Harnessing the power
Are you a Realtor trying to figure out just how you can harness the power of social media to build deeper relationships with your clients and generate brand awareness and leads? Over the course of two articles here on AGBeat (Part One can be found here), I’ll discuss four social media channels I suggest you get involved in and tips that’ll help you build a strong foundation for success. This article will outline the final two channels I recommend.
It’s important to note that social media both takes a lot of time and work. If you don’t have much bandwidth or help at the moment to implement everything discussed in this article, start slowly and work on one social media platform at a time. You don’t want to have a number of poorly managed social profiles all over the web as this will reflect badly on you.
Channel three: ActiveRain
ActiveRain.com is an online blogging community for real estate professionals. I encourage you to sign up for ActiveRain, create a profile, and blog regularly. The community is frequented quite often not only by Realtors but by homeowners looking for real estate information and advice. Blogging accomplishes two goals: 1) it’s great for getting your name out there and being found in search engines and 2) it helps you position yourself as a “home expert.”
Here are some tips:
- Include contact information, links, detailed information about yourself, and testimonials in your profile. ActiveRain gives you a lot of profile “square footage” so make sure you take advantage of that. Here is a great example of a fully completed profile.
- On your ActiveRain blog homepage, you have the option to include a brief blog description, contact information, and links. Write an interesting description for your blog that will make people want to subscribe. Include links to your website and other social media profiles as well.
- Create a signature to use after each blog post. ActiveRain makes it easy to create one. Your signature should include your contact information, website, and social media profiles.
- Comment on, and subscribe to, other people’s blogs. Remember the reciprocity principle? You want people reading your blog and engaging with you so start by engaging with others.
- Respond to each comment on your blog. This will encourage people to comment again and helps to spark greater discussion. When someone has taken the time and showed they care enough to write a comment, show them it’s appreciated by responding.
Note from the Editor: while ActiveRain is highly contested by some in the industry, others continue to swear by it, thus its inclusion in this editorial.
Channel four: Twitter
Twitter can be an enormously powerful channel in which to communicate. It’s is a great way to get the word out there and generate buzz and positive word of mouth. You can use twitter to tweet daily tips for homeowners and market information.
Here are some tips:
- Build up your Twitter followers by following others you’d like to connect with. You’ll find that people will reciprocate and follow you back.
- Create lists in Twitter and group people into different categories, such as potential clients, clients, media, trainers, etc. This will help you to filter Twitter and easily connect with the people you want to engage with.
- Twitter is great for connecting with people you normally wouldn’t be able to, for example someone in the media or a high profile executive. The same people who don’t respond to your emails may very well respond to your tweets so use that to your advantage.
- Encourage people to retweet you so your tweet can go viral and get in front of more people. Do this by retweeting others (remember that people will reciprocate), and occasionally asking people for retweets by writing something like “Please RT” or “Pls Retweet” at the end of your posts.
These tips will provide you with a good starting point to be successful in social media, particularly Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and ActiveRain. While social media is a lot of work, the payoff is often tremendous. Good luck!
