Is Facebook more than just a way to stay in touch with family and friends? Is Twitter productive or a waste of time? Social media was formed and built more with the intention of keeping in touch and building a personal network, but commercial businesses have realized the benefits of a social media presence as well.
Real estate agents, too, can gain much exposure and status through social media. There are literally dozens of social media sites, and new ones popping up every day. By developing a social media strategy for your real estate business and choosing the sites that suit your needs and interests, you can improve your online presence.
Have you ever been to a cocktail party, or even to a networking conference? You probably met new people, exchanged opinions, and even gave out a few business cards, right? That’s a boiled down version of what social networking can do for your real estate business and exposure. It gets you in touch with people who are interested in what you do and what you have to say.
Twitter for Real Estate Agents
Twitter is a microblogging social media site. With a simple account you can post updates in 140 characters or less. That’s about a sentence or two. But you don’t have to say much. Write a short teaser sentence and a link to your latest blog post. Provide a link to your latest online listing. Gather followers through Twitter and the information you share can build your exposure not only to them, but potentially to their followers, etc.
How Facebook Can Benefit Real Estate Agents
Facebook has proven to be a tremendous benefit to businesses. Facebook allows commercial enterprises to create a free “fan” page. You can upload photos, write a detailed profile about yourself and your services, and include links to your website, blog, and listings. Encourage your clients and web visitors to follow you. Find others on Facebook who might benefit from your services. Then use your Facebook fan base to share your expertise and build your online reputation and exposure.
Social media doesn’t have to be difficult, but it does take effort to build a community and a following, keep regular updates, and monitor your results.
Tags: Social Media
Great article, I use Twitter and Facebook daily to advertise and I gain a lot of business from it. The best thing about it is that is free, Postlets is compatible with Twitter and Facebook so it makes it easier to advertise listings.
I have recently created a fan page on Facebook for my business and am having difficulties driving traffic to it. There is always the option of creating an ad to be displayed on the right side of the page but the CPC of almost a $1 seems like it could cost me a significant amount of money. Any tips on driving traffic to business pages on Facebook?
Austin Real Estate, here are a couple of ideas: You should add the Facebook icon linked back to your Facebook fan page in a prominent place on your website. Also, suggest the page to your friends and ask them to do the same. Then, post relevant and interesting content on your fan page. That will help bring in traffic from your fans. Hope that helps!
I’ve been trying to use both Facebook and Twitter. On facebook, so far only some of my friends “liked” the page.
. Twitter, most of my followers are some sort of SEO/Internet Marketing Gurus. I don’t think they are very much interested in my tweets 
Having some fun but not much business traction so far
.
<abbr><em>Serhiy | Marysville Homess last blog post..Popular Real Estate Areas in Snohomish County &124 July 2010 Statistics</em></abbr>
I just didn’t understand why so many people were using facebook and twitter. Once I realize that people were really addicted to these social networking sites, I had to cater my marketing towards these social networks
Social networks are a large part of my business. There are actually over 600 active social sites, although many are small or useless. I have active memberships at at least 100 sites though and through proper use of linking and feeding I am able to syndicate my posting and content to around 400 or more places with a single click.
<abbr><em>Lethbridge Realtors last blog post..Lethbridge Real Estate Search Online</em></abbr>
I have seen a couple of real estate companies Facebooks pages who always put up the latest properties with photos and information in long list only. Ok, they maybe get some clients, but they get good link juice from it.