Facebook can be your secret weapon to building your network. According to Forbes magazine the best influencers know how to build great networks. With the majority of Facebook users over 35 years of age it’s the perfect place for you to be.
In part 1 of this series you learned how to make your content more engaging to increase your exposure. Today you will learn how to leverage those techniques and turn it into influence by learning Facebook’s best practices.
Influence is beneficial to any leader. Realtors are the leaders in the real estate transaction. You will find yourself needing to motivate all interested parties towards the common goal [selling/buying/etc]. Then as you grow your real estate business your goal may be to become the market leader. Having influence and favour will make it much easier to achieve your goals when it comes to working with and motivating others.
Let’s get started with the 4 guidelines you need to consider when using Facebook to grow your influence.
1. Build Credibility
A huge part of your real estate brand is built on trust. Grammar and spelling are universally important. Fact-check sources and news before sharing. “Essentially, don’t give your community a reason to believe you are anything other than what you are: awesome.” Kirsty Bolsinger of Moz
2. Separate your business page from your personal one
Post personal photos of family and friends to your personal wall and real estate listings and industry articles to your business page. By staying active in both you will build trust and your reputation as a business person.
Make sure you mix the type of content you share to your business page. Keep your topic focused to real estate but provide varied content and remember to mix in a bit of fun.
3. Be aware of these 3 basic etiquette rules
Don’t post too much at one time and don’t post spam. Facebook users don’t lose any sleep over blocking content.
Do post regularly (3 times per week to twice daily). If you convince people to come back to your business page a second time, but nothing changed, they aren’t going to come back a third time.
Respond in a timely fashion. Users expect things to happen much faster on social media channels than traditional channels. In most cases same-day responses are required.
4. Be useful
Two things are true of influence. It is grown over time and it is grown because you were useful.
Make sure your posts are helpful for others and not just entertaining. You can have all the cool pictures of cats you want, “but ultimately usefulness and relevance are key.” – Mark Schaefer of Business Grow
Here’s a quick list of useful posts:
a) Posts bragging about your clients. Share a photo of you and them standing in front of the new home they bought. Also, compliment people when they post content you like.
b) Posts about volunteer community involvement. Invite others to participate as well.
c) Posts that make buyers and sellers feel more informed in their buying/selling process.
Conclusion
People love attention and value. By posting useful content, maintaining your integrity, and making others the centre of your posts you will see your influence grow much faster than you would by simply posting content about your business, your listings, or yourself.
Your influence will grow even faster when you use the techniques from part 1 and combine them with these best practices. Posting articles with others in mind and using eye catching pictures will drive both engagement and your credibility. Best of luck with your business. Feel free to post any ideas, stories or thoughts about building your own influence in the comment section.
Part 1: The 4 tips you need to implement to drive organic promotion on your Facebook posts
P.S. if you are interested, we’ve just released a free eGuide on using Facebook Ads to farm to your local city. We are proud to say that it has already been downloaded over 400 times!
