Age: 29
Years in real estate: Two
Job title: Realtor
Location: Franklin, Tennessee
Hours per week spent on social media: 15-plus
Social media accounts: I’m primarily on Facebook and Instagram. My awesome wife manages a Pinterest account for us as well to bounce around staging ideas with our clients. And, of course, Twitter to engage with other thought leaders, agents and marketing companies. Give me a follow on Twitter: @CharleKnwsHomes.
Target demographic: Millennials, newlyweds, first-time homebuyers, and also a specific local ZIP code.
Average number of posts per day: Probably two profile posts any given day, but probably 10 times that amount commenting, sharing and engaging in other posts.
Which social channels do you work more?
Facebook and Instagram: It’s where my people are. Wherever your people are, go there.
How many friends, likes, etc., do you have?
Facebook: 1,650-plus; Twitter: 250-plus; Instagram: 325-plus.
Does that number matter to you?
No. It’s all about the quality of the impressions you make, not the quantity. It doesn’t matter if you have 10,000 friends or followers if you have nothing of value to say to them. The same is true for the number of YouTube video views or “likes” on my business Facebook page. An impression is an impression no matter where you make it.
Don’t obsess over the number of page likes or video views; it’s all about quality. A picture can say a thousand words or get a thousand “likes,” but it doesn’t matter if they are not the right “likes.”
Do you ever give it a break?
No. Just, no.
Does social help your business, how?
Yes. I publish my videos, blogs and normal everyday activity onto social to be as transparent as I possibly can be. I believe consumers want to work with people they “know.” Being my true self on social, all the time, fosters this authenticity. I never have to turn on being a Realtor by turning something else off.
Facebook is the biggest generator of new business for me. I have a large base network here in Nashville, and my Facebook presence keeps me in front of my network daily. It’s like putting a reminder in their mailbox everyday saying “I’M A REALTOR, know anybody who could benefit from knowing me?” I receive referrals over Facebook almost every week.
What’s your goal for your favorite social channel?
To start implementing Facebook’s native video platform (instead of embedding my uploaded YouTube videos) within the next six weeks. The new native video capabilities are really slick, and I believe will beat out YouTube for quality video content on Facebook in the next 18 months.
What’s your strategy to achieve it?
Creating new, quality video content every 48 hours to publish on social, executing natively in the Facebook and Instagram platforms for easy consumption.
Is it worth it, why?
Facebook is the largest, most powerful marketing engine ever created. I can talk with 1,500 people at once or direct to a small group or specifically to an individual. Facebook “dark posts,” in turn, deliver the most powerful filtering capabilities marketers have ever had access to. Realtors need to be paying attention to this. Are you?
What’s your craziest social media-related story?
Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay reposted a picture of me on his Instagram account. I then used that pic in my next email campaign and received over a 60 percent open rate. It had nothing to do with real estate, and everything to do with a goofy picture of my holding up a mustache-shaped cookie to my face … and to this day is the biggest lead generator I’ve experienced. Still not convinced our people want to know us personally?
Charlie Peterson’s mustache-cookie photo.
What actions do you take that have gotten the most results?
A big thing for me is restricting my real estate-related posts to never be more than 50 percent of my social engagement. I get the best results when I don’t obsess over real estate 24/7. People want to know the person, then the business.
Is this more about “social” or about business?
Social engagement leads to business. What Realtors need to remember is that social media is designed to be social. It’s even in the title. So many posts are simply curated content void of any personalized voice by the one posting it … isn’t that just a billboard?
We need to stop using Facebook to post billboard-like posts and start actually being social. This is why we see Twitter accounts with a million posts, but no real engagement. What’s the point?
How do you monitor the channels? Do you use software or apps to manage your account, which ones?
I use push notifications. That’s it. I hate scheduling content because it makes it easy to then not engage with your audience. It’s like choosing when a billboard will magically light up on a timer along the interstate.
Also, each social platform is designed to handle media differently. Thus, using Hootsuite (or similar service) to publish media to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all at the same time does not deliver the best downloadable content for consumer consumption. Even if you create awesome content, why deliver it in a sloppy manner?
And if I’m going to spend the time figuring out which platforms to schedule content, I might as well be publishing it in real time and control the delivery. Make sense?
How many hours per day are you on social? Do you check it daily? Multiple times per day?
Three to four hours every day. That’s a lot. I put in a solid hour in the morning, lunch and evening — with another hour’s worth of engagement thrown in throughout the day.
Do you consider yourself an influencer?
Yes, though I primarily think of myself as an “engager.”
Are you social in real life?
Yes, I guess I’m a fairly friendly and approachable dude.
What did you do with your time before?
I don’t understand the question … :)
Since Facebook came out while I was in college it’s pretty much all I’ve ever known in the workforce.
How do you leverage your prominence/influence on social?
I’ve found people want to be engaged. If I want to influence someone’s opinion or behavior, I first need to ask them their opinion. Rapport precedes influence.
Do you have someone helping you?
No. I have to be in control of my own voice, all the time. Does that make me sound like a control freak? I assure you I’m not. I just don’t like the idea of anyone impersonating me.
P.S.: Many companies market to me saying they can help my social media marketing … but all that is ever pitched is scheduling, RSS feeds and services like Hootsuite. Sorry, I hate all those things. The folks who follow me on social followed me because they are interested in … wait for it … me. I bet that’s why folks follow you, too.
Whom do you follow and why?
Being a Realtor is about making friends, then helping those friends do stuff with real estate. At least, that’s what it is for me. My network expands as I meet others, or am introduced to others via my existing friends network.
I follow a few industry experts I trust — and a few I don’t — but 99 percent of the folks I follow are my peers. Listening to their voice outweighs everything.
Did you catch that? Their voice outweighs everything.
Where do you find the content that you put out?
I try to write/record at least 75 percent of my published content. If I do curate content, I make sure to add my own voice and perspective to it. People want to know me. The real me. That’s why they follow me and why I follow them.
What has been your all-time hit share? Can you share a link to the post?
When Gordon Ramsay posted the picture of me on his account. When adding all the impressions I believe this was an 8,000-plus-engagement post. I then used that brand equity to drive traffic to my website.
The BIGGEST lead generator for me — ever — was a picture of me holding a mustache-shaped cookie to my face.
Who do you think is doing social media well in real estate?
@SherryChris is crushing it. Follow her!
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