Top 10 Social Media Must Do’s For Real Estate Pros (Part 1)

Top 10 Social Media Must Do’s For Real Estate Pros (Part 1)

Here are 10 hot tips for my readers in the Real Estate business that should keep you on the Social Media straight and narrow. I’ve posted 5 of the tips here in Part 1 and I will post the second set of 5 next week.

1. Original content only – don’t copy content and claim it as yours
   This is really important. Copyright rules allow you to use excerpts from all of the excellent content out there in cyberspace (provided you give credit to the author) but outright copying will hurt you more than it will help. How? Google’s algorithms for determining unique content will invariably catch you and penalize your sight rankings in the search engines and mean you will be moving away from page 1 search results instead of toward it.
2. Use “Twitter talk” on Twitter and “Facebook Talk” on Facebook
   The language on Facebook is different than Twitter. The sight of too many  hashtags and @ signs on Facebook makes me flinch a little. Certainly it’s OK to repeat messages on both channels to catch people who are only on one or the other of the two – but if you go that way, make sure you modify your “speaking” so it’s more Facebook friendly.
3. Post more than just listings
   For sure you should post your listings – but you also need to post more useful articles, helpful hints, interesting relevant news etc.
4. Everything in moderation – avoid info overload
   Being social is one thing but you can definitely cross the line when it comes to information overload – don’t tell your social network every little thing about your life and your business!
5. Focus on your readers not yourself – don’t be too self-referential
   Again, it’s fine to be social but your readers are more interested in their own interests and pursuits then they are about you. It doesn’t mean they are not interested in you because they ARE, it’s about keeping things in perspective and balance and being more “them focused” rather than “me focused”.  The 90/10 rule applies: 90% about other things and 10% about you.
   
   This can be challenging in real estate since you have no doubt heard marketing types telling you to “sell yourself”. The point is keep your focus on your clients needs and wants even when you are talking about yourself. Ask yourself how what you are posting will benefit the reader and this should keep you oriented properly. Your readers want to know about the interesting things going on in the community, in their neighborhood, local market stats, and other things that make what YOU do valuable to them.
   
   One Real Estate agent I spoke with hit it on the head when he told me, “I didn’t get over 35,000 followers and around 2000 friends by going on about myself!”

These are just some of the SM hot points you should focus on but let me know of any that YOU might be aware of. See you next week for Part 2 and the next 5 tips.