Consistent Clients – Real Estate Marketing

If you have an account on Facebook, you may be aware that they made some changes to the site early last month. One of the major changes was to the way that Fan Pages look, feel and function. These fan pages were already a good tool to use for yourself on Facebook, but the new changes have given them an even bigger part to play in your Facebook marketing.

Facebook describes Fan Pages as “a customizable presence for an organization, product, or public personality to join the conversation with Facebook users. The Page focuses on the stream of content posted by the Page administrators.

By leveraging the real connections between friends on Facebook, a Page lets Fans become
brand advocates. Posts by the Page will start to appear in News Feed, giving Pages a
stronger voice to reach their Fans.”

To start your Facebook page -  go to the Applications Bar at the bottom left of your window once you are logged in to your Facebook account and select Page Manager:

You’ll then select Pages

Then Create Page

Facebook will then walk you through setting up the page, starting with your industry (Local –> Real Estate) then name. It’s never a bad idea to use keywords here, so you might try something like “Chicago Realtor® Rich Rogala”.

Once you do that, you will have created your page, and you’ll be taken to a window to customize it.

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Some “Best Practices” when setting up your new Facebook fan page

Tip: Configure your Page’s “Settings” to allow more participation.

You want to configure your Page’s Settings to allow and encourage maximum participation, so go to “Settings” which is directly under the “Share” button on your page and:

View Settings:
1) Default View for Wall -  -Posts by Page and Fans
2) Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else  -  Wall
3) Check  -Auto-Expand Comments

Fan Permissions:
Check  -Fans can write on the wall
Check  -Allow fans to post photos
Check  -Allow fans to post videos
Check  -Allow fans to post links

Tip: Use a standard picture or logo as your Page picture.

Using the same photo or logo on all your social networking profile is a great way to brand yourself. People will recognize your logo from Facebook on Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr, ActiveRain etc. before they even see your profile name, so try to be consistent.

Tip: Put “http://” before any links you use in your “Updates”.

“Updates” are kind of like e-mails that you can send to your fans inside of Facebook. Be sure that you have the “http://” in front of all website URLs (i.e. http://www.consistentclients.com) that you list in your Update. This will make the link automatically hyperlinked so that individuals can visit the website with one simple click. You’ll get fewer clicks if people have to copy and paste it into their browser so you are losing a valuable opportunity to increase your website traffic via Facebook Updates.

Tip: Utilize Facebook applications to add more information and interactivity to your page.

Adding applications like Video, Flickr, RSS, or Profile HTML gives you lots of options to share property videos, have your new Flickr photos added to the page, have your blog posts added to your page, or even put up an html opt-in form to let people subscribe to your ezine/newsletter.

Tip: Invite People!

Don’t forget that the purpose of this is to gain more exposure, so invite your Facebook friends through the “Suggest to Friends” link right underneath your picture. Add a “Become a Fan!” button or link on your website, on your blog, or even in your email signature.

For more information on utilizing Pages, check out Facebook’s full Guide to Facebook Fan Page.

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