Written by: Juliette Stapleton, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
If you are a coach who is starting to use Facebook to be visible and attract more clients, but not sure what to do behold! You are entering the state of being completely overwhelmed and overloaded with thousands of strategies, tools, hacks, and tricks to get you where you want to be.
Everyone is telling you that you need to use ads, grow your list, be omnipresent and repost your post on all social media networks, and you are trying to "do it properly" and jumping on every one of these things, getting exhausted, more confused and often completely disheartened with the whole online marketing. Because none of these things seem to bring any results.
Is that you?
Why I chose to exclusively use Facebook for marketing and why you may want to too
If it is, here is something that can take a lot of overwhelm and overthinking away. Stop doing it all, and focus on creating frequent posts on just one platform. When I pivoted to coaching in my business journey, I chose Facebook.
The question of where to be focusing your efforts has actually a very simple answer. You go where most of your clients hang out and engage with content available on that platform. For example, if all my clients are over 40 years old, chances are they are not on Snapchat. Most of them who even look at Instagram do exactly that every day - look through pictures and videos. They do not really understand what is happening and not engaging properly with the content. They do not strategically follow other users, they only use the platform casually on a very surface-like level.
On Facebook, on the other hand, they tend to be more engaged, especially joining Facebook groups (which often feel safe to engage with). They don't always post too many photos and videos (this is something I help them embrace later), but they do share some written posts occasionally. They also connect to other people on Facebook, so if I send a friend request, they are likely to accept and maybe even engage in a small chit-chat on Messenger. It is the platform where it is easier to connect to people.
I am in my mid-40s, and I do not engage in any chit-chats on Instagram. I just look at pictures, sometimes even without reading the captions as the font is too small. All I am is a passive onlooker, that is all.
And this is exactly why I decided against using Instagram for my marketing, as I did not feel the connection to the platform, and so I clearly saw that I would fail to connect to its users in the same way I can on Facebook.
One hard decision not to fall into the trap of fear of missing out on "all the fun on Instagram" and my life and marketing my business has become a whole lot easier!
Just because "anyone who is anyone is on Instagram/Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook," you do not have to be there. Go where you like and understand the platform, or at least have a good feel for it and where you can connect to people.
This brings me to the whole question about the hashtags. Most new coaches are very inexperienced in online marketing and make the same mistake. They start applying the rules of one platform to them all.
Let's talk about Facebook
Facebook allows us to post beautifully written posts. When we format them correctly, creating spaces between the paragraphs and making those paragraphs shorter, so it is easy to read on the mobile, the words you are using can be so powerful for client attraction.
If you are not clear about what you offer and who you are looking for, and I mean extremely clear, chances are people will continue scrolling by, or if they engage with you, they will end up just cheering you on, but not actually converting into paying clients. Or only very, very rarely.
It is almost an accident when that happens - and I believe those "broken tap" clients are just really intuitive, getting the gut feeling about you and enrolling, but not because your messaging is clear or even any good, to be honest.
Trust me, I have lived through that stage, and it is the most disheartening place you can be. Everyone tells you how awesome you are, yet nobody is buying…
Hashtags and your messaging: do they help?
And so let's talk about the hashtags. Facebook seems to have a love/hate relationship with them. They introduced them some time ago, then they kind of pulled back, then again reintroduced them in the last two years.
I honestly believe that the introduction of hashtags has something to do with Facebook first trying to compete with Instagram. And later acquiring Instagram and trying to have more similar features.
Ask yourself this question: even on Instagram, when you are reading a caption on a post - do you actually read through the hashtags? I know I don't they are just a bust block of text for me. And on Instagram, the hashtags are used for discoverability (people search for or follow a hashtag and see the posts with that hashtag in their search results.
If you are a coach, your messaging is the words you use in your posts. It is how clearly you describe what you do in plain English or the kind of language your ideal client would use being woken up at 2 am in the morning.
(No, I am not talking about the kind of language with a lot of exclamation marks at the end of short phrases!)
I mean the language that is simple to comprehend even if you are sleepy and not all "clued in."
So, for example for me adding a hashtag online visibility coach or visibility coach will mean absolutely nothing to help my audience understand exactly what I do.
Yet if I regularly create posts inviting them into my program where I mentor coaches and experts who want to attract clients on Facebook but do not know what to do as they are too overwhelmed with information, through consistently taking action and learning to create content, and position themselves as an authority in their niche as they keep taking that imperfect action, without getting overwhelmed with thousands of hours of video content to consume.
This already gives my readers a much clearer idea of the WHAT and the WHO. A long sentence, I know, but much much clearer than the visibility coach hashtag.
Do you see what I am trying to illustrate?
Using a hashtag for the sake of sticking a word at the end of your post makes no common sense, it does not clarify anything in terms of the outcomes of investing in your coaching, the benefits this work can have on their lives short and long-term, and if they are exactly the type of person, you are looking for.
The bottom line, if Facebook is your platform of choice, the one you have a feel for, the one that you are already connecting with some people on and feel somewhat comfortable with, just focus on staying here and learning the art of expressing yourself clearly and simply. With words.
And leave the hashtags for other coaches, who may find connecting to their audience best on Instagram. Hashtags bring no value to your posts on Facebook. Only more noise.
Find out more about juliette's visibility that sells coaching at her website!
Juliette Stapleton, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Juliette Stapleton is a Visibility That Sells strategist, host of the Show Up! Stand Out! podcast, and a thought-leader on a mission to help experts, coaches, and service providers build an online presence that positions them as the authority in their niche. Juliette has helped thousands of students and clients from more than 30 countries reach millions and make millions with EASE. She is known for her V.A.L.U.E. visibility system, a simple, but powerful strategy based on showing up with integrity and creating a ripple effect of influence through personal connection and thought-leadership. Juliette has been featured in Forbes and several major business and marketing podcasts, like 365Driven, Rising Tide, iHeart Radio, and Confident Live. She is an active contributor to world-leading online publications, such as Influencive and Addicted2Success, Thrive Global, and many more. Find out more about the VISIBILITY THAT SELLS at: https://juliettestapleton.com/
