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by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

Do You Need More Likes on Your Facebook Page? Find out what the 2 things real estate agents should NEVER do and why they should never do them

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


Many agents fail to realize they are chasing the wrong metrics on their Facebook business page.

So if you’ve created your real estate Facebook business page you’re probably thinking now what?

Oh yes!

Now let’s get some likes! Let me see … “I can ask a few of my friends, some of my family and every single real estate agent I can find.

Next think I’ll do is I’m going to give and take some ‘Facebook love.’ I’ll like their page and they like mine. That will help me! That will help them!”

This is exactly how every single real estate agent acts on Facebook. Every – Single – One.

Surprise, surprise. This is not exclusive to real estate agents. It’s in every single industry. After you’ve asked every single one of your colleagues and after you’ve “shared your Facebook love” in every Facebook group you can find, what next?

Oh yeah!  You get a message from someone offering you 1,000 likes for $50. What a bargain!

Let’s do it! And then you go and  join a “like exchange” group. It’s free! That’s even better. Let’s all go like each other’s pages!

Just. Stop.

You are literally ruining your Facebook page. RUINING it. If you’ve done (or are doing) any of these things, you have absolutely set yourself up for failure with your page.

Is it any wonder real estate agents are not generating any leads from Facebook? When they go into it with that attitude and way of thinking that “likes” are important and that “who knows, maybe everyone who likes my page might know someone who could use my services.”

They go into it with that mindset that is incongruous with actually generating any leads.

Please.

You’ll get better results putting a classified ad of a home for sale in Remotesville, New Mexico in the “pets available” section of the New York Times. Seriously.

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Never Do These Two Things

If you want your Facebook page to actually generate leads for you, to really be valuable to you, you will never do these two things:

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Never Ask Your Colleagues to Like Your Page

* You will never ask your colleagues to like your page. In fact, you’ll guard your page religiously and make sure never to promote it in groups (or anywhere for that matter) that are not comprised of your targeted niche. It’ll bother you when other agents “like” your page.

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Never Buy Likes

* You will never “buy” likes. Never not ever.  I’m not talking about Facebook ads. I’m talking about those opportunities where you can pay $50 for 1,000 likes. Things like that.

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Want to know the “why”?

Here it is, but it’ll mean something to you only if you want to generate leads on Facebook. If you’d rather just be part of the party and never close a sale, this information isn’t for you.

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Here are three big reasons that fake likes cost you money.

Lots of it. All of the untargeted, non-niched likes you have negatively affect your page.

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#1 You’ll Capture Fake Likes

First of all, when your goal is to capture a lead, you’ll hit that goal head on — meaning while simultaneously capturing the “like” you’ll also capture the email. All of these fake likes (and yes, they are FAKE, even if they are real people) are not interested in your services and will not take the time to give you their email address.

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You should be running a minimum of 2:1

For  every 20 likes on your page, you should easily be picking up 10 email addresses — that they willingly give you! I’ve got clients running 1:0.8, meaning for every 10 likes they get, they are getting eight quality email addresses.

That’s one reason. It’s a major one if you know the power of effective email marketing. But then, many of the “bigwig experts” in our industry are lamenting that email is dead.

If you believe that, I’ve got a waterfront property in Iowa to sell you. Do you agree with them? Have you tested it? Have you given it a true effort (and not with the canned email crap you get in your CRM)?

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#2 Last Actor Algorithm

Another reason? Are you completely unaware of the whole hullabaloo going around about how “no one” sees your page posts in their feed? Hmm? The algorithm is called Last Actor (it is not EdgeRank and never has been — that is an industry-made-up term, not a Facebook-created term and it’s no longer in play).

What is Last Actor? It means that when I, as an individual, on my personal profile, interact with people or pages,

Facebook keeps track of this. Facebook wants to keep showing me what I’m interested in. So Facebook keeps track of the last 50 interactions I’ve had, and runs its algorithm according to my tastes. Which means if I haven’t interacted with your page in my last 50 interactions, I won’t see updates from your page.

Now, you may be thinking, that’s OK! Those people who have liked my page and haven’t interacted with me don’t need to see my updates. My page still looks good because of the likes, right?

Nope.

There is another algorithm when it comes to pages. Facebook distributes a page post to a small amount of its page likes. Usually around 1 to 5 percent. If (or when) any of those likes engage in some way (like, comment, share, click through) with that post, Facebook increases the percent of your page likes that post is distributed to.

If no one engages, Facebook reduces the initial “test” percent.

It’s bad when your likes don’t engage with your posts. Really bad.

 If you’ve got any amount of untargeted, non-niche likes on your page you can bet they won’t be interacting with you. 

They aren’t interested in what you are giving them. When they don’t interact Facebook decides that your content is worthless and doesn’t distribute your content any further.

Not a good place to be in.

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#3 Boosting Your Posts in a Shotgun Approach

Oh, but I know what you are thinking! I’ll just boost my posts! And that leads me to the third reason. Are you willing to pay money to boost your posts in a shotgun approach? You are? Great. Spend your $5 or $10. Waste your money.

Your boost will hit, maybe, another 5 to 10 percent of your likes. Again, it’s like running a classified ad in a newspaper. You are throwing out money and hoping it will stick to someone.

Anyone.

 The absolute beauty about Facebook is how insanely targeted you can market your business. It’s incredibly cheap and yet it’s highly targeted and offers an amazing return on investment if you haven’t screwed it up. 

If you know what you are doing you can make sure your ads target only people who are likely to use your services.

If you keep buying or acquiring likes that are irrelevant to you your ability to target will completely disappear.

Seriously.

Think about it this way: If you could spend $50 to bring in 100-125 qualified leads, would you?

You’d still have to nurture those leads as some are farther out than others. Or you could spend $50 to boost your posts and bring in zero leads.

Yes, I said zero.

When you are advertising randomly, the results are dreadful at best.

So here it is. You have to make your choice.
Do you follow the herd and do what the herd is doing?
Or do you do what will make your page effective.
Do you do what will bring in leads to your real estate business?
Do you stand out from the crowd?
Be a sheeple or a steeple, the choice is yours.

What other tips do you have for social media marketing and Facebook marketing for real estate agents?

As new real estate startups might slow, which are most promising in your view?

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Featured Download:

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


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Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: Done, facebook for real estate agents, facebook page setup, facebook strategy

by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

Lead generation starts with a mindset shift. Don’t chain yourself to Facebook — leverage key pieces to manage your time


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


Lead generation starts with a mindset shift

You need to have a strategic plan — and implement that plan consistently if you want to drive leads into your database from Facebook.

Your Facebook Business Page Setup

First and most importantly, your Facebook business page setup should allow you to generate and capture leads. Often the best way to do this is to have a Facebook business page that produces leads combined with an email-specific database to drive them into.

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Use MailChimp

In this case, I recommend MailChimp. (No, your real estate-specific contact relationship management program is not the best place for your email database.)

 Success is dependent on your foundation. 

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Your Page Category

Construct your Facebook page to act as a lead machine. Your page category most likely is currently set as a local business.

Well, I’ve got news for you — if you don’t physically own the brokerage and your name isn’t on the deed or lease agreement for the brokerage, you are not a local business

You are a service, and your page category needs to reflect that.

 Your real estate lead generation success is dependent on your foundation. 

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Your Page Name

It’s also likely that your page name is either your name, your team name,your brokerage name or another official business name.

It’s no wonder people don’t want to “like” your agent page. When your page is centered on you, your future clients won’t be interested.

However, when your page name reflects what you can do for them and their future lifestyle, your clients will pay attention.

Let’s be real here: No one cares about you and your business. People do care about themselves and where they live.

Name your page to appeal to the clients you hope to attract.

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Capture Points

Your capture points — and there are more of them than you may think — also serve as key elements to a successful lead-generation Facebook page.

Take advantage of all the available outlets to acquire leads, including your profile and header photos, which are insanely powerful toolsl.

You can also use your “about” section and Facebook-provided call-to-action button, just to name a few.

A healthy Facebook page is always growing

Indeed, you must have every capture point ready to go. But to make this happen, first make sure you’re categorized correctly.

Here’s the deal:
After your page is organized for lead generation, it’s time to start thinking about growth.
No, I do not mean ask and invite everyone you know to your page.
And I do not advise you to connect with every real estate agent known to man.

A healthy Facebook page is always growing with your target audience.

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You Want Beneficial Page Likes

You want beneficial page likes — not detrimental page likes. This is key. You need to decide who you most want to work with.

Focus on that 20 percent of your business that gives you 80 percent of your success both financially and emotionally.

Target that 20 percent.

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Create a Targeted Audience

Create a targeted audience in Ads Manager, then set up and run the page like ads to that audience. Turn those ads on, and never turn them off.

You want your page to be always growing with your target audience. Why? For one, it shows authority. Strive for relevant and targeted authority in your marketplace.

Fresh fans also foster energy. They keep your page hopping. They keep it active. Having new fans excited about your page is essential in spreading the word about your content and reaching more leads. They keep interaction on your page alive. — for free.

In a nutshell, driving a targeted audience to your business page every single day improves your overall reach and engagement. Not to mention, your future ad costs will drop dramatically.

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Consistently Vet Your Page Likes

First, change your mindset. Your Facebook page likes are another “database” for you. Always think of your page likes as a targeted database. Your goal is to build and drive that list both to your website and into your email lead compilation.

Your Facebook page likes are another database for you — treat it right.

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You Don’t Own Your Facebook Page

Now, you don’t own your Facebook page, and Facebook can change or take it away at any time. But while you still control it, stay focused on building your page-like community — with targeted page likes — and driving that community into your database.

You wouldn’t arbitrarily snail mail anyone and everyone — it’s a waste of your time and money. So don’t allow a buildup of page likes consisting of just anyone and everyone. (This includes your real estate colleagues.)

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Reach and Engagement

Your reach and engagement are affected negatively when your audience isn’t targeted or responsive. Your ad spend is higher when you are paying to reach people who aren’t your target audience.

Determine if your targeting is on point so that your future ads knock your return on investment out of the park. Your ad relevancy and results are decimated when you have an unresponsive (read that as un-targeted) audience.

It’s much less expensive to test out your audiences with page likes. You can quickly and easily vet each one rather than blindly run ads to audiences that aren’t fully targeted.

Scale Your Ad Spending

Vetting your page likes makes it easier to scale your ad spending with the assurance that it’s right on target.

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Content Must Be Consistent and Frequent

I’ll bet you’ve heard, as recently as today, that you should post a particular type of status update on your Facebook page to get engagement.

Well, that’s fine and dandy and it might get you engagement right now, at this moment. But, what about 24  hours from now? What about 24 days from now? 24 weeks from now?

Facebook applies multiple algorithms and they are always changing. It’s absolutely impossible to stay on top of what works at a particular time.

And what works for one business type and one audience doesn’t necessarily work for another.

Remember, you are focusing on the 20 percent of effort that gets you 80 percent of your return.

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Content expires in the news feed within about three or four hours

And for most agents, because their page likes are so integrated with junk likes (i.e., real estate colleagues around the country), their content expires almost immediately.

Don’t waste your energy trying to game the system or trying to beat the Facebook algorithm. Instead, be consistent, and be frequent.

Consistency and frequency will knock your real estate lead generation out of the park
Get interesting and relevant content up on your page at least once every four hours.
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What is The First Step You Are Going to Take?

So, now that I’ve told you what you need to do, what is the first step you are going to take?

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Featured Download  

I want to help you, that’s why I created a Facebook page setup checklist — just for you. Click here to access it.


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Filed Under: Lead Generation Tagged With: Done, facebook page setup, lead generation

by Christina Ethridge Leave a Comment

Facebook page likes are powerful. The problem is, most real estate agents think they aren’t. Get the most highly effective strategies for real estate Facebook page likes now!


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


Facebook Page likes are powerful creatures.  

So powerful, that if you are not focused on your page like strategy and consistently growing your page likes, you are missing out on an awesome lead generation aspect of your Facebook business page.

The thing is, it is very hard for real estate agents to see the power in Facebook, let alone the power in Facebook page likes.  

Why is the Facebook page like power so hard to see?

Well, for one, real estate agents are being taught how to use Facebook, by people who have no idea how to use Facebook for lead generation.  Oh, they look like experts.  

They talk about the social aspects, how to engage with people in only 10 minutes each day, how to use it for name recognition and brand awareness, making sure you wish people Happy Birthday in unique ways so your posts stand out on their wall, etc.

They themselves are engaged with their following (people they’ve met in real life or who have made a connection with them in some way – in other words, their sphere of influence.)

All of those things are fine and well and good, if you are doing them from your personal profile and you are simply focusing on your typical ‘networking’ style by reaching out to people you are already connected to. 

These experts also say that people will see who you are and what you do, people you don’t know, by your participation on their friends and families posts.  Well, yes, this might be true. Notice I said ‘might’ be true… and it works for a closing or two each year.

But what about those of us who want more than a couple of closings from our Facebook efforts?  What about those of us who want to have a steady stream of leads coming in?  

Leads that are people we are not connected to, leads that are people we do not know.  Leads that we wouldn’t have connected with outside of Facebook?

There are those of us who know, in our guts, that Facebook is a powerful lead generation source.  The problem is, we just don’t fully understand how, where, what, when and why.

What do real estate agents typically think about page likes?

 Many real estate agents think Facebook page likes are a competition.  The more likes the better. 

The problem is, when they think this way, they tend to go hog wild and ask anyone and everyone (plus their uncles) to like their business page.  

They don’t stop to think whether those people would be interested in their business or services.  They pull out the stops and practically guilt their friends and family into liking their page, under the guise of “support me and my new business page.”

Another big issue with this is that Facebook encourages this kind of behavior!  

Facebook is constantly reminding page owners that they need to reach their next milestone… whether that milestone is getting a page user name, getting their first 100 likes, or getting 400-500 likes so they can access different analytics and targeting available to pages with more likes.

This encouragement from Facebook is a Catch 22 for real estate agents.  They want to achieve those milestones and Facebook isn’t teaching them about truly targeting their likes.  

They are simply encouraging more likes which unfortunately, is setting up that page to fail, by Facebook’s own algorithm!!

Another group of real estate agents (and their coaches) think that page likes aren’t leads so don’t bother.

This group of agents are usually pretty vocal.  They talk about “moving the dial” and that page likes aren’t moving the dial.  They firmly believe that page likes shouldn’t be pursued or measured.

The thing is, they are partially right!  Page likes are typically not someone who is ready, willing and able to buy or sell a home right this minute.  

However, page likes are what I call “thawed out leads.”  In other words, they liked your page for a reason. They have some idea that they either like you, like your business or might possibly need your services in the future.  They’ve made the first step towards you and your services.

Now, the above only holds true if you have pursued targeted page likes.  This does not hold true if you’ve asked anyone and everyone (plus their uncles) to like your page.

It especially doesn’t hold true if you are asking your colleagues around the country to like your page.

Page likes are not created equal.

Don’t mistake anything I’ve said above.  Not all page likes are equal. Not at all.  In fact, there are page likes that are beneficial and page likes that are detrimental.

You want the beneficial page likes and you want to avoid the detrimental page likes.

So what are detrimental page likes?

Detrimental page likes, according to Facebook’s algorithm, are page likes that are not interested in your page.  They aren’t likely to engage with anything you post. They are inclined to “unfollow” or “hide” you in their News Feed.  Facebook considers those actions negative and will penalize your page by not showing it to as many News Feeds if you have page likes doing this to you.

Detrimental page likes are also likes that are not your target niche or audience.  In other words, they aren’t likely to use or recommend your services.

How are detrimental page likes accumulated?

Detrimental page likes are accumulated a number of ways including . . .

When real estate agents start a page, their first goal is typically to accumulate page likes.  So they start asking people to like their page.  Typically it starts out with family and friends then it quickly moves onto their colleagues around the country.

If those friends and family are not in your target market, they aren’t going to be interested in what you have to say or share on your real estate business page.  They end up becoming detrimental page likes.

Those colleagues around the country are not your target market.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you might possibly get a referral from one of those colleagues.  Sure you might.

But in the meantime, that colleague is not interested in what you have to say or share in your market.  They are likely to unfollow or hide your page (or even unlike it.)  These are negative behaviors that Facebook will penalize your page for.

Additionally, these friends, family and colleagues that are not in your target market, are watering down your future Facebook advertising efforts.  More on this later

Another way detrimental page likes are accumulate is by ‘paying for likes’ via services that promise you a certain amount of likes for a preset sum of money.  

They even promise that these page likes are real people.  Often they’ll promise the page likes are from your specific country.

While you’ll definitely accumulate Facebook page likes this way, you are harming yourself even further.  For one, these likes are pointless.

They are useless to you.  They are detrimental for engaging, targeting and advertising.  They will never become leads for you, so why bother?

The third way detrimental page likes are accumulated is through running untargeted or poorly targeted ad campaigns or boosting posts to poorly or untargeted audiences.

Another way detrimental page likes are accumulated is by participating in “like exchanges.”  There are Facebook groups dedicated to this practice.

When you join one of these groups and share your page asking for likes, and in exchange going through and liking their pages, you are participating in a like exchange.  

The final way page likes are accumulated is by running “sweepstakes or contests” on your page that offer something anyone, anywhere can win and receive.  Especially when the goal is page likes.

So how do you avoid detrimental page likes?

You avoid detrimental page likes by not focusing solely on accumulate likes!

Don’t ask anyone and everyone to like your page.  Don’t use page like services that promise a certain number of likes for a certain amount of money.  

Don’t run page like advertising campaigns until you know how to effectively utilize Facebook’s advertising and targeting programs.

I’ve talked about detrimental page likes enough.  Now. Let’s move on to beneficial page likes.

What are beneficial page likes?

Beneficial page likes are likes that are your target client.  It’s really that simple.

Beneficial page likes include your past & present clients. They include locals who are likely to use your real estate services.  They include anyone, anywhere likely to use your services.

However, the better you know your target audience, the more beneficial your page likes will be.

In other words, do you prefer to work with buyers or sellers?  Do you prefer to work with first-time home buyers or rental home sellers?

How old are your favorite clients?  What’s the price range of home they typically buy or sell?  Are they married? Single men? Single women? Have children?  Empty nesters? Snow birds?

Only you know your target and your market.  You definitely need to focus on your niche here and you need to seriously set aside the whole idea that “you might lose a deal if you define your target and leave someone out” mentality that is held by most real estate agents.

Seriously.  Let it go. You’ll have plenty of people within your ideal target that you will be referring out those that want to use your services who aren’t your ideal client.

So how do you accumulate beneficial page likes?

You accumulate beneficial page likes by knowing your audience, deeply.

You accumulate beneficial page likes by targeting people you know who are already your clients (past & present), locals you know who are your target audience.  

You ask these people personally to come over and join in the success of your business by liking your page.

Then, you accumulate beneficial page likes by using Facebook’s targeting algorithms and running ads to your targeted audience.

You make sure your page is promoted on your websites & blog sites with a like box.  You make sure your page is promoted in your email signatures.  You make sure it’s on your business cards.  You make sure it’s promoted in your snail mail campaigns.

Yes you want people in your email database, but that is another step of obligation for people to jump to.  Facebook page likes are a very easy step for most people.  It’s a low threshold.

There is no obligation on their end and they feel anonymous.  But, they just profiled themselves to you and that is where the power comes in.  More on this later.

Why are page likes so powerful?

The thing is, page likes are powerful because, if you’ve accumulate beneficial page likes, you now have a group of people who have made the first step of interest in you and your business.  

They’ve moved towards you a single step.  A small step to be sure, but it’s a step and it’s a step in a powerful database.

And yes, you should think of your page likes as a form of a database.  It’s a database that serves as a funnel into your main database (your email database.)

When you have beneficial page likes, you are then able to target those page likes through the content you share, through the things you say and more powerfully, through targeted advertising.

 The thing is, the statistics show that people who like your page are more likely to buy your products or use your services. 

The result?  I’ve found that fans are most likely to BUY! Repeatedly when I have a product to promote, I find that fans buy at a very high rate.  On the flip side, people who are less likely to know who I am (and trust me) are far less likely to buy.

~ Jon Loomer  

The power in page likes is to use Facebook as a sales funnel:

Build a targeted audience (your page likes)

Give them what they are looking for in the content you share

Build their trust

Get their email addresses

Nurture them to a closing

This is why page likes are so powerful.  They are the targeted audience you are building on Facebook.  When you have a targeted audience, you can target them through Facebook advertising.

Detrimental page likes cost you money.  

When you are using Facebook advertising to target your page likes, every detrimental page like you have costs you money.  You are paying to reach someone who either is a fake profile or is not your target audience and you are paying to reach them repeatedly.

When you have friends, family and colleagues that are not in your target market, they are watering down your Facebook advertising efforts.  This costs you money. Here’s an example…

Say you have grown your Facebook business page to right around 500 page likes.  You did this by asking friends and family, past and present clients, and colleagues around the country to like your page.  You also joined some groups that do like exchanges with each other.

Let’s break this down a little more.  Around 40 of those likes were past and present clients.  Another 20 were family and friends. The remaining 440 were from like exchanges, buying likes or other detrimental like accumulating processes I described in detail above.

Any advertising you run targeted towards your Facebook page likes will be less than 10% effective.  You’ve only got around 40 targeted likes on your page.  So for every $50 you spend on advertising to your page likes, $45 of it is money down the drain.

Beneficial page likes make you money.  

When you use Facebook advertising to target your page likes, you are targeting page likes who are interested in your services.  The goal with Facebook advertising towards your page likes is to move them along to the next step in the sales funnel process.

When people put that step forward by liking your page, targeted people, they’ve just raised their hand saying “yes, I’m interested in what you have to offer.”

This is them profiling themselves and this is where the power comes in.  They’ve raised their hand. They’ve expressed interest.  

Now, through the content you share on your page and the advertising you do, you can move them through the funnel into your database, where you will further nurture them until they “buy or die.”

So, after reading this, what has changed for you?  What are you going to start doing, stop doing, change?


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


Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: Done, facebook for real estate agents, facebook page setup

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