EP 353 - How to Get Started on Social Media as a Coach in 2026 (for Women 50+)

MarketingCoaching Lifestyle
Written By Debbie Shadid
 

If you're a woman over 50 who keeps telling herself she doesn't like social media or doesn't want to put herself out there, this one's for you. Here's the truth. You do like social media, because you found me on it, and your future clients are waiting to find you the exact same way.

If you're new to my channel, my name is Debbie Shadid. I'm a Business Growth and Life Coach and the founder of the Business Building Boutique. For over two decades, I've helped women learn how to become coaches, get clients, grow their businesses, and create meaningful income doing work they love.

Social media is free, it gives you worldwide reach without spending a dime on ads, and you get to decide exactly what you show. Once you stop waiting to do it perfectly and just start showing up, getting found by the right clients gets a whole lot easier.

In this video, we'll walk through:

  • Why social media really isn't optional if you want to be a coach who gets seen and gets clients

  • How to pick one platform and post something you can actually do consistently, even if that's your personal Facebook page

  • Why you don't need a big following or a viral post to fill your business (I have about 4,000 followers and almost every client has checked my page)

  • The seven content categories to map out for your niche so you never run out of things to say

  • How to use simple calls to action that keep people engaged without selling in every single post

  • Why you should stop letting AI write all your content and start trusting your own wisdom instead

  • What genuine DM connection looks like when you're making friends on social media, not chasing the sale

Imagine showing up online without the knot in your stomach, knowing the woman you're meant to help is out there scrolling and waiting to hear from you. That's what happens when you build the muscle of exposure and let yourself get a little better every day. Perfection isn't the goal. Showing up is.

Ready to map out a simple way to get seen and get clients without paid ads? Book your free Business Blueprint Call and let's talk about your coaching business: https://debbieshadid.com/schedule

Want the graphics and the Canva training I mentioned? Learn how to create a beautiful brand and update your own graphics here: https://www.debbieshadid.com/canva

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Transcript

It's time to have a serious conversation about social media because if you're a woman over 50, I know what your story is. I don't wanna put myself out there. I don't like social media. It's not the way I wanna do. I don't wanna show my family. Guess what? All of those stories are keeping you from building your business because in reality, you do like social media. You know why? Because you found me on social media. Even if you are watching me on YouTube, this is social media. There are many platforms, and guess what? I don't show you what I had for dinner, and you don't have to do it either. You get to decide intentionally what you want to show on your social media. Every single coach you admire is on social media, all of them. I have tried to think of an exception, and I can't. Social media is free, and there is no other platform, no other advertising that you can get worldwide access without spending a dime. So if you're not showing up on social media consistently, that is your first problem that we need to fix today. If you like what you're hearing, I want you to subscribe. I drop 10-minute episodes that are straight to the point where you get real answers for your coaching business. Here's a mistake I see coaches making over and over. When they finally do get started, they post a few times, and then they get nothing, and they're like, "Uh, social media doesn't work. I already posted. Nobody liked, nobody commented." Guess what? Social media is a long game. There is no instant win on social media. You have to be there consistently. The algorithm is not on our side, okay? Yes, it's trained to show things to you that you're interested in, but when you're just getting started, you need to be putting out content consistently so that you can be seen. You don't need to go viral. You don't need a big following. I am such a beautiful example of somebody who does not have a big following, and I have made a lot of money in my business in 26 years. On Instagram, I have about 4,000 followers. Do you know how many people that become my clients have actually looked at my Instagram? Practically everybody. It doesn't matter if I have followers or not. If you go look at your analytics, you will see that your account is being shown to more people that are not following you. That is something that you don't know or don't see. I also want to challenge you because a lot of times people say, "Well, nobody's liking or commenting my stuff." I'm gonna ask you, when was the last time you liked or commented on somebody's stuff? Yeah, I called you out. You probably aren't doing that, and that's okay, but don't have a double standard. Don't expect people to do it for you if you're not doing it for them. I always tell people, social media is social. That means you're supposed to be social on social media. Are you doing that? Probably not. So if somebody landed on your social media right now, would they be able to tell you have a business? Probably not. But it is worth you answering that question, and if the answer is no, then we need to look at that and fix it. So here's one simple strategy that could actually work for you. You have to do something that is achievable, okay? Pick one platform and you commit to doing what you actually can do. So if you can't go live, you can't do videos, guess what? You don't have to. If your platform is your personal Facebook page, Because as a woman over 50, I could guess that that actually might be the platform that you're most comfortable with. So let's say it's your personal Facebook profile. If you go there, I'm gonna tell you that you can start posting. Post every day the most basic thing. Post something that you can do consistently. So if that means it's quotes, which is not gonna get you any business, by the way, but if that means that you're gonna get in the habit of putting yourself out there, and you're gonna pick inspiring quotes for 30 days, then do that, We need to build the muscle of exposure, getting comfortable with exposure, of putting yourself out there, even if it's through just graphics. The stories that we have around social media, like there's people that are watching us, people are gonna get us. Nobody can get you on social media, There are strange people that send DMs. I don't know why they do, but let's not worry about that. let's instead decide that our client, the one that we so desperately wanna help, is waiting to see a post from us. Can you see how different that is? Who cares what some, you know, crazy person says on your post? It doesn't matter, okay? Ignore those people and focus on the person that you want to help. So what I want you to do is pick that one platform, decide you're gonna post every day.

One word of caution: 4:37

I don't want AI to create your content. AI can create everybody's content, which means it's just all generic stuff. I've said this before, and I'm gonna keep saying it. You need to separate yourself from AI. You need to trust yourself to know what you could say about your niche. You actually have wisdom. You don't need some professional format to say it. Just say it. Say, "Here's the thing that helps me out when I'm discouraged," and just say it, okay? Don't worry about hashtags. Don't worry about any of that stuff. Just get comfortable being there and allow yourself to get better, to practice, If you want to go live, you can do that, but you don't have to. If you want to do video, guess what? I record the same video over and over and over until I get it right. Did you know that you can do that? You can record it in your camera roll, watch it, delete it, record again till you get it the way you want it. Then that video is the one that you share on social media. The next step is for you to think about your niche and to write down seven key topics about your niche. Seven things that you could talk about on repeat with your niche. These are gonna be like content categories So this will be seven days of content. You're gonna rotate through them. And look, I could look at any one of your niches, and I could say seven things about your niche, and I know you can too. Let me take mine, for example, niche, branding, messaging, offers, pricing, social media. Email marketing. That's seven things. I could rotate through those, and every time say something different. And guess what? I can also say the same thing because the likelihood that you're gonna remember that I said that last week and the likelihood that you're going to see my post again is practically zero. Something else I want to address is DM marketing. A lot of you guys are like, "Oh, I don't want to have to do that." Guess what? You don't have to. Everything is your choice. So I don't do DM marketing. I don't want to do it. But what if you DM'd every person that became a follower and said, "Hi. Thanks for following me. I'd love to connect with you. Tell me what you're struggling with"? That is a genuine message. It doesn't have to be, "Hi. I'm here to talk to you about my coaching and buy coaching from me." It doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to be a creep. Remember, we are making friends on social media. What we think is that we have to be selling on social media all the time. We don't. We just want to help people. That's where you get used to talking on social media. Coaches who are gonna grow the fastest are not just posting. They are actually showing up on social media and working on connection. So you do want to have calls to action on your posts. You want to tell people what to do. And the call to action is not gonna be schedule a consultation every single time. It could subscribe. It could be follow for more. It could be consider this. It could be look in the show notes. Check out the caption. Tell me what your problem is. Drop an emoji. Those are calls to action. That helps to keep people engaged, but here's the deal. If you get no comments, it's no big deal. Doesn't mean that what you're doing doesn't work. So there are so many places that you can choose to market. You can be on YouTube. You can do YouTube Shorts. You can do your Facebook business page, your personal Facebook page, TikTok, Substack, Pinterest, Just pick one platform to start. What is it? Where are you going to be? Just pick one. And don't even worry about the algorithm. Don't worry about getting it all right. That is what is keeping you from doing it. Your first job is to just show up consistently on social media. Make sure you drop in the comments your social media handle. I will follow you, I will engage with you, I will like your stuff and add comments so that others will get engaged with you as well. So the one thing that I want you to remember is social media really isn't optional. Honestly, if you wanna be a coach who is seen and who impacts people around the globe, or even in your backyard, you need to be on social media. Okay? You found me on social media, and I bet every other coach that you found is on social media. So this is how you market your business. This is an easy way to do it. It's one of the many ways to do it. So I'm gonna challenge you, get yourself out there. Just put yourself out there without doing it perfectly. Work on it, and once you start working on it, then you can move closer to getting better and better at it. And look, perfection doesn't exist. All right? I'm Debbie Shadid. I'm so thrilled that you're here. I help women just like you build boutique-style coaching businesses without paid ads, and one of the ways to do it is with social media. Make sure that you check in the show notes. I've got some graphics that will help make things easier for you. And as I mentioned, There is a Canva training that will teach you exactly how to create a beautiful brand and how to update the graphics that you can get also through that training. Have a beautiful day. Make sure you subscribe. We'll see you soon.

Debbie Shadid https://www.DebbieShadid.com
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EP 354 - Why Coaches Don't Know What to Say (And How to Stand Out in 2026)
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EP 352 - From Invisible to Viral at 65 with Candas Barnes