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Noise does not equal success!
I watch a real estate agent’s page that I personally know. This agent is paying someone to do their posts. The posting is active (as in 3-4 times each day which is a good thing).
The biggest problem? There is zero engagement and zero growth.
Lots of noise, no results.
It’s no wonder why… here are what some of the posts include …
- directions on how likers can see their posts in the newsfeed – which is great, except that the directions are out of date and non-existent now.
- a whole heck of a lot of content that is for everyone except an actual home buyer or home seller
- the updates are confusing, who is the page’s target? why would i want to stay if it’s not about what i thought it would be about when i liked it?
- the posts themselves are not user friendly – not easy to read and the eyes don’t flow (in other words, people aren’t likely to read beyond the first couple of words)
- a whole lot of statements (not engagement) with links to an article
- no hashtags
- not a single call to action
- not a single post with content that points to the agent’s own website
- more than half of their “likes” are real estate colleagues, not consumers
Their Facebook page is essentially useless.
It’s a brochure that doesn’t even reflect the agent’s team! It’s a bunch of random, hodge-podge posts with no direction.
The only intent is activity, which is doing absolutely nothing for the agent.
Nothing.
It’s not generating engagement. It’s not generating likes. It’s not generating leads.
Even if a consumer hunted the page down and wanted to get more from this team, they’d have to click deeper in order to find any offers of any kind and then, it’s just a link to a website (hidden).
From what I can gather, this agent is likely using a combination of an assistant and a content provider.
The problem with that?
The assistant hasn’t got a clue what content is good to post, and what isn’t.
They don’t understand consumer behavior and they don’t make it easy for the reader to read, let alone interact with, the content.
And the content provider?
Well, in a nut shell, they suck.
They don’t understand how real estate agents can use Facebook to generate leads. What they understand is making noise.
Lots of noise.
Unfortunately, most “content providers” are all about the noise, and nothing about the conversion or conversation.
Oh, they say they are about “engaging content”, but when the truth is right there, for all to see… they are about the noise.
Facebook is a powerful lead generation source for real estate agents. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that “noise” equals “success”. It doesn’t.
If you want to successfully use Facebook for your real estate business, you must have . . .
1. Content that is helpful to your niche
Who is your niche? Buyers & Sellers! Are you even more specialized? Historic districts? Condo’s? Golfers? You need content that appeals to them, but have a real estate/lifestyle focus.
If you want to work with Historic home buyers and sellers, you need to give them historic home content. It doesn’t have to be focused solely on your geographic area… share historic home tours from all over the world – they love this! Share links to articles about your local historical society. Immerse them in the historic lifestyle… that’s why they are buying (or own) a historical home.
2. Content that answers questions
Your niche has questions. Always, whether they can think of them right now or not. They have questions. Give them content that answers their questions.
Again, with historic home buyers and sellers, what questions do they have? Is it about getting a home on the historic society registry? Is it about research? Is it about historical styles? Is it about historical colors? Is it about repair and maintenance of historic homes?
Give them content that answers their questions. You don’t have to write it all, just resource it all for them.
3. Content from your own blog/website
This is important. You MUST show you are who they can trust. Period. You do this by sharing your knowledge.
Do you participate in your local historical society? Write about pieces and elements they should know that you learn from this society.
Have you done research on a specific piece of history in your community? Write about it! Share it!
Is a registered historical home sale different than a traditional home sale? What pieces are different? Write about them!
Get tours of local historical homes… interview the owners, take pictures… give virtual tours on your blog.
4. Effective calls-to-actions that give value
Don’t just tell people to call you “if they are interested in buying or selling.” That’s a lame cop-out for doing any real work to gain their trust.
Think that’s a strong statement? Think about it. You’ve made zero effort to figure out who they are and give them a reason WHY they should trust you.
Write a solid, detailed article on selling a historical home in your area, and then push it out on Facebook… and use a call to action that shows them you are here to help, whether they want to sell now or not. Don’t SAY you are here to help, SHOW it. It will take more than one article to show your expertise – you’ve got to show it over and over and over.
5. User friendly posts
This is a biggie… and it’s so incredibly simple.
Your posts should have a whole lot of paragraphs with no more than 1-2 sentences per paragraph. Make it insanely easy for people to your posts – keep them quick, to the point and scan-able, easy to read.
We are overwhelmed today… sensory overload. Make it so easy for people to “see” you that it’s almost a relief for their eyes (and their minds) to partake in what you are sharing with them.
6. A wide variety of types of posts
Don’t fall for the post type d’jour! Don’t do it!
Every day you’ll see some expert or another stating that “this type of posting on Facebook is dead so you should do this other type instead.”
It’s a trap. With a vicious cycle and Facebook catches on (rather quickly) when you try to “game” its system.
So what’s the best thing you can do? The absolutely best type of post you can put on Facebook is a healthy mix of image posts, link posts, text posts, native video posts, etc.
A healthy mix. Don’t favor one over another. For example, right now, as of the writing of this article, native video posts are getting the most reach. However, photo quotes and text questions are getting the most shares and comments.
The question is, which one is better? The answer is, they are all better. You need a healthy combination of all types of posts to get as far out into as many of your page fans News Feeds as possible.
7. Targeted, niche specific page likes
This. This is where real estate agents fail and fail BIG.
We agents have fallen hard for the whole “any and all exposure is the best thing since sliced bread.”
We think that the more we get ourselves out there equals more business. It’s all a big, fat, lie.
Don’t do the shotgun, hope marketing approach in your real estate business. You want to hit your target every single time and you want to do it with guaranteed results.
Facebook page likes are the foundation to your targeting on Facebook. That means you want them highly targeted. You want them to be people in your market, who are most likely to buy or sell.
That does not mean you want local colleagues as your page likes. It does not mean you want colleagues from around the country as your page likes (in hopes that you’ll get a referral).
Stop focusing on the 80% that doesn’t bring you business and focus on the 20% that does. Get your page likes targeted. Get local peeps connected with your page.
To wrap this all up…
Noise is just noise and has no benefit. Stop making noise and start providing value. It’s really that simple.
I want to help you do this. That’s why I created the Facebook Page Setup Checklist. It’s a step-by-step guide you need to get your Facebook page up and running and bringing in real estate leads. You can download the checklist here
