Ok, here’s where we start understanding Facebook and why it’s going to lead us all down the golden road of riches and deals.
I mentioned in the past post that Facebook had more than 120 millions users online. I also mentioned that the demographics of Facebook puts the users at a prime home buying age. So we need to really look carefully at how to use Facebook to improve our business.
First let’s look at current marketing methods and compare them against Social media and the internet in general. I think you’ll start to see why most of us just don’t get it, and why it so hard to pull in business.
Traditionally, as Realtors, our advertising efforts focused on interruption marketing. Send a flyer, run a newspaper ad, start a radio ad campaign. Our goal was to insert our message into the life of a possible client. We threw a really big net hoping some fish would get caught.
Online the rules are different to a degree. We still run ads, such as Google Adwords. But for the most part, our goal on the internet is to have our message appear when a possible client is specifically looking for our services. Such as a Google Search. Our goal became less interruptive (assuming that’s a word). Here we throw a smaller net, but we know where the fish are, so we catch more.
With social media like Facebook, we are part of a community(we are one of the fish), you are like the shy new kid at school, no friends, and with no friends it’s harder to meet someone to make friends. One might ask, what’s the point in going out for recess, I don’t know anyone, I have no one to play with. We may be swimming with the fish, but we no longer have the net, so we don’t catch any.
But here’s thing, if you don’t go out to play, you will NEVER have a friend. On Facebook, you need play. I don’t mean that literally, I mean you need to join, create a profile, create a page, add some content and then start networking.
I was at a Gala the other night, I know me at Gala, who knew. Anyway, I was at the Gala, my intent was not to do business BUT, as luck would have it, someone asked me what I do, I told them, they said call me this week we need you. Boom, new client, of course it was a little more involved, I gave him a ton of free advice, I asked him about his business and what he currently did on the internet, etc. I was swimming with the fish, and he came to me. I didn’t need the net to catch him. If I have enough fish swimming with me, I’ll NEVER need a net. Starting to get it! It’s about surrounding yourself with enough people and providing value to them that when they need your service they are already your customer.
What’s my point, well, I went to an event, not to network, not to get business, but because of the nature of the event I did network and did get business. One of his questions to me was, I don’t get this Facebook thing, what’s the point of social networking if you’re not doing it for business. Hmmm, I don’t know, but I paid $125 bucks to attend a non business social event, what was the point of that? Fun, networking, good food, charity, all of the above. Oh and despite the fact I was actively not trying to do business I did anyway.
So my first piece of advice in this article is this:
Get on Facebook, start a profile, and start networking. The same way you would in the real world. Start a conversation, ask some questions. It’s a big Gala event with 120 million people attending, the stats say 1 in 12 people are looking to buy or sell a home. That means 10 million people on Facebook are actively searching for a Realtor. Too bad you didn’t introduce yourself already.
In the next post, I’ll talk more about specifics. The Actions you need to take, but for now, get your profile started.
And go to http://www.hubspot.com/archive/facebook-for-business/
Hubspot posted their webinar on Facebook for Business and the slide show is available for download in PDF. It will give you a headstart in the coming posts.
Also, become a Fan of my Facebook business page. I’d love to get to know you.
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter!
P.S.: Get your copy of "10 ways to a Great Web Presence"
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