Selling Peace: Using Universal Language to Reach a Spiritual Audience.

Hello and welcome to the podcast. Today we're going to talk about how to sell your religious products or your religious services on Facebook in particular. Now, the reason why we're looking at that today is because I was having a chat recently with another consultant and she's in the productivity and Wellness space. She is a Nigerian, of course, and what she does is she sells. How will I put it now? OK, this is what she does.

She's the wife of a pastor. She's a very accomplished lady herself, you know, Harvard grad, management consultant and then all of that. But The thing is, she's married to a pastor. And for those of us you know, who have grown up in Nigeria, and then of course, those of you who grew up in America, particularly those of you in the evangelical tradition or Pentecostal transition, you will know that pastors, wives face some unique challenges.

You know, being the big mommy, mommy of the church, mommy of the congregation, husband is not always around. He's always travelling. You know, things can get difficult, but you're trying to support your husband's gifting, you know, all those sorts of things. So it actually is a valuable service that there are lots of young ladies, whether a newly married or married for 10 years, five years, three years, 15 years. And because of that, their marriages are running into problems because, you know, our guy is a pastor and you want to support his gifting, but you know, you also, you have some needs.

You want to take care of yourself. So this consultant that I spoke with, that is her area of specialty, she helps to train and to coach pastors, wives so that they can take care of their self, themselves, their household, maintain their sanity, build their own businesses, all the while supporting the unique gifting that their husband has. So that is our own line of business. Then we started talking because, you know, her Facebook page had just been suspended, that had been flagged.

And of course, she was wondering, like, I'm not talking about anything controversial, you know, why would they flag me? And I had to let her know, first of all, that, you know, it's just normal. It happens a lot because these moderation on social media is partly done by human beings and partly done by AI tools or bots or whatever it is you want to call them. Now, The thing is that not enough people to be able to do this job and even the people who do the job, it's not the best job to do basically because people who are doing moderation on social media platforms get exposed to all kinds of content.

So there's high burnout. You know, people leave quickly. In fact, one of my family members worked for TikTok doing content moderation and I think she only lasted one month. You know, she was like, she can't take it anymore because you get to see some really nasty stuff, you know, self harm, racism, hate speech, you know, all kinds of stuff. So if that's your job, it's really, really tough. So because of that, understandably, Facebook,

TikTok, all these other business platforms, they use lots of bots, lots of AI tools to do these things. And of course, you know, I keep saying it, you know, these AI tools are not intelligent, They are not smart. So they just see one or two words and the words are not in the proper context. And so they flag your account. And that's how lots of you, your account gets, your account gets flagged or banned or whatever. So you may not have said anything problematic, but maybe the wrong combination of keywords just happen to show up in your advertising copy, in text that you put up or in videos that you put up, you know, those sorts of things.

So especially if you run a religious account, it's normal that once in a while you just catch a stray bullet and then, you know, you try and appeal and try and figure out what's going on before you get your account restored. So I had to tell her that, you know, it's just normal. Now, the reason why she reached out to me was because she was thinking of running an advertising campaign because she has some trainings coming up for, I think it's February of 2026.

So excuse me, Oh, by the way, I'm making today's recording outside. So if you hear any noise in the background, sorry, that's where it's coming from. You know, I'm in the parking lot, I'm in between engagements. I have to move somewhere. So I said, let me just make this podcast recording real quick before I forget. And then if this is your first time listening to the show, my name is Tavishima Ayede. I'm a former lawyer turned business consultant.

And if you like these sorts of things, you know, how do you sell? How do you attract businesses, attract customers to your business? How do you grow your revenues? Then subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of your choice. Because every other day, those are the kinds of things you talk about over here on the podcast. Also, if you'd love to connect with me for questions, comments, or queries, or you have a collaboration plan like this other consultant who reached out to me, then call me.

Send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 0806466 2140. And yes, it is me. There are lots of people who are surprised that oh, you picked up the phone or oh, it's actually you. Yes, it is me. For now. Eventually I'm going to become a big boy and I'll hire APA to take over the phones. So take advantage of the fact that I'm available for now. By the time I reach down, go to the status, you know, you guys have to talk to my PA before you get to me.

All right now I was like, so this lady thinking of running an advertising campaign and of course there are ways that we can go about go around these things. So like in her own case, one way to go about this thing is to actually get somebody to set up a Facebook page and then run the advertisement on the other person's account and the traffic will go to the Facebook page. So that's one way of going around it. But I told her, you know, Madam,

let's talk first. The reason why I wanted us to talk, you know, live phone on phone is because I wanted her to understand one thing that look, Madam, I know that you didn't say anything anyhow anyhow on your Facebook channel because you know, I know you now like we're in the same circle. So I know. But The thing is, if there's anything that you're saying and an unfortunate combination of keywords is showing up that is making people flag you.

If we don't figure out what this thing is, it doesn't matter who you try and run this campaign around. The chances are Facebook go flag this in again, I will shut you down and it won't even be nice because you know, they might put two and two together that before we block you now you're now trying to do roundabouts how we don't catch you, you know, because there's some people who get banned on you know, platforms, you know, for life,

you know, notably like current president of the United States, at least at the time of making this recording. Donald Trump, we all know how, you know, before Elon Musk bought over Twitter now X, you know, he, Donald Trump was supposed was supposedly going to be banned for life. Like, you know, we don't like you. So just get out. We don't want to see you again anyway. So I told her that look, we need to check your messaging.

Let's be sure that all we're doing here, we're not running foul of anything. Oh, by the way, I know it's 7 minutes. Some of you are wondering, why am I giving all the story? The reason I'm giving all the story is this my, my consulting practice. Nothing religious to it at all. The rest of you who are listening to this podcast, you know, you, you sell cakes, you sell rice and beans, you sell soap, you sell architectural services, you run a medical practice, you're trying to start a startup.

Nothing religious about it, Abby, But there are a few of us here who are entrepreneurs and who are actually in the spiritual space. People who want to sell health and Wellness according to Christian principles or according to Islamic principles. People who want to sell educational products according to Christian principles or according to Islamic principles or according to Buddhist principles. People who want to sell dietary products, supplementary products, you know, according to Christian principles, Islamic principles, Jewish principles,

you know, whatever principles. So there is a tiny subset of people who are listening to this podcast who that is their bread and butter. Actually, they are trying to talk religion, they are trying to talk to religious people, they are trying to target religious people. And unfortunately it is hard to do that today in 2026. If you're listening to this podcast in 2051 and maybe then things have changed, OK, no problem. But for now in 2026, what religious folk, you know, it's kind of hard to target your audience without being flagged.

Any small thing Facebook would just like you. Bam, your account has been suspended 60 days, 125 days. I've almost seen 100 and 175. I do something like that. I mean, that's like half the year. Like these guys should come down. There's no problem with flagging. The problem is just that when they flag you, they'll say you can appeal and you will appeal before you talk to human being. You will hear when that's just the problem.

So this air tools just flag you. There's no human being that you can now complain to to get your account on suspended. Where was I? OK, so I say, Madam, let's check your ad copy. Let's be sure that we nip this thing in the board or else and we'll flag you again and you now put somebody else in trouble. Looked at the hard copy and it seemed OK. It seemed all right. OK, Madam, I think this thing looks OK. So that earlier strategy that we're discussing, that's how you would do it.

Luckily, Madam says she has a Facebook page, but the Facebook page was not flagged. The thing was not banned. And I was wondering how do they do that? They flag your personal, they don't flag the Facebook page. But anyway, that's good. So somebody else is going to run the advertising campaign and then feed the traffic back to the Facebook page. And then from there, hopefully she's going to be able to advertise her program and run the whole thing without having any problems.

Hopefully, if she's able to do it successfully, I will let you guys know maybe in another two months or so after she's done with with the program. So after talking to this Madam, I say, you know what, it is true. There are lots of people like Madam and I've mentioned a couple, whether it's health and Wellness, whether it is dietary, whether it is whatever. There are lots of people who are trying to run these sorts of businesses.

They need some guidance as well. And so today we're going to talk about how you can run advertising for religious coaching, spiritual coaching on Facebook and Instagram. I'm sending out Facebook and Instagram in particular because Facebook and Instagram, they have some very specific and very stringent rules around these things. So it is kind of tricky for those of us on LinkedIn, you can see that people talk about religion all the time and you know, blah, blah, blah.

That's something you can get flagged on. But when it comes to selling religious stuff, Facebook and Instagram, you have to be very careful, especially if you belong to one kind of group. Let me not say what that group is, but you know, those of us who are listening we on, you know, we know who we are. So if you belong to that sect, you know that is is hard for us to get the word out. So if you want to sell religious coaching or you want to sell spiritual coaching, like this consultant who is trying to target the wives of pastors, and you're trying to do this in 2026, the key is to focus on the results and not the users, OK?

The key is to focus on the results and not the users. The moment you start trying to call out the specific users on their identity, if your advertising campaign is calling all Muslims, calling all Christians, calling all Buddhists, you are now looking for trouble because it shows that you are trying to target one specific class of people. We're trying to avoid that kind of language when we are selling our products. So what you do is you, we can call out personal attributes.

So you can't be making ad campaigns that is calling out Catholics or calling out Muslims or calling out Buddhists or calling out 7th Day Adventists. You can be shouting like that on Facebook. You should not even imply that you know the people's religion. So don't say something like, are you a Christian? And do you feel lost in 2026? That kind of thing. You're now looking for trouble, you know, to flag you, you know, discriminatory content.

Are you a Hindu and you're looking for inner peace? That kind of language, you're already looking for trouble and they will flag you. So instead talk about the benefits that people are going to be enjoying. So your hard copy, you can say find inner peace through ancient spiritual practices. Use that kind of copy. You can see that is vague enough that you know the Christian or the Hindu or whatever you're targeting will see it.

Also based on the images that you use, they will see it and they will kind of get the point. But you didn't shout from the beginning that, you know, if you're Catholic, pay attention. If you're a Muslim, pay attention. If you're Hindu, pay attention. If you're Baptist, pay attention. If you're 7th Day Adventist, pay attention. So talk in terms of the benefits. You can say you're offering spiritual coaching for those seeking deeper purpose.

You know, that kind of thing, you know, is vague enough, but also people who see it hopefully will get the idea, but not the kind of thing that the bot will now flag you down like, ah, this person is is talking to only Catholics. So therefore this person is discrimination against Muslims. Do not flag your content. Or this person is only talking to Shiite Muslims. Therefore this person is discriminating against the Sunni Muslims.

They will now flag your content. So we're talking in terms of the benefits and don't shout out any particular group. Don't call any particular group by name to be on the safe side. You start calling all groups by name and you start running into problems. So let's say you're selling educational content, you want people to home school and things like that. If your ad copy says calling all Catholics who are tired of circular culture in Nigeria and who wants to look for ways to homeschool their children so that they do not get ravaged by the onslaught of blah, blah,

blah, that kind of copy, you get into trouble. You get into trouble. But you talk in terms of the benefits you see. Are you worried about raising your children to be spiritually inclined and how they put the spiritually inclined and live live safe lines? No, live safe lives to have safe. How will I put it now anyway? If your advertising campaign basically says that, do you? Are you nervous about your children and you want them to grow up with good mental health in 2026 and with good spiritual values?

And you see, that kind of copy is still kind of big enough that people understand, but it's not so sharp that people catch it. If you say, are you Catholic in 2026 and you're tired of the liberal agenda, Here is my home school. My home school. Here is my coaching course to teach you how to homeschool your children so that you will not be your children will not be caught by the liberal agenda, caught by this, all that kind of talk.

You're not enter into trouble. So don't try and target specific people. Don't call out specific people. Now the Facebook also has introduced A targeting restrictions in recent years. Because the good thing about Facebook advertising is that you can go very, very detailed now. When I was, even though I started off as as a lawyer, eventually I moved into wedding photography. And when I tried advertising, it was one thing I was pleasantly surprised in my I think then it used to be called Facebook ad manager.

I don't know what it's called now. Oh surprise. I am my Facebook ad manager with cricket, Very, very granular. I actually could take that. I want this particular advertising campaign to be seen by ladies between the ages of 18 to 25 and it must only be seen by ladies who live in Abuja and in Lagos and in Lagos. They must be in Ikeja mainland. This place, that place, you know, you just select a place and then you select a mile radius and then in, in Abuja,

they should be based in Maitama, Asokoro, whatever and then select a mile radius and they also select that. This advertisement should be seen by ladies who are interested in love, interested in marriage, interested in wedding dress, interested in wedding makeup, interested in wedding venues. You know, the whole idea was that we're, we're going to make our targeting. So, so set up the targeting so that any babe that is thinking of getting married or has been proposed to, we'll see our advert.

And the targeting was that specific. I was really tripped that I could select age, I could select location, I could select different kinds of interests. So targeting can be very, very detailed on Facebook. So for those of you who are thinking about it, you know, give it a try. Even if you don't place the campaign yourself, go and look inside yourself just so that when you are discussing with the marketing professional later on,

in case you want to pay somebody to run campaigns for you, you'll be able to ask one or two questions and they will know that OK, this guy has looked at one or two things. This babe has looked at one or two things. So this is not somebody that we can swerve. So please go and look inside your, I don't know what it's called now, but back the last time I ran the campaign used to be called Facebook Ad manager. So go and look at whatever The thing is called and start looking inside now.

So where was I? So now we don't have detailed targeting options anymore around religion and sensitive topics. So you can't select people. You can't select brides who are interested in Islam or women who are interested in the Catholic Church, or young men between 18 and 27 who are interested in Hinduism. You know you can't targets like that again. So right now all you can be doing is when you get to your targeting in your Facebook ad manager or whatever The thing is called now, sorry, forgive me, I

keep saying or whatever The thing is called now, but I'm just being honest with you guys. I never tried to lie to you. I haven't touched that Facebook advertising thing. I won't lie in is nearing like 15 years the last time I touched it. So honestly speaking back then, it used to be called Facebook ad manager. I don't know what The thing is called now. So just be honest with you. It's been a while since I've entered that thing.

OK, so now you can now what was I talking about now? And walk around. So just try and target broad interests like Wellness, people interested in Wellness, people interested in meditation, people interested in personal development, people interested in ancient history. People are interested in ancient spiritual wisdom, you know, things like that. Or for the consultant that I was talking to, since she is a pastor's wife, she has the Facebook group which is full of pastors wives.

She has an e-mail list which is full of pastors wives, especially the Facebook group. She can use the Facebook group to now create look alike audiences and tell Facebook that Facebook when we're running this campaign, target people who look like all the audiences in this place. So she will not use her own mouth to say target women between the ages of social and so who are Christian and who are married to pastors who use her mouth.

She will just tell Facebook, create a look alike audience and then Facebook will figure out all those demographics and psychographics and then target them. So you can see that these are roundabout ways that we we go about. Now the gist I have heard, remember I haven't placed any ads myself in a very long time. The gist I've been hearing is that there's some content that is prohibited. Prohibited means it is forbidden.

Prohibited means it is a total no. Prohibited means do not try yourself, you try yourself. We will shut down this campaign. So please, this is a gist. I'm hearing that this is prohibited just in case I'm wrong, you know, to be on the safe side. Well, anyway, whatever you hear here, go on. Please verify. Because remember, when we're talking about sales, anything I say about sales, sales and personal selling, just know that it is gospel truth.

If I say it, you can rely on it, but any other thing I say, I beg, go and verify. So break their content. I hear that if you want to start advertising miracles, let's say you're a miracle worker. You're a miracle healer. If you want to advertise your miracle, Facebook will shut you down. So those of you who advertise healing service on Monday, fruit of the womb on Wednesday, financial prosperity on Saturday, and then resurrecting the dead on Sunday, Facebook is not the place for you.

If Facebook suspects that this guy is a miracle worker, they will shut you down. Now they're shutting you down not on the basis that you're a Christian, but they're shutting you down on the basis that Facebook does not like claims that you cannot substantiate, substantiate. Nowadays, what that just means is can somebody go and verify it scientifically? Like, can we go to a lab and I see that, OK, before this person had leprosy.

Now let's look at his blood. Now the person doesn't have leprosy again. Or can we verify that, yes, this person died on a Friday and we know for sure, yes, the death certificate and these are the physicians who attended to him. And then now you resurrected him on a Sunday. Can we verify that? So that's why Facebook is shutting you down, not because you're a Christian, but because a lot of these things we cannot substantiate.

So if you are a miracle worker, don't try and advertise on Facebook, right? This kind of stuff is a little bit tricky. Then I also hear that you shouldn't try and put up content that shows that you can cure anything. So don't say that you will cure like this. My friend who is a consultant now, if she claims that her coaching is going to help help help cure mental health problems, like let's say your husband is a pastor and since you married him, you're falling into depression because you're a pastor's wife and the claim is too much.

The, the, the stress is too much for you. If you claim that you can cure those kinds of people, you're now running into problems because remember, Facebook is trying to avoid things that cannot be substantiated, things that we cannot verify. So do not claim to cure anybody. Say that you can help with or you can help alleviate symptoms or you can help do this or helps you to help, but don't claim that you can cure anybody.

In fact, this is beyond, this is beyond the religion. Now, if you have supplements that you want to sell on Facebook, don't claim that your supplements can cure anything. If you say you have a supplement and it's a cure for diabetes or whatever, Facebook will shut you down. Prohibited content, do not even try it. They're shutting you down because Facebook does not want anything that cannot be substantiated. So just say you help with, you help with diabetes, you help with BP, you help with depression, you help with mental health, or you help with spiritual possession, whatever it is you help with not that you cure.

Then I also heard that Facebook does not like all these get rich and whatever. So if you say that, come and see me, I will give you this ring. Once you put on the ring, the moment you slap your enemy, your enemy will start giving you money. Start transferring money into your account. If your advertisement is, you know, you're advertising all those kinds of things and also you'll be saying where am I getting all these things from?

These things exist, believe me. See, growing up in Abuja were kind of sheltered. Abuja was the same place back then when I moved to Lagos when I was 13, when we came to Lagos, the things that I saw, I say they will say Guru Maharaji something, something Indian temple that if you come here and you bring a red chicken and A and a green cow and you fast for five days and you give them 50,000 that they will give you a special tablet.

If you take that tablet and put it on your tongue, once you speak, whatever you say, people will just be following you. They will obey you. I say what is this? Like what is going on in these Lagos? I say are these people mad? Like because you know, we move from from Area 11 to Lagos, you know to Uber and these places are all over the place. Even when even my secondary school in Uberland, you know, there's one or two of those temples around.

So I'm not making stuff up. If you haven't seen, now say you haven't seen. But these things exist. So people like that, please. Anyway, I think a lot of you are charlatans. You should, honestly speaking, one look for work, one, look for honest work. But if you don't look for honest work and you want to advertise your business, Facebook is not the place for you. If they catch you, they will shut you down, not because they do not believe in your temple,

but because Facebook does not want claims that cannot be substantiated, that cannot be verified. So excuse me. So don't promise anybody get rich. Follow this ritual and you get plenty of money. Then of course, Facebook, this one is not just Facebook, tries to avoid any kind of advertising copy or text copy that looks like discrimination, that excludes people or that targets or targets people in a certain way. So just try and be on the safe side to be sure that your thing doesn't sound discriminatory.

So just like this consultant who reach out to me to say, bro, I beg, let me pick your brain. I say no problem Madam. Now let's talk the same thing to reach out to a couple of people and you know, hopefully if there's anything problematic, people will try and let you know. So for those of you whose businesses thrive on advertising on Facebook and Instagram, this is advice for you, especially those of you in the religious sector, this is advice for you.

Your Facebook advertisement has been banned before. Your profile has been taken down. You're wondering what you could have done wrong. This is something you should be looking into. Maybe this is where some of the problems were. So I did something like I usually do, which is I went to go and look for good tips for you guys in 2026 on how to thrive well on Instagram and on Facebook. Because remember, I'm not a social media specialist at all,

at all, at all. My area of specialty is sales. So I went to go and ask around. I went to go and look around and I found some tips. And these are some things people are saying. People are saying that to be successful in 2026 on these platforms that you should focus on video. Please, I'm making this podcast recording in January of 2026. If you are listening to this thing in March of 2071, please go and do research and find what is applicable in your own time and in your own context.

But in 2026, there's lots of talk about how video, how video is very effective nowadays, that the algorithms are pushing out videos. So Instagram reels, Instagram stories, Facebook stories. Now these are effective ways for people to know you and to like you, especially those of you in the coaching space. And this Madam, the consultant who is running the training, In fact, our own advertisement was a video advert and it was short.

Yeah, it was a video advert anyway. And I thought, oh, interesting. Because me, typically my default is always to do writing, to do text, text, text. When I saw it in video, bam, I got it. I said OK, is that the way forward? Immediately I saw it, I understood it. So now I know that if I'm going to do something like that, it has to be video based. So summary, you're trying to sell something that is religious, vaguely. So religious frame your product,

frame your service, frame your coaching or whatever as a solution to a universal problem. Say that you're coaching, say that you're drugs, say that you're whatever is a solution for stress is a solution for sorry, not a solution is a is a how can I put it now is a is a help is something that will help with stress, help with lack of direction. It will help with relationship harmony or will help with Peace of Mind or it will help with depression or help with whatever.

That's how you should frame it. Of course you are going to try and really achieve those results, you know, through your own religious philosophy or frame it that way. Don't call any specific group out. Just say that you have a solution so you have something that will help with, you know, blah, blah, blah. And then also don't try and be smart to say that you create the Facebook on Instagram. I'm sorry. You create the the advertisement on Facebook and then you now send them to a landing page, not on Facebook.

And then on the landing page, you now say whatever it is you want to say. Unfortunately, you know, Facebook them, they're not that stupid. And then again, this thing is run by AI bots. So if you said the adverts and the adverts passes Facebook 100% you send it to a landing page and then the bots, the AI tools see the landing page and then they start flagging all these things like, ah, they start flagging in problematic content,

problematic, unverifiable, unverifiable, discriminatory, discriminate. They will shut you down. So don't try and be smart. If you create a landing page that is separate from Facebook, make sure that the landing page also also was that word now complies with some of these principles that we have been discussing here. All right, so even though the landing page is not on Facebook, make it to comply with the face. How would I put it with these Facebook principles?

And let's just leave it like that. Let you comply with these Facebook principles so that if your ad copy passes on Facebook, good. When you run the advertise, the advertisement and then the bots or the whatever, when they see the landing page, you will pass as well. Then they will let you be. So that's it. What my advice to those of you, those of you who are running temple who are selling all those miracle rings give before I ask those of you who are selling the love potion that you know you'll drink this and you'll be able to marry the woman of your choice or that once you watch put you know you married a husband of your choice.

Please, you should go and let work go and learn on his work. Leave this kind of criminal activity alone. You know what, let me even stop talking about these people before they come for me because, you know, I dropped my phone number here. Let nobody come from me. I beg. All right, so that's it and that's all. Thank you very much for listening. I've been your host, Tamishima Ayede. Please subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, any player of your choice.

If you love these sorts of things, how do you grow sales? How do you increase revenue in your business? How do you grow a Nigerian business profitably? Also, if you'd love to connect because you have questions, comments, queries or you want to collaborate with your boy or maybe you, you want to send me some blessings, you understand, You want to say something my way, you know, to make a make a boy smile. Then you can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140.

Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you all some other time.