About Work with Ginny Podcast Blog Free Resources Speaker

How to Get Tagged in Facebook Groups When Someone Needs Your Service

marketing and visibility

Picture this. Someone in your town opens a Facebook group and types, “Does anybody know a good appliance repair company?” (Swap in your own trade.) A customer you helped last month sees the post. They’d love to recommend you, but they can’t remember your name. They try to search for you, and three similar businesses pop up. They aren’t sure which one is yours, so they scroll on.

That’s a lost job, and it has nothing to do with the quality of your work. If you want to get referrals in Facebook groups, the fix is simpler than most people expect. You make your name easy to find, easy to tag, and easy to trust. Here’s how to set that up, one step at a time.

Why Facebook Community Groups Matter for Local Service Businesses

A lot of word of mouth in your town now happens in online community groups. Neighbors ask for recommendations, and people answer. If you’re not set up to be part of that conversation, you’re missing out on some of the best leads there are.

The good news is you don’t have to post a hundred times a day. Alex Hormozi’s advice on high-volume posting is great if you have a team to carry it. Most of us don’t. And people are getting tired of posts that were clearly written by AI. What works better for small business owners wearing all the hats (my Camp 1 people!) is helpful content for your ideal customer, plus a profile that makes it easy for people to point to you.

Step 1: Clean Up Your Personal Facebook Page

This one surprises people. Your personal page comes first, because it’s the page people check when they’re deciding whether to trust you. And they will check. Folks know how easy it is to look up who they’re hiring.

Decide what’s public

If you post anything vulgar, overtly political, violent, or illegal, take it down, or at least make it private so only your friends can see it. You don’t want to turn away half the people who might hire you.

That doesn’t mean everything has to be generic and without your personality infused into it. I post about my faith because it’s important to me. If someone doesn’t want to work with a person who shares my beliefs, that’s okay. I’d rather they find someone who brings them joy. If something is that core to who you are, keep it. But bathroom selfies and wild Friday nights? Friends only :)

Use a clear, professional profile photo

People want to know who they’re doing business with. Our whole job is to build know, like, and trust, and a photo is the first piece of that. A Halloween costume, your dog, or your kid isn’t the best choice here.

You don’t need to hire a professional photographer for this (though it’s worth investing in one at some point for your branding). Go outside, find good lighting, put on a clean, simple shirt, and have someone take your picture in portrait mode. Smile!

Use your real name

Your personal page that’s connected to your business page should have the name people know you by. You can make nearly everything else private.

Post something wholesome once in a while

Share an occasional public post about a weekend with your team, your family, or your pets. I always ask my kids before I post their pictures, even though they’re adults now. When someone does a profile dive, they’ll see a normal, friendly human.

Step 2: Build a Business Page People Can Tag

To tag you, people need a business page, and you need a personal page to create one. I know you might dislike Facebook (keyboard warriors bring me down, too). But, you don’t have to live there. You just need the page to exist.

Here’s what to include:

  • Your exact business name, matching what shows up on your Google Business Profile.
  • A short bio that says what you do, the problem you solve, and the area you serve. For example, “We fix appliances, all makes and all models, in [your area].”
  • Photos of your team in the banner, if you can. A logo is fine, but smiling faces build trust faster.
  • Your website link. Even if you never post on the page, people who find you can click through and learn everything.

Here’s why the faces matter. A friend of mine, Zack, owns Trim Lawn Organics. If I met him briefly at a networking event and only remembered his company name, I’d want to see his face on the business page so I’d know I’m recommending the right person. Conversely, if I know how to find Zack's page, but I can't remember his business name, I could easily find it on his personal Facebook page. Your customers feel the same way when they connect you to the chamber event, community event, or networking meeting where you handed them a business card.

Step 3: Ask New Contacts to Follow Your Page

As soon as you meet someone, ask them to follow your business page. Once they do, your page pops up when they type the @ sign and the first few letters of your business' name. They can tag you in seconds.

Without that, they’re searching and searching, finding similar names, and sometimes tagging a business across the country that has nothing to do with you. If they pick the wrong one, you may lose the job to someone else.

Step 4: Make the Top of Your Website Do the Work

When someone gets recommended to you, they’re going to click to your website (if you make it easily available on your personal and business Facebook pages, that is). The first thing they see is the hero section, the very top of the page. It should say who you are, what you do, and how to reach you right away.

Add a clear button like “Work with me” or “Contact us” or "Schedule Now." That button should either call you or open a form. Make it really, really easy to do business with you.

Step 5: Show Up in the Groups and Recommend Others First

Join as many local groups as you can. Then show up and be the one recommending other businesses you know, like, and trust. Pay it forward first. When you’re the helpful, friendly person in the group, people want to return the favor.

You aren’t doing it only to get referrals. You’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do, and because you want to support the other good small businesses in your area.

What It Looks Like When It All Works

Someone asks for a recommendation. Your past customers, who already follow your page, type your name and tag you. The person looking sees your name come up again and again. They click your business page, then look you up personally. They see a friendly face, a professional profile, and a link to your website. On your site, they see your team, what you do, and exactly how to reach you.

Referrals don’t fail because your work wasn’t good. They fail when the person who wants to recommend you can’t remember or find you fast enough.

Your personal page is part of your business, whether you like it or not. A clear photo, your real name, and a little wholesome public content go a long way.

A business page that matches your Google Business Profile, shows your face, and links to your website removes the guesswork. Asking new contacts to follow it makes tagging you almost effortless.

Showing up to help others in your community groups, before you ask for anything, is what turns you into the name people think of first.

If you’d like a simple walk-through of how to show up in your local online communities, download the free guide, How to Grow Your Business Using Online Communities, at outcomeacademy.com/community.

And if you want help building marketing that keeps working without ads, join us for the Compound Marketing Machine™ group experience, every Tuesday in November at 11:30 am Eastern on Zoom. Replays are included if you can’t make it live. If you're catching this after that date has passed, click the link anyway! We run this workshop every couple months.

BONUS WORKSHOP! Learn How to Let Muse Watch the Groups for You

There’s an AI tool from Meta called Muse (muse.ai) that can help you look for leads in these groups so you don’t have to spend your day scrolling social media. On Tuesday, November 3, right after the first session of the Compound Marketing Machine™ group experience, I’m teaching a $27 workshop at 1:30 pm Eastern on how I set up Muse for Cavalry Appliance Service. You can REGISTER HERE if you only need that small tidbit. 

It’s free if you join Compound Marketing Machine™ or you’re part of the Eight Thousander™ Mastermind, so if that's the case...just show up!

Resources Mentioned

 

Categories

All Categories ai and technology business strategy marketing and visibility productivity and leadership team and systems