We all want to harness clients in a targeted area but the most challenging part of acquiring new contacts is simply how to start the conversation in an organic way. What if we told you that we’ve cracked the code on how to not only spark a conversation but a RELATIONSHIP with the very clients in your niche remotely? You may think we’re crazy, but hear us out. It’s as simple as creating and utilizing a local Facebook event page.
To build remote relationships in business you’ll need to first adjust your focus from solely gaining clients to serving your constituents. Equipped with this mindset to serve the community you’ll be able to properly land clients from a distance though a local Facebook event page. Think about it this way – you’re going to create THE hub for local community events on Facebook.
This will attract people who rely on your weekly roundup of local happenings. Once you’ve got a dedicated group of event-focused individuals following your posts, you’ll offer businesses the opportunity to have their event highlighted in a space that already serves event goers. Makes total sense, right? Think of this as the best way to get your foot in the door with businesses you want to work with most. Once your value is proven (through consistent and cost-free exposure), making your pitch is the easy part. Let’s get to it!
Step 1. Build An Asset with a Local Facebook Event Page
As actual face time takes center stage in place of screen time, community members are seeking real human connection. Offer the community in which you’re aiming to land clients remotely a general hub of events to follow on Facebook.
One way to do this is by creating a local Facebook event page. To do so, complete research to niche down on the type of client and location for which you want to build and scale your agency from. From there, complete the following steps to set up the Facebook event page, build base content and complete a weekly event roundup.
Local Facebook Event Page Set Up
- Set Up the Facebook Event Page: To create the Facebook page, click here. Select “Create a Page,” and select “Community” further specified by selecting “Website” from the category dropdown menu. Next, name the event page in the following order to include the location name followed by “Area Events & News.” An example of this would be, “Las Vegas Area Events & News.” This part is super important as Facebook made recent changes to the algorithm to take a more community-focused approach. Think less news feed spam and more of what you actually want to see. Pages that focus on community events, like the one you’re creating, we receive more visibility as a result of the update. Finally, use Canva to create the profile and cover photos for the page. Ensure that the profile picture contains text that is identical to the event page name to promote consistency. And just like that you’ve set up a magnet for local event-goers. Now, let’s get some content on the page so community members can being to like, comment and share what they find.
- Build Base Content (5-10 posts): Once the page is properly set up, it’s important to build base content by featuring local events that are already created on your page. This way, people who find your page can engage (and that’s always the goal!). Click here to view events that already exist on Facebook. Click “Discover” on the left hand side and designate the location for which your page is set up.Next, choose 5-10 events to share on your page. You can pick any! These event don’t have to appeal to a certain gender, age range or interest. You want everyone to look at your page so select an array of events to share. To do so, hover over the event title and copy/paste the link into a post on your event page. Once the link generates the event preview, delete the link and select “Publish.” Although base content is very easy to compile it builds credibility for your page. And credibility will keep those people referring to your event page time and time again!
- Complete a Weekly Event Roundup: After your event page contains base content, next you’ll want to generate a weekly event roundup. Create a event roundup image in Canva. This image will trigger your loyal community member’s memory every time they see it, so make sure it’s good! We want them immediately click on that image which provides with their week of plans!Spend time compiling all the week’s events into one post on your event page. This is where true value will be created on your page. Why you ask? It’s updated weekly which encourages community members to check back often. This page will become the go-to resource for local events. This my friends, is how you get local businesses interested. Let’s build an audience before we get ahead of ourselves!
Build an Audience on Your Facebook Event Page
Page growth is pivotal for your local event page. Without an audience, you don’t really have a reason to post. Remember the very beginning of this post? If you need a refresh, we agreed that this local event page is intended to serve the community. We need a community to serve on our local Facebook event page. You can build that community through two separate Facebook advertisements that focus specifically on user engagement. Brand Awareness Ads and Boosted Posts will give your page the extra push it needs to build an audience quickly. Let’s break down these advertisements types, set up and what they’ll accomplish.
- Brand Awareness: To set up a Facebook advertisement focused specifically on increasing page likes, click here. Select “Create Ad” then choose Brand Awareness Ad. To complete set up, select your location based within a 25 mile radius of the page’s location. Then set demographics and select “News Feed” placement to finish. This advertisement isn’t a requirement but rather a supplement to expand the reach of the boosted post which we’ll discuss next. Think of this ad as the icing on the cake, and the cake is a boosted post. We all know the cake is nothing without the icing!
- Boosted Post: Now go to your local Facebook event page and locate the current weekly roundup, select “Boost Post.” Generate a new audience by setting the location, age range, and demographics as we did above. Run this ad for 7 days only. Your weekly roundup is only relevant within that time frame. Once boosted, you will begin to see that through this weekly boosted post, page likes and engagement will increase.
Equipped with synchronized and strategic advertisements, page growth will prosper. Furthermore, the weekly need to update the boosted roundup will give you a reoccuring reason to call your clients. This conversation starter, which so many of us struggle with, is made super easy through a the local Facebook event page. See, we told you this low-maintenance Facebook page could pay off in a big way! Once your page has harnessed 500-1,000 likes, it’s time to start calling businesses.
Step 2. Offer Local Businesses a Deal
As more people like, comment and share about events from your local Facebook event page, the value is established. That value gives you the ability to offer community businesses a feature, for free, in your weekly roundup. It’s a simple as asking what event or current promotion they’d like to place in front of your event-focused audience. Here’s how to offer local businesses a deal on your local Facebook event page:
How to Contact Businesses in Your Niche
- Cold Call Niche Businesses- Remember the niche client and market that you determined prior to setting up this page? Now is the time to pull out that list of businesses to give them a call. You have to call them first to make initial contact. Once you have their email address, correspondence can translate online. But first, here’s how the initial call should go: introduce yourself, remember the name of the person who answers the phone, explain that you run a local Facebook page focused on providing events and news to the area and that you’d like to highlight any events or promotions they currently have for free.The response will go one of two ways, but both options offer the opportunity to retain an email address for future communication. Once you have the email address, thank them by name and begin building your relationship with the gatekeeper of the business (ie. the person you had the pleasure of speaking with). They’re the most important person to you at that business from start to finish- remember that! Let’s chat about the gatekeeper next.
- Build Relationship with Gatekeeper- Follow up communication is key to gaining favor in the eyes of the business gatekeeper. Follow up using personalized emails as you’re focused on building relationships. In our experience, relationships don’t prosper on an email with 50 other people cc’d. Email your contact, address them by name (this shows your cared to remember!), and explain about the local Facebook event page in which you’d like to feature their business.Further inquire about what you can include for them in the current week’s roundup. Your correspondence and kindness toward the gatekeeper will determine your future with that client. If you were in their shoes you’d like to work with someone who is kind, mindful and consistent. Be those things to each gatekeeper you encounter and watch each relationship prosper.
- Consistent Contact- Due to the fact that the event roundup expires week after week, you’ll have the opportunity to be in touch with the gatekeeper of the business just as often. Continual communication keeps your event page front of mind as you help spread the word about their business to a captive audience. Herein your page is displaying vast value to not only those who follow but participating businesses as well. This is truly the definition of a win-win situation!
Step 3. Convert Business Relationships into Clients
With cultivated and meaningful business relationships underway with the gatekeeper, the conversion from business contact to client is up next! To successfully tackle converting those contacts into clients, first take note of which gatekeepers have been the most responsive to your communications. Once on a first name basis (for some this may take a week and for others it could be a month or beyond), this key indicator will help you narrow down the ideal list of clients to work with. Below are somes applicable ways to approach converting those contacts to clients.
“Have you guys ever tried” Statement
- “Have you guys ever tried” Statement- These businesses know and hopefully love you as you’ve offered them free promotion of their events for a continued period of time. Now it is okay to pitch your services as they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST you. Simply ask your contact either via email or over the phone, “have you ever tried to advertise teeth whitening specifically to brides on Facebook?” Insert an objective relative to the niche and businesses you’ve been serving.
Next, offer to send a video depicting how your services can help them accomplish the specific objective. Why would they watch your pitch? Because you’re familiar and you’ve provided them with a resource to reach potential clients through your local Facebook event page. The groundwork has already been laid in the valuable work you’ve put in leading up to sending the pitch. Let’s discuss curating a demo video next to help you land that remote client. - Share Strategic Proposal- To create a video demo use editing software such as ScreenFlow or Camtasia to produce a professional video. Begin by walking through the steps of running a Facebook ad including the funnels, ads you’ll run and results your other clients are seeing from your work. You will then film a personalized introduction speaking directly to the contact, business and stated objective that you mentioned in the “Have you guys tried” statement.Finally, film a personalized outro including the invite for them to call or email you back with questions to continue to conversation further. Stitch these three video elements into one video and send it!