Real estate sales is a relationship-based business that revolves around building trust with your clients and potential clients.
With the changes in how technology allows salespeople to generate leads often social media is used to “get the word out” and hype your abilities. While this may work for some (and others will put their money into buying the attention of the users of these platforms) it is more important to remain authentic to build up the trust of those you meet and want to connect with.
We are all people first and by putting our “socialness” first it is easier to connect with people that become not only clients but also sources of referrals because they genuinely like you instead of being annoyed by your “intrusion” into their online space and avoid you, or at worst, give negative feedback to their own circle of friends about you.
I will use Facebook as an example as it stands out as the “friendly contact” and networking platform of choice for most, although other platforms such as LinkedIn (which is much more business-professional oriented) and Twitter (more of an “it’s happening now” format) have their own attributes that lend them to different avenues of social marketing efforts.
I will say that, in my opinion, more than anything Facebook is a place to catch up with friends and friends of friends. It’s replaced the phone call with posts and likes that help us to keep in touch with those we know. And with this there is an element of trust that is given by your Facebook friends that by being connected to you they will not be see posts that are not in tune with their lifestyle, their ideologies and their everyday life as affected by events that impact them.
Certainly voices are raised and issues brought to light very quickly on Facebook, just as many people’s newsfeeds is full of cat videos and funny pictures with quotes that may or may not interest you.
You may have been sold on the idea of “post timing” and “how much business versus other items to post” to your own newsfeed. This “magic” exists in the digital marketers stats and are averaged so highly that besides being able to see when people visit your (business) page using Facebook Insights, it’s almost impossible to say “this post” will get that many shares, likes or comments.
Authenticity is about sharing your story, your personal story, with those you have connected with.
I have read many articles about the “best strategies” for using Facebook to market your real estate business, and certainly some people can leverage the numbers and expense of building a large following. But I feel that they many of these people lose their authenticity as they pursue ever more likes and their efforts to appear less business-minded all the while chasing after business becomes a telling feature of their online activity.
Facebook, as a platform, is a place to connect with family and friends. Facebook also has a “create a page” option that allows you to build your business profile upon, where you can create a page to celebrate causes that are close to your heart, to become a leader of a fan site, form a community group, and plenty of additional uses for this page that is separate from your own Facebook identity.
If you’re on Facebook and are a regular user, you’ve seen all of these elements. Knowing how to best approach the separation of your business and personal life will not only change how you build your business it will affect your own quality of life by giving to others what you would want to receive yourself.
I’m going to share with you this excellent article “5 tips for using Facebook to get consistent referrals” that offers a great template on how to manage your Facebook persona in a way that will build your authenticity and create the goodwill every real estate person needs on their road to success.
While “business is business” by sharing your life experience you will enrich others and the positivity you generate will certainly follow you through all aspects of your life, online and in the real world.
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