As you know I like to share inspirational social media stories and case studies of smaller organisations who have used social media successfully. Today’s case study is from Kerry Pace, Founder & Specialist Teacher – Diverse Learners, who grew her business from scratch through Facebook.
Kerry Pace
I had an idea that others dismissed but I was certain would work. I wanted to provide support for students with specific learning difficulties (dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADD/ADHD) via Skype. Many students, especially those on placement, found accessing support during office hours very difficult. My use of Facebook enabled me to grow an idea into a business, not that I referred to it as such until I handed in my notice 18 months after creating a Facebook page. That business – www.Diverse-Learners.co.uk – has now diversified, adding mentoring and assistive technology training and now supports myself, husband and supplements the income of 2 (soon to be 4) other practitioners.
I was not a fan of Facebook and had several “debates” with my teenage daughter about its merits. However, adopting the classic parental tone of ‘do as I say not as I do’, I created a profile in August 2011 after a crash course on using Facebook for business (whilst sitting in a tent!).
I was working part-time for a university and knew there was a demand for ‘dyslexia’ tuition via Skype. However, I was also aware of the conflict of interest in tutoring students attending that university. Facebook was a free, risk-free way of advertising my services to a ready-formed client base.
Within 2 months of creating www.facebook.com/dyslexia.tutor life events (my husband’s redundancy) intervened and scepticism about Facebook was swept away as we saw the possibilities of using it to create much-needed income.
In a nutshell:
What did I do?
- Posted regularly on my page
- Posted to pages I had an association with – alumni, dyslexia/dyspraxia/disability-related
- Answered queries on other pages adding a suggestion to visit my page for hints and tips
- Posted to pages whose products or services I liked or used – particularly those used by my potential clients
- Tips and hints on my page – theme weeks, answered queries, shared personal experiences
- Encouraged interaction – widening reach to my target group
What happened?
- Networking (that my husband refers to in Alan Sugar’s denigrated term ‘schmoozing’) resulted in invites to conferences, guest writer and blogs, consultancy work and students
- Posts to the main timeline by students, parents, professionals and organisations that then shows on their page, again widening reach to the target group
- Shares on the page and sharing of your page reaches a wider audience
- Developing relationships – resulted in offers of prizes for the website and page
- Word of Facebook (like word of mouth)
WARNING
- Be careful where you post as it can be removed and Fb take “spamming” seriously
- Do not add your Fb or website link to a post – barrs you from a page / can be reported to Fb
Demand on Facebook led to the creation of a website in October 2012 (linking to the Fb page of course) and Linked In profile ( uk.linkedin.com/pub/Kerry-pace/45/353/b1b ) to network more. I just need to conquer Twitter now, but Jane is going to help me with that.
As I always say to the students I support, onwards and upwards.
If you would like to know more about Kerry’s work or see her page click here
If you would like to share your feedback about this or your own success stories (or problems) please leave your comments below, or visit my page http://www.facebook.com/janessocialmedia.