The name of the game today when it comes to the social media is getting face-to-face with potential clients and engaging them in such a way that they will want to do business with you. One of the interesting changes that has resulted from web marketing and social networking is that it can take 12-18 months from the time that someone finds you online to the time they reach out to you to do business. The question is how do you keep them engaged during that 12-18 month period?
There are two very powerful ways to do this using Facebook. The first is a Facebook business page. A good Facebook business page is highly niched to a specific market area and a specific lifestyle. On your page, you can post information about the market, whether prices are appreciating, flat, or declining. You can also post mortgage information, fun things to do, videos of historical houses, or a host of other great information.
It’s the information piece that makes this valuable to consumers. One of the best examples of this is ?365 Things to Do in Austin??that has over 190,000 likes.
The challenge, however, is that this is only informational. It doesn’t promote conversations the way that a Facebook Group does.
To set up a Facebook Group for your area, you will want to invite people from your local market area that you know and trust to make regular comments on the group. To begin the process, go to your Facebook home page and look directly below the “Favorites” in the left tool bar.
Facebook will list all the groups to which you belong. At the bottom of that area, you will see an option “Create Group.” All you have to do is click on that, fill out the appropriate information, and you are ready to start inviting people to your group.
The difference between a group and a business page is that a group is really designed for people to share ideas and be in conversation. The business page is more like a billboard advertising your services. Your goal as the moderator of a group is to ask engaging questions that will motivate your group members to comment. For example:
1. Where’s the best place to see a panoramic view of downtown Austin?
2. It’s a 100+–where’s the best shaved ice in the city?
3. What’s your perception of the houses in your area–are they selling quickly or sitting on the market?
The idea is to engage people in discussion so that you don’t have to spend your time creating content. This means you will have to moderate the group to make sure nothing inappropriate is being post.
If you would like to know more about Facebook Groups, check out Jimmy Mackin’s post?on Inman Next for a very interesting perspective on why having a Facebook group is so critical.
Posted by Bernice Ross.
Don’t miss this week on RealEstateCoachRadio as Terri Murphy joins us for a five part series called, “The Power of a Red Hot Pre-Appointment System. Here’s what Terri will be covering: Monday: How to Stand Out from the Competition; Tuesday: Creative Ways to Deliver Your Pre-List Package; Wednesday: The Power of Strategic Alliances; Thursday: What to Include in Your Pre-List Package; Friday, Special Marketing Tools to Set You Apart











