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If you are like most real estate agents, you want to build a larger following on Facebook, without putting in lots of additional time.
At times I know that it can seem a bit overwhelming with all the things that you are told you “should do” in regards to social media marketing.
Unfortunately the things that we “should do” many times get put on the back burner due to a lack of time to complete them.
But what if you had jut a little bit of time? Even as little as 30 minutes – what could you do to improve your Facebook real estate page in that short amount of time?
I’m glad you asked…
Today I am going to give you 4 ways to improve your Facebook real estate page that take less than 30 minutes to put into action.
#1 – OPTIMIZE YOUR PROFILE AND COVER PHOTOS
What is the first thing that people see when they come to your page?
Usually it is either your profile picture, or your cover image – or both.
There are 2 things you want to do with each of these images:
- Use images that represent your brand well.
- Create good descriptions for each photo that include a call to action.
Let’s start with number 1…
What do I mean when I say “brand”?
When it comes to real estate, your brand is just what a person thinks of when they hear your name.
That's it. Its not that complicated.
What that means is that for someone to have an image of your brand in mind- and have it be the image you want them to be seeing – you have to help them create that image of you.
Some agents choose to associate their brand with the company they work for – by using the brokerage company logo and name as much or more in their marketing than their own name.
Other agents choose to make their name, or team name, their brand. And others choose to focus on a niche, and make that niche their brand.
What’s the best route to go?
That's really up to you. Your brand can be anything that you want it to be, but you have to decide on one of the options and then create that brand image in all your marketing activities.
If you haven’t decided what you want your brand to be, take a few minutes and make that decision now.
Personally I recommend building your brand around your name. Building a brand around your company name or niche puts you in a tough spot if you ever want to change brokerages or niches.
Once you have a brand in mind, it’s time to create images that align with that brand image and use them for your profile picture and cover image.
If you want to convey a brand of luxury and high level service, make sure the images you create communicate that.
If you want to convey a brand of experience, make sure the images you create communicate that.
Your brand can be anything that you want it to be – but you have to decide on it and begin communicating it in everything you do.
Now let’s look at number 2…
If you take a look at the images on most Facebook pages, there are not descriptions for any of them.
Take a second and think about what happens when you are on Facebook and you see an interesting image, or a new image that you haven’t seen before.
What do you do?
You click on it!
Currently image posts have the highest level of engagement for a reason – people love photos.
So it is extremely important to create a good image to use for for both your profile picture, as well as your cover photo – like we just talked about above.
But you can’t stop there. Having a good image by itself isn’t enough.
You also need to create a good description for your images. And don’t forget about putting a link or call to action at the end of that description.
Why?
Because when people click on your image, and it enlarges on their screen, Facebook can also show a description alongside – or below – the image.
This is prime real estate on Facebook. Having a good description of the photo that includes a call to action can make the difference between someone clicking away from your picture, and clicking through to your website to take some action that you want them to take.
#2 – CREATE A CALL-TO-ACTION BUTTON
In addition to your profile picture and cover image, one of the other things that your fans will see right away when they visit your page is your call-to-action button.
On the web version of your page it will show up as a blue button in the lower right corner of your cover photo. (See image below)
Within the Facebook App it is even more prevalent. It shows up as a large blue button just below your profile picture and cover image. (See image below)
Having a call to action button on your website can be a great way to get some extra engagement out of your audience.
Currently you have the option of selecting the following calls to action for your button:
- Book Now
- Call Now
- Contact Us
- Send Message
- Use App
- Play Game
- Shop Now
- Sign Up
- Watch Video
Not all of those can work for your real estate page. I would recommend that you use one of the following:
- Call Now
- Contact Us
- Send Message
- Use App
- Watch Video
The first three options are pretty basic, but can be useful in getting your followers to connect with you. The 4th and 5th options only apply if you have an app, or if you have a video that you feel will add value to your fans.
Example: You could create a page on your website that features videos answering common questions your clients have, and then link this “watch video” button to that page. Another option would be to create a custom about page on focused on welcoming people who come over from Facebook. On this page your could create a welcome video, and link the call to action button to this page.
These are just a few of the many ways that you could use the “watch video” button.
Once you have the button on your page, you need to start driving people to that button.
Let’s say that you have a “Call Now” button activated on your page, you could then reference the button in some of your posts by encouraging people to “click the Call Now button at the top of the page.”
The key is to start getting people to realize that it is there, so when they are in a situation that they could use the button – they do so!
#3 – LIKE & INTERACT WITH RELEVANT PAGES AS YOUR REAL ESTATE PAGE
One of the best ways to begin generating more enragement, is to engage with others.
Seems really simple right?
It is. But most of us still forget to do this…
We want others to come to our page and interact with us, but we never take the time to go to other peoples pages and interact with them.
The one limitation that you have while using a business page, is that you can only interact with other business pages.
Note: If people comment on a post on your page you can interact with them in that instance, but you cannot go to their profile and interact with them there.
So how can interacting with other pages help us to get more people to interact with our page?
It increases our exposure.
When you comment on – or interact in any way with another page – people who “like” that page, as well as the owners of that page, will see your interactions and be more likely to check out your page as a result. Also, when you interact with the owners of another page, there is the chance that they will “like” your page, and may even share some of your posts with their audience over time.
So how do you decide what pages you should like and interact with?
I try to find pages that fit the following criteria:
1) You have the same audience.
What other pages/companies have the audience that you want?
Maybe it’s a local restaurant, home improvement company, or page for a school district. Take some time to think about what other companies your desired clients may already be a fan of.
You may want to first find out the characteristics of your current page audience. You can use your page insights to find out some of the characteristics of your current audience (demographics, interests, etc).
Once you know those characteristics, you can go into Audience Insights in the Ads Manager and input that info and see what other pages people who have those same characteristics like.
Once you have a list of pages they like, you need to apply the second criteria to those pages before you like them.
2) They compliment your business.
If you just focused on the first criteria, you may think that other local real estate pages are good pages to like, since they have the exact audience that you want. However there is one problem with this.
These pages are your direct competition!
What do you think the chances are that they share your content with their audience, or even interact with you on their page?
Pretty slim right?
Take a step back and think how you would feel if a competing agent started commenting on your posts all the time. Unless they are a good friend of yours, you would probably be upset. After all you don’t want your fans to start interacting with another realtor.
Pick businesses that have a similar audience but also compliment your business rather than competing with it.
Come up with a list of pages that fit both criteria and begin liking and interacting with those pages.
#4 – SHARE A POST FROM YOUR REAL ESTATE PAGE ON YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE
While it is extremely important to use a Facebook business page for all of your business activities and marketing – see this post to learn why this is so important – you will still want to share some of your posts on your personal Facebook page.
Why?
Because doing so allows you to get the post in front of more people who may be interested in your brand and your services, but haven’t yet “liked” your business page.
Note: A side benefit of doing this is that Facebook looks at this as a share just like it would if someone else shared the post. This can help your post to be shown to a larger percentage of your fans since it appears that it is of interest to others.
The key is to share it just like you would share a post from a page or business that you do not own. Don’t just share the post, make sure to share a comment with the post as well that puts the post into context that your friends on your personal profile all be able to connect with.
DON’T PUT IT OFF, DO IT NOW!
Each of these 4 things that I shared can make a big difference in the success of your Facebook real estate page moving forward. And the best part is that they are very simple to put into practice.
They don’t take long to do – less than 30 minutes – so go do them now!
Its really easy to get busy and put small things like this off.
Once you begin to implement these 4 things on your business page, you will begin to see the impact they can have on your engagement.
Comment below – or write on my Facebook page – and let me know which of the 4 ideas creates the biggest impact for you. I look forward to hearing about it!