Consistent Clients - Real Estate Marketing

Last week we touched on ways to begin using Web 2.0 tools, so today we will go into the different social networking sites available, and tips on utilizing them.

Facebook is one social networking site that is growing at an amazing rate, and I don’t think we’ve even seen it peak yet. Facebook is a site that can be used for both personal and business relationships. Many people use it to simply reconnect with old friends, and stay in touch with new ones. But more and more people are realizing the business potential of it, too. Facebook allows you to develop comfortable relationships with your sphere of influence, as well as expanding your sphere. While you can add perfect strangers as friends, it’s wise to start out by finding friends, family and past clients, and use it as a tool to “touch” or contact them. Comment on their photos, use it to acknowledge birthdays you otherwise may not have known about, write a personal message on their wall - anything that will show interest in them and help you develop personal trust.

LinkedIn is a site that is dedicated to business networking. When you sign up, you can begin to search for people you know. This is a key. Unlike Facebook, where it is acceptable to send a friend request to someone you don’t know at all, LinkedIn wants members to connect with people they already know. From there, they can grow their personal network through friends of friends. This site also carries with it a more serious, business tone. You may prefer to use this site to develop relationships with other business owners that may provide referrals to you in the future.

ActiveRain and RealTown are large communities of real estate professionals. While they can be more casual than LinkedIn, you will always be dealing with another professional in the real estate community, whether they are realtors, mortgage brokers, investors, home stagers, or a provider of another type of real estate service. These are sites designed to let you connect with your colleagues, and become known as an expert in your particular community or niche. As you build relationships on these sites, you may begin to see referrals come in from your connections.

Before you jump in on these sites, however, it is wise to follow a few do’s and dont’s:

Do:

• Take the time to get a feel for the site, and what is acceptable. Read their Terms or Rules. You don’t want to get banned for a simple faux pas.
• Do focus on providing quality to your network. You are here to develop quality relationships, which should be beneficial to both parties. Don’t be shy about providing helpful information to people.
• Be authentic. Don’t try to come across as an expert in an area you know nothing about. Even though you might be online, people can still tell.
• Think long term. This type of networking will probably not provide instant lead generations for you. But as you cultivate these relationships, you may be surprised at the benefits you receive, both now and in the future.

Don’t

• Try the hard sell. Blasting your sales message to anyone and everyone is a bad idea. And while this may only get you labeled as obnoxious in the offline world, you could get banned from these sites if members report you as a spammer.
• Think this is a popularity contest. Having lots of “friends” on sites like these may make you feel important, but if they are not people that relate to your business, they’re not very useful contacts.
• Feel the need to jump in on every conversation happening, especially in forums or boards on these sites. If you are not contributing valuable information, then don’t bother.

Hopefully, these tips will help you develop a business plan for your social networking, to achieve the results you are after. Remember, social networking is more about relationship building than about instant traffic.

Rich Rogala

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