Real Estate Agents are struggling with finding value in using Facebook for their real estate business.

Of those who are on Facebook on a personal level, most are just focusing on their personal profiles, their spheres. They think that’s where the leads come from.

It’s not.

Of the few real estate agents who have created a Facebook business page, the consensus is out there that it’s the place to post listings, to market real estate services, to stay in touch with clients.

• A place to “get their name out there”.
• An online brochure of sorts.
• Another “website” of sorts.

Yet another “thing” to “maintain” in the guise of “marketing”.

Sigh.

Heck, real estate agents are still struggling with the whole online lead generation “thing”.

How many even have their own website?

No, a link to the brokerage site doesn’t count.

No, a link to your profile on your brokerage site doesn’t count.

Of those who do have their own website, who is actually generating leads? Few. Very few.

Some even believe and profess more leads can be had via face to face than online.

For the few agents that are using Facebook ads, I often wonder . . . why?

I think most who try it figure spending $20 – $50 – $100 one time isn’t much to lose under the guise of “trying it out to see if it works”.

I definitely understand that mentality. I’ve done it.

What I don’t understand is real estate agents setting themselves up for failure doing this.

Doing it almost as a reason to say “it doesn’t work” rather than doing it to prove it does work.

What’s even more confusing?

When I ask agents why they are on Facebook, why are they running Facebook ads, what is their purpose for their Facebook page . . .

Image courtesy of [Page//Stuart Miles] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Do you know what answer I actually get?

“I’m going for name recognition.”

Name recognition.

It takes everything in me not to tell them what’s going through my mind . . .

Just take that money and burn it. Rip it up. Better yet, send it to me. I’ll spend it on my Facebook ads, that are actually working for me.  And by working, I mean I can actually track my ROI (return on investment) without a single guess, and I’m getting sales from them.

That’s how pointless “name recognition” is.

Pointless.

Name recognition. I have to physically restrain myself from laughing out loud at this one.

Are you Nike? Are you Kleenex? Are you Disney?

Do you have millions and millions of dollars to spend on useless advertising and marketing?

Do you have any idea how much “name recognition” consumers are bombarded with an a daily basis?

No?

Then stop wasting your time and money going for name recognition. Seriously. Stop.

I understand why you think you want to focus on name recognition, but focusing on name recognition is bad. It’s a waste of time and money. It will get you no where, unless of course, you have oodles and oodles of money and are able to spend it simultaneously on Social Media, Television, Print, Bill Board, Direct Mail and insane amounts of face-to-face networking – and keep spending it, indefinitely.

And even then? Not. Worth. It.

It just doesn’t matter if people comment that they “see you everywhere”, if you aren’t the person they use to buy or sell real estate.

Being “famous” means nothing, if people aren’t compelled to use your services.

Name recognition and “getting your name out there” should never, ever, be your primary goal for anything you do. Never.

It shouldn’t even be a secondary goal. It shouldn’t be on the goal list at all. It’s a benefit, not a goal.

When you measure everything you do by ROI (and if you aren’t already, you are wasting time and money and real estate is your hobby, not your business), name recognition is not measurable. It’s not. Stop kidding yourself.

In order to generate leads on Facebook, you’ve got to change your whole mindset from the altruistic and utterly unattainable “name recognition” to one of total focus on “lead generation”.

This will be impossible for most real estate agents, hard for a few, easy for nearly none.

Real estate agents seem to have a road block when it comes to their business. They ‘think’ they are in the business of selling houses. In reality, they are in the business of lead generation.

The funniest part of this is how adamantly they will argue this fact!  They’ll argue, and yet their businesses are stuck.  No growth, not enough business to feed their family, it’s stagnant.

“For effective lead generation, you need to be systematic (frequency and consistency) and go for sheer volume.”

“The size of your real estate business will be in direct proportion to the size and quality of your database.”

“Lead generation comes “first”, “last”, and “always.””

~ Gary Keller, Millionaire Real Estate Agent

This is the biggest paradigm shift agents have to make when it comes to using Facebook as a real estate lead generation funnel.

Heck.

It’s a paradigm shift for all real estate agents in all avenues of lead generation. Facebook just happens to be the hardest for agents to make the shift with.

Why?

Probably because for the past ten years of Facebook’s existence, speakers, trainers and ‘social media’ guru’s have been teaching that Facebook is about social. It’s about you. It’s about personal. It’s about engaging with your sphere. It’s about being present. All. The. Time.

Well, those aren’t necessarily wrong, yet at the same time, they aren’t right either.

Here’s what’s happening on Facebook . . .

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Facebook is experiencing a paradigm shift. With the advent of their changes, changes like social graph search, fully featured business pages, paid ads, Facebook is combining the power of personal with the power of commercial.

There are now two distinct aspects to Facebook. The personal aspect. The one where we share the lame stuff about our lives in hopes that others will be interested (no, I don’t really think what we share is lame, I’m being silly).  It’s about connection.

Then there is the other aspect. The one where we connect our businesses to Facebook. Where we can connect with our “fans” and build our businesses.

Here’s the important distinction . . .

Real estate agents have got to realize that marketing is now about pull vs. push. Real estate agents are all about the push. Advertising their listings, proclaiming their awards, putting their mugs on bus benches and shopping carts, etc.

As a real estate agent, you’ve got to totally and completely change your thinking to pull. No matter what marketing medium you are using.

See, consumers could care less about “name recognition” when it comes to their wants.

They are bombarded with “name recognition” marketing. So much of it that they don’t remember a whole lot beyond ten minutes.  Heck.  Ten seconds is pushing it for most people.

When they are ready to buy or sell real estate, they will connect with the first real estate agent who is right there, in front of their face, the moment they make the decision that “it’s time”.

• It won’t matter if they see your mug on a bench day in and day out.
• It won’t matter that you send them a postcard or newsletter every month.
• It won’t matter that you built a beautiful Facebook page and post inconsequential blather on it.

What will matter is that at the moment they make their decision, who is there? Who has the answer to their question? Who is helping them before they knew they needed or wanted help?

That is the point of pull marketing. It’s also the point of using Facebook in your real estate business.

Name recognition is altruistic. It’s ambiguous. It’s a benefit. It should never be a goal.

So how do YOU pull on Facebook?