I find myself deep in a sea of Realtor Facebook pages nearly everyday. Some of them are spectacular and some need some serious re-eval. The rest have plenty of potential and creative admins, but lack a focused strategy. And therein lies the main obstacle to differentiation of a Facebook page: a lack of direction and thought about the implications of the page for the growth of your business. You wouldn’t go to a listing presentation without thoroughly preparing and analyzing content to present to potential clients, would you? Of course not. So, why not take the same approach with your Facebook page, which may very well be viewed by current, past and future clients?
When maintaining your Facebook page, remember to give it TLC. Not the cliché-mushy kind, but the drive-results kind. Trans-Marketing, Local Meaning, and Creativity can unleash the true potential behind your Facebook page.
Trans-Marketing
‘Trans’ has its roots in Latin, and is defined as “across,” or “through.” In order to build your business as a real estate agent, you need to rely on trans-marketing efforts, or creating persuasive brand messages across various channels. Potential clients should see symmetry between your postcards, e-newsletters and Facebook posts. If you have created a Facebook landing tab to provide free comprehensive housing newsletters to your fans, market this feature across all your other channels. If you decide you’d like to focus on your in-depth knowledge of a town and are using landmarks in your facebook cover photo, tie this theme into your other channels. If you’ve designed a unique brand name, be sure to place it prominently on Facebook, as well as your other channels.
Facebook is a great place to engage clients with your brand, but leverage those conversations on all your marketing channels to really see results!
Local Meaning
Think about your Facebook page like you think about competition with the annoyingly good agent at the brokerage a few storefronts down-how can you gain the advantage? One of the most valuable pieces of content you can share on Facebook is information people crave about the real estate market. Translation: meaningful numbers. Numbers reflecting local market trends. When working with associates at William Raveis, I encourage them to use local housing data, a source for comprehensive statistics and comps in neighborhoods throughout the northeast. The USP (unique selling proposition) is local housing data provides statistics, such as average sales price, unit sales and inventory, faster than any other major source in the northeast. So, consumers could know, with incredible accuracy, how their market fared in the month of June by the first week in July. I’d say that’s some pretty fast numbers.
The point is, find a source of local housing numbers to share on your Facebook page that will be helpful and bring more transparency to your clients during the often complex home-buying process. With consistency, you will become a valuable source of market information and increase your chances of building client relationships.
Creativity
With Facebook’s new photo-centric Timeline layout, as well as incredible personality that can be added to your snaps with the Facebook Camera app (think Instagram for Facebook), you can give your page some serious creative flair.
That doesn’t mean you post photos willy-nilly. The idea is still to drive engagement, not clutter your page with disconnected images.
I am an advocate for posting photos of listings-in a clever way. For instance, if you see something unique about a home, like a stunning infinity pool or great room, upload a photo and add a provocative question or thought.
As with opt-in marketing, such as housing or blog e-newsletters, you can provide content that readers expect to see on a certain day, at a certain time. Why not implement that same strategy using photos on Facebook? Pick a certain day of the week to post a photo and ask your fans a question. For instance, William Raveis implemented a “Wednesday What’s the Price?” contest, in which fans guess the price of a home. What gets really fun is seeing the repeat (and new) participants in the contest, showing enthusiasm and thought when answering questions!
As Guy Kawasaki so cleverly put it, “Facebook is the photo economy.” Take advantage of it.
Are you using TLC in your Facebook marketing?
