facebook lead generation

Do you know why your Facebook lead generation, your direct mail efforts and your email marketing are failing? ONE reason and one reason only…

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Do you know why your Facebook lead generation, your direct mail efforts and your email marketing are failing?

There is ONE reason and one reason only, and guess what? I am going to talk with you about that today, teach it to you, walk you through how to overcome that reason and what to do instead.

Today, I am going to talk to you about why, the one reason that your Facebook lead generation, your direct mail efforts and your email marketing are not working for you.

Okay, we are going to talk about the one reason that your lead generation, all your lead generation, your email marketing, your direct marketing, your Facebook, why you are struggling with it. Why it’s not working.

Here’s the deal- let me give you some examples, these are real people, I’m not going to say their names, I’m not going to say their genders, I’m not going to give you their information- these are real situations that have come to me and flat out said “this is not working.

I’ve poured two-thousand dollars into my Facebook lead generation and I tried it for a few months, and it’s not working.”

Or “I dumped five-hundred dollars into a direct-mail mailing, and I didn’t get any results.”

And “I put twelve-hundred dollars into a paid list, and I sent out an email, was told the list was going to work, did not get any results.”

And “I put up a booth at a home and garden event- I spent a hundred dollars on giveaway stuff and I even had a drawing and got no results.”

Have you ever done any of these things and just been like “what on earth??” Throw your hands up, get frustrated, comment below and let me know.

Have you ever been so frustrated, when you did direct mail, you did Facebook marketing, you did direct-mailing, you did booths at events and stuff, and they are not working?

Comment below, I want to make sure that what I’m talking about today and is something that you need help with. So let me know.

What do all of these things have in common? This is where every single one of these things have something in common- every single one of these lack an understanding of the psychology of people. Now, that sounds all scholastic and academic, and do I really need to get into this?

Let me explain more, okay? It’s when you are lacking the knowledge of who the target (your person) is, what their desires are and how they will take next action.

So let me explain this, it’s a little “heavy” I guess. Basically, all of these lack an actual strategy. Every single thing that you do, you will fail if you don’t first understand the underlying strategy.

It’s not really about lead generation, it is, but it’s also not all about it either. I mean, lead generation is your end result, right?

Bear with me as I talk about this- the thing is, the most important thing about this that you must understand, in anything that you do, is the consumer, is the prospects of the very next logical step, and it’s a micro-step.

Now this is not your next logical step for them- it’s their next logical step. And I’ve talked about this a little bit, but here’s an example. When you send an email to somebody, via email marketing, the very next microscopic step is to get them to open the email.

When you send an email, the goal, at least for most of us, is “I want to get an appointment!” But that’s not actually the next logical microscopic step, it’s not the next thing that you need to work on.

When you send an email, the very next thing you need to work on is getting them to open the email. You need to get them to open it. So it’s not about a conversation, it’s not about a phone call, it’s not about an appointment- that’s the end game- but you need to bring them on the journey to make that happen.

So after they have opened the email, the very next microscopic step you should take is to get them to read the email. And this means that what you say in the subject line better be delivered in the email itself.

You better be truthful, and honest and actually giving them what you promised in the subject line. Because if you are not, then they won’t open any more emails from you. And they will start reporting your emails as spam, etc.

So you don’t want to disappoint them. In fact, you want to deliver more than they think they are getting. So focus on “wow-ing” them, I guess is the best way to say it.

This concept is exactly the same for your Facebook business page, your direct mail, of course your email, your open houses, the Home & Garden shows that you go to, everything, that is your focus.

You need to be thinking the next microscopic step- “how can I bring them through this journey?” You have to learn who your person is, what they want and what they need. You have to give them valuable reasons why they should trust you.

This should not be you telling them why they should trust you- you cannot tell people “trust me, I know what I’m talking about.” Oh boy, I wish I could! I’ll explain that a little more later today, I really wish I could, but you can’t tell them. You have to show them. And you have to show them over and over and over and over.

There are five-billion other people, five-billion other noises out there and you have to be the one who is consistent, and the one that is giving and the one that is teaching, educating, inspiring, motivating. You have to be the one that makes them say “Oh, that’s who I want to go with” and “that’s who I want to see.”

Here’s the thing- our industry actually does all of us a disservice when we “focus on getting the appointment.” When we’re focused on that, just that, we are in a rush to get there.

Let me give you an example. I was at a street fair this weekend, it’s a huge events, street fair, Art on the Green, it’s a huge event, I think we have fifty or sixty thousand people who come into the town itself for it, that’s not my estimate, that’s what I’ve heard from the “officials,” they come into our area just for this event.

So we are at this event, we are there, it’s morning and we are totally chilled. I am business turned-off, tasks turned-off and just enjoying myself. We walk past a booth that is for Anderson Windows. We are looking into, we are starting the looking process to replace our windows.

Now we know, based off the brands we had been looking at before, and because of where the windows are in the house and how many there are and the fact we need wood windows, we know for a fact that it’s going to be expensive.

So we are a couple of years out, so this is a similar situation to someone who is going to buy a house, we are a couple of years out, so go to this booth.

We have already started looking at this Anderson dealer because number one, we have been using Home Depot and we are trying to some more customized windows and we want someone to make the windows that are truly the right size, so we know what we are looking for, right?

So we walk past this booth, and I go “oh look, an Anderson Windows booth” and they had a little slip of paper where I could fill out my information to be contacted later on, so I think “okay, I’ll do that.” So I fill out my stuff.

The lady in the booth, well, she pissed us off. Like I just wanted to fill that out, and have them contact me at a later date because I wasn’t truly focused on that because I was on a “vacation day,” so to speak.

I was serious about buying windows, but not for another two years or so. But she was relentless, she kept saying “make an appointment now” and “let’s make an appointment now,” and finally I was like, “I’m not going to make an appointment right now. I’m not going to do anything this year, it doesn’t matter what kind of deal you give us. Have them call me after this event.”

And they had even said “make sure you give us your information, because we will contact you later.” So it’s a commission thing, but she was nasty, frustrating and nasty, because all she could think about was getting to the appointment, because that’s probably what she made money for.

That’s our assumption after we left, based on how high-stressed she was.

Instead of her going “okay, where are these consumers? How are they doing? What are they doing at the street fair?” If she could only get the leads during the street fair, there are ways to do that- “hey, can I get your number, I’ll text you later on so we can do something via text so that I’m not interrupting your time right now.”

That would have been the next logical step, because literally, that’s where everybody else is, relaxing. We are not interested in looking at our calendars and making appointments for next week. I had no interest in doing that.

And so, that’s what I really want to stress here, is that when we focus on getting the appointments, we are more likely to lose the appointment. When we realize “what is the next step? How can I make it easier for them, to get them to where I want them to be, right from where they are?”

That’s why people feel pressured, and run screaming away from realtors, because they know it’s not about them as a consumer, they know it’s about the commission that they bring.

So, they don’t want to give us information. Same with this Anderson Windows woman- all she wanted to do was make an appointment. I was like “Nooooo!” Every hint that we gave her, she wasn’t even really responding, she was doing this “script, script, script,” bit. I hate those, I hate those.

They make me go, I don’t actually do this, but I want to say “Look, shut up. This is what we are doing, if you want my business, contact me later after this.” I did not do that, but that’s how I feel.

That is how the consumer feels when you, as a realtor, are just railroading over them, and trying to get to the appointment. So you need to consider and see what the very next step is in their journey.

Where are they? What mood are they in? What event are they at, and what would they most likely be doing?

Home & Garden shows are very different then a general art fair where people are just chilling out, we are going to Art on the Green, which is all art stuff, we are just chilling. Very different.

So just be aware of that, know where they are and treat them as if you are not stressed to get the appointment.

There is a distinct difference between a hard sell, and a know-like-trust business relationship, you know, if she had gone “you know, today is a day of relaxing, I’ll just text you later today or tonight, and you can respond at your leisure and I’ll give you some appointment times.”

That would have been way better then her trying to push me into something.

But, here’s the thing, just between you and I, let me walk you through what I’m doing, right here and now. I’m going to lay it all out right now, exactly what I’m doing right now to develop relationships so that you know that I am the source of what you need, and that’s my goal.

I went live every weekday in August, and I am probably going to actually extend that because I am having so much fun.

Why?

Because there are three main reasons- the first one is for myself. I want to develop the habit and the self-discipline to challenge myself to commit to doing something, and to do it even when I don’t want to do it or even when I’d rather do something else.

Let’s be real- every single weekday at 10 am, it’s been gorgeous here! I want to go into the pool sometimes, ya know, I want to go out with my husband sometimes, there are some ideas to have this business so I can be flexible. There are just times when I just don’t want to do this right now.

So I wanted to do this for myself, to develop a habit of self-discipline and to challenge myself to move forward.

The second reason I wanted to do this is for you, to give insane value. I wanted to answer the hundreds of questions that I receive every single week, to give you a place where you know you will be given the truth.

Tell it like it is. Where you won’t feel sold to, where you know that the answer I give you is best for you and your business, and not me and my business.

I wanted to have these videos and these resources for that exact reason.

So number one was for me, number two was for you and number three, here’s the underlying thing, when I do it all, it’s for Leads and Leverage.

I want to reach more real estate agents. I want to expand the business, I want to create a whole lot of content that I can repurpose.

I can use these videos for other trainings, I can use them as launch points for deeper lessons inside of Leads and Leverage, I can use them as a way to reach you on something that you are struggling with, because not all of you are struggling with all the same questions that I get, you are all struggling with your own things.

By doing this, I am able to reach you, guide you and give to you. This is huge. So those are the three main reasons why I do this.

So if you notice, not a single reason I’m doing this is to push a sale on you. If I have something that could help you, duh, absolutely I’m going to share it!

My main focus is not about selling, my main focus is about reaching you, so that I can build know-like-trust relationships.

My end game, of course my end game is to expand the business, of course my end game is to get more of you inside of Leads and Leverage so that you can experience the amazing community we have in there. Of course, that’s my end game.

But if you are new to this right now, if this is the first time you have ever watched one of these videos, if that’s all I was doing, was pitching to you to get into Leads and Leverage, you would have been like “dude, back off.” And you wouldn’t watch any other videos.

So I am very, very focused on building relationships with you.

I have a very specific passion for real estate agents, because our industry sets us up for failure.

87% of real estate agents are out of the business within five years, and quite frankly, that’s horrific. That’s terrible.

I am so sick of seeing the supposed successful agents pushing “this one way and one way only” to become successful.

Heck, I have lead generated more transactions than 99% of those gurus and terrible agents could ever even imagine possible. Ever. We have had a huge business consistently over time, and I know the behind the scenes secrets, I know that people have been changing.

Here are the keys- back in the 80s and 90s, buyers and sellers essentially did whatever we told them to do without research, without objection, they just did it.

Why?

Because we knew them. Because we knew nearly 100% of our buyers and sellers- they were referred to us by friends or other agents, but it was very much relational back then. We already had a know-like-trust relationship, boom, there was not a lot of noise, so they trusted us.

Then, between 2000 and 2010, there was a small shift- people started using the internet to do “pre-searches,” that’s what I call them.

They started learning that they could do actual research. And yet, real estate agents didn’t hop on board.

Oh my gosh, they didn’t. WordPress came out in 2001, or 2002, something like that, I mean, hello, Youtube came out in 2004, Facebook in 2006, to the public- and yet, so many of you don’t have your own website.

Like, you seriously don’t. You have a broker site, or you are using some vendor site but you still don’t have your own website.

When we realized where this was going, real estate agents didn’t hop on board, but we did, which is why we scaled so fast, and stayed that way. But it was still, back then, all about “selling” on the first meeting.

In other words, we were trying to build know-like-trust relationships all in the first thirty-to-sixty seconds we talked to someone, saw someone, etc, whether on the phone or in person.

And this is why video did so well for us, because we started the relationship before we ever even met people. That’s what gave us a leg up. That was huge.

Then, come 2010 to present, there has been a massive shift. This is where the keys came about- the ability to understand the psychology of people, the microsteps, etc.

Where was that shift? Well, it was social media, but it’s also the noise. All of the noise. You have to be on social media, absolutely, if you want to have a successful business, you have to be on social media.

However, however, you do not need to have profiles on every stinking social media thing that comes out. If there is some weirdo thing that oh, will get you referrals, how many of those do you guys get? How many of you sign up for these things? Because they are “free” and you can, you know, you signed up for it. There are like five bajillion of them and they will do nothing for you.

So it’s not just social media. You have to be on one or two platforms, that is it. I don’t care. If you are not Linkedin person, don’t get on Linkedin. If you hate Twitter, get your butt off of Twitter. Don’t bother. Do not bother. Be where you are going to be.

For me, that is Facebook and Instagram. I use Pinterest, but I use Pinterest for personal. I use Facebook for personal and for business, and I use Instagram for mostly personal but a little bit of business thrown in, and then I use Pinterest for personal.

Yep, I have profiles on Twitter, and LinkedIn, and I don’t know how many other but I do not use them. They are not helping you, so stop trying to be in all places at once. You cannot do it, it’s not possible, because you need to dive deep, not wide.

So you need to be developing relationships and creating them, but you cannot do that when you have multiple platforms.

It’s not possible. If you keep doing what “seemingly” worked before, and I mean the whole expecting people to know-like-trust you, and still expect to get in front of someone and actually get their attention for thirty-to-sixty seconds and get them to be loyal to you, if you keep trying to do it that way, you are going to keep failing.

It doesn’t work that way anymore.

There are two things that have been tossed around in the real estate business for, I don’t know how long, for like fifteen years, maybe twenty years, ever since the internet came along, and people were able to get sold data in most areas or they were able to start getting information- the words “authenticity” and “transparency.”

But here’s the thing, it’s still the industry’s idea of “authenticity” and “transparency,” is the data.

That’s it. That’s what they think is being “authentic” and “transparent.”

Do you know that social media is about real “authenticity?” It’s about real “transparency?” It’s about “real?”

What does that mean?

I’ve said this before- it means that if it sucks to sell right now, and you would never even want anyone you know to sell right now, but you are out trying to get a listing and saying “oh yeah, how’s the market?

Well, it’s better than I deserve!” Or however the heck your answer is, or whatever the kind of intensive training answer is that you have learned- that’s not authentic.

When you can tell someone “you know, unless I had a job transfer, unless I had XYZ, or whatever it is, I wouldn’t be selling anything right now.”

Until you are ready to be actually real, and authentic and truly transparent, everybody is going to know. The consumer’s going to know- do you know why?

Because there is someone else out there being truly authentic and transparent. They are telling you what’s working and what’s not.

The fact that I’m telling you that most vendor stuff does not work and it just creates noise- I get it. I’m not selling those vendor things, so I don’t have a vested interest in that, however, those same vendors have contacted me “hey, you could make $100,00!

Just send all our information in your email list.” Yes, that happens every single week- I get contacts from vendors who want me to sell crap to you guys. Some of its good, but I’m not going to sell it to you.

Why?

Because that’s not what you need! You do not need more crap!

You need to understand what’s going on right now, through people and the industry, and outside of the industry, and how to get past all that sales crap to get into the hearts and minds of people so that they want to use your services.

You want people to know you, to like you and to trust you.

Social media is about real authenticity, about real transparency and it’s about being real. It’s about you, not a brand. It’s about you, not a company.

It’s about you, not a business. Which is why logos, and colors and all that crap- they are useless. They’re useless. They are pretty, they are fun but they are useless, because what people remember is how they feel after they’ve experienced you.

How do they feel? Do they feel oily and icky because you are telling them “yeah, right now’s a great time to be buying or selling in the market, the market’s going up, you will want to get in before it goes down.” That’s just an example.

Or, are they feeling like “Oh, what else does this person say? Should my desires to buy or sell go beyond what I think? Should I buy or sell, should I not?” It works, because you are telling them the truth of what’s going on.

So how do they feel? You must connect with your prospects, flat out, before they will ever connect with you.

And if you want them to stick, you have to be real, you have to be transparent and you have to be willing to tell it like it is. I’m sure you could do it in a much more gracious way than I have ever done- I’m more blunt than most people.

But you need to be clear, you need to let them know, and you need to make them not worry about the sale or the one you might lose. You cannot worry about that- you have to focus on giving value, because quite frankly, the more people you help, the bigger your business will be.

It’s really that simple. But you really have to help them, you have to really help them.

So when you do this, when you focus your business on this, you have a huge leg up when you connect with people before they use their services.

And you stay connected through value and serving. Why? Because no amount of “guru hard-sell” will ever celebrate a loyal follower from you.

When you have done something, given something that has changed their life, changed their knowledge, changed their experience and you keep doing that, they are loyal. They won’t change.

What you hold to be true over time, do you know how many businesses similar to mine, when I started Leads and Leverage in the fall of 2013, I was literally the only company that was doing this.

There was not a single company out there that was teaching you like this, video, etc, on how to use Facebook for your real estate business, period.

There was not.

There were companies out there trying to sell you content for your Facebook business page, or posts to go on your page, yep, and it was a once or twice a week thing, well, there were businesses like that, but there were none like what I am doing.

Then, over the years, many have popped up, there are some that have completely copied what I made and tried to sell it, they have popped up. But they are not there anymore-why?

Because they are not invested in you. They don’t care. They have something to sell, and they are focusing on the deals, not on the long game. They are not focusing on that long stretch.

So what are you going to do now? I want you to reverse all this- I’m sharing all my knowledge and insight with you, what are you doing to focus on the long game, for someone’s life choices, for when they are buying and selling houses?

What can you do, who can you be? Because let me just tell you, if you are focusing on the deal, that’s all you will get- just a couple of deals.

But if you focus on helping people in the long run, I know that we hear this all the time in real estate, “every seven years, they become a client and I’ve got this many” and you are thinking “geez, I don’t have seven years because I needed food yesterday.”

But if you don’t start thinking that way and going “okay, I realize that I’m not helping anybody right now and that I don’t have any leads in the pipeline right now,” but if you don’t start helping people right now, you will always be struggling and trying to get leads into the pipeline.

You have to think of the long game, you have to think of the relationships you are building, absolutely. I don’t care if you are task-driven, or people-driven, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, because the name of the game is relationships.

So if you are not focused on teaching people and helping people through their journey, you are going to fail.

Eighty-seven percent of real estate agents fail- there is a reason for that. It’s because what we are taught- sucks.

It doesn’t actually work. It doesn’t.

You see the big “gurus” up there who have only been in the business for five years, even some that have made it a couple of years but there are so many “40 under 40” who don’t even make it past their first five years, they are part of the 87% too.

There are very few agents who apart of the big “guru,” who ever make it past the five year mark, and many of them are struggling because they haven’t adapted their businesses to what’s going on now.

Their profit margins are getting smaller because they keep throwing their money at the same things they were doing before, because they have more money to do that but their profit margins are getting smaller.

You are going to see a lot of them starting to shut up, shutting down. You see all these people starting to struggle, as you see us move towards another.

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

by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

If you’ve been using a vendor to post real estate stuff to your personal profile it has been officially nixed by Facebook. Get the inside scoop NOW on what to do and how to get around that issue

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

[BREAKING NEWS]

As of TODAY you can no longer post to your personal profile using a 3rd party tool… so if you’ve been using a vendor to post real estate stuff to your personal profile… that has been officially nixed by Facebook.

So… what are you to do? How do you use that content to bring in real estate leads? Should you do something else? If so, what and most importantly, how?

I’m going to WALK YOU THROUGH how to GET AROUND this issue – right now in this post.

As of August 1st, 2018, you can no longer use a 3rd party tool to post to your personal profile.

So if you have been using something like any of the normal tools, like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Smarter Queue, Edgar, etc. and you’re posting to your personal profile, if you have been using real estate directory, Back At You Media, any of the real estate vendors and your posting to your personal profile, you can no longer do that as of today.

No more,so what do you do? What are we going to do? What are we going to change? How are we going to get around that thing that Facebook nixed?

If you can’t post to your personal profile with these automatic tools you’ve been using, you can’t drum up business from people you already know.

What are you going to do?

How are you going to use to Facebook?

That is what we’re going to talk about today.

So today starts off with a bang, because Facebook gave us a huge, wonderful thing for us to talk about and walk through today.

Let me start by explaining this real quick.

First of all there are two pieces where you can use tools or where you could use tools like Real Estate Directory or Back at You Media or I know there are other real estate specific vendor tools that let you put or post some pictures they have, etc. but also the non-real estate tools, like Edgar, Hootsuite, SmarterQueue, TweetDeck or whatever, of those tools you can no longer use to post to your personal profile.

Let me be very clear. PERSONAL PROFILE.

You can still use the tools to post to your business page.

These tools, however, are no longer available on your personal profile.

There two parts to this.

I am excited this is happening in one way because I got tired of seeing all of those real estate provided post on personal profiles because guys the rules and terms of service of using Facebook are really clear.

You are not allowed to use your personal profile for commercial gain. There are ways around it and you can tweak it, but using that automated content…hmm… not so much and quite frankly, it really wasn’t working.

I mean sometimes you would have a post that would work and sometimes you wouldn’t, but profiles can’t happen anymore, pages you’re good to go!

Those tools are meant to leverage your time for your business page. You personal profile quite frankly are supposed to be you, kind of in the moment.

It’s a virtual representation of you, so we’re going to talk a little bit today about how to separate the two and how to use those tools.

If you using Real Estate Directory or Back to You Media or your using Meet Edgar with the content we give inside of the Leads and Leverage membership, or using something else like HootSuite, Tweetdeck or Smarterqueue or any of those others for anything else you’re doing – when should you use them? How should you use them? Or how do you get your page to get the same amount of energy as your personal profile did?

If you want the Facebook page set-up checklist, download it here because what we’re going to talk about today is how to get your Facebook business page gap for you, how to take over where you can no longer use your personal profile to do this.

That checklist I have for you, that is for you to use to set up your page so that you get the same reactions, the same engagement so you get the same leverage you feel that you were getting on your profile.

So let’s go through all the questions!

Let me be really clear, you can no longer use these 3rd party tools, the tools that allow you to post out, schedule your post, like HootSuite, TweetDeck, SmarterQueue, Meet Edgar, all of those plus real estate specific ones like Real Estate Directory, Back At You Media and whatever ones that are specific, you can no longer use those tools on your personal profile. They are only to be used on your business page.

The first thing I know some of of you are like that’s the only way. I’ve been posting to my personal profile and I schedule it out.

I am to going to tell you, you’re going to actually have to post to your personal profile, but here is the beauty of you personal profile just like we all have time where we want to be with people or we don’t want to be with people, there are times we feel like sharing what we’re doing and there are times we don’t feel like sharing what we’re doing, your personal profile is perfect for that.

I am on Facebook with you all the time, so you guys aren’t going to believe this but I am an introvert.

I get my energy from being alone. I cannot tell you, like I go through a day like this looking forward to 7:00 pm.

Do you know why?

7:00 pm is when I go into my sanctuary, my space, when I get my time. There are nights I don’t get that, but here’s the thing if I give people a whole lot, the last thing I am going to want to do is post on social media, because it still feeling like having to be in engaged in that.

How do you get your personal profile to work for you?

Well you start sharing things, as real estate agent, I am willing to bet you go out to something, a lunch, a dinner, an open house, a brokers open, a title company training, a conference, etc. I am willing to bet at least once or twice a week you go somewhere out in the community, check in – check in on Facebook wherever you are.

Share with them, if you’re at local business check-in. Use your personal profile to check in, this will keep you in engaged with people.

Share memes or inspirational quotes that you see on Facebook with your person crowd. Let people know what you’re doing and where you’re going with your personal crowd.

If you’re at little league, take a picture and share it, if you’re at a park and rec thing take a picture and share it, at a local gym, take a picture, it doesn’t have to be of you or a person, just take a picture and share it.

Do that 2-4 times a week, so you can do that. If you notice on my personal profile, www.facebook.com/christina.ethridge, you can go follow it, I have a lot of public post, I will share things I am passionate about, interested in,

I share pictures of one of my cats, it’s an ongoing joke because all he does every single morning, at the same exact time, goes to the window and sits there so it’s funny because people think he is statue.

I share those kind of things because I don’t have to talk, so if you’re more of an introvert there are lots of things you can do on your personal profile that will still engage people.

If you’re at a closing, don’t be salsey or braggy, just share that you’re at a closing. There is a real estate agent in our market who does a great job of it, she was at a closing at a title company that has very limited parking for people, they have parking reserved and she just just took a picture of that sign and said “I wish they had this everywhere!” The sign had the title company’s name on it, so that was a subtle hint as to where she was and why and also a subtle reminder of what she does.

Your posts are not meant to be canned crapped as I call it, it’s supposed to be in the moment, flexible. Okay?

On your business page, you need to go through the checklist first of all, but it should not be focused on you. Your business page should not be focused on you.

Your business page needs to be focused on the consumer, what do they want? What are their needs? What are their passions? What are their desires? It’s not a billboard for you because quite frankly, nobody cares about your sales pitches, that’s why we don’t get activity on our business page.

You need to use that checklist.

Go through that check list, and I’m actually going to be doing a #Live workshop, a brand new Facebook page strategy workshop and I will tell you more about it as I am on over the next few days.

Remember I will be #Live every single business day in August on my page LeadsandLeveage with Christina Ethridge.

I will be going over the entire checklist but your strategy on your page, just to briefly go into this, the strategy on your page it’s about the consumer, not about you!

If you’re going to continue using the stuff from Real Estate Directory, Back to You Media, or stuff you have scheduled into HootSuite or anything like that you need to customize it to your consumer.

This is important that you do that, because it’s about them, about their lifestyle, about their desires, when you can show that you can relate to them that’s when they start trusting you.

That’s when they believe you when you tell them not to even look at the Zestimate from Zillow, because we all know they suck, the consumer may or may not know, but if you want them to listen to you and believe you and clearly implement or do what you say, then you have to give them a reason to trust you first.

That is the goal on your business page. The content you got, you can still use it for your business page, but please customize it. You need to, you need to invest time to do that.

Now, it is really important that you know if you just post stuff automatically to your business page and people are not reacting to it and you’re not getting the right people to engage with it Facebook won’t actually shut the page down, but if you’re filmlar with “ghosting” on Craigslist where you think something is published, but it’s not?

It’s a similar concept where they won’t push your page out organically, at all.

Additionally, if you run ads to promote your page and it’s a dud with people, with the consumer, Facebook is going to make it harder for you to get out, they will charge you more to get out into the algorithm, because people aren’t responding to your page.

You really, really need to make sure your page is really catered to engaging with the consumer.

Which is why you really want it to be about them, the lifestyle they like.

Does it include HootSuite?

Yes, it does include all 3rd party tools, it’s officially turned off.

You have seen email or notifications from the vendors you’re using. I believe it was turned off yesterday or the day before where you could no longer schedule anymore.

I use Meet Edgar, for all my business page stuff and I don’t actually use it for my personal profile, I never have, but I did see where that was all turned off.

How Do I Use My Personal Profile?

Here’s the thing, your personal profile is for you to be connected with people you already know.

If you’re on PTA or go to a lot of local businesses or a member of chamber of commerce, anything like that then you need to be connected with these people on your personal profile.

That is key.

These are people you know or you’ve met at least once in real life, IRL people, so you want to continue that relationship with them These people you know, who you’re already engaged with.

How Do I Use My Business Page?

Your business page is to reach people you’ve never met or you may never get to meet any other way, That’s what the business page is for.

The goal for your business page

The goal for your business page is to use it a conduit between people you do not know and your database. It’s a conduit. That’s what it is and it’s for people you do not know.

Some people may come over you already know, click on it and stuff so you may not need to post the same stuff in both places etc, but when you have something on your business page and you do want to share it on occasion, once a week, maybe to your personal profile no matter how many real estate agents I am connected with on my personal profile I have mine open so people can follow me.

I do it have it that whenever I want to post something private to my friends only, I can do that. No matter how many real estate agents follow me on my personal profile I hardly ever, maybe twice a year I actually share things from my business to my personal profile.

Even though, there are many people I could target on there, it is my personal page, it’s about me as a person.

And yeah, I am passionate about Leads and Leverage with Christina Ethridge and helping you create more time, make more money and enjoy the journey, but those are not the only pieces of me.

I am wife, I love my husband, I am a Mom, I love my kids, I am a daughter and sister, I have fur babies, I go to shows, I love to travel. All of those are all pieces of me as well.

When you are using your personal profile and it just looks like you have Realtor logo as your picture and your header, people know right away you’re using it only for business.

They aren’t interested, they want to know you. They want to connect with you.

There is a reason I connect with certain people on Facebook because I am curious about their life. I am curious what they’re doing. I am curious about their passions. I am curious about their interest.

Things like that, I do not want to be sold to and neither does anybody else for you guys, so be aware of that.

I’ve never used my personal for Real Estate.

There is a fine line and there are ways to do it. I shared different random things I have accomplished, for me usually Leads and Leverage members end up tagging my personal profile in that way, I get some business on my page. It’s all fun stuff, it’s the more relational stuff that’s on there.

Again there are ways to use your profile for content. They way Facebook has been acting lately I am actually surprised they haven’t done it sooner.

It was, and has been for awhile now, really annoying, I would not connect with real estate agents because all they pushed out on their personal profile was real estate agent directory stuff. I would see the same exact post, all over in my fed, so I would just stop.

What was the point in this? They think it’s a tool they pay for so it will get them business. It doesn’t always get you business.

If I Place Ads on my Business Page Do They Automatically Post on my Personal Profile?

It does not post on your personal profile. What you are seeing is your own ad in your newsfeed. Your newsfeed is a compilation of everything you’re clicking-thru,but if you put an ad, an actual ad on your business page, like you’re going into ads manager and creating an ad on your business page, and you’re seeing it in your newsfeed, it is not on your personal profile.

Just make sure you know personal profile vs.business page. You need different content for each one, if you want the page setup checklist, let me know below.

Stay on Top of the Facebook Algorithm Changes

If you want to be sure you do not get hit by one of these algorithm changes because quite frankly every single month for the last 6-8 months there have been multiple algorithm shifts and changes and you want to be sure that you do not get blindsided by these, you NEED to join us inside of Leads and Leverage.

If you want to ensure you are always ahead of the game, come on in! All videos and workshops that I do are available inside the membership for replay. There is a lot in there, how to set up your page, your posting content, content strategy, everything, it’s an entire process all in there.

Right now, you’ve got to put it all on your business page and if your business page isn’t set up correctly it’s just going to die so get the checklist. It will be a waste of your time and energy if it’s not set up right.

Featured Download:

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

by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

How would YOU like to pay LESS for your Facebook ads and get MORE results? Get the inside track on the three tips today that will lower your Facebook ad costs and increase your conversions

Want to pay LESS for your Facebook ads and get MORE results?

Facebook ad costs keep going up (and they’re just going to get higher and higher as more people move to using Facebook ads)… HOWEVER, you can hack your way to lower ad costs

Make sure your Facebook business page is SET UP for lead generation… for ad conversion.

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

Today I wanted to dive into something that we’re noticing as ad-buyers, and that you may not really be noticing. You may not be putting enough money into Facebook ads to truly notice this, however, it’s happening.

What’s going on is ad costs are going up, and that’s what I’m going to talk about today.

I’m going to give you a few hacks you can use to lower your ad costs, because there are some tips you can definitely use that will lower your ad costs and increase your conversions, getting more people to respond to your ad.

Like I said, basically we are going to talk about ad costs. I’ve seen a lot of members talk about this, “Ad costs are expensive, it’s costing me this much for page like, or this much for an opt-in.” We are always on the hunt to try to lower our ad costs, absolutely, absolutely we want to do that.

But that comes from all the different tweaks you can do, so here’s why this is important.

If you already have what you think is a pretty good ad cost, say it’s costing you $2 to get opt-ins, where people actually opt-in with your email address, and you are like “You know what, I brought that down for $4,” here’s the thing. For every tweak that you do to it, you can lower as much as possible and, you know, you’ll lower it to a point where it’s not possible to lower it anymore.

But here’s the other thing, here’s what is coming, and I’ve shared this before, but right now, $80 billion dollars is being put into TV commercials, and print advertising, by the big guys.

Right now, that is how much they are putting into TV commercials, and print advertising. No one is watching TV commercials, so when they realize what they are doing is no longer working for them, they are going to shift their ad budgets, their ad costs.

And guess where they will shift them too? They are going to shift them to where the eyeballs are! And since Facebook has more active users then Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp combined, that’s where they are going to put their ad costs, which means that ad costs for you, as a real estate agent in small town USA, or wherever you are, are going to go up.

So, what can you do to hack it? What can you do to make sure you are not negatively affected? We are all going to have rising ad costs, but how can you avoid the extremes?

Start With the Basics!

The first thing I’m going to start with is the very basics. The very basics have to do with having your Facebook page set up that in a way, in a sense, hacks the algorithm.

I say “hacks” loosely, because basically you are setting it up in a way that people respond to, that consumers respond to, and they like it.

There are actually three main pieces from it, and if you want the entire checklist, it is free and there is a link up under the video. Use that link to opt-in to the full checklist,

I go through everything, because everything you do, every tweak you make, changes your result and gives you higher results while lowering your ad costs.

I’m going to give you the three top ones that are the most important, especially when you are running ads, even on your posts that you are doing.

Let’s do this! The top three pieces, and if you want all of them so that you can do as much as possible, get the checklist. It is free! I just ask for your email so that I can email you your checklist.

The checklist is free! And I’m not selling you anything with the checklist, so you’re good, just do that.

The first thing is, this is the hardest, I really think this is the hardest, because we believe so much in why we do this.

The “why” we believe in this is actually flawed, and I’m going to explain this.

How to Set-up Your Facebook Business Page Name

Your Facebook business page name should not be your name. It should not be “homes for sale,” it should not be your team name, your brokerage name, no. It’s shouldn’t.

Here’s why. There’s a couple reasons actually and this is number one.

If you put “Jane Doe Realtor” as your page name, first of all, if you ever get married or divorced, “Jane Doe Realtor- Cowell-Baker,” let’s just say that. If you ever get married or divorced, or you change companies, or your broker dies and the brokerage goes to a different franchise,

Or what if your broker sells to a different franchise, or your broker goes bankrupt and the broker goes to a different franchise- and I’m just gonna let you know that two out of those three things have happened to us in our whole life, our whole business time.

If any of those things happen, marriage, divorce, change name, whatever, its next to impossible to get your Facebook name changed through Facebook.

So when you’re investing time and money and other resources into your page, and you can’t change the name, you have to abandon it, and that sucks.

For example, if you were with RE/MAX, we were with RE/MAX, and we had set everything up so that the only thing, if we would ever have to change, the only thing that we would ever have to do anywhere, is change the logo everywhere and change the brokerage name.

We did not have it in our domain, we did not have it, at the time, in our Facebook page, we didn’t have a Facebook page for the business at this time. This was back in 2004 that this happened, or 2001, somewhere in the early 2000’s before Facebook.

Our broker decided to partner with another two people, and to let the RE/MAX franchise go, and went with GAMC, and so that’s what happened and it was out of our control. We stayed with the same brokerage, we didn’t leave anything, but that changed.

Then, in 2009, when we were with GMAC, we saw this coming, I had already set everything up. Our page name was not related to our franchise, our website was not related to our franchise, nothing. Now we had all the disclosure’s everywhere, however, we had it so I could change everything really easily.

And our broker, our brokerage, went bankrupt. Like literally, boom, bankrupt. And so by the next day, we were officially unlicensed, although we were.

You have to be with a broker, but although, we were prepared within 24 hours, we had our own brokerage up and running. We knew this was coming, so we had prepared.

But here’s the thing, a lot of people didn’t know it was coming. And nobody had Facebook pages back then. This was 2009, beginning of 2009, no one in our brokerage had Facebook pages, except us.

It’s almost impossible, even if, even there is a trick to changing your Facebook page name, even if you know that trick, you can get away with it once, maybe twice. And then it’s, no, you can’t.

So the key is that you do not want to put something that could possibly change. Gosh, if you are in the business long enough, it’s going to change. Something’s going to happen, something’s going to change.

Even if you own your own brokerage, you still could sell it. You could decide to not have it, for whatever reason, just be aware of that. So that’s number one.

Your Page Needs to be Lifestyle Focused

Number two reason why your Facebook name should not be your own stuff, because no one gives a flying fig about you. If there are people that you do not know, which is why you have a Facebook business page, which is why you are out to meet your unmets, they don’t care about you.

They care about themselves, they care about their lives, they care about the lifestyle, they care about their dWreams. So when they see an ad, or a page that says “Jane Doe Realtor Coldwell-Banker” or they see RE/MAX or Century 21, when they see that, they are like, their first reaction is “I’m not going to respond to this, I’m going to hide the ad, they are just going to sell me, etc.”

In other words, your conversions suck. They suck because people are turned off. It’s not about them. It’s about you.

Your page needs to reflect their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations, through the lifestyle. You need to be lifestyle focused, kind of like doing a passion page.

REI has a camping page, they have a hiking page, they have a climbing page, they have a rowing page, they have all kinds of different pages around passions that people have.

You don’t want to have all kinds of different pages, you just want one, as a local real estate agent, you will want ONE real estate page.

You want that page to revolve around people’s lifestyle. This is why you will see a lot of “homes and lifestyle,” or “living,” or “life in.” You want one key word.

No, “county” is not a keyword.

No “North Virginia” is not a keyword.

You need to narrow this down.

You need to have a page name that reflects the passion of the people you are trying to connect with.

I live in Idaho, so i might do “Idaho Homes and Lifestyle.” If you have ever been out here, this is a big state. I don’t care if I’m licensed in Idaho and I could potentially get the deal in Boise and I’m in Coeur D’Alene.

No, that’s eight hours away! Be realistic. Even from Coeur D’Alene to Sandpoint, that’s an hour away, I’m not gonna sell in Sandpoint. So there are some people that will. Focus on one town, focus it down, on “Coeur D’Alene Homes and Lifestyle,” “Dubuque Homes and Lifestyle,” even Phoenix might be too big, either go “Phoenix Metro” or name it the outlying areas.

The point is.....

Passion focused lifestyle, focused, that right there will hugely increase your results, from your ads, your responses, it will lower your costs and almost immediately.

That’s like a the big win, the big one, right there.

Your header photo! We are so excited to put “houses!” and “I’m a real estate agent!” and “buy from me!” and “Sell! Sell! Sell!” in our header photos.

That’s a freaking turn off to everybody. Nobody likes it. You know what they like? What they connect with in the header photo?

They connect with, a piece of architecture, a sculpture, an area view, something about the area.

You are trying to socially connect with people you do not know, about something that you have in common, and that is where you live. You need to reflect that.

Examples like that of our area here, it’s about the lakes. There is so much about the lifestyle here, the four season lifestyle, from hiking, to mountain biking, to skiing, jet skiing, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, it is about the lifestyle, the outdoor lifestyle here.

One of the biggest things we were able to use was that I took some pictures of the lake, some of the best pictures that reflected what it’s like to live here. What is it like to live in your area?

What do you love? I mean, if you are in Philadelphia, the art museum steps. I mean, hello, Philly is known for “Rocky” and for a whole lot of other things, and the oldest road in America, things like that. I mean, that’s just Philadelphia example, wherever you are, what do you have?

Even here, I don’t have to use the lake. If I was trying to go for a crowd who had younger children, I would use the Mugsy and Millie thing, and if you have kids and know the stories, that’s great, the author lives here and has decorated mooses all over the place. They are really kinda cute, and they are iron sculpted moose. I mean, I would use that!

Find something that is related to your area and here’s a little side trick, a little bonus, if you don’t think that you take pictures well, because your photo really has to be well taken.

You have to own it, you take it or you buy it. You do not borrow it. You do not pull it off Google. This is a business so be ethical.

Stop breaking the rules, stop using other people’s pictures. If they give you permission to use their photo, get it in writing.

So here’s what you do. Hire a high school photographer to go out and take 100, 200 pictures for you. Pay him a $100. $200, whatever it is. Have them take a ton of pictures. Tell them all the different areas that you want them to go take pictures in, and then get the use of some of those pictures and use some of those.

So number one is your page name, number two is your header photo,

Your Profile Photo

The number three one, this is another hard one for real estate agents, like harder than I thought.

For that page photo, you know, the headshot, the profile piece of that, the profile photo of your business page, so many of us want to use our logo, or our professional headshot.

There is nothing more of a turn off for a business page that is about passion, that’s about a lifestyle, then to see a logo.

People know immediately, its a sell. They know immediately, the feel immediately, that they are going to be sold to.

You don’t want that.

If you have your professional headshot on there, again, same thing. You are trying to connect with people on a social connection basis on here.

This is Facebook we are talking about here. This is Facebook- when you are out volunteering for the Humane Society or for Habitat for Humanity, or even chamber events, do you always stand in your professional headshot pose?

No! You are a real person, you feel real, you look real, be real in that little profile photo. I’m talking about the business page, be real in it, take selfies!

And I know that a lot of you struggle with this, you do, and I know this because my members brought it to my attention. I did not realize how big of a struggle this was until they did. Guys, its a selfie. Take your phone, and play with selfies.

And for all you ladies that are, you know, really worried about looking heavy in your selfies, etc, in your selfie photo, let me do you a favor, I don’t even think you can see this.

Do not take a selfie where your nose is in the middle of the picture. You don’t want the camera at the same level as your face, you don’t want it below your face, or you are going to look alot heavier.

You want it at an angle, right at about your forehead. That’s where you want it. A little bit of an angle, right at your forehead. That will take the best pictures.

Play around with the light. Take a lot of selfies, you can always delete them. Take a lot of selfies. You want selfies as your business page profile pictures, because you want people to connect and resonate with you.

Stop being afraid to do it, stop thinking it needs to be professional, it doesn’t.

People Don't Buy From Brands

They buy from people. They need to feel like they can trust you. You are out building relationships. This is a piece, believe it or not, that will do it. It’s just like, you know, first impressions. It’s a first impression, that’s what it is.

Your page name, header picture, profile photo. If those three things are changed, your ad costs will go down, your ad conversions will go up. After that, I guarantee it will, it happens all the time and I have seen it hundreds of times.

Just those three things.

There are more. There’s more things, get the checklist. Just download it, it’s free. I ask you for your email and then email you the checklist/

It’s a couple pages long, there’s several other areas that you can go in, that each help your conversions, help your page, help your everything. So go ahead and do that.

Let me know! If you have made these changes and have seen real results immediately. would you please comment below?

I want you to be able to get Facebook to work for you. It will work using those three things I just talked about today.

Those will change those results on Facebook, almost immediately

Featured Download:

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