Is Facebook(and other Social Media) Wasting Your Time?

I have five blogs, two Facebook accounts ( for business http://facebook.com/Kate.Braden.Pb ), one Facebook business page (http://facebook.com/hawaiirealestateonline ), one business Twitter  account (http://twitter.com/katebraden1 ), and three hosted websites and multiple other domain pointing sites.  My main web page that includes lead capture and management has a built in blog with a requirement for each agent to post six blogs a month at minimum to drive traffic to the site. (http://kate.hawaiirealestateonline.com) I have an informational site with IDXsearches where I post blog articles and compile various items into a monthly newsletter. (http://oahuhawaiirealestateonline.com) And I’m also the Principal Broker and Business Manager for our Brokerage, Hawaii Real Estate Online, an agent centric not  broker centric brokerage.

Needless to say, I am into Social Media and the internet.  I fully believe the internet and social media have leveled the playing field and allowed real estate agents to focus on their branding to build their business and no longer need a broker’s brand, as the big franchises and national brands no longer have an advantage over the individual.  But how to best market your brand through social media and the options on the internet without getting lost in the “planning to plan” syndrome?

I love checking my personal  Facebook page and catching up with family scattered all over the globe.  I love reading the blogs and postings from other real estate agents and noting common concerns and solutions.  I love keeping up with my favorite restaurants, techie tips, news bites and hot videos of the day.  But one morning looking up from the computer seeing it was now time for lunch and I was still in my PJs working social media sites, I realized I was letting Social Media and the Web work me and I wasn’t working it. 

I can spend two hours a day writing blogs, tweeting hot items, linking to websites and longer articles and doing cross linking SEO work to drive traffic to my lead capturing website with IDX-MLS seach built in but that doesn’t leave time to comment on other blogs, read a constant stream of tweets and Facebook posts, and comment back on everything as Social Media requires.  And just like the differences when you work with internet leads before you meet them face to face, you have to focus in on what’s important to manage your time wisely, and therefore increase your ROI effectively.

On your business sites, you want to capture a ready, willing and able client who wants to buy or sell in your area now or in the relatively near future.  On your personal sites, you want to make friends, keep track of family and learn new things.  But on Facebook, my business persona is friends with my personal persona, so posts for business show up on personal.  My son complains about all that real estate stuff, but just skims over it.  Problem number one solved, separate your business and personal  Facebook pages.

 The National Board of Realtors states the following are the most effective Facebook posts for Real Estate Agents:

I have found mixed results in direct reference to real estate posts in blogs and on Facebook.  My effective order would have to be 1- neighborhood and community news, 2- neighborhood happenings and activities, 3- homeownership information about the process and property types in Hawaii, and 4-Helpful hints for Homeowners in Hawaii, including tax information and new legal alerts.

Every Blog gets copied to the other blogs, but only one blog is tweeted and sent to Facebook and Linkedin.  Make sure to create a business Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook account. An Active Rain Blog is good, especially for connecting with other Realtors, and can be linked to an external blog as well as posts to realtor only pages, community news groups or other specific target groups.  And I use Wordpress for the “pretty” outside blog that is mostly for the public.

Does it work?  For SEO, if you cross link and refer to your linked web pages, it does help.  If you reference a YouTube video it works even better.  As much as possible incorporate graphics, pictures, and video in your web site, and social media links – people like pictures!  So keep in touch, and as a pun, I’ll keep the Facebook light on for ya.