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Do you feel like you just can’t get Facebook right?

That once you have figured out something or you think you figured it out, like one thing out, something else comes along or everything changes?  As you know Facebook changes daily, but what do you actually have to pay attention to? And what can you just not worry about?

Today, I am going to walk you through the 4 sneaky tricks you can use to dominate Facebook in your local real estate market.  Sneaky tricks that have never changed, despite the algorithm shifts, they’ve never changed and now they’re backed by 43 million Facebook post of research.

Oh yes, I am going to show you the research, I am going to share the tricks, I am going to show what to do, that’s what we’re going to do today.

Thank you for joining me, I love that you’re joining me and welcome to another episode of The Ribbit show. And as always if your watching this in replay on Facebook, if you just comment in the video above, I am actually going to send you over my notes, resources and the 4 sneaky tricks I am going to teach you today.

I will send them over via messenger, just comment in the video.  

If you are watching this on YouTube, IGTV or Twitch, if you look in the description there will be a link to this original video and you’ll be able to get all of these resources as well.  So everyone who comments, you will get the stuff!

So we’re going to talk about the 4 sneaky tricks you can use to dominate your local real estate market and I did say that they’ve never changed.

These are tricks I have been teaching for the last 5 years on Facebook for real estate agents, for your local market.

The Research

And just this week a research backed article they have used 43 million different Facebook posts from the top 20,000 brands to show you these things I’ve been teaching you, this is what works, this is what keeps working, and what will keep working for you and we’re going to go over that today.

Alright, here’s what happens every single day whether I am at a conference in person with you, in Facebook groups watching you talk and react, at local events and I am listening to realtors talk, etc.

Here’s the thing. I watch you panic, react or get so frustrated and upset or angry or just frustrated with Facebook because it’s constantly changing and this isn’t just Facebook.

This is like everything, not just upset  but constantly reacting, panic reacting instead of plowing through and just implementing.

I realize it’s coming from a place of wanting to do the best for your business for your clients, etc.

But the truth is, it’s actually from a panic action place. It is not from a place of strategy or a good path to follow so I am going to help you through this.

I don’t want you to jump from thing to thing. I don’t want you to jump from thought to thought because when you do that you don’t move forward and so we’re going to focus on what can get you moving forward with things that never change.

I am telling you 4 things today, the 4 things I am going to talk about, the research I am going to share with you.

These 4 things if you NEVER stop doing them, they’ve been working for the last 5 years. If you never stop doing them and don’t go chasing other stuff you will see success on Facebook.

You will. Absolutely.

So let’s talk a little bit about the research again.

If you say hello or comment in the video above, I am going to message you so after you comment, check you Facebook messenger.  I am going to message you with the link to this research with my notes from today and with the 4 sneaky tricks that I am going to teach you so definitely leave a comment in the video if you want these notes.

Alright so here’s the thing, I got this from Buffer. Buffer wrote this article but what they did, they analyzed 43 million Facebook posts. How could they analyze 43 million Facebook posts?

Because they are actually a posting tool. Buffer is a posting tool but not the one I recommend, They’re not my top one but they are able to look at all the posts and the different brands that are on Facebook from what goes through their system and they can give us 43 million Facebook posts from the top 20,000 brands and you know what they came up with?

It’s really, really interesting and I am going to go over the highlights for you real quick, it’s actually a really simple article to read and they give you access to the full data in a spreadsheet.

What are the 4 Things?

Images receive the most engagement

Despite the video and links, you could put text up, you can put link post up, you put video post up, you can do live streams and images.

Images still receive the most engagement.  So images receive the most engagement.

That’s not a hard thing to figure out. People like pictures, they really like pictures. It’s even true over video. Now, live video is different, but this is true over video if you’re comparing uploaded videos, images and text and link post, link like when you share a post to your blog or something, images receive the most engagement. So if you’re looking for engagement you need to put images out there.

I am going to talk about the 4 things you can do here:  

Again thank you and if you want the notes and resources and the tricks, just comment in the video above.  

I am going to be asking you a question, so remember I always ask you this question because I need to know from you guys. I always ask you this so make sure, be prepared, if you’re listening today, to share with me: “What’s the most useful for you?”

Okay so images receive the most engagement. That’s the number one highlight from the article.

We’re going to be talking about what you should be posting here in a minute, the 4 sneaky tricks but I need to share the research with you to show you that this is all backed by research.

How many times a day you should be posting

Okay number two, I have been teaching you how many time you should be posting every single day for the last 5 years. Does anybody know how many times you should be posting every single day to get the highest overall page reach?  

Do you know how many times that is? Take a wild guess how many times you should be posting, every single day to get the highest overall page reach.

How many times do you think a day?

I am just going to tell you it’s 5.  FIVE. Five times PER DAY.

 If you post 5 times a day, about every 4-6 hours, 4-6 times per day, 5 times a day, your page will receive the highest overall page reach. 

That means if you go more, if you post more than that your overall page reach actually declines. If you post less than that, your overall page reach does not get the highest it can get. You need to post 4-6 times a day, aka as research shows 5 times a day. 5 times a day. That is your best option.

Your Page Category

Number three highlight from this research. Number three highlight is your page category is IMPORTANT! Because the way it lays out your page and how Facebook determines how much reach you should get based on your content, perceived content on the page

Page category is important.  

Pre-recorded videos

Number four highlight from the research is pre-recorded videos, I am not talking live streams, pre-recorded videos must be under 2 minutes. Yes, 30-90 seconds is the ideal, pre-recorded video length if you’re going to put videos on your page.

Now does saying all these things mean you shouldn’t put anything else out there?

No absolutely not but I want to show that these are the highlights from the article. These are things you need to take away from this research because they affect you on your page in your business.

Now what does this translate to for you as a real estate agent in your market? Here are the 4 sneaky tricks I’ve been teaching for the last 5 years on Facebook.

What are the 4 sneaky tricks?

You need to post 4-6 times a day without fail

Number 1, you need to post 4-6 times a day without fail, never stopping, never ceasing, 4-6 times a day.

Period.

On your page. This is your business page. This is not your personal profile. You must focus on getting your content out 4-6 times a day without fail.

This is important.

That is why inside Leads and Leverage we have 102 pieces of content every single month with other content that can be reused for members to use on their pages and this content is customizable. I’ll show you how in just a minute here.

You need to have access to that content

Number 2, if you need to post 4-6 times a day you need to have access to that content because you don’t have access to that content and you don’t have time time to going and researching it.  That’s why we do that inside Leads and Leverage.

You need to be focusing on what your people want

Number 3, you need to be focusing on what your people want. Now here is what I mean.

If you’re just posting 4-6 times a day and you’re just throwing stuff out because it fulfills a check mark, meaning it’s one of the times a day you’re supposed to post, that’s not going to help you.  

You need to tap into your audiences top reasons for engaging online. There are 5 main things from this research that I am giving you the link to the 5 reasons people share online is

You want to delight others with valuable and entertaining content.

To identify and present themselves to others. Basically we want to look smart, we want to look like we’re the first to know something. We want to share what we have, we want to influence others.

Those are my words for it that I’ve always been teaching you. Now the research says delight others with valuable and entertaining content and identify and present ourselves to others.

We want people to see us as we want them to see us, foster relationships.

Are we promoting something?
Engaging something?
A passion for something?

Self fulfillment is another reason and spreading the word about issues, products and brands. Now, it is no coincidence that most of the viral content on Facebook is related to food, animals, fashion, humor and beauty.

And do you know where real estate stands on this scale? When you look at this article you’ll see it, it’s like nothing, like nothing.

You want to know why?

Because of what we post about real estate. When we’re posting our listings or random articles or random data or random stats that’s not interesting to the consumer so you need to figure it out in ways that are more interesting.

Now here, let me tell you one of the top 4 things you can post average interaction by topic is DIY – Well guess what? You can move that real estate ranking up by posting things that are involving DIY in your house. Your remodeling, your landscaping, etc.

You change that content, you change that real estate content to not be about you and selling your crap and it’s not crap, it’s houses, but if you want people to engage in your page and get to know, like and trust you, you have to be posting things that they’re interested in. You have to and you’ve got to make it into that DIY category.

So you need to post 4-6 times per day, without fail and you need to focus on what they want and like.

They like pets. They like passions, passions like things they support and causes. They like DIY, they like food and you can actually connect food to kitchens and entertaining space. There are so many ways you can make this connect with things.  I

Those are 2 of the sneaky tricks, you need to focus on what they like and you need to post 4-6 times a day.

You need to make a whole heck of a lot of less than 2 minute videos.

And oh my gosh if you’re afraid of the video, let me just tell you two things:

Number 1, if you don’t want to get in front of the video because you don’t like how you look, I hope to heck that you are staying in your house every single day and not letting people see what you look like because guys and girls what you look like is what you look like.

If you’re afraid to get in front of the video, I am really hoping you’re afraid to be in front of people. It makes absolutely zero sense that you don’t like being on video and yet you’re okay with being in front of people.

Makes no sense to me. You are who you are. You talk like you talk, you look like what you look like. Get over it and get your little butt in front of the video, well actually your face in front of the video.

Yeah, that’s kind of a kick in the pants. I am so sick of hearing people say they don’t like the way they look and I’m like “do you go out in public and see people?”  Are you afraid to do that because it makes no sense that you would be afraid to be on video like this and yet still go see people?

It doesn’t make sense, the connection is like, it doesn’t make sense to me.

So you have to realize you look like what you look like, you sound like what you sound like, get over it and get on video.

Make a whole lot of less than 2 minute videos

Now with that said, you need to make a whole lot of less than 2 minute videos and get them on your Facebook page and I’m not talking live streams. I’m talking videos.

You can do 2 different kinds that are both pretty powerful for you.

The first one is a connection video.

That’s actually what my mentor calls videos where you share something that you’re passionate about that may be contrary to the industry or contrary to what’s going on.

For example maybe some of you have seen my You Be You video

Basically I am really sick of people telling us we have to be someone different, to act different, whatever else in real estate.

The other one I fully, firmly 100% believe is that our industry is out to make us fail. Why else do 87% of us fail out of the business in less than 5 years?

Because of how we glorify people who do real estate in a way that the consumer doesn’t like which is why do we all look like used car salesmen.

It’s not about relationships. They try to pretend like it’s about authenticity and transparency and relationships, but it’s not. Those are 2 of my big “stick it to the industry” things that I am like, “Yeah, I am going to take on the industry in this because it’s bad and detrimental for agents.”

What do you think is bad and detrimental for the consumer?

What do you think that they’re not getting empowered by or for?

What do you think, and let me tell you this, if you live in a lower cost of living area where homes are running under $200,000 or under $150,000, annual incomes are under $50,000 if you do your research I would be willing to bet that most of your buyers would not be able to take advantage of the mortgage interest write off on their taxes.  

So you could really take that topic and go with it. If they’re telling you “yeah, it’s mortgage write off, blah, blah, blah” and you’re not even itemizing your taxes which by the way those are the parameters I just gave you. A certain dollar amount, especially when the interest rate is so low and incomes are low and they can only write off a certain percent.  

If you do your research you might be in market where people are touting this but it’s only used by 5 or 10 or 15% of the people in the market that would be a connection video.

Educating the public that sounds contrary to what the masses are doing.

For example as a real estate agent, I am sorry but the NAR economist have been a laughing joke for as long as I can ever remember because they always spin things to make real estate look good or make buying or selling real estate look good like always.  

They always have, even during the recession they did. I have always called them out.

No I’m not an economist but I could compare them to the other economist or to what was actually going on in our market at the time like all the way down to an individual house.

What is happening in your market?
In your industry?

In your area that you can take a stand on that bugs you beyond belief?

Stand on that. Make a connection video. You need to take a stand. You can have people not like you, flat out you have to go for it. Go for getting those enemies. You’re like “WHHAATT are you talking about Christina?”

Here’s the thing. If you do not have people who completely disagree with you or can’t stand you or whatever then you don’t have people who absolutely love you and will like follow everything you do and say.

You have to have haters in order to have lovers.

Now make sure everything you’re doing and saying is factual. It’s actually going to help people.

Don’t just make crap up, like really. But you need to be a little bit, kindly divisive, if you will. You need to take a stand for something. That is a connection video.

Do a whole boatload of sneak peaks videos

Number 2, type of video do a whole boatload of sneak peaks. I don’t mean sneak peaks of listings.

I mean give them sneak peaks of parks, of bike trails, of downtown, of neighborhoods, of business centers. Give them sneak peaks of all sorts of areas.

Talk about it, what you like about it, what you don’t like about it, what you wish they would change, what you know they’re doing.

Do stuff that is under 2 minutes. Quick little vignettes around your area. Be the source of the lifestyle of everything that’s happening in your area. They want to know. You know the area.

You know the market so show them

You know the market so show them. You can’t tell them this, you have to show them this.

Number one is post 4-6 times a day without fail, just without fail, period. If you struggle with getting the content, well that’s what we give inside, one of the pieces we give inside Leads and Leverage. Content that you can take and customize it for your market, for your area.

Number two is focus on what your people want or like. You have to do that.

Number three is make a whole lot of less than 2 minute videos, you’ve got to do that.

Number four sneaky trick, right now inside of Leads and Leverage we’re doing our August challenge with all of our members. Right now, inside of Leads and Leverage we are doing a challenge with our members, an August challenge is a local photo vault challenge.

So basically, I am challenging members every single day for 21 days and everyday they are going out and taking pictures locally.

I am giving them the ideas of exactly what to take pictures of and what angles, what pieces etc, of each of those things.

And this vault we are creating all of these pictures. We are creating what is going to be in our content for the next 12 months so in 21 days we are gathering a whole plethora of local photo content that we can put out.

You need to be putting out a lot of local photos. People like local. They like photos. You can do all kinds of different things from doing like that was then, this is now stuff. You can give them updates on things that are changing or neighborhoods that are being built, streets that are changing.

There are so many things you could do but you need to be that source.

You need to be sharing and the beauty of Facebook is that you can so quickly become the expert, the source, the page and person that loves your area so much that you’re sharing it with the world and the community gathers around and collaborates with you.

This is huge.

So Number one, post 4-6 times a day without fail.

Number two, post what they like and want. They want food and cats and DIY and local.

Three, make lots of less than 2 minute videos, make connection videos and make sneak peaks, do everything.

Number four, post a whole lot of local photos and obviously, you’re going to need more than these things that’s why I said inside of Leads and Leverage, we have that.

You’re welcome to join us

You’re welcome to join us inside Leads and Leverage, I will send you the link, just comment in the video above. That link is included inside the tricks, notes and resources that I am sending you, so just comment right inside the video. It’ll come over to you via messenger.

Alright, so I am going to recap this. While I am recapping this for those of you that have been watching the whole time, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to tell me, “What was most useful for you??” What was the most useful for you, today?

Let’s recap

We talked about the research done from 43 Million Facebook blog posts by Buffer.

Images receive the most engagement. You need to post 5 times a day because that is your highest overall reach.

Pre-recorded videos are to be under 2 minutes. Those are the main 4 highlights from that research

What does this translate for you? Or how does this translate for you? It means you need to post 4-6 times per day without fail.

It means you need to focus on what people want and like on your page, make it contextual, make it connect with real estate in some way.

Make lots of less than 2 minute videos, I walked you through connection videos, sneak peaks, etc. Okay? There’s that,

 You need to be putting up lots of local photos. It’s huge! 

Questions & discussion during the live stream

Now Jerri said, “Much better than Facebook lives that are at least 5 minutes.” Two minutes videos, that’s what helped her the most

Yeah okay now  so there are 2 different realms here, okay? If you’re going to do pre-recorded videos, they need to be less than 2 minutes and you’re right, Jerri is absolutely right. Those can be easier than a Facebook live that’s 15 minutes.  

Now you need to understand, it’s hard to say what you need to say in less than 2 minutes. It’s not quite as easy as you think, however for Facebook lives it’s easy for me to keep going and sharing with you guys because I get ideas and you inspire me with questions.

Obviously two different things, but they did not actually talk about Facebook lives in the research so we’re just talking your other posts and not Facebook lives. But yes, if 2 minute videos are much easier for than a 15 minute Facebook live, flippin do those videos. Get them up there, they are in important.

And Pam, you’re right to have lovers you have to have haters. You have to have people who don’t like you. The trolls are going to come out of the woodwork like they’re going to come out of the woodwork and you’re going to be like what rock did you crawl out from? Literally, all you do is delete comment and ban them. Just get rid of them.

Bunny said, “I found posting 5 times a day and the photo vault very helpful” Yes, that is huge.

James said, “Make lots of less than 2 minute videos” Absolutely.

Learning about how many times to post. This is a big one Valerie.

Most people think one or two times a day, a couple of times a week.

A lot of the real estate vendors that sell you content that auto post on your page, a lot of them have not made it clear that you need to post on your page, not your profile. Although, now you can not post on your profile with those vendors.

Facebook turned it off, thank goodness but they also don’t make it clear how much content you actually need to post so you’re paying money and not even with a good strategy.

In many cases if you’re only posting once a day you’re actually losing reach rather than it helping you. Learning about how many times to post it has always been 4-6 times a day without fail for you as real estate agents for most pages in fact.  Not all pages but for most pages in most industries.

Pam says, “2 minute videos, sneak peaks.” Absolutely.

The other Pam says, “Learning to give lots of info in less than 2 minutes” You don’t have to give lots of info but have to give very focused and specific info and be consistent, do 2 or 3 of those a week, like create them and then pop 2 or 3 up a week.

Yeah, Julia says, “Having a library of post and videos will be a time saver!” IT IS HUGE! That is why inside Leads and Leverage, every single month we are now doing a challenge to help batch content, batch posts, batch leads, batch everything, our lead generation.

The goal is leverage so Leads and Leverage. The goal is leverage.  

Ok local town photos are useful.

Tate says,

A Facebook page is not enough.

Tate asks “if a Facebook page is enough?” No. It’s not. A Facebook page is a conduit to your own hub. Now 10 years ago, the same number; well actually a higher number of real estate agents that have their own site. Well let me clarify this: She said 10 years ago real estate agents had their own sites with their own branding and own URL.

The same percent of agents still have that today because a lot of agents don’t believe you need your own branding or URL, you don’t need your own branding but you do need your own site and URL.

Using an agent site or a brokers site is not going to help you, no it’s not going to help you at all. You can’t track it, you can’t re-target to it and you can’t actually build a business based on it .

To get down to your question, a Facebook page IS NOT enough. A Facebook page is a conduit, it’s going to take this big multi-billion person platform and bring the right people into your sphere, into your email list, into your website, etc.

Your website, not your brokerage website, your website. So it is a leverage. It is a lever. You’re going to use it. It is a conduit.That’s what it is. You absolutely have to have it as conduit but it is not a destination.

Just remember your Facebook business page is a conduit not a destination which is why we don’t spend a lot of time in playing with the different templates for looks that Facebook has.

We only use what is actually going to get us better reach, better engagement and more leads. So that is what we focus on, not the other stuff. So it is a conduit to your hub and your hub is your very own website.

It’s not your brokerage site, it’s not a Placester site or any other vendor site, it is your site. Your own site built on WordPress, not Wix, not Squarespace, not built on anything else. It’s built on a really good robust backed platform you host.

That is why I recommend Mike Muller with areweconnected.com He is amazing and has been in the industry for, I don’t even know how many years, but he has been in industry for as long as me at least. We actually met on Active Rain in 2007 I think back when we were both blogging on that platform. He knows what he is doing, he doesn’t control it, he sets it up for you and you have the freedom to do what you want.

He is so amazingly affordable so Mike Muller at areweconnected.com. That name is not actually in the resources because I didn’t know I was going to be talking about him today, but you need have a page that serves as a conduit into your website.

Comment below and let me know what was most useful for you and if you’re willing, tell me what you’d like me to teach or share with you next!  Let me know what you need help with below.

Want the notes, tricks and resources?

Again if you want these notes, tricks and resources just comment in the video above and I will send it to you via messenger.

If you’re watching this on IGTV or YouTube or Twitch if you click through to the link in the description it will bring you to this original video and you can get all of these resources.

Featured Download:

The Facebook Page Setup Checklist – specifically for real estate agents – get your Facebook page setup to capture real estate leads.