We recently sponsored an Inman Webinar, “Facebook Isn’t Working: Here’s Why,” presented by Chris Smith. More than 600 agents and brokers attended the live Webinar and Chris shared a lot of great tips on why Facebook (FB) as a social media marketing tool may not be working. Here’s a quick recap in case you missed it and be sure to catch it on-demand online if you want the full breakdown.
First, the basics on social marketing. If you’re wondering what you should be posting on Facebook, Twitter or even on your blog, keep this handy acronym in mind (courtesy of @Jay Baer):
P. eople
O. bjectives
S. trategies
T. echnology
Another tip from the Webinar: Forget FB Pages, Work FB Profiles. Why?
For starters, personal profiles are outweighing business pages for where real consumers are at. Did you know only 12% of FB users update their profile daily? As a FB marketer, just updating your status daily will help you stand out from almost 90% of other users. But don’t forget relevancy is king.
How can you ensure you’re not just “batching and blasting” to your network? Chris recommends importing your contacts into Facebook and creating a mini CRM within it. Once your contacts are loaded in, take advantage of FB’s smart list function to create lists and organize your contacts for segmented, targeted marketing. Think: first time buyers, sellers, or based on city or neighborhood.
One of the cardinal rules of social networking is to be genuine and relevant, so make sure your messages are reaching the right people at the right time. The next time you post a status update, think about who the message is for or about and target them.
If you have lists set up already this will be a breeze. Just type in your status update, but before you post it, select which list you want the status update to be visible to. That way only your home sellers list will get your post about home staging tips and vice versa for other targeted content.
Smart lists also come in handy when it comes to FB messaging. You can send messages to your desired list name within Facebook, and this targeted marketing technique in a social platform could net you better open rates than a generic email.
Another great insight from the Webinar: use FB groups (https://www.facebook.com/groups), not pages. Think of setting up a group for your city/neighborhood. It gives the feeling of a more private “behind closed doors” conversation setting, which can drive more interaction and engaged conversation than typical pages. Keep in mind you are likely to get more notifications for group activity than you might from a profile or page.
Groups can be strategic for both participating in conversations and starting them. If you start a group for “Homeowners in _____” and get people on there who raise issues they are passionate about or even get a thread fired up of ongoing complaints relevant to this group, you can provide a link/resources or advice once you realize it’s become a hot topic.
Want to know more? Check it out and let us know what you thought, and post any other Facebook strategies below that are working for you. HomeFinder.com is also sponsoring two more upcoming free Webinars with Inman, so be sure to sign up to those if you’re interested via these links:
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