As one of the first blog posts for RealtyPlug we’ll start with the basics of setting up a Facebook Page.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past 5+ years, I’m going to assume you’ve at least logged in and used Facebook personally to some limited degree. If you haven’t, it’s not too late… it’ll take a little time and getting used to, but will certainly pay off in the long run!
First thing you’ll need to do is setup a Facebook Business Page. I’d strongly recommend using this, instead of your personal profile to engage with your network. If you haven’t setup a business page yet, it’s pretty simple. Simply scroll to the bottom of Facebook, and click on the link that says ‘Create a Page’.
From there, you select ‘Local Business or Place’, and fill in every possible field. It’s that easy. But, you’re far from being done…
Once you have a page setup, you’ll need to come up with a game plan of how to use it – this is crucial. This is where the change of mind-set comes in. Save your profile page for your personal life (vacation photos, etc.), and use you business page for real estate content. You can use your profile page to introduce your network to your business page, but once that’s done, leave your business in your business page.
Back to your game plan. The most important thing you’ll need to do is commit in order for this to be effective, just like any real estate marketing you do. Don’t expect that once you setup a pretty business page and make a couple posts that the masses will flock… because they won’t. Your audience will grow depending on the content you post, how often, and how often you interact with those that visit your page.
You’re game plan should consist of a schedule that you can realistically keep up. Here’s a sample marketing plan:
- Once per day, Monday through Friday, check your Facebook page wall for posts, and reply to EVERYONE.
- Once per week, post some interesting statistics; such as the number of homes sold for a particular city or county, price range, and month, average sales price over a time period, or anything else. Don’t do the same stat each time… this is what will make people engage you, to find out what the latest trends are. Plus, doing the number of homes sold week after week is kind of pointless.
- Once per week, post a teaser to a blog post you’ve made on your blog/website
- Once per week, post about something interesting you’ve found while looking at properties. People I talk to always find it interesting when I tell them about interesting or cool features of homes I’ve previewed… do this for any listings, not just yours!
That’s pretty much it… just log in once a day, at least 5 days of the week. The above schedule really shouldn’t take up more than 3 hours of your week, and will have a tremendous return. Feel free to change it up, and be creative with your plan. Just do it, and stick with it!
Once you have a good following on your Facebook page it’s hard to lose them… you’ll get plenty of business from them, and especially from their referrals. Like everything it takes just a little work to get going. It won’t be long before you get in a groove and start reaping the rewards.
