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Facebook For REALTORS: 10 Ways To Lose Friends and NOT Influence People

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Hub Media Company

 


As of this post, there are over 400 million people on facebook.  With all those people in one place there is bound to be someone that just really annoys you to the point that you “un-friend” them.  Here are some of the most irritating things a Realtor can do.

 

 

  • Business, business, business. If every time your friends log into their facebook account, your “friends” see you talking about your business, you will most likely be “un-friended”-quickly. They accepted you as a friend because they want to hear about you, your recommendations, your suggestions, your day; not your business.  To make it easier, they want to be friends with a person, not a salesman or a company.
  • Suggest they become a fan of you or your business over and over and over again.  Here is a hint….If they didn’t become a fan the first time you asked them to, they are even less likely to become a fan the second or the third or the…you get the point.
  • Suggest they become a fan of a product or service they  have never used. Look, I understand that you are excited about your new fanpage, but you cant expect someone to become a fan of your real estate services, if they have never used your services. So, if you are going to ask someone to be come a fan of you, please make sure they have worked with you.  And if they don’t become a fan the first time,…see #2.
  • Talk at them.  I remember what it was like to be in boot camp , I had plenty of company commanders that talked at me.  They accepted you as a friend so you both could talk, not just you.  Your clients want to be engaged on facebook.   Think Tennis.  They hit the “ball”, (a question or statement) and now the ball is in your court. Hit it back.
  • Events.  I get invited to all kinds of events, I bet your clients or potential clients do too.  What’s annoying about that you ask?  If you are doing an open house in Chandler, Arizona…don’t invite everyone on your friends list, especially the ones that live out of state.  I cant tell you how many events I have been invited to in New York.  Yes, I am from New York, but I live in Arizona. Its a really easy way to see that you are clearly inviting everyone….people like to feel special, not like sheep.
  • Your Listings. Do yourself a favor, Don’t post all of your listings on your wall. Why?  Well for starters, if all you are doing is posting your listings, you will get tuned out very fast immediately.  We talked about this one in a previous post with the guy selling “tires”.   I would reserve your wall for those “special” listings, you know the ones that are amazing deals or are very interesting.  This way your “friends” will take notice of your listing because it’s not something you usually do. Remember…..the fact that you listed a home is not interesting, the fact that you listed Brad Pitt’s house-Is. For the most part, you would be better served putting your listings on a fan page.
  • Farmville, Fishville, Mafia Wars.  I have even gone as far as joining a group called “I don’t care about your farm, or your fish or your mafia!!”
    and guess what?  As of today, there are  6,011,509 members and growing!  I don’t care if you play those games, but posting it on your wall for your clients to see in their news feed could easily tell them that you have too much time on your hands.  I don’t think I would be too happy if my house was listed with you and you are always playing Farmville.  ‘Farmville’ and ‘Mafia Wars’ might be fun for some people, but if you don’t want to play them-and I don’t, the constant invites are aggravating. Some Facebook games are like Ponzi schemes; the way to succeed and get more points is to get more people playing-your “friends”.
  • Link Twitter to Facebook.  Twitter is a micro-blogging site, it is acceptable to post 10,20 even 30 times per day in some instances.  Liking your twitter to your facebook account will overwhelm and alienate your “friends”.  If you are going to link facebook and twitter, you should have your status updates on facebook going to twitter, not the other way around.
  • Your beliefs.  My dad once told me that there are 3 things that have no place in business-Religion, Politics and Abortion.  Regardless of what you believe in, there are plenty of others that disagree with you.  Your little remark about the President-even though you meant it in fun-could easily infuriate someone that doesn’t share your sense of humor.  When you post something, think Switzerland.  Is it neutral, far left or far right.  Unless of course you aim to stir up a beehive.
  • Tagging.  As cool as I am right now, I was not always this way.  Believe it or not, there was a time in my life that I was insecure,  chubby and awkward.  Ok, so I’m still chubby.  The last thing I would want my “friends” or clients to see is a picture of me “tagged” from the 80’s doing a keg-stand with a reverse mohawk.  I mean come-on I have a professional reputation to uphold. :-)
  • Yes, I know I promised 10 but here is another as a bonus. Trying to “jack” one of your friends potential clients.  It never fails, at some point a potential client will reach out to one of your “friends” that happens to be a REALTOR and write on their wall something like “We are considering buying a home in Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, where would you suggest we look?”  That comment is for your friend, not you-dont try and jack that lead by replying with a link to your website.  I have seen it happen before and it’s one of the reasons I don’t suggest having other Realtors on your facebook page unless they are in outside markets.  My opinion-having 300 friends where 80 of them are other Realtors is like taking those 80 Realtors on every buyer or seller presentation you ever make.

 

For All Your Marketing, Escrow and Title Needs

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Comments (134)

Stephen Garner
Hub Media Company - Tempe, AZ
Hub Media Company

Its actually really simple.

The invisible Social Contract-of facebook

Facebook is for friends and family.  Recommendations, suggestions, stories, observations, requests, advice, pictures, etc....personal.  You can tell someone you are a REALTOR or tire salesman or title rep in conversation on your personal page-but invite them to your fan page where they can get real estate info-tire-title info

fan page or (business Page/like page) is an opportunity to build your brand.  Feel free to talk about real estate all you want (or what ever your product/service is) because this is what they have become fans or likes of.

one more suggestion-if you have 50 fans (likes) on your fan page and you notice the numbers dropping-48, 45, 40 you are doing something to annoy your fans, its always good to adjust what you post to make it interesting to your fans.

Lastly-If it was me, I would set up a fan page for a geographic area (Gilbert, Arizona) or a subdivision (Val Vista Lakes) over a personal fan page.  A page like Gilbert or Val Vista will appeal to a larger audience, grow faster and allow you to engage all of them. (You can have as many fan pages as you want.  I have been advocating setting up fan pages for subdivisions for over 15 months-only a few have done it.

My fan page is MyTitleGuyStephen but it has nothing to do with me as an individual or title rep for that matter-My page is merely a place I announce marketing ideas and observations.  I never-never-never talk about me or title insurance for that matter.  The value for my fans is information and marketing ideas, so I give it to them.

 

Thanks for your comments

May 06, 2010 04:05 AM
Ty Lacroix
Envelope Real Estate Brokerage Inc - London, ON

Stephen

A very helpful post of what not to do, thanks for the tips

Ty

May 06, 2010 06:09 AM
Derek Myers
Key Real Estate - Pittsburgh, PA

Thanks for the tips.  Facebook is a great tool that has a fine line between business and friendship. 

May 06, 2010 09:46 AM
Jirius Isaac
Isaac Real Estate &TriStar Mortgage - Kenmore, WA
Real Estate & loans in Kenmore, WA

I totally agree with most of what you say. I post business stuff on my Facebook page only 1 out of 10 updates.  That way the majority are about my family.

May 06, 2010 09:53 AM
Christine Donovan
Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA
Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

Trying to get the right balance on FaceBook between profile and fan pages is alwys important.

May 06, 2010 04:10 PM
Anonymous
Linda Yacovetti Arvanitis

THAT! was a great post, i am going to send it to some agents i know that are just starting on Facebook. excellent points, thanks!

L

May 07, 2010 03:19 AM
#121
Karen Berg
Queen Creek Realtor, San Tan Valley Realtor, United Brokers Group (602)919-2375 - Queen Creek, AZ
Experience Matters!

Thanks so much Stephen.    Now I just have to figure out how not to have the games show!    I didn't even know that was an option to block those posts.   

May 07, 2010 04:03 AM
Sidney Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula Kutchuk - Realty Works Temecula
Realty Works Temecula - Temecula, CA
Realty Works Temecula

Wow, no wonder I don't like Facebook...I have a facebook because I wanted to visit a page of some missing teens.  FB is not really for me thus my name is Misty Meow after my cat.

May 07, 2010 04:17 AM
Anonymous
Sandy Adler

You left out sex....my mother said you never discuss religion, politics or sex in social situations. (Abortion is probably "politics")  Great post...thanks for your continuing good insight about social media!

May 07, 2010 04:41 AM
#125
Anonymous
Dawn Bahr

Great article Stephen!  You are right on about politics, especially now.  As a REALTOR I don't believe Facebook is a good place to air your views.  You can easily offend someone and not even realize it. 

May 07, 2010 04:43 AM
#126
Angela Penkin
RE/MAX Plus - Rochester, NY

Hi Stephen. I really enjoyed this post so much I am subscribing to your blog so I can get back to it easily. I have often thought about 'friending' so many other agents too, but almost everyone here in our area, that is using facebook is doing it. If I am not mistaken, if you "unfriend" someone, they won't know it unless they notice they don't see your posts anymore and then come to your page and see they have to ask to be a friend again, right? Or, can I just hide them from my family, friends and clients?

Will be working on a fan page over the weekend. I really enjoy facebook, it's a great way for us to say hi and keep in touch with family in Germany and Seattle. I just set my husband up with a page yesterday for that reason. I don't participate on Twitter very much anymore, those tweets were killing me! All those @friday tweets - and I would go to read my tweets and there would be like 50 in a row from the same person. I un-followed them in a hurry.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

May 07, 2010 10:44 PM
Stephen Garner
Hub Media Company - Tempe, AZ
Hub Media Company

@Angela, thanks for stopping by.  Normally I dont respond this quickly, especially at 3:15 in the am but my 1 year old obviously thinks its 3 pm so here I am.  I see you are in Rochester NY, I am from Syracuse,  left in 96-Let's Go Orange!  OK, now on to your comment-Feel free to un-friend away, I do it all the time, its quite refreshing!  Dont worry about it, the person that has been "dumped" does not get a notice-no bell goes off somewhere to alert them.  You can hide someone's comments but whats the point, just un-friend them and be done with it (my opinion).  Fan pages are awesome, I am working on a fan page post right now-how to use it for business, should be up on Monday.  Check out my fan fanpage (MyTitleGuyStephen) the sky is the limit.  Twitter is a great tool you just need to know how to use it.  Dont worry about what other people tweet about-all you should really care about is the value for you as a Realtor and the value is driving large amounts of traffic to your blog-thats what twitter is really good for, plus each tweet is its own individual URL, so use keywords that make it easier to be found when someone Google's Rochester-4 bedroom-2 bath-with pool-home-for-sale.  If you want more info about Twitter, check my AR blog, I wrote a few posts about the value in Real Estate.  Thanks again for stopping by!

 

May 07, 2010 11:28 PM
Mike Woods
M.S.WOODS REAL ESTATE, LLC - Indianapolis, IN

Great post and I agree with you about not linking to Twitter. I'll never understand why people think others need to know where they are and what they're doing every second of everyday. Interesting world we live in.

May 08, 2010 07:48 AM
FN LN
Toronto, ON

Stephen - A fantastic post on effectively using Facebook.  I've had to defriend a couple of people who continuously sent me "gifts" via some of the Facebook apps.

May 09, 2010 05:45 PM
Nick Cammarata
Sacrilicious Marketing - Boston, MA

You profile is for personal stuff, your fan page is for business stuff. If you keep it mostly that way, you'll do fine. It also depends on how well you practice social theory - if you spend all your tiem on Fb bombarding people with games, gift and personal dogma - you end up failing the law of scarcity. The one true way to use facebook effectively is to engage - comment on at least 5 status updates a day - use the recommendation engine to reconnect with people you haven't spoken with in a while and participate in groups. Those are the same tools one would use at a party to network - it's no different on FB.

May 11, 2010 04:55 AM
"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.
President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

What...

She just said. She taught me that many years ago. Damn, if that didn't come up recently :)

P.S. Nick is really a girl :)

TLW...ROAR!

May 11, 2010 09:21 AM
Nick Cammarata
Sacrilicious Marketing - Boston, MA

Ha ha TLW - I get to be Nick until he gets a new computer after the great Gorilla with a computer incident last night. Do you think Hasbro makes a laptop?

muah - Mary

May 11, 2010 03:52 PM
"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.
President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

LOL...

Hasbro doesn't make one but, Toy R Us does :)

TLW...ROAR!

May 11, 2010 11:49 PM
Matthew Bartlett
Corcoran Global Living - Hill Top Team DRE Lic. #01353034 - Glendora, CA

Thanks for the post Stephen. Another area you should consider is the picture you choose for your profile. It amazes me the pictures that some people download. I cannot imagine that your clients wish to see the some what stoned or drunk look in your eyes, or that you're standing in a skimpy outfit with a forty in one hand and your other arm wrapped around another person trying desparately not to fall down. And one should also remember when you post a picture or comment that posting will travel to everyones home page in your network, and everyone in their network and so on.

Best wishes,

Matt

May 18, 2010 01:35 PM
Chad Boyers
The Danberry Co.- Toledo, Perrysburg, Sylvania, & NW OH - Toledo, OH

I would tend to agree with you on your points.  I will toss some real estate posts in with my others, but generally keep it to more personal types of posts. 

On the other side, I have a friend who mostly has facebook "friends" that have connected with hime because of his business.  One of them even commented to him as to why he was posting personal stuff, he thought my friend should only be posting guitar-related posts. 

You never know what you'll get on Facebook...

May 24, 2010 04:48 AM