Marketing Real Estate on Facebook (and Other Social Networks)
I’ll admit it. I’m hooked on Facebook. I somehow missed out the whole MySpace craze (thankfully, visiting a MySpace page now just makes my eyes hurt) - but Facebook has me hook, line and sinker.
Over on the Inman Blog, I wrote a post recently about real estate marketing through social media - where I implied that you should be thinking about marketing your listings in the places where your target markets are these days. Believe me, that’s rarely in the classifieds sections of your local newspapers anymore.
Now, industry social networks like ActiveRain are great for connecting with your peers; but let’s face it, Consumers aren’t hanging out there. If you’re looking for buyers and sellers, in this day and age you need to be a little more creative.
The news that Facebook may launch Local Classifieds got me thinking on how you can take this idea and use social networks like Facebook to really power your business.
Here’s how:
1. Encourage past clients and new clients to ‘friend’ you or ‘add’ you to their networks. Include links to your profile in your marketing materials, business cards etc. Build out a brand new online “sphere”.
2. Creating Groups - This is the most obvious way to use the site. Create a “Portland Homebuyers” group for example and help first time buyers with their questions. Leverage your expertise to become the expert in the group.
3. Creating a unique Group is also a great way to keep in touch with business networking contacts you meet - maybe it’s at a local Chamber of Commerce meeting or even a Real Estate Connect conference. (I’ve set up a SF Connect group, by the way, where I hope we can all meet up). You can engage in post conference discussions, share information in a neutral open forum that doesn’t demand the intimacy of an email or telephone contact.
4. Shares - You could use Facebook to market properties to a select group or share properties with your friends . A handy bookmarklet lets you add external links to your Shares. You could add a link to a property from your own site, even a vFlyer page or Sellsius listing etc.
Think about it, you could have an exclusive Group of Realtors in your market, maybe its even inside a single branch office, and you could share great listings with each other even before they hit the MLS.
5. If you’re a blogger, add your RSS feed to your profile. Facebook lets you add a Blog feed to your Notes. You could find new readers and even drive traffic back to your blog by sharing your posts with your network.
I think that maximizing your exposure on social networks like Facebook are going to be increasingly important to small businesses - especially in industries that are already so network-dependent like real estate. Unfortunately, due to the fleeting nature of these sites, the trick is going to be to stay on top on where everyone is. The real danger is arriving too late and finding your audience has already moved on.
Update: Drew Meyers from Zillow wrote a great post along the same lines - check out How to Productively Take Advantage of Online Communities
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32 Comment(s)
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Mariana - Springs Realty Scoop | May 3, 2007 | Reply
You make some very good points (MySpace hurts my eyes too …) and I may need to check out FaceBook.
I DO beg to differ about consumers and Active Rain, though. I, personally, have gotten many clients that “found” me on Active Rain. I think consumers are more aware of that network than we think.
Jeff Turner | May 3, 2007 | Reply
Joel… this is just a smart post. I’ve been on facebook for a few weeks, testing. It has some great potential.
John Schroeder | May 3, 2007 | Reply
Facebook is definitely on my short list of sites to visit. A lot of the features that you point out seem to be a cross between LinkedIn and a blog.
When it comes to the Active Rain site. My thinking is that more people will find you by searching Google or Yahoo and having one of your posts on the site show up in the results than will find you by directly searching on the site. However they find you the key is that they do find you. By utilizing a lot of different internet sites the goal would be to promote a large enough “presence” online that they will find you in some way. Every type of site has it’s unique advantages and disadvantages.
Jessica Swesey | May 3, 2007 | Reply
I agree that Facebook is a much better experience than MySpace. I recently set up there thanks to your invite, Joel. But my problem now is that the whole reason i was on Myspace to begin with was that all my friends were there. I’ve been poking around on Facebook trying to see who I know there and my crowd for whatever reason just isn’t adopting. So I guess I need to figure out other ways to connect on Facebook. Any ideas? Should we start up a more industry-focused group for real estate and new media?
Brian | May 3, 2007 | Reply
Joel - I like the idea, but I don’t think Facebook is going to reach the appropriate crowd that real estate marketers are into. I have been on Facebook for almost 4 years (since it was open to just a select few colleges - mine happened to be one of them). From my experience it’s primarily 18-22 year olds looking for Friday’s hot party, posting pictures of themselves taking beer bongs, and/or trying to ‘friend’ the cute girl/guy they met at the fraternity party the night before. Not exactly the crowd that’s in the market to buy/sell a home (this may be changing since Facebook opened up to a wider audience).
David G from Zillow.com | May 3, 2007 | Reply
Thanks for the add, Joel.
I must agree: Facebook is doing an amazing job.
Drew M from Zillow | May 3, 2007 | Reply
I too can’t stand myspace. I’ve been very tempted to just delete my account, but as Jessica said - all my friends are on myspace. I’m all for any ideas to get people off of myspace and onto Facebook.
Drew M from Zillow | May 3, 2007 | Reply
Jef | May 3, 2007 | Reply
I agree - facebook is a much better alternative to mySpace… we use it to reach our 18-25 crowd on gumiyo.com.
Joel Burslem | May 3, 2007 | Reply
@Brian - I’m not so sure about your assessment. I’m sensing a bit of a seismic shift as people migrate over to Facebook from MS. I think dropping the .edu requirement was a brilliant move. I’m finding more and more people there every day and not just the party crowds.
@ Drew - just saw that piece you wrote right after I hit publish. Excellent stuff. Will update my main post with a link.
Brian | May 3, 2007 | Reply
Joel - could definitely be the case, my view is very much influenced by the early .edu days and the fact that I am rarely on it anymore.
Drew M from Zillow | May 3, 2007 | Reply
Joel-
Thanks for the update. Wasn’t required, but was appreciated.
Alan Bradford | May 3, 2007 | Reply
Joel,
Great post - wonderful ideas. I read it right before lunch, and was inspired to bring my laptop with me and start the Facebook group “Arizona Real Estate.” I’m not quite sure yet what I’ll do with it, but I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while now.
The Arizona real estate market has had its definite ups and downs these past couple of years. I’m sure there are plenty of 20-something Arizonans on Facebook that need a place for advice when it comes to buying or selling a home. Fresh college grads are a perfect market for first-time homebuying.
I’m open to have people join me, so if you’re interested in becoming a contributing member, log into your Facebook account and track me down.
shaun mclane | May 3, 2007 | Reply
I’ve done my fair share of promotion on myspace and facebook. Both with mixed results. Problem with myspace is the demographic. Not many 12 year olds pretending to be 18 buying houses these days.
Here’s another site to throw into the mix - http://www.vox.com. I’ve had better results from vox than any other social network.
Brian Brady | May 4, 2007 | Reply
I’ve actually has success on myspace for 2 years now:
http://groups.myspace.com/MLSonMySpace
http://activerain.com/blogsview/18265/MySpace-to-Market-Real
Max | May 10, 2007 | Reply
Selling your home? See for sale by owner blog http://fsboq.com
Tim | Aug 29, 2007 | Reply
I think Facebook can create some leads for real estate professionals by just using the network. I don’t believe that Facebook is a place that consumers will use when they are looking for information on real estate. Sites like Active Rain and Wanna Network are showing up in many real estate related searches. More and More consumers will be finding these sites as the sites continue to grow.
I think the point is, you as a real estate professional want to be found in as many places as possible. The more sites your information can be found on, the higher probability that you will increase your closings? Thats my opinion.
Chase | Sep 8, 2007 | Reply
I totally agree! Myspace “hurts my eyes” too and facebook seems to have a more simple and clean approach. I love using facebook. I think social networking is going to be critical one day to real estate. I really do! I just signed up with a Social Networking site specifically for real estate called realedin.com. It’s working well for me and you might want to check it out and see if it’s worth writing about. Here’s the link… http://www.realedin.com
dave platter | Oct 2, 2007 | Reply
Great post. I know I’m coming to it a bit late, but I wonder, where do you think we will be in 5 years? Will proprietary networks (such as facebook, second life, myspace, etc.( account for a large percentage of online commerce? Will users increasingly prefer to access ecommerce via these networks, as opposed to the current model of search engines and separate websites?
Would love to hear your thoughts, Joel.
Francis | Oct 17, 2007 | Reply
Great post Joel. Facebook could really be the future for realtors. With a user base of millions of people and receiving billions of page views a month, there is a huge audience to market to.
There is a new, free tool that I came across on facebook that I thought I would share with the community. the url is http://apps.facebook.com/livepads
It allows people to search for homes right from their profile in facebook. It also also allows user to post homes they are selling right on their facebook profile for millions to see.
Best of all, it is free. Great tool here. You should check it out.
Oisin Clancy | Oct 25, 2007 | Reply
Interesting post - but there are a few new professional networking sites for the real estate and construction industry emerging which I think, will prove more rewarding for ‘industry specialists’ like real estate marketers. They are often more avid users, ‘granular and specific industry relevant information’ as well as more ‘real business’ people on these ones. I think that socail networking sites made for a particualr ‘vertical industry’ will be the future. For example check out this new site http://www.upworld.com for teh real estate and building industry. It is broad in scope, but focused. I think it has the makings of a great resource. What do you guys think.
More industry specific ‘professional networks’ will work better? or more generic ones?
what do you think?
oisin
Ben | Nov 8, 2007 | Reply
Cribfinder recently launched an application on Facebook and the growth has been rapid. They are currently the #1 real estate application on Facebook and consistently growing since we launched less than two weeks ago. The application is very easy to use, especially posting your properties, profile and pictures. Check it out on Facebook or at http://www.crinfinder.net. The application is truly flawless.
ben@jeniusindustries.com
Yiorgos | Nov 26, 2007 | Reply
Cool!
Chris Dowell | Dec 3, 2007 | Reply
Great Post! Taking the social networking to the next level maybe beneficial in the future. I liked the ideas of integrating your blog posts and using FaceBook to market to the clients SOI. I have been doing this via e-mail and it works. Integrating FaceBook maybe the future.
Madison Albright | Dec 3, 2007 | Reply
This is great information. Social networking can bring sales and potential buyers/investors to your website. spend the extra time, I believe its worth it.
Frank Borges LL0SA- Broker Franklyrealty.com | Dec 13, 2007 | Reply
Hey Joel,
Thanks for your post. As per your suggestion, I went ahead and started an Arlington Homebuyer’s Group to augment my Virginia Realtor Group.
I also hadn’t attached my blog to my facebook account. Somehow I thought it was already in there.
Your #5 suggestion will lead not only to me adding that application, but the hundreds of people that I teach in my blogging classes.
Next up… facebook home buying. Stay tuned.
Frank
FranklyRealty.com
http://blog.FranklyRealty.com
Kansas City | Dec 18, 2007 | Reply
Attaching your blog to your facebook account is a great idea - now if I could just get Facebook to correct my name on my account - have been trying for months.
Gresham Real Estate Guy | Dec 21, 2007 | Reply
I dont remember picking up the newspaper to find something in the classified ads for ages.
Kal | Jan 22, 2008 | Reply
Excellent post Joel, I completely agree! Facebook is great for marketing with, especially real estate because you can target so well.
I especially like your point on adding the RSS feed. It’s amazing how many people will actually end up reading that and could become potential clients. Thanks for the post!
Skyler Malloy | Feb 11, 2008 | Reply
Some really interesting points have been raised in the comments and the original post. This is a fantastic topic to talk about. Social networking is becoming huge and the effect on the real estate market will continue to change.
I totally agree that myspace is useless for networking in a professional manner, but I think there is value in online social networks.
I ran across a website, http://realestate.konnects.com, that is a social networking site focused on professionals in the real estate industry. It is not all jumbled up like myspace and it is focused on real estate professionals. I actually met a great web developer through the site.
It is free, so if you are thinking about diving into the social networking thing, give it a chance.
Matt Gentile | Mar 7, 2008 | Reply
The potential for personal marketing via social media channels is unlimited. Creating new channels to establish your domain through viral marketing is a cost-effective and growing strategy. I continue to explore how we can bring the benefits to our over 5,500 sales professional throughout Florida.
From the Beach Chair,
Matt Gentile - FloridaMoves.com
300 Days of Sunshine
Carl | Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
Selling apartments through ‘facebook’ seems quite interesting. However it may not be that easy to create groups and to really successfully strike deals.
I created a blog some time ago where I post interesting apartments and this was very sucessful: http://www.khs.fr/BlogEN.cfm