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

 

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.

 

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