Archives 2014

Do you wonder if using your personal page is best?  Do you post listings to your personal page and wonder if your friends get irritated?

I often get asked these questions so I thought I’d write a blog post about it.

“I am a real estate agent, should I use my personal profile or create a Facebook page to post about my business?”

Without batting an eyelash, I would say you should use a Facebook Page.

Why should you set up a Facebook Page and not use your personal Facebook profile to get post on your page and get leads if you are a real estate agent?

Let me first define and differentiate the two before I go ahead and answer the big “why”.

WHAT IS A PERSONAL PROFILE?

• Personal Timelines, which are sometimes referred to as profiles, are for individual, non-commercial use.
• They represent individual people and must be held under an individual name.
• You can follow Timelines to see public updates of people you’re interested in but aren’t friends with.

WHAT IS A FACEBOOK PAGE?

• Facebook Pages look similar to personal Timelines, but they offer unique tools for connecting people to a topic they care about, like a business, brand, organization or celebrity.
• Pages are managed by people who have personal Timelines.
• Pages are not separate Facebook accounts and do not have separate login information from your Timeline.
• You can like a Page to see updates in News Feed.

As you can see, a Facebook Page can be utilized to get high-quality leads better than your Personal Profile.

Here are 10 more reasons why you should use Facebook page and not your personal profile:

1. BE SEARCHABLE

   Facebook Fan Pages are indexed by search engines which is important in building your online presence.

2. FACEBOOK TABS/ THIRD PARTY APPS

   You can practically create a website out of your Page using Facebook apps. You can add special Apps that could create beautiful landing pages, add a lead capturing-form and other integrations that you need to make your Facebook Page a lead-generating machine.

3. TAG YOUR PAGE

   Your fans, non-friends and other Pages can tag your brand on their posts. Therefore, creating more visibility.

4. RUN PROMOS AND CONTESTS

   You can run promos via the Ads Manager by simply posting an Offer on your Page. It may be discount offers or freebies when they respond to your call to action.

   In the same manner, you can run contests either by creating custom tabs.

5. ASSIGN AN ADMIN

   You can assign an admin to manage your Facebook page. You don’t need to give out your personal password to other people. This is more convenient and less risky for you.

6. COMMENT AS YOUR PAGE

   If you want to increase your online presence on Facebook, you will need to comment, reply, like and share to other Pages using your Facebook page.

   This allows other people to feel your presence by being active, not just being confined to your own page.

7. CHECK-INS

   As long as your location has a complete street address and is pinned on maps (like Bing Maps, Google Maps or Foursquare), people can check-in to your office location and share it on their own timelines.

   You cannot have that if you are using a personal page. This increases interaction between you and your clients.

8. FACEBOOK INSIGHTS

   This is a very powerful tool to learn about your Facebook audience. You can study your fan demographics, know which posts has more engagement and combining these information into improving your page activity. Which will in return get you more leads.

9. RUN ADS

   Paid advertising to promote your business can only be done on Facebook Pages and not in your personal profile.  You can do some super cool things with Facebook Ads such as advertising to your email database or promoting an open house.

10. NO “FRIEND LIMITS”

    Last but not the least, personal profile page is limited to 5,000 friends. Your Facebook Page can have an infinite number of fans.

Start setting up your Facebook page today if you haven’t yet. For more information about setting up your Facebook page, click here…

If you have any questions, I’d love to help you answer them. Just leave a comment below.

The streamlined look for Facebook Pages was rolled out last month. According to Facebook, it aims make it easier for people to find the information they want and help Page admins find the tools they use most.

In this blog post, let’s jump right in and see what the major changes are that you need to be aware of…

1. TIMELINE DESIGN

The right-side column of your timeline now displays all your Page’s posts. This one-column display means that all of your posts will appear consistently on your Page and in News Feed. Also notice that all posts are now displayed in one single column.

The left-side column of your timeline features information about your business, including a map, your hours of business, phone number and website URL, as well as photos and videos.

You can re-order all the blocks on the left column, except “People” and “About”. Here’s how:

• Go to the “Manage” button (the pen icon), then click on “Manage Sections”
• Then use the “drag and drop” interface to re-order the blocks in the left column.

2. COVER AND PROFILE PHOTO

Your Page name and category, along with the Like, Follow and Share buttons are overlayed on the bottom portion of your cover photo.

The profile photo is now moved up farther onto the cover photo image and a bit to the left.

3. APPS TABS

Apps tabs are seen in 2 places:

• Left sidebar below the fold.

• Top menu bar, in the “More” dropdown menu.

4. ABOUT SECTION

Your about section now prominently displays your website URL.

5. NOTIFICATIONS

All notifications are now easily accessible in one convenient page named “Activity”.

Very important notifications like new page likes, unread messages are displayed at the right-hand side.

6. PAGE SETTINGS

All of your page settings are in one place. Note that Activity Log and Banned Users have been moved to the Settings tab.

7. INSIGHTS PAGE

All of the Facebook Insights you will need are shown at a high level on one page and includes “Pages to Watch”.

8. ADS MANAGER

No matter where you are on your Page, you can now view information about the ads you’re running. The Build Audience menu at the top of the Page offers direct access to your Ads Manager account.

What do you think of the new Facebook page layout? Do you have any questions about it? I’d love to help. Add your comments/questions below.

Consistent with the Facebook’s aim to clean up the news feed, they announced another update to de-emphasize pages that practice “like-baiting”.

What is like- baiting anyway? “Like-baiting” is when a post explicitly asks News Feed readers to like, comment or share the post in order to get additional distribution beyond what the post would normally receive.

Here are 2 good examples of like-baiting:

1. If you run contests on your Facebook page with the following mechanics: “Share and like this post to win a FREE gift”. Be aware that you can no longer ask/require the person to share the contest on their personal timeline.
2. 

Here is the rule quoted directly from Facebook’s page guidelines: 3. Promotions may be administered on Pages or within apps on Facebook. Personal Timelines must not be used to administer promotions (ex: “share on your Timeline to enter” or “share on your friend’s Timeline to get additional entries” is not permitted).

How will this affect your Page?

It’s time to get creative with your posts. Share helpful information that your fans will share without you asking for it. Be original – be you!

What do you think of this Facebook update? How will it affect your page? Let me know your thoughts by adding a comment below!

As a follow up to this blog post that I wrote previously, I am sharing with you information on how to increase your Facebook engagement without paying for ads.

FIRST STEP: UNDERSTAND HOW FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENT REALLY WORKS.

So how does Facebook define “engagement”? In simple terms, Facebook engagement happens whenever your fans:

1. LIKE your post
2. COMMENT on your post
3. SHARE your post, or
4. CLICK a link in your post

SECOND STEP: PLAN.

While getting your fans to engage on Facebook is extremely important for organic reach, I believe creating a Facebook content & marketing strategy is equally important. And the best way to start with this is by creating an editorial calendar. Your editorial calendar doesn’t have to be anything complicated, a simple shared Google spreadsheet will do.

To get the planning started – consider these key elements:

• Your fans – Who are they? What are they looking for? How can you help them?
• Your content – Generally, share content that your fans can resonate with. Vary content type from text updates, images, videos and links to relevant articles.
• Your voice – This should be consistent with your business or brand. For me, I like to write posts that sounds like I’m having a chat over coffee with a friend. Be helpful. Create a standard turn-around time to reply to fans comments – within 12 hours is preferred.
• Your words – Write posts that are compelling and invoke strong emotion – at least strong enough for your fans to follow your call-to-action. Also “snackable” and straight to the point posts are most likely to have more engagement.

You now know the basics but don’t stop there. Be open to other ideas on how to increase your engagement with your fans. Here are other things you can do:

• Run a contest.
• Spotlight a fan.
• Host Facebook Fan Page Friday.
• Tag other pages when you mention them in your posts
• Ask close-ended questions.
• Ask your fans to vote.
• Repurpose content that you already have.
• Repost top performing posts you shared previously
• Host a Live Q and A hour.
• Post updates about trending events.

THIRD STEP: MAXIMIZE PAGE INSIGHTS.

Here are the key things that you should consider:

• Know when your fans are online and post updates whenever your fans are online – simple, right?
• Post updates 2-3 times a day. If you don’t you will definitely miss out.
• Monitor which posts created most engagement. Do this more often and fewer of the things that don’t get engagement.

FOURTH STEP: PROMOTE OUTSIDE OF FACEBOOK

Increasing engagement on Facebook doesn’t mean you can’t promote your posts outside Facebook.

• Add a link to your Facebook page in your email signature.
• Encourage people in your email list to like your page and comment in your posts
• Tweet your posts
• Pin image posts on Pinterest
• Embed top performing updates in your blog

Now, what are you waiting for? Use these tips to generate more engagement in your Facebook page! I would love to hear which of these tips worked for you.

Like what you’re reading?  Sign Up Here to get the most up to date Facebook info on the planet!

What other tips do you have for increasing reach and engagement for your Facebook page?

Leave me a comment in the comments section below and let me know what tips you’re using on your page that are working!  I’d love to hear from you!

Facebook is an amazing social platform to grow your client list for your real estate business.

It is one of the most powerful social media network to date. With it’s boundless reach and business-savvy features, a lot of small businesses are taking their businesses to the next level using Facebook. Even big corporations have Facebook pages to reach out to their target markets. The beauty of Facebook is it’s ability to micro-target.  This means your real estate business can definitely benefit from using Facebook.

Before you can maximize the use of Facebook for your business though, you must be clear about these 3 requirements in growing your client list:

1. Your Facebook page must have the RIGHT Fans
2. Your fans must convert from “likers” to “buyers”.
3. Your fans must love the content you provide on your Facebook business page so much that they come back to and engage with your page.

Keeping these 3 things in mind, here are 6 Facebook tips to help you grow your client list:

1. INVITE YOUR CONTACTS TO LIKE YOUR PAGE

Make use of your email contacts list to build your network on Facebook. If someone has already opted in to your email list, there’s a greater chance that they would want to connect and interact with you on Facebook as well. Invite them to “Like” your Facebook page to be in the loop about everything that’s new in your real estate business. Ask your family, friends and current contacts to recommend your page. This is social media’s new-age “word of mouth” advertisement. In addition to this, you can add a link to your Facebook page in your email signature. Here are 2 examples:

2. SHARE COMPELLING CONTENT

Share stunning images

A picture paints a thousand words! This is very true in real estate. Post stunning photographs of real estate property. People LOVE to comment and sharing amazing photos of homes!

Post or share interesting articles or tips related to real estate

Real estate is a big topic. Post various articles on your page that might be interesting to prospective clients such as tips on finding the right property or how to increase the market value of a property. You can also share a link to your own blog or you can write your own tips that you can share. You can convert these tips to images.

Run a contest to promote your page

Contests are a great way to invite people to “Like” your page and let people know what your business is all about and what you have to offer. Take this opportunity to create a promotion they can’t pass up. For instance, you can offer a hassle-free loan approval and partner with a mortgage lender or even a room make-over & free consultation with an interior designer like this:

3. MAKE USE OF FACEBOOK’S AMAZING FEATURES

Utilize Facebook APPs to create a lead capture system.

By adding a “Contact Us” or “Book Now” tab to your Facebook page you can make it easier for your leads to sign up without sending them away from Facebook. You can also create an app that features your upcoming open house with a video.  22Social is a great tool that you can use to set this up.  If you’d like to see what a complete app looks like from 22Social – check one out here.

Advertise to gain more page likes

Facebook’s “Like” ad is probably the easiest ad type to set up. It’s also the least expensive but it gets your page instant exposure to new fans.

Watch this short video about how you can get more likes using Facebook ads!

4. LINK YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE TO YOUR OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS

Not all people join the same social media network. Linking your Facebook to other social media networks such as Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn will broaden your reach to possible clients. Your posts, articles or announcements gain more exposure when your social media sites are linked to each other.

5. BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FANS

Create a conversation with your fans. When your fans comment on your posts, it trigger an engagement metric to Facebook and they’ll start showing more fans your posts.  But more importantly, it starts the conversation and relationship with future clients.  Make sure you take time to respond to posts on your page.  Here is a quick and easy way to monitor comments on your page – click here.

6. STOP ANALYSIS PARALYSIS & GET STARTED!

Go do something awesome each day on your Facebook page. Taking action is always better than doing nothing at all. Just start today, and before you know it, you’ll have something great – a page where your fans love your content and a Facebook community that trusts you and wants to use YOU for their real estate transactions.

What do you think? How else can you use Facebook to grow your client list for the long-term? Share your comments and questions in the comments box below. I’d love to hear from you!