Dear Mardie,
I am ready to start doing networking, but I’m not sure which method I should use. Where would you recommend starting?
Great question, and I hope you’ve been listening to the monthly webinars, as that has been a popular topic recently!
If I were starting today, I would start by creating a Facebook page and work on a regular posting schedule. After I had a good amount of content and was into a good routine, I would start running Facebook ads, as they can be highly targeted and are very affordable.
Now, with that, I still believe that it is valuable to go through the profile process in order to create a profile, even if just a PDF version, to have available when someone wants to know more about you or your mom meets a lady at the beauty parlor whose daughter’s niece is experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.
The truth is that every adoption comes together in a different way, and you have to make sure that you have a defined plan and are working it successfully. More often than not, when I hear from a family who is frustrated they haven’t adopted yet, it is because they are not putting in their hour a day on their networking plan. Or, they are not evaluating results.
Jim and Sue created a Facebook page and posted a few selfies to get it going. They invited their friends, who liked it and said nice things. And, then began posting about once a week. They posted a picture of their yard, a meal they ate at a restaurant, and another selfie. They put up a few text posts about the weather and a new movie. And then got frustrated because they didn’t hear from a birth mother. I reviewed their page and advised them to add photos and regular posts about:
- Things they wanted to share with a child.
- Special things about each of them.
- Photos of their home and area, sharing how that will relate to a child.
- Pictures of them doing things as they happen that they will include their child in.
They need to specifically “talk to” a birth mother. This was a challenge at first but they soon figured it out. And then they were ready to add Facebook ads.
There are hundreds of ways to meet birth mothers. You may need to be doing more than one, but you need to know what you are doing and do it consistently.
Do me a favor, at your next check-in with your coordinator, let her know what you are doing and how much response you are receiving.
