In September 2006, anyone 13 years of age or older with a valid email address could join this new-fangled website with the strange name of Facebook – and did they ever join! The site grew at the unbelievable rate of over 100 million users a year. Now everyone could keep tabs on how much their kids were drinking and what their friends were eating for lunch. Society became connected in a way it had never been before.
It also allowed businesses to interact with customers and potential customers in ways never before imagined. More than 25 million businesses and professionals have taken advantage of that opportunity. Why wouldn’t they? It’s free and it’s easy, two things everybody loves when it comes to advertising their goods and services. Thus began the age of social marketing, but how have real estate professionals adapted to and used this new medium?
Unfortunately, from what I’ve found researching this topic, the answer is not very well. Most sales reps have a personal page where some also post their listings and other real estate themed messages. A smaller percentage have created actual business pages where they offer their services to the Facebook community. Some even buy Facebook ads that will appear in your news feed from time to time.
Other than a small group of agents who obviously have dedicated marketing people behind them, the way most agents use Facebook as a marketing tool is abysmal. That, however, is to be expected if they don’t have any marketing experience or knowledge. Luckily for me I worked in marketing prior to getting into real estate, so I had half a clue anyway.
I knew from experience I had to be consistent. That is one of the golden rules of marketing. It’s no good to post something when you’re in the mood, or when something happens that you think is worth posting. You pretty much have to post on a predetermined schedule: every day, every second day, as long as it’s consistent. It has to be engaging or people will simply ignore it. For instance, one agent announced an open house by posting the date, time and place in a single sentence. No picture of the house, no benefit to someone buying it such as it being close to schools. No, just one sentence floating face down in a sea of sentences on a Facebook page. I don’t think that left anyone thinking, wow I’ve got to check that open house out.
What you’re trying to do on Facebook is what you should be trying to do everywhere else you do marketing. You’re not selling houses, you’re selling yourself. It’s a brand-building experience. That’s why you have to be consistent and engaging. It’s also why you have to be patient. It will not happen overnight. There is not one Facebook posting that will get people calling your number. It’s an accumulation of repeated messages that will leave you as the first sales rep someone thinks of when the subject comes up. TOMA, Top of Mind Awareness is what you’re after. That takes time to build. It takes many engaging messages.
I prefer posting real estate on my personal page. That way people know me the person as well as me the real estate agent. They can know that I’m doing a public reading and I’ve listed a new property all in the same day. They get to see different sides of me and I like that. It shows I’m not just one-dimensional.
I also post a fun fact with a picture every day. That’s been getting amazing feedback from people and I even got deals because of them. The fun facts have been about everything from the invention of the toilet bowl to fish that have a saw for a mouth. What does this have to do with selling houses? Nothing, it has to do with selling me. At the end of each fact is a call to action along with my picture and contact info.
Check out my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Debbie.Hanlon2?fref=ts and you’ll see what I mean. Whatever way you want to approach the free marketing on Facebook, remember these three simple guidelines: be consistent, be engaging and have fun because if it’s not fun for you it’s probably not fun for anyone else. That’s a fun fact to remember.
Debbie Hanlon is a real estate broker who has helped train hundreds of sales reps and brokered and managed a national real estate franchise. She also founded an independent real estate firm. Currently she coaches sales reps all over the world. She is the CEO of All Knight Inc, a global educational mobile company, as well as a published children’s author and the creator of the national I’m No Bully Show. https://www.facebook.com/missdebbieandfriends
