Just about everyone is marketing through Facebook these days, and real estate agents are no different. You might have already noticed more and more realty-related posts popping up around your profile page, depending on what demographic you fall into, and when searching for realtors, you might even find yourself turning to Facebook, instead of opting for a broader Google search; either way, these professionals have a stronger presence on social media than ever before. If you are in the real estate business and you want to give social media a try, there are a few ways that you can actually increase your chances of success.
Help Your Clients Out
Contents
Too many businesses are utilizing Facebook for the sole purpose of advertising their services through this platform, but this could actually be a very bad idea. People already get enough advertising in their everyday lives, so they aren’t usually interested in signing up for some more. When you create your Facebook page, you should ensure that it not only contributes to your business, but that it is also helpful to your clients. Mike Gingerich advises;
Remember that social media is about building relationships, being social, and offering value.
You need to make sure that you post regularly, but you also need to ensure that your content is helpful to those individuals who become fans of, or even like, your page. Think about how you are going to interact with your potential clients, instead of simply focusing on how you can advertise, and you will find that your page draws more interest because of this.
High quality content can do just as well on social media sites as on your website, so don’t underestimate the value of a well written post when you are considering how to go about building up the image of your business online.
Alter Your Cover Image
One of the best ways to advertise a new property is to publish it as your cover image. When your page pops up on someone’s news feed, their eyes will be immediately drawn to your profile picture, and they will notice the property before they read the posting, most likely. By taking this route, you won’t have to use your updates to advertise a new listing (something that is less likely to work since people will often ignore wording and focus instead on images).
Include Links To Your Website
People turn to Facebook to interact with people and organizations, but when they finally want to access a product or service, they tend to visit the website of the business in question. The contributors of Geek State Blog explain;
Make sure to include a link to your website in the visible part of your “About” section to drive more traffic to your site.
After all, this is one of the aims of starting a Facebook page; to drive more and more traffic to your website, so don’t be afraid to use this to your advantage. You might even want to make sure that you have your website address visible on your profile picture, since this will ensure that people can always see it, and eventually it will stick in their minds. Just remember that profile pictures aren’t clickable, so you will also need to include the link to your site elsewhere.
Utilize Third Party Content
It shouldn’t be only your words and pictures that are strewn across your Facebook page. You can make your page a lot more interesting by including content and pictures that are created by other people. Share a link that has gone viral or a joke that you heard over the weekend (as long as it is appropriate); these are ways that you capture the attention of other people and have them continue returning for more.
Highlight Your Facebook Presence Within Your Current Marketing Campaign
If people aren’t aware that you have a Facebook page, you could end up losing out before you even have the chance to establish a social network presence. Basically, this means that you might want to start incorporating your Facebook presence into other marketing campaigns that you have currently established. The contributors of Mashable advise;
For example, if you’re blogging, set it up to automatically post each new article on Facebook.
You can also include your Facebook profile link on flyers or even billboards, if you advertise through these mediums.
Making Use Of Facebook Ads
If you have noticed an increase in the number of real estate advertisements you see on Facebook, you should take note that these are actually paid adverts and you can also benefit from them if you know how to go about this. Facebook ads are similar to Google ads in many ways; they allow individuals the chance to target a specific demographic and begin marketing specifically to these individuals. Facebook does have some way to go before they become as big as Google, however, especially considering the effectiveness of the former isn’t as strong as that of the latter.
Consistency
If you are going to be marketing through Facebook, make sure that you do so on a consistent basis, otherwise you could end up hurting your image, instead of helping it. Remember, when you abandon your page, it might look as if you have abandoned your entire business and this could leave your potential clients with a very bad impression of you. You might want to set aside a bit of time each week to focus on your page so that you can update your status, chat to your fans and generally give the impression that there is a bit of movement on the page. Eventually, you should start working up to doing this a couple of times a day, since this will ensure that you keep up with everything that is going in within your industry.
You can use Facebook to do so much more than keep up with your Grandmother who lives in Long Island; you can utilize it to really give your business a head start. Remember, just like with anything, the more effort you pour into this, the more you’ll get out of it, so put this at the top of your to-do list.