facebook page setup

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

Stop making phone calls! Do these 4 things today that will double your real estate business this year (and quadruple it next year)

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

I wrote this training article for you because I read something in a Facebook group that triggered this soapbox.

I’ve given you very solid, tangible, takeaways that you can implement immediately, but I also know that you need to know why I’ve done this. So hold on to something — ’cause here I go.

In one of the plethora of Facebook groups that are popular with real estate agents, someone recently said (and I quote)

It takes about 300 calls per day to get a listing, but if you don’t do that you get no listings. In any case, the personal contact always is the best way to go.

I’ll have to admit, no matter how many times I hear agents talk like this, no matter how many times I see this kind of arrogance, no matter how many times I listen to this fixed mindset — I still feel shocked.

Shocked that someone actually believes what is coming out of their mouth.

Shocked that someone is spouting out this nonsense expecting others to adhere to it and yet, doesn’t adhere to it themselves (because let’s face it, this kind of advice always comes from agents who don’t have enough transactions under their belt to substantiate their belief, mindset or advice).

I just have to shake my head when real estate agents start spouting this nonsense. Nonsense they act like this is the only way to build your real estate business — the one way to get listings.

And the crazy part is, they fiercely protect this fixed mindset. Fiercely! They insist there is no other way to do it.

Tip #1

Get out of a fixed mindset and jump into a growth mindset. There are better ways to lead generate, despite what our industry is focused on teaching.

The kicker: They say these things as absolutes. Absolutely stating that it absolutely always works. That it’s absolutely the only way. They’ve created boxed-in ideas about how to get listings and what personal contact is.

Forget cold-calling; build personal relationships

The irony in this is that they think cold-calling is personal contact and that it builds know, like and trust relationships.

Let’s face it. They are delusional.

Cold calling for listings is not a personal contact.

This mindset is dangerous.

It’s dangerous because its singular goal is to make sure that no one else transcends beyond them, that no one else does something better, in a new way, in a more effective way.

It’s so hardcore, and its influence so strong, that our entire real estate industry is affected by it. This mindset shows people that we are the smarmy salespeople with crappy reputations that they already mostly believe.

Come on, a cold call is a personal contact? Cold calling is the only way to get listings?

I’ve never made a cold call in my life, and guess what — I’ve taken my unfair share of listings.

The thing about this mindset is that it’s not scalable (purposefully not scalable), and it’s simply not true.

You only have so much time, and you have to trade time for each phone call.

If you do 300 phone calls a week, that means you would potentially take 52 listings per year.

Unless you can invent more time, you’ll be stuck at taking 52 listings each year. You won’t ever grow beyond that.

Cold calling isn’t scaleable — unless you can invent more time.

And what are you going to do? Just go through the phone book making phone calls? Really? How are you going to reach the households that haven’t had a landline in more than 15 years?

Tip #2

Rethink what personal contact is, and isn’t, and leverage it to build your real estate business.

We haven’t had a landline in 15 years, and most of our circle of friends hasn’t, either. And we are in that group of buyers and sellers that most people want.

The move-up-to-their-largest-home group. The group that has both a sell and a buy — at a price point that is statistically double and triple the area average home price.

Are you willing to build your business on a fixed mindset that not only is a ridiculous one but is also quickly disappearing in its ability to be used?

Build a scalable business

Yes, I know real estate agents that do this. But they never reach leverage. They never build upon previous actions they take.

When they are calling 300 new people every single week, even if they repeat through their lists every quarter, they aren’t actually building any relationships.

Their one sole focus is: Are you ready to sell? That’s it. They have no connection with the prospects for any other reasons.

And, the prospects have zero connection with them, which means zero loyalty — which means they’ve still got to convert the prospect over and over again.

During each phone call, at each appointment, the prospect has zero reasons to trust them.

This means that every single month they start back at zero. They aren’t looking for stages of the homeownership journey; they are looking for the close. That’s it. That’s an awful lot of work that never ends.

Why on earth would you get into real estate with the potential freedom, flexibility and awesome financial future to treat it like a non-renewable resource? This isn’t building a business; it’s being controlled by the business.

Tip #3

Start your business with the end in mind. Think “scale” in the beginning before it becomes nearly impossible to actually scale.

If you aren’t thinking scale now, when you first begin, you’ll struggle with scaling in the future. Seriously — most agents just think “Oh, I’ll hire someone from overseas as a virtual assistant to call all my leads and help me cherry-pick the ones most likely to take action right now.”

If you aren’t thinking scale when you first begin, you’ll struggle with scaling in the future.

Seriously? Don’t get caught up in the idea of using dialer services (or outsourcing to an overseas VA). You’ve still got to trade time for the phone calls, and it’s still focused on closing the immediate deal rather than on helping consumers through the journey and subsequently closing multiple deals.

I’d be willing to bet that the number of people who are turned off by the dialer services and broken English cold calls are infinitely more than the number of people who agree to an in-person appointment.

Again, a smarmy salesperson shines brightly in this case. Really? You care so little about the people you want to work with that you’ll toss aside any opportunity to build a tribe of people who are wild and crazy about you, just so that you can forever cold call. Forever? You will never truly scale this.

Let’s talk about that for a minute. When I say “scale” I don’t mean “just acquire more random leads and hire VAs to help convert them.” That is one type of scaling, not a particularly efficient type, but it’s still one type of scaling.

And really, it’s not scaling because you have to have a VA for every X amount of leads that come in.

Which means the more leads you have, the more VAs you have. And the more VAs you have, the more people you have to manage or pay others to manage. In other words, having more people does not equal scale; it just equals more people (and more money spent).

Don’t focus on vanity metrics

You know, the whole “my team is 24 people” bragaliciousness that we love to spout. If you can do double, triple, quadruple the business with a team one-quarter of the size and not be stressed and still have a lovely life, why would you focus on vanity metrics?

When I’m talking scale, I’m talking about the ability to scale your income producing time and efforts that create and build know, like and trust relationships.

Wouldn’t you rather bring on more buyer agents because every other phone call is a buyer that is ready and determined to work with you or your team?

Wouldn’t you rather bring on a listing coordinator (or three) because every other phone call is a seller who is asking you to come out and list their home? It would save you the time of multiple prospective listing appointments.

Don’t get caught up in the idea of using dialer services or outsourcing VA’s.

I know that I’d much rather outsource paperwork, signs, lockboxes, photography, etc., than outsource building relationships. And I also know that relationships are easily scalable, meaning, it’s just as easy and takes just as much time to create and build one relationship as it does to create and build 1,000 relationships when you know what you are doing.

It’s just as easy and takes just as much time to create and build one relationship as it does to create and build 1,000 relationships.

4 ways to create know, like and trust relationships

Guess what? Personal contact doesn’t just happen in face-to-face or phone-to-phone situations. In fact, personal contact happens in all mediums including:

1. Blog posts

Blog posts work well to create and build know, like and trust relationships. They are beautiful when it comes to creating a relationship in which the prospect simply connects with you and is ready to list their home.

They already know you. They already trust you.

However, putting up ghost-written, canned garbage isn’t going to help you. Not one bit. The consumer knows it’s ghost-written, canned garbage. They aren’t stupid. They know it’s monotone. They know it isn’t your voice. They know you aren’t having a conversation.

This is where we fail when it comes to blogging. We focus on keywords and SEO traffic, and that’s it. Flip that around and focus solely on solving the problems and giving value to your prospects.

You’ll build relationships and convert leads. You’ll also start driving the right, high-value traffic as opposed to every Tom, Dick or Harry doing searches for events in your area.

1. Email

Sending a real email, not the canned garbage we as real estate agents cling to so we don’t actually have to talk to anyone.

Not the canned garbage we use just to get the requisite number of touches in because, after all, a touch is all that’s needed, right? No!

You need to have a conversation. Again I say, stop touching your list and start having conversations with them.

Yes, you can scale this! Use an email marketing software, and have a conversation with your list at least once every week.

Twice a week is even better. And yes, these numbers are based on actual scientific evidence of billions of emails.

Yes, you can schedule these conversations. You don’t have to be sitting down at the computer every single week writing these emails, but you must be the one having the conversation.

You can not outsource relationship building. Don’t mix it up touches with building relationships.

3. Video

Yup, video. With the advent of live streaming on just about every major social media channel and people who are flocking to watch live streams, you have got to be doing video in some fashion. Live streaming makes it insanely easy.

But (there is always a but with me, isn’t there?), the thing is, it’s not about live streaming your open houses (though you can), and it’s not about live streaming marketing stats (though you can).

It’s about being available and authentic — a bit raw, in fact. It’s about getting on and solving problems for people — for your prospects.

When you start showing your expertise, you become the expert. And most importantly, you become trusted, approachable and relied upon.

When you stop pitching you, your services and your listings and start helping, your results will be dramatic. Your tribe will become unstoppable.

<span style=”background-color: yellow; font-size: large;”><b>Live streaming makes creating video content insanely easy.</b></span>

4. Repurpose

And guess what the best part of all of this is? Each of these three things is repurposed. What do I mean?

Start with video. Do a live stream on a topic that is close to your prospects’ heart. Help them. Dive deep with them. Give them the answers and resources they need to overcome the obstacle.

Then, run that live stream replay as a Facebook ad to your page fans (remember, your page likes must be highly targeted, none of this ridiculous ask-everyone-on-planet-earth behavior that we tend to dwell on in our industry).

Then, get that live stream transcribed. Use a source such as SpeechPad.com to transcribe it. And then, edit that transcription and set it up as a written blog post and go deeper on what you might have missed in the live stream.

Then, talk to your list via email and share the topic with them.

Drive them to your blog post (where, of course, you are pixeling that traffic so you can later run Facebook ads to them) where you help them in the blog post and offer a “content upgrade” that allows them to download a checklist, template or something that congruent with what you just helped them with.

Then, run a Facebook ad to everyone who visited your blog post and share the live stream with them so they can get more information, via a different medium, on the topic.

Then, run Facebook ads to cold (but highly targeted) traffic driving them to that valuable blog post, where everything is repeated.

And, for an added boost, upload that Facebook live stream to YouTube and optimize it, so you drive traffic back to the epic blog post you created for them.

So in essence, while you are creating the content, you are simultaneously leveraging the content. When you do the live stream first, you set the ball into motion.

One more crucial note

Your lead generation foundation on Facebook must be built, and built well. This means that your Facebook page likes must be highly targeted page likes — they can not be colleagues from around the country.

They must be people in your area who are most likely to use your services, which means you have to build a solid Facebook page like tribe before you can truly leverage this.

Why? Because your Facebook live streams are pushed out to your page likes and bring them in to connect with you while you are live.

And, you must be continuously building that tribe. In other words, the first, most important Facebook ad you should be running — and never stopping — is your page-like audience ad. However, you don’t want to run Facebook page like ads until your page is set up for leverage.

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 to spot the fakes- the Facebook real estate vendors who are trying to sell you crap that doesn’t work. Four quick steps you can use so you don’t throw money at useless stuff.

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

Today, I actually want to talk to you guys about something that drives me batty. How do you spot a fake? How do you spot a vendor who is actually selling you crap? How do you spot someone who is trying to use data or statistics that are a lie? They’ve manipulated or changed.

See being in our world of real estate, we get slammed with all kinds of everything, we get slammed with, of course, ZRT, Zillow, Realtor.com and Trulia, we get slammed with those.Those aren’t what I am talking about. I am talking about all the ads you’re seeing pop up in your Facebook news feed because I’m seeing them too.

I get all of those, plus I get everything in our industry or outside our industry, and that’s what I want to talk about today and we’re going to talk about key pieces you can do to spot those fakes so you’ll know even if they are teasing you with something you like or sounds good or sounds logical.

If they are teasing you with that kind of stuff, you’re gonna know right off the bat. Guess what? No, this is not someone I need to be listening too, I need to block them, I need to get rid of them.

How to spot the fake real estate vendors

So today, I am actually going to talk about, what is the name of this, I can’t remember, it’s like “How to spot a fake?” Basically, different vendors who are trying to sell you are crap. The crap sounds logical, or it’s something that makes sense.

Here’s where this came from, because I am still considered a brokerage partner, etc. I still get a lot of stuff in my Facebook news feed, I get a ton from Vendors popping up all over the place.

Real estate digital marketing

I’m not talking about Zillow, Realtors.com, or Trulia, I’m not talking about the big ones because there is a love/hate relationship with those and some people, very few are doing really well with those, and the rest of us who are using those types of things are paying for a lot of nothing.

Every piece, every time you pay for leads, it could potentially be a really great thing for you, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I am talking about in your Facebook newsfeed, stuff that come up about “real estate digital marketing.”

You’ll see all these different pages and businesses popping up, and they are going to be sharing all these different kind of stats, like one in particular that I’m not gonna name the page. I’m not gonna talk about any of who it is, I’m not here to actually, physically disparage them.

I am here to give you guys tips and pointers on how to spot them yourself because with Facebook, they are popping up every single day.

Watch out for the lies

Number one, I see a brand new business page, I am passionate about this, I see a brand new business page popping up, and I see it in my feed lying to you, like flat out lying to you.

An example of this would be something that pops up and says, “We started an ad running in the last 6 hours, the last 24 hours, and we started getting this cost, this is how much all this stuff cost, so here’s a tip for that.”

If a site is showing you an ad started any less than 5 day ago, and their saying this is the norm, this is the cost of the lead or whatever. They are lying to you. In fact, I would even go as far as saying that they would have to have done it for 7-10 days. That’s number one.

Number two, do they have multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple proofs of duplicating this exact same thing. So when someone says they can get a lead for $1.60, or you can get an opt-in, you need to know exactly what that means to buy a lead. Is it a conversation on the page?

Is it in messenger? Is it an actual opt-in where you have a least an email? See, they’re not going to tell you the actual truth in that.

They have zero proof

Number three, they’re not going to actually show you all the data.

Anybody, anybody could get a temporary quick burst of a lead or two for super cheap. Anybody could do that, it’s whether it’s sustainable or not, whether it lasts, do you always have to be creative? Do you always have to be on to do that?

That’s a whole different thing, so let me tell you number one, if they are pointing you to data they used on one case study over the course of a 3-4 day run, here’s the problem: they have zero proof. None. They’re not using real data. They are using one anecdotal evidence that you don’t know the situation surrounding it.

Using the term Realtor®

Number two, I’ve seen a whole lot of businesses or “business pages” popping up using the term Realtor®. Like Realtor digital marketing or Realtor whatever- as a Realtor® you know they are not allowed to use the phrase Realtor®.

That means member, that is for NAR, if you see a business using “Realtor®” in their name, unless it’s Jane Doe Realtor, that’s different, you’re allowed to use that. You’re a member of NAR.

If it is a business using Realtor® in their names, they are just trying to get your money. They have no idea, they don’t know the real estate industry, they don’t know your needs, they just see a quick buck. They see you guys struggling out there, doing stuff.

If they use “Realtor®” in their page name, in their business name, in their “academies” or digital marketing – anywhere in their name like that or apart of their course name: STAY AWAY. Absolutely stay away. They don’t even know the very basics of the use of the term Realtor®.

It’s really that simple, it’s a big huge red flag and I’m like “whoa, wait what, no”

Look at their page likes

Then you really have to look at the deal and their page likes. If they’re a new business with 100, 200 or 300 page likes and they are popping up like “we got this thing we’re gonna see you right away,” they are not legit.

If they have thousands of page likes, go and find out what countries their page likes are from. Because there are big people out there, one of the big Facebook gurus outside of the real estate industry, one of the things she is teaching is go and get fake page likes.

Yep, she teaches you to go out and get fake page likes because it helps bump up your reputation. Yeah worst thing you could possibly do for your page, but that’s what some pages are doing just get you to think they are authentic, that they are legit.

Go look and see where the majority of their page likes are from.

Are they from North America? No? Then you need block that page. You need to get out of it and not even look at it because number one, they don’t know the industry, they don’t know Facebook, their trying to see you stuff, like they do.

They are selling you stuff that actually doesn’t work. Maybe it got them some page likes, but guys when our page likes are not targeted, are not the ones we actually need, that screws us up.

It screws us up. Facebook now with algorithm change, huge difference. It’s been a problem for years, but now with the algorithm change, guys, it’s really important.

Your colleagues need to hear this!

You have colleagues who need to hear this and this is really important. This one is important because we get sold so much crap, we get sold to like crazy.

I mean there are so many coaches out there selling us stuff that have never even had their own business, they’ve never had their own real estate business. Or they’ve learned to be a coach – you can “learn” supposedly to be a coach or be “certified” and blah, blah, blah and never have experienced anything yourself so you can under the feelings of what’s going on, etc. Yeah, it’s just ridiculous.

Summing it all up

Here is another thing, well there are three things.

Number one, I don’t even have these written down, I am just fired up this morning. If they are using the term Realtor® in their page name, in their business name, in their URL, in their class they are offering, whatever: if they are using the term realtor, bad news they don’t even know the basics.

They don’t even know the basics of our industry, I’m not even talking about buying or selling houses, all they think is a Realtor is just a real estate agent, not true.

They think the term is synonymous which, you know as a NAR member that is a big thing. So as a Realtor®, as a member, if you can replace the term Realtor with term member, you are using it correctly and so that is a big thing. Using the trademark term incorrectly, avoid them. That’s number one.

Number two, if they are giving you a load of data based on one case study that was over a couple of days, no longer or they are no other case studies in there, it’s simple antidoticle and you have no idea what all of the elements are, they just sound really good.

Number three, their page likes.

If they have few very page likes, beware, they are brand new. They popped up out of nowhere. They got a couple hundred page likes and now they want to sell you crap.

If they have a lot of page likes, look and see where those page likes are from. Are the majority of them from North America? If they are great, and I’m talking like 90% majority.

If they are not, if they’re from India or Taiwan or Indonesia or any of the areas where you can get “fake” page likes, where they say they are real, but they are fake.

If they are prodimatly outside of North America, avoid them like the plague.

And I am adding in a fourth one, you’re going to love this one, vendors are going to love this one, NOT!

If they are calling you to sell you something, ignore them. Avoid them. Don’t take the call.

Seriously, Zillow, Realtor.com or Trulia all hound you with phone calls. They’re out to sell you something, not help you. Period.

Google, SEO, all of that, if they have to call you and do sells pitches on you, if that’s what they have to do, they are after your money. They don’t give a crap about your actual business. They don’t have something to help you, if they did, they would actually be teaching you and attracted you to their concept.

They would be showing you, you would be like, “Yes, I want that, let me sign up!” They would not have to cold call you, oh by the way this works in real estate too, as a Realtor®

It’s very important you know this. Please do me a favor, share this, I am going to keep this short, share this with your colleagues. Let them know so they don’t get screwed.

The more we let real estate agents know this is what’s going on, this is the way to identify fakes and junk that are just trying to get our money. The more we let people know that, their going to go away faster.

Hopefully, we will have fewer of them, not the real estate agents but the junk. We make it harder for vendors to jump into this realm so they actually have to be legit.

Do your due diligence

If we keep chasing them, listening to their phone calls, respond to their stuff and we don’t actually don’t do our due diligence, they are going to keep popping up, wanting a piece of your pie, absolutely they are going to want a piece of your pie.

That’s all they want, that’s all they see in their mind, real estate agents are making all of this money, they need to spend more.

Bullcrap. No we don’t, so be aware of that.

Know these four things. If they are using the term Realtor®, if they are using a one off case study only over a couple of days, literally over a couple days, especially with ads, Facebook ads as the data doesn’t work over a few days.

You have to have your Facebook ad run an absolute minimum of five days, if not longer, and that’s just one ad. You need to be able to replicate it in multiple markets.

If their page likes are too low, number one or if their page likes are predominantly outside of North America, get rid of them. No way.

And four, If they’re calling you, if they’re hounding you to try to get your business, that’s a big one.

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