Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joyce Feustel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Joyce, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents raised me to be respectful of everyone, to be openminded, and to give back to the community. I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin in the 1950s and 1960s, so I learned a lot about the risks and rewards of having your own business, as well as the importance of a strong work ethic.

In addition to operating our farm with his brother who also lived with us, my dad sold seed corn to farmers in the area in the winter months to supplement our family income. My dad loved the opportunity to reach out to other farmers in this way, and he was a very successful salesman. I often say that my dad could talk to anyone about anything, and I’ve been blessed with that same ability to make a stranger a friend in a very short time.

My mother and my father were very involved in leadership roles in our church and in the PTA for our elementary school. Because of their commitment to our community, I’ve held similar leadership positions in my children’s elementary school and in my church. As a business owner I’ve also taken on leadership roles in the business organizations I participate in. In addition, I’ve been a member and often a leader at the club level and beyond for nearly 25 years of membership in Toastmasters International.

While my dad’s qualities have contributed to my abilities to gain new clients, my mom’s strong organizational skills have helped me with the operational side of my business. She developed these skills when she taught high school home economics and handled the books for the business side of our farm.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

The idea for being a social media and tutor was suggested to me in 2010 by my manager at the time when we both worked for the College for Financial Planning. Our manager hac asked all of us in the enrollment department of our college (functionally we were inside salespeople) to encourage our college’s students and potential students to follow our Facebook business page and Twitter account and to join our LinkedIn group. They even kept track of how many people each of us got engaged with these social media sites.

As it turns out, every month, I was the enrollment advisor who got more people engaged in this way than anyone else on my team. My manager was very impressed with the fact that I had such a knack for getting this engagement, especially being I was 61 years old at the time and relatively new to using social media. So, one day he asked me if I had ever thought of helping other people in my baby boomer age group to understand social media like I did.

Well, I hadn’t thought of the idea before, and as soon as he made this suggestion, it resonated with me. Within six months, I came up with a business name, got registered with the state, and started my business. However, I kept my “day job” for another 2 1/2 years until I felt I had enough knowledge about social media and enough business skills, especially marketing skills. In March 2013, I retired from a 17-year career in sales into my business and have been full-time with it ever since.

Through my business, Boomers’ Social Media Tutor, I provide group training and one-to-one tutoring in person or via Zoom to help business owners and job seekers (especially those 55 and older) to be more effective and productive while using LinkedIn and Facebook.

Most of the people who seek my services have LinkedIn profiles or Facebook business pages that they aren’t happy with. They want to showcase themselves better and also be more confident and productive in their use of these sites. Job seekers want their LinkedIn profile to help them land a job. Business owners want their LinkedIn profile and use of LinkedIn, plus their use of Facebook, to help them grow their business.

What sets me apart from others in my field is that very few social media professionals are older, and I’m 73 years old. Also, I email each of my clients a summary of the items we cover in our tutoring session, so they have a resource they can turn to. In addition, due to my extensive public speaking through my Toastmasters involvement, I’m a very engaging, informative and entertaining speaker and trainer.

I’m most proud of the fact that after nine years in my business and being in my early 70s, I’ve not slowed down one bit. In fact, I am always looking for new ways to reach more clients and to serve my clients better. For example, in 2021, I was a guest on over 30 podcast interviews, which was a lot of fun, and helped more people to know about me and my services.

And in keeping with the spirit of giving back that I grew up with as a child, for the last two years, I’ve provided complimentary LinkedIn sessions to nearly 80 people each year – both job seekers and business owners.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Since nearly 90% of my tutoring clients want me to help them be more confident and productive on LinkedIn, I will focus on my experience with building my audience on that site.

As soon as I got the idea from my manager to create a business helping other people in the baby boomer generation to understand social media better, I started to step up my presence on LinkedIn. For example, I immediately asked a number of co-workers to connect with me, and I also asked the students I enrolled into the college’s programs to connect. Being I worked at the College for Financial Planning for 3 years from when I started doing this, I became connected with a large number of financial planners.

Meanwhile, I also became connected with an extensive number of Toastmasters (that’s an organization that helps people improve their communication and speaking skills) from all over the world. For a time, I was very active in the LinkedIn group for Toastmasters, which contributed to increasing the number of connections.

Once I went full-time in my business and started joining and participating in business networking groups, I continued to expand the number of connections. Also, I asked every client I served to connect with me, as well as referral partners I had.

Meanwhile, I kept tweaking my own LinkedIn profile by following tips from other LinkedIn professionals through their books, posts & articles on LinkedIn, and classes that I took along the way.

Over time, I developed a system for posting at least a couple times a week on LinkedIn, as well as engaging regularly with the LinkedIn activity of business colleagues who are clients, referral partners, or others whom I respect and want to support.

Also, whenever I speak or train for an organization, I always “tag” the person who invited me to give the presentation, along with tagging the organization where I spoke. Including photos of me in action as a speaker in my posts also contribute to my visibility on LinkedIn.

So, to sum up, to build your audience on LinkedIn (or any social media site), start with the people you already know, reach out to the people you meet, and share content that is of value to the people who follow you.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My reputation as a sought-after speaker and trainer on LinkedIn and as a tutor who helps my clients to get the results they want with LinkedIn has been built on the high level of visibility I have on LinkedIn through my posts and engagement with others posts. Also, people who follow me on LinkedIn have consistently told me that they can rely on me for informative, relevant, and entertaining content they look forward to getting. Those attending my speaking engagements give me similar feedback in the evaluations they complete and their personal notes of appreciation after attending a presentation I’ve given.

In addition, my clients consistently tell me what a positive experience they have when working with me, and many refer others to me. Nearly 300 people have written me a recommendation on LinkedIn, and these are filled with heartfelt words of appreciation. They know that I’m always happy to answer a question by email, phone or Zoom to help them address an issue they are having.

Finally, I believe that the nearly 2,000 people who receive my monthly newsletter appreciate getting timely tips on using social media and also knowing about classes and speaking events that I believe would be of value to them. I’ve published this newsletter almost every month since 2014.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joycefeustelsocialmediatrainer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boomerssocialmediatutor
• Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joycefeustel-socialmediatrainer
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/joycefeustel
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2s7fzNl0OaGg1jB4lmse1g/featured
• Other: https://www.meetup.com/meetup-group-simplify-your-social-media/

Image Credits
Marie Leslie