Every real estate professional knows that selling homes isn't about buildings, it's about people. And between advertising and networking, the pros spend 50-75% of their time trying to reach and interact with them. Present clients, potential clients, and past clients form the core of a realtor's social network. Naturally, every active agent wants that network to grow.
But how?
Even at the most basic level, a site like Facebook lets you reach out to, contact, and interact with many more people than you could ever see face to face. It simply has a wider reach even than your phone. Something as simple as creating a Facebook Page instantly puts you in the pool where you can swim with lots of others.
Expand your web presence and build an online community through Twitter and Facebook Pages for your business. Then reach out. Explain what you do, and do it in a way that shows your Facebook Page fans how you can help them. It's not about you, but your clients.
Hit that theme in a dozen ways. Create a Poll to find out their biggest gripes when shopping for a home. Post relevant news stories, offer photos, use the discussion board to generate buzz. Let everyone know about upcoming events.
Nothing wrong with self-promotion, though, done the right way. Tell your Facebook Page fans how you just closed a deal and made a young newlywed couple ecstatic over owning their first home. Talk up your town, about how it has unique features. If it's made a Best Places to Live list, even better. Tell everyone!
Social Marketing Ideas to Promote your Real Estate BusinessNow, take it to the next level with Twitter. Twitter is much more focused on real-time interaction.
You're in the middle of an exciting deal. A family has just moved to your area and you're showing them some of the unusual properties that are newly on the market at historically low prices. Tweet your enthusiasm to everybody out there. Passion breeds passion.
Invite all your online friends to visit at the first opportunity. Give free tips on how to find a great carpenter or gardener or plumber. List open house information. Inform everyone of local market trends. Everyone today is interested in how the economy impacts real estate and vice versa. Be the go-to guru on Twitter for those insights.
Real Estate pros can keep in touch with their current client list, and considerably expand it, by taking advantage of the latest social networking tools. Real life, meet virtual reality. See how one enhances the other.
Both Facebook Pages and Twitter are where you can:
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Build a community surrounding your business and gain extra exposure.
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Share valuable content about DIY resources and ideas. What's new in the "green housing" arena? What are the biggest benefits of using a real estate agent over doing it all yourself.
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Inform fans of what's going on in the real estate industry. Are home prices going up? Down? Is it a buyer's market or a seller's market. Tell them how they can best approach house-hunting in the current market. How can they best stretch their dollar? Don't forget about sellers - let them know the top 10 things they can do to increase their chances of selling their home in the current market. Or what they can expect when they first put their house on the market.
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Ask fans for input and comments about their house-hunting experiences. What have been the biggest obstacles, and how did they overcome them? Could they list their best resources they used for their renovation projects?
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Create contests and special offers.
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Get a little crazy and creative - loosen up and have a bit of fun.
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Announce your upcoming events, such as Open Houses, etc.
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Upload your videos and pictures of homes you're selling. Encourage your Facebook fans to upload "Before and After" renovation pictures and videos.
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Announce your new products / services.
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What's going on in your town and nearby areas? Get people excited about moving to your town. Think about the different ways you can do that. Explore what the various neighborhoods are doing for fun and excitement. Why not share these with your social network visitors?
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What about other related topics your audience is interested in? Could you provide information for them about: home decorating tips, green home project ideas, flooring options, diy resources, ROI for typical renovation projects, how to recycle their old material from renovation projects - both inside and out in the garden. The list goes on and on when it comes to topics dealing with home and garden.
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About the author: Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC offers a wide variety of business services.
As a Certified Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant, she specializes in social media optimization to increase organic search rankings through brand awareness and community building strategies. Edit audio/video for podcasts, teleseminars, audio books. Create products to sell & teasers for marketing. She supports your internet marketing needs such as Website Analysis, Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, and Article Marketing.
With a background in corporate productivity and team training for Outlook and SharePoint users, she offers video training tutorials through her e-learning site.
