In this article I am going to show you how you can get your foot in the door to get offline clients by using the power of hashtags. As you are well aware Facebook recently rolled out #hashtags so people can use keywords to describe their different activities and events.
In this article I am going to show you how you can use this method and offer it as a service to potential offline clients. I am going to show you how you can use this tool as a unique “foot in the door” method so potential offline businesses will be eager to use your services.
So what is this strategy all about?
Quite simply this strategy is about creating simple hashtag campaigns for certain types of businesses and then contacting them and showing them how they can generate more visitors to their Facebook pages, generate more leads and get more traffic.
You might be thinking “but what if business owners simply start using hashtags on their Facebook posts”, so what is the point in offering this service? That is a great point!
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However, you are going to target business owners that are not familiar with Facebook marketing and their Facebook page does not have engagement. So in order to get started the first thing I am going to show you is how I look for potential clients online so I can offer this service to.
Looking For Potential Clients
From my experience I have already started offering this service to the following types of businesses.
Restaurants, Cake Makers, Wedding Dress companies, Dentists, Makeup Artists, Beauty Salons, Hair Dressers, Companies that are already advertising on Facebook.
The first thing I am going to do is show you the types of content that is already posted under certain keywords. So for example, for the hashtag #food we can see that the following types of content has been posted.
Check this : https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/food
Here you can see a detailed content article from a Facebook page status update. You can see that after the article there is also an image to accompany this.
Here you can see that restaurants have taken advantage of this feature already. Under the hashtag food the owner of this business has uploaded a picture of their food and used a relevant hashtag to describe it.
And it is these types of strategies you should be using to organise a powerful social media hashtag campaign for your Facebook offline clients. So if you are looking for potential clients then I am going to show you two main strategies.
The first one involves Facebook. So for example, what you are going to do is target existing offline business owners that are already trying to use the hashtag feature in some way!
Here is an example. https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/accountants
Let’s say we want to see which Accountants are trying to market their business using Facebook. If I head over to this hashtag page I can see potential Accountants already who I can contact!
If we head over to their Facebook page we can see as of now they have only 3 likes – they have only just started their Facebook page.
However, looking at their Facebook page we can see we can easily become their hashtag marketer and their Facebook marketer! Therefore, here I have already found a potential client to get my foot in the door because the owner of this business went out of their way to actually post a hashtag so their business name appears under the relevant hashtag.
For the hashtag #plumber we can see potential Plumber clients that are promoting their business 🙂
I am sure you are getting excited and probably licking your lips as to the possibilities of finding potential clients this way. The next thing I am going to do is show you how to go about contacting these potential clients that are already using hashtags.
When it comes to contacting these clients I usually keep it short and straight to the point. Remember you want to get your “foot in the door” here so avoid coming across as someone who just wants to sell something and not help them. Offline business owners love it if you offer to help them – and once you do that you gain their trust. So when approaching these potential clients on Facebook I simply drop a message like this.
“Hi there,
I just found your business on Facebook for the hashtag #hotel and I also see that you are looking to get more customers?
I can help you generate more business using Facebook. This is what I do and I am always happy to offer any help.
If you want to chat then please drop me a call on xxx-xxx-xxx or drop me an email to name@domain.com.
Cheers!”
That is all I need to say for them to contact me back and start talking to me. Can you see what I did there? I did not mention any words such as “marketing, advertising” or any jargon. If you are sending the message through Facebook make sure you adapt towards the Facebook language – keep it social not formal!
I use this same approach for other businesses. It has been a day since I have been using this and I have had 4 potential offline clients that are already interested in using my services. Damn, I love hashtags!
The other method I use to look for potential offline clients is through Google. I usually look for business owners that are currently spending money on online advertising. So for example, if we head over to Google and type in a keyword such as “chiropractors in birmingham” we can see that there are lots of businesses in this industry that are competing and therefore, desperate to land clients.
Here we can see that this chiropractor is spending money on online marketing. We can also see that they have a Facebook page here at https://www.facebook.com/ChiropractorSolihull
If we head over to their Facebook page we can see that the owner has made several attempts to engage with the audience but there is no engagement at the moment.
We can also see that the page has not been updated for a week or two and therefore, there are no hashtags since they have been rolled out recently. So if I was to contact this Chiropractor in Birmingham I would say the following.
“Hi there,
I was on your Facebook page earlier and read a few of your blog posts. I am an online marketer and I like to help businesses get more leads.
Therefore, I just wanted to let you know that there is a brand new way to get your business in front of potentially hundreds of people.
And best of all?
It is FREE. Are you aware of this new Facebook feature?
If not call me on xxx-xxx-xxx or simply drop me an email at info@domain.com. I will show you how to set this up for FREE 🙂
Speak soon!”
As you can see the above is also a simple foot in the door strategy of getting the business owner to respond back to you. The reason I did not mention the “hashtag” tool is because the last thing you want is the business owner to become a “marketing expert” all of a sudden and start posting hashtags.
You want to get them to call you so you can then upsell them on other services. That way you can offer to manage their social media campaign for $97 a month without coming across as someone who is simply trying to sell them something.
I am sure you will agree that the different possibilities with this new feature are endless. However, it cannot be abused or spammed because Facebook are cutting down on this.
Using the Hashtag Feature Effectively
The one good thing about hashtags is that they are clickable so that means when you post a status update the hashtag appears as a clickable link which is excellent. More and more people have started to click on hashtags in the hope of finding out what people are talking about for that certain topic.
Businesses can leverage the current buzz out there. So for example, if your offline client was a clothing business and people were talking about summer and going out then you can use hashtags such as #summer #ilovethesun or whatever is being talked about on the news.
Post a relevant hashtag followed by an image or a video. You need to make sure that when you are managing your offline client’s Facebook page you need to post relevant hashtags, followed by an image or a video. Here is an example of a great hashtag post.
If you are offering this service to restaurants then you can post relevant hashtags with offers to coincide with sporting events. For example, Wimbledon 2013 special meal offer etc.
Another thing about restaurants is that you can encourage the business owner to promote Facebook and Instagram hashtags on their menus in exchange for special offers. So for example, they can give their customers the following option.
1. If customer takes a picture of their food and posts it on Facebook (using a Hashtag) and Instagram (using a hashtag), they get a FREE drink the next time they dine with the restaurant.
2. If customer posts the RESTAURANT name as a hashtag on Facebook and “Checks in” then they will be entitled to a 10% discount when they dine in the next time they visit the restaurant.
This is a powerful way to leverage and tap into this feature. It will open up a new way for you to make money from offline business owners by getting your foot in the door. I hope you enjoyed this article and I hope you take action and apply this method.
Read more news about Facebook hashtags below :
1. Facebook officially rolls out hashtags
2. Facebook boosts #hashtag presence with mobile
3. Facebook Launches Related Hashtags And #Mobile Site Support
4. Facebook’s #hashtags will be great for marketers (users, not so much)
5. Facebook borrows Twitter’s business model with hashtags and video clips
