Connect
To Top

Meet Joyce Feustel of Boomers’ Social Media Tutor in Lakewood

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joyce Feustel.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Joyce. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m Joyce Feustel, founder of Boomers’ Social Media Tutor, and I make social media simple, easy and fun. I provide social media training, tutoring and consultation, both in person and virtually, with a specialty in LinkedIn and Facebook.

My clients include business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit groups, job seekers and more, ranging from entrepreneurs to large corporations. 

When I was 61, a manager of mine told me I did an excellent job of explaining social media to our clients. He then asked me if I had ever thought of helping others in my baby boomer age group to understand social media. That’s the day I figured out what I was supposed to do when I grew up!

Though I serve clients of all ages, I find that people ages 45 and up are especially drawn to using my services. It’s been over six years since I retired from a 17-year career in sales to launch my business, and these have been the best six years of my life. It’s wonderful for me at the age of 70 to feel so fulfilled professionally.

Has it been a smooth road?
Frankly, at first, I struggled with how to brand myself and my services. Plus, I wasn’t really clear on where to find potential clients. As someone who had worked in government, nonprofit organizations, and corporations, I had a lot to learn about the nitty gritty aspects of running a small business. Also, since the type of services I provided was relatively unique, it was difficult to determine what kind of rate to use when charging for my services.

In addition, being that I’m definitely older than most people in my social media training field, I had to demonstrate that I was savvy enough for people to take me seriously. However, I found that over time, as more people got to know me through networking with business organizations here in the Denver area as well as through my postings on social media, they began to appreciate my expertise in my field.

Also, I found that those most drawn to me provided professional service of some kind, and I really related well to these clients. So, along with serving job seekers, these are now the kind of people I market to, especially those who are 45 and older.

Tell us more about the business.
I provide customized LinkedIn and Facebook training on an individual basis, or in a group or team setting. Clients want to be more confident and productive when using social media for marketing purposes. I specialize in doing LinkedIn and Facebook training and tutoring, and that is what I’m most known for.

With Facebook, I focus mainly on the creation and use of Facebook business pages, as well as Facebook groups, to help clients market their business. We draw upon information from their website to help create their page and/or group. 

Everyone wants to use LinkedIn to expand their professional network. During my training, I share a variety of LinkedIn marketing tips, with a special focus on the LinkedIn profile. One-to-one LinkedIn training sessions typically start with a detailed review of the client’s existing LinkedIn profile. We cover every section of the profile, checking to be sure that all information is current and accurate.

Often, I suggest that clients adapt materials from their resume (job seekers) or their website (business owners), such as from the About or Services sections to be used in the summary section and/or the experience section. This approach means there is consistency in marketing, plus doing so saves time and money for the client.

Often, we will make simple changes and edits right during the session. I have the client email me their proposed revisions of their summary and position descriptions after the session. It works best when they send me the summary in a Word document, so I can easily make suggestions for wording and format changes.

What sets me apart from others is that after each of my tutoring sessions, I type up a summary of what we covered and put it into a Word document. Then I email that document to my clients. They truly appreciate having these notes to refer back to.

Plus, I have developed a very thorough guide to using Facebook business pages and also a guide to using LinkedIn. I use these guides in classes I teach at the Colorado Free University, an adult education center here in the Denver area. I also share these guides with my clients to provide them additional resources.

What I’m most proud of is that I’ve been able to draw upon my college degrees in education and business, as well as my public speaking background through Toastmasters, to be a confident, entertaining and sought-after speaker and trainer.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Social media is one of the quickly changing industries that I know of, so frankly it is a bit difficult to predict the shifts, changes and trends. In the time I’ve been in the field, we’ve seen the creation of Instagram, Snapchat, and other social sites. 

Certainly, one of the trends in social media is that people over the age of 60 have gotten a lot savvier when it comes to using social media, especially Facebook. So that trend works well for me, as those folks are part of my target market.

Another trend is that more professionals are landing their jobs through LinkedIn. Therefore, people of all ages, from college students to people in their 60’s, have more of an inclination to become more proficient in using LinkedIn. Plus, business owners are also becoming more aware of the value of using LinkedIn along with other social media sites.

In addition, the use of video has become more prominent in the six years I’ve been in my business, and I see using video, both professionally produced and native to a social site, becoming even more critical to having success with social media.

Pricing:

  • $115 per hour for an individual tutoring session
  • $90 per hour for an individual tutoring session for job seekers and for people 60 and older
  • $325 per hour for group/team training, with a 25% reduction in such training for nonprofit organizations

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Marie Leslie

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in