Facebook is a social network and it will always remain a social network. Real estate agents tend to forget this when they look for ways to utilize Facebook for business. As a social network it is a place for people to communicate to their friends and family in a private and public way. This is the social aspect of Facebook. The network is the billions of people who are using it.
Can you use Facebook to effectively sell online? Absolutely, but the shift occurs when you look at what type of selling style that you will be using. This is often the biggest mistake that real estate professionals make not only when marketing online, but when marketing their services to potential clients.
Marketing Your Services
The selling style on Facebook is viewed as an advertising space to most agents. Assuming what is written above is true, that Facebook is a social network, this strategy is flawed. In fact how many of us have been on a listing appointment and told the seller that we will post your home to our Facebook page? We are treating Facebook as a newspaper which is not what it is.
Marketing Online
Real estate agents need to stop treating Facebook as a newspaper and start treating it as a telephone. Facebook is about connecting, not broadcasting advertisements. If agents were to actively engage with their past clients on Facebook the leads would pour in. Imagine walking into a listing appointment and using this script:
“Mr. & Mrs. Seller, we have a social media strategy unlike any other because we actively communicate online with past clients and with other agents every day. What we are going to do is send out some feelers for your home based on location, type of home (3bed/2bath) and highlight your unique feature and we are confident that we will get some traction and sell your home.”
Never Post a Property to Facebook?
A point to remember here is that I am not against posting properties on your professional Facebook page, not your personal profile. (A discussion for another time) This can be part of your social strategy, however Facebook is not craigslist. People go to Facebook to connect not look through ads.
If you need to explain that posting properties is part of your strategy that’s fine, however we cannot lose site of the purpose of being on Facebook. It is a social network and it must be treated like a social network for affected sales leads.
How We Can Help
Lance & Company can help you with both the development and implementation of Facebook marketing. contact us with any questions on how you can begin your Facebook marketing today.
Written By Chris Webb
Written By Chris Webb
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