When it comes to social media channels like Facebook, it’s easy to be dismissive of their use as a business tool.  For most people, Facebook is all about social sharing on a personal level. However, there are many businesses that utilize Facebook as a valuable resource for tapping into their online community.  The key is to treat Facebook for Business differently from Facebook on a personal account.  Here are our tips and tricks on how to best utilize Facebook as a realtor.

 

Create a Business Page

You’ve probably heard that mixing business and pleasure is a bad thing. The same goes for using your personal Facebook account for business means. You might get a few courtesy likes if you start advertising your business on Facebook, but ultimately you will alienate friends and see little business returns. That’s why it is important to create a business-specific page on Facebook for all your business needs.

To create a Facebook Business Page, you can choose the “Create Page” option on the left sidebar. You’ll want to select the local business option when creating the page and follow the instructions of page setup. This includes making sure the details of your business are accurate, and that the imagery accurately represents your brand. Congratulations! You know have a Facebook Business Page! Check out the 5 Easy-to-use graphic design tools for realtors article for some easy ways to make you look great!

 

Choose the Right Content

Knowing what types of content to share is the next difficulty in using Facebook for business.  While you won’t want to share anything from your personal life on your Business Page, it’s still important to show a personal touch.  Posts should include new or popular listings and open houses, but also information relevant to your customers. A good thing to remember is that no one wants to hear about “me, me, me” all the time. Instead, it is important to balance your content between important information to your business, as well as news and information from trusted sources that can benefit your clients. In doing so, you ensure that you become a valuable resource and are likely to see your content spread outside of your immediate client circle. Another great thing to share are the personal touches you include when making a sale — from pictures of your clients signing to housewarming gifts and other personal touches, you want to share what makes your business unique and personal.

 

Posting Content

Posting content on a Facebook Business page is quite different from personal posting.  While people might post on Facebook multiple times a day and still have their content show up on the news feed, Facebook’s algorithm treats business pages differently.  Typically, unless you’re in the Page specific feed, Facebook will only show a single post or so from a Business Page.  Now this doesn’t mean you should post on your business page five times a day to increase your likelihood of getting an extra post on someone’s newsfeed. Instead, it means you should take a strategic approach in your posting. You should post on Facebook daily, but not exceed two posts per day to optimize your results.  In order to post to your Facebook, you can do so directly from your page, or you can utilize a social media posting platform like Hootsuite or Buffer. These free to low-cost options allows you schedule multiple posts in advance, reuse posts that got a high level of response, and review analytics for your posts, all of which can increase your social media impact and increase your efficiency.

 

The Key to Social Media For Realtors

As a realtor, you may think social media is too complicated or not relevant enough to be impactful to your business. But even for small businesses, social media can prove useful if done efficiently.  Up to 78% of social media for business users have reported an increase in site traffic due to social media, and 54% of cited receiving potential leads through social media.  With data like this, it’s hard to continue to avoid building your social media presence.