Real Estate Marketing Tools- Facebook , Fan Page Or Personal Page?

UPDATED 3-4-16

One of the best real estate marketing tools is right in front of you! Facebook can be your best friend if you take the time to learn how to use it the right way. Facebook is one of the best real estate marketing tools to ever happen  for real estate agents because it’s an easy way to stay in front of your audience and referral sources.

The question most agents have about Facebook is…

Do I need a fan page or personal page?

It depends on what your goals are. I personally use both for two entirely different objectives.  I believe you should use your personal page for referral marketing efforts and your fan page for cold marketing efforts. Let’s take a look at how to extract referrals from your personal page first.

Facebook Personal Page

I cannot tell you how many referrals I’ve received from Facebook since 2011, but it’s one of my best real estate marketing tools for referrals. I like it  because all the leads that come out of my personal page are referrals. Using Facebook as one of your real estate marketing tools is not just suggested, IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED! As a real estate agent the most important part of my business is marketing. I’m a marketer and so are you.  You just might not know it yet.

Think about it…

You are in real estate, right?

Are you always looking for new clients?

Then you should, ABM (always be marketing)! 

We’re in the business of selling houses, so therefore we should always be marketing our brand and business whenever and where ever we can.

Facebook is one of easiest real estate marketing tools to use because the majority of our business is based on referrals and repeat business.  Referrals come from the relationships we have in life and Facebook is nothing more than a large relationship center of everyone you know of and knows of you. It allows us to stay relevant amongst our “database” or what we call our audience. Facebook is great if you use it the right way, but you must remember that Facebook is a social media platform and not Craig’s List.  Therefore the way you market yourself on Facebook or any social media platform for that matter should be in a “sell without selling type of way”.

Well how do you make Facebook one of your most profitable real estate marketing tools?

Very simple.

Is real estate a job or a lifestyle?

If you are a full time agent and real estate is your only income, then you know being a real estate agent is a lifestyle!  I wish it were a job, because if it was, I could actually take time off, but do I?

Not really, because we are always working (as long as not on vacation).  We never know when a new lead is going to come in or when someone wants to see one of our listings.  We must always be on call! In real estate, our personal lives tend to revolve around our work lives and not the other way around simply because we don’t control the market, it tends to control us.

So back to how to use Facebook as one of your real estate marketing tools.  Facebook is nothing more than a a place people share their daily stories on. When people go on a vacation they take pictures, then they Facebook it. When people go out to eat, they take a picture of their meal and Facebook it.  People use Facebook to tell others what they are up to as well as keep track of what everyone else is up to.

Tell Your Daily Real Estate Story

Why couldn’t you just tell your daily story on Facebook as it relates to real estate? This is exactly how you market your business for referrals and repeat business.

Don’t you come across some pretty interesting things on a daily basis that other people would like to see?  Cool views, sweet kitchens, moldy houses, or even happy clients?  Any one of these can be a Facebook moment.  You posting pictures and content that reminds people you are in real estate is all you need to do.

The goal of  referral marketing is to not be forgotten about.  Facebook allows us to continuously remind our audience what we do for a living so that they can remember us when they come across a referral opportunity or need our service directly.  Facts show that roughly 15% of the people in your audience will be moving this year.  More importantly 100% of your audience knows someone who is moving this year, but they can only refer clients when they remember you!

Share your daily story using compelling images of routine activities you do in real estate. There are plenty of them!  When you  share your daily real estate story consistently, people you are “friends” with will begin to remember what you do for a living. It’s that consistency that keeps you on top of mind for future business or referrals.

Referrals and direct clients are what you will receive from your personal page once you actively begin “telling your story”.  Many agents try to build a fan page and use that to market their business, but the truth is that the majority of your “friends” will not like your fan page.  I will also bet that you will rarely engage on your fan page too.  Remember that referrals and repeat business come from relationships you have intact, so there is no need to try and “sell something”. People will use your services and refer your services if they like you, trust you, and remember you. If you  share cool content that suggests that you are a real estate agent, you will not have to do any selling and referrals will come to you. Check out this post one of our agents made as he picks up a referral.

The reason why Facebook is one of the best real estate marketing tools is because Facebook has given us another dimension we can stay relevant to our sphere of influence.  The use of pictures make a longer lasting impression on people and Facebook allows us to humanize our occupation. I don’t know anyone on my Facebook who doesn’t know I’m in real estate.  I look at Facebook as one of three real estate marketing tools I use to stay remembered amongst my network.

Think about the traditional real estate marketing tools you would use to  with communicate your “database” or sphere of influence.  We call this our audience. You might have an email list or a monthly mailer you send out. Social media has given us a 3rd dimension to stay on top of mind with more people in a visual way. Referrals and repeat business are the lifeblood of all agent business (61%!). See below!

Real estate is not something people buy frequently.  People may move every 5-7 years on average so there are not many things you can do to “sell” more real estate. People are either in the market to buy or sell or they are not. People will reach out to you when they need your services if they remember that you are an agent and they personally like you.  It’s a much better strategy to just keep reminding them in a “sell without selling” type of way so that you are thought of when real estate comes to mind. That’s how simple it is.

Common Objections

We hear common objections about using Facebook as one of your real estate marketing tools all the time so I want to address some of them ahead of time.

I don’t want to feel sleazy

Don’t post sleazy stuff then.  Don’t treat it like a classified ads section and share stuff that is funny, cute, fun, cool, and whatever else you think that would create engagement.

It’s not professional

It’s not supposed to be. Be you.  You don’t want to be a slick salesman always trying to sell something. Sell without selling and be human. It’s ok to make mistakes and be like everyone else.

How much should I post?

As much as possible, just don’t be annoying with it.

I don’t want creepers on my page

Don’t accept their friend requests then.  The more “friends” you have the more opportunity you will have for business. I advise all agents to get as many friends as possible because everyone is a potential client sooner or later. 100% of your audience will come across someone this year who needs your services.  You should be friends with anyone you know or knows of you. If you want to double your business, then double your audience.

Fan Page

Your fan page should be the complete opposite of what your personal page is. You only need a fan page, in my opinion, when you are going to invest in Facebook ads and market a specific audience.  You would be using your fan page as one of your real estate marketing tools for cold lead generation as opposed to warm lead generation that you use your personal page for.

Your fan page should be used to run paid campaigns to a very targeted group of people who may be interested in what you have to offer.  So if you have no desire to invest in Facebook marketing, I would tell you not to get a fan page.  

I love Facebook ads.  They are great if you know how to use them the right way.  When you have a fan page you can place ads in what’s called the Power Editor. This is a tool for designing ads in Facebook.

Facebook advertising is so powerful because Facebook has a ton of information on their users.  This allows you to target your ads to an audience that is more likely to need your services. I do not know of another any additional real estate marketing tools that can provide this.  You can reach people who live in a certain zip code, make a certain amount of money, have a certain relationship status (divorce HINT, HINT, HINT), Likely to move(HINT, HINT, HINT), homeowners, renters, and just about anything else you can possibly think of.  However, just because you have the ability to pop up on someone’s newsfeed does not mean you should spam a classified ad to them on their newsfeed.  Nobody cares about how many awards you won or how long you been licensed.  That will turn people off.  It still has to be something that is relevant and provides value.

Today you can also run your ads with the same targeting on Instagram, which is super cool.  It’s fairly new so I cannot say I’ve seen a ton of results yet from my Instagram ads, but I think they will come.  I do know that my Instagram ads are creating a larger audience on my account, which is pretty cool. Instagram is another real estate marketing tool you can use!

What Kind of Ads Could I Run?

You can promote your open houses in certain zip codes to people who are likely to move. You can share blog content relating to buying or selling a house to drive website traffic. You can offer a free market analysis to people who are likely to move.  There are many creative ways you can market your business on Facebook.

You could also use Facebook ads as a way to make new announcements like just listed or just sold ads. The key here is to be creative so that your ad does not look like a classified ad. I’ve seen many agents use Facebook ads to brag about how much business they have done or how long they have been in the business. The truth is that people don’t care about you, your awards, your accolades, or anything else that has nothing to do with them.  They all listen to WIIFM radio, which stands for what’s in it for me, especially on Facebook!

People don’t want to be sold they want to be served. If you would like more information on how to run an Advanced Facebook Ads Strategy Click This Link.

Facebook For Realtors Conclusion

Fa ebook should be one of your most profitable real estate marketing tools and should be used primarily for referral marketing.  You don’t need a fan page on Facebook until you are ready to pay to play.  It’s a great tool to use to drive traffic to your website, but you have to have the right offer and the right content to create that engagement. If you have a website up and running with good content or lead capture pages, then you should be ready to start running some Facebook ads.  Just make sure you don’t make a classified ad out of them unless you want to throw your money out the window.

Did you like this article?  If you think others could benefit from using Facebook as one of their real estate marketing tools? Please share it and help us get the word out by clicking the social media icons below or at the top of this post.

How Do You Find More Clients?

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Would you be interested in learning more about adapting a several marketing systems that work simultaneously in your business to create multiple lead sources? Do you want to run a business instead of being run by one? Do you hate cold calling or cold prospecting?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you may want to check out our system…