that's kind of how I took it. But now when you're saying about 50% of my time, then I could do both.

Michelle Leotta:
You can absolutely do both. And what you'll probably find is that, you know, you won't become the hottest thing on YouTuber, Facebook probably overnight, but you may meet people in person. And then the next thing that you tend to do these days is you go look that person up, right? You go look for them on Facebook, whatever you find their thing online. So you met them in person. Now they can say, oh, like, lemme see some things that has posted, oh, I'm getting even a better feeling for who she is so they can supplement each other.

Lisa:
Yes.

Michelle Leotta:
And really work well together. And I find that's faster. That's more organic right. Than just let me use the right hashtags and somehow hook people in yes. Who are perfect strangers.

Lisa:
True. And then with what you're saying is then I could gain, um, you know, just experience in person, which I know I need, so, um, and confidence. And then like you said, social media, I can point them to social media too. And even the, the, um, friend that I had - the non-pay client, she said, oh, you know, let me know as soon as you, you know, post something and I'll I'll, um, I'll send it, resend it, you know, to my friends and so forth. So she's already told me that and she'll give me a testimonial.

Michelle Leotta:
Great. I love it. now, as without other 50% of your energy that you will, you know, you, I mean, social media is an amazing tool. I just personally think that between, gosh, I don't know what schools have been teaching lately. And then COVID, everyone just got this impression that here is how health coaches find clients. We go on social media and what like DM people and just be creepy in people's inboxes and try to find clients. I don't understand that. But, thankfully we're not stuck behind our computer screens anymore, so we can be out there. But when we are there, um, I know you're talking about doing video. Would it feel more, I'm just guessing, would it feel more comfortable if you focused on using Facebook, whether it's a Facebook page or a Facebook group, and then within that, you can sometimes do video and sometimes, you know, you can post other things.
Lisa:
Mm-hmm

Michelle Leotta:
So, you can test out this whole video thing little by little, if it goes well, and you're getting more comfortable, you can take those videos or you can start making videos that you also publish to YouTube.

Lisa:
Okay. I don't think you can connect them, right? Or like, there's not a way of connecting them.

Michelle Leotta:
It wouldn't happen automatically, but it would be a matter of take even like this video or live streaming it into Facebook as we're recording, but I'm also recording it on zoom right now. So, once you have a video asset, it can be uploaded different places. I'm just suggesting it because if you start on YouTube, you're pretty much saying I'm gonna create a lot of videos.

Lisa:
Okay. I have to consider that one then.

Michelle Leotta:
Right, but Facebook, you a little more leeway.

Lisa:
Okay.

Michelle Leotta:
Yeah. And whether it's video or it's just text or it's an image or whatever, what are some topics let's just do a little brainstorming here. What are some things that you could post in order to not just educate postmenopausal women? "Cause we can all be nerds and talk about, you know, hormone, balancing, things like that. But what are some maybe fun or interesting or engaging things that, you know, they're likely to comment on, they're likely to engage with you on what do they like to talk about?

Lisa:
Well, one of them I think is just being able to lose enough weight, to get back into your jeans, that you wanna wear that you may have gained a few pounds and you can't wear them. I don't know if that's fun, but it seems to be a common desire.

Michelle Leotta:
I will agree with you. That is a common desire. What else, what else do they like to talk about in life?

Lisa:
Their kids?

Michelle Leotta:
Yes.

Lisa:
Their families.

Michelle Leotta:
Yes.

Lisa:
What they're doing.

Michelle Leotta:
Their grandkids.

Lisa:
Their grandkids.

Michelle Leotta:
Yes.

Lisa:
Yes, definitely their health. I don't know if that they, not that that's fun, but it's um, it can be, um,

Michelle Leotta:
Travel?

Lisa:
Travel. Yes. It's big

Michelle Leotta:
Food?

Lisa:
Food is everywhere. and people are always interested in that.

Michelle Leotta:
Okay. So, the reason I'm saying this is because sometimes we think when we create content, it's gotta be educational. Somehow we are the, you know, encyclopedia Botanica of post-menopausal women's health and everything we post is gonna talk about the weight loss and the whatever hot flashes or the, this, or, you know, I don't know, you know, all the different problems with someone's health and sometimes it can fall flat. Sometimes it's good and people appreciate it. But like, I also want to encourage you to talk about topics that generate engagement, because that's the name of the game on social media. If you post something and nobody comments and nobody likes it, it does very little for you in order for algorithms to work in your favor, you need the comments. So maybe you're posting about, you know, stories about your grandchildren or you're sharing a recipe for chocolate, something or other. These are more likely to get a lot of engagement. That's true than, you know, let me tell you four things you should be doing for your health this year.

Lisa:
But how okay by doing that? Um, I know you don't have to always put a link to something, but if you do wanna have a call to action to, for a free call... Consultation call, how would posting, you know, I have a, a new granddaughter, um, who's like two months old. Yeah. Cutest thing. And so I have put that up there. Uh, but that didn't seem like that would go with putting a link to a free call. It it's like seems to clash to me. So, so, are you saying like sometimes don't put a call to action about anything or link and just post things like that?

Michelle Leotta:
Sort of, yeah. Sometimes a call to action can be download this thing, book, this call like very, uh, specific business things that you want them to do like that. But sometimes a call to action can be leave a comment below, you know, drop an emoji or, you know, tell me in the comments if blankedy blank in order to get the engagement, build the relationships. And those are really important call to action too. So you can, you can mix it up, but even a story about your granddaughter. Gosh, we've been doing a lot of this in my copywriting course. So, I'm gonna do with you now, what we've been doing in there. Let's say, so your granddaughter's two months old, you said?

Lisa:
Yes.

Michelle Leotta:
That's so sweet. This would very easy if she was like a toddler, but let's do it anyway with her being just two months old. How do you think being healthy helps you in either enjoying your granddaughter more or being able to be a bigger help to the, your, you know, your grand... her parents, the, the overall family. Um, have you been able to, you know, be there for the overnights that are so hard? Like if you were not healthy, what would that keep you from in terms of your granddaughter?

Lisa:
Well, you wouldn't be able to, if you don't feel well, you won't be able to enjoy her, like you want to. And then you won't be able to help, you know, your, your, my son and daughter-in-law, let's say mm-hmm , um, like you would want to, so the, the healthier that you, I am, then the more that I can enjoy her and, and just enjoy the fact that I can be of help to my, my kids.

Michelle Leotta:
Yes. And then if you think like three years from now, when she's scrambling all over the place and running around and you wanna be able to get down on the floor and play with her, that's difficult if you're in pain and you're heavy and you can't get up and down off the ground.

Lisa:
Yes. That's true. Playing, helping, lifting, carrying. Yes.

Michelle Leotta:
Yes, yes. Just, you know, playing with dolls or something is gonna require a certain amount of mobility. So you could post a picture of your granddaughter and then talk about this, talk about, you know, and then I think three years from now, when she's gonna wanna play with dolls and you know, I'm so glad that it'll be able to get up and down on the ground in order to do that or the Barbie dream house or whatever it is. You know, this is a pain point for a lot of grandparents who can, it is,

Lisa:
It is definitely that now that's great. I, now I see the connection of how I could do that. And it's branching causing me to branch out.

Michelle Leotta:
Right. And you could do the same with travel because if you're not feeling well, you don't wanna travel. You get there, you're uncomfortable. You don't wanna do anything. You can't walk, you can't right. Take advantage of wherever you are.

Lisa:
That is true.

Michelle Leotta:
You can do it with, oh, so everything, everything that these women wanna do in their lives, you can pretty much relate back to how much better they can be enjoying this second half of their life. Yes. If they were feeling their best and then comes the call to action. If you wanted to have them book a call or download your free gift.

Lisa:
That gives me an idea when I take my, my trip soon.

Michelle Leotta:
Yes.

Lisa:
About creating a little video when I'm away and then relating it to, to help being healthy.

Michelle Leotta:
Yeah. Take lots. And lots of videos take 'em all over the place. You don't have to use them all, but the more assets, the more pictures and video that you have, the more you'll be able to use them. And then right there, if you put something up on Facebook or whatever it is of twice a week, is that a doable number?

Lisa:
Yes, that is, that's definitely doable.

Michelle Leotta:
So I think what we have now sketched out for you looks like this. Over the next like six months or so you're gonna hold a couple workshops and some gyms at the church, Pilate studios, yoga studios. And about twice a week, you post something to Facebook. Sometimes it's a video and sometimes it's not on a scale of one to 10, how comfortable does that feel for you?

Lisa:
It feels comfortable. And it feels like I now finally have a plan that I didn't have. I just, all these things was swimming in my mind. Oh, should you do this? That, and it, it just seems a little, you know, overwhelmed.

Michelle Leotta:
Of course it does. And what you'll see online just feeds into that overwhelm because you see people posting every day and you see people trying to sell you that Instagram course about becoming an Instagram star. And you're like, oh, I have to become the best social media person ever.

Lisa:
Yes. And I did that with Pinterest. Then I was looking at pin... Oh wait, then I have to learn how to pin and do this and that. And I'm thinking, okay, that sounds good. But that's another course and all these things to do. Yeah. And I said, that's gonna... As good as it can be. It's gonna hold me back from, from just getting started sooner.

Michelle Leotta:
Maybe like next year, you'll start using Pinterest. It'll just, you know, as you have the space for it, as the first things become easy, the other opportunities open up for you. Absolutely. I think, I do think Pinterest would be an interesting place for you to be, but start with what's comfortable. Start with what you already know.

Lisa:
Yes.

Michelle Leotta:
Absolutely. You got this. Yes. Lisa, thanks so much for joining today. And thank you for posing the question. Because so many coaches just like you were out there thinking, oh, I don't wanna spend all my time on social media. What do I do?

Lisa:
Yes. Thank you. It really does clarify it. I really appreciate it.

Michelle Leotta:
Glad that you could be here with me today. And for all of you listening and watching, if you'd like the chance to have a one-on-one mentorship call with me like this, just like Lisa, did you gotta be part of our weekly mentorship group we meet every week. We talk about everything that's going on for you. And it's just so lovely to have somebody or a whole group of somebody to bounce things off of. You can join the wait list, 'cause we'll be opening up enrollment at the end of the summer. Join the wait list at healthcoachpower.com/mentorship. I'll see you guys next time. Take care.

Lisa:
Bye bye-bye. Thank you.