Social Media for Real Estate Agents

Social Media Sites for Realtors®

Social Media has become a part of all of our lives. Social media for real estate agents is a hot topic. I’m sure many of you have seen the videos and stats about how many people are using social media to connect with friends as well as brands.  There are some amazing numbers:

• 1 in 3 couples meet online
• If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s largest
• eReaders have surpassed traditional book sales
• 93% of buying decisions are influenced by social media

Social Media is at it’s core, social. It has become the number 1 activity on the web. As real estate agents, our choice is not whether we “do social media”, but how well and how much do we do it. The ROI of social media is that you will still be in business in 5 years.

So Many Social Sites… So Little Time

With only so many hours in our day, Realtors® want to know, “which Social Media sites should I use?” The short answer to that is, use the ones you like.

You thought I was going to give you some recommendations based on ROI and useful stats, right? Well, there are some useful statistics, like which sites are most used, [Facebook, Google +,twitter,  LinkedIn, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, Tumblr – according to many sources] and what age groups and demographics use each site. But what really matters is how and if you use the site.

It makes sense to put your profile on all of these sites, and maybe spend some time watching what people do on them, but if you feel like something is not a fit for you, don’t waste your time. If you don’t really like a particular social media platform, you won’t really use it. Sometimes making a half-hearted attempt at something is worse that not doing it at all.

ROI for Social Media

ROI, Return on Investment, is different for Social Media for real estate agents than it is for traditional advertising. Most sites are free, so what you are really investing is your time. You don’t want to waste your time doing something you don’t like.

Sure, give it a try; you might find that after you study a platform for a little while, you’ll understand it better and then use it more. But if you really just can’t embrace it, move on. There is sure to be something that is a better fit for your personality.

Don’t Forget to Be Social

There are some social media sites that I use just because I like them, and there are some I use just because there are people there who might like to buy or sell a house, or might refer me to someone who wants to buy or sell a house. However, the main reason to be there is to be social, not to sell. Any social media platform is like a huge virtual networking event, only magnified by x number of friends and friends-of-friends, who can see your interactions.

All of the same social rules apply to an online networking event, just as they do to an IRL event (In Real Life). You don’t talk exclusively about yourself without listening to the others talk. You don’t hard sell everyone you meet. You don’t walk around and pass out flyers for your new listing.

What you DO, is good, old-fashioned networking. Meeting, engaging, introducing, finding common interests, and admiring shoes/ties/earrings, or in the virtual world, liking, plussing, and commenting. “And oh, by the way, I sell real estate.”

And just in case you’re still not convinced, watch this dynamic video by Erik Qualman, best-selling author of Socialnomics: