Facebook Fan Pages organically reach about 16% of their fans on average.

The average Facebook User is connected to approx. 80 Facebook Fan Pages.

Does a Real Estate Agent need a Facebook Fan Page and is it the best and most effective strategy for generating more leads on Facebook?

There will be some social media gurus and real estate trainers out there who will probably say I’m completely wrong on this, but i say NO. In 2013, an agent doesn’t need to create and maintain a Facebook Fan Page, unless they are prepared to execute a plan which entails excellent and consistent content that engages people who like the page. USING A FACEBOOK FAN PAGE CAN BE EFFECTIVE when your building your brand,  but without an effective content strategy your Facebook Fanpage Posting’s will have a tough time reaching its audience.

Creative and Engaging Content is something much more than just posting of your latest listing for sale, or the most recent housing market article from the New York Times.  An effective content strategy will provoke interest and emotions from posts and make people want to be part of what ever the fan page is offering. This is done to produce more interaction between the Fan Page and the User.

Today, the Facebook is the single most important social media tool a real estate agent has, next to YouTube. The Fan Page Question and my answer to it are all about answering this question…

What strategy works the best on Facebook for Lead Generation?

The use of Facebook Fan Pages for a single agent or team had a purpose and was effective back in 2010. Since then, Facebook as continued to mature as a social media where…

• We see more people on it with personal accounts (kids, grandparents, people without computers even).
• We see more Fan Pages created by businesses.
• We see more people LIKE more fan pages.

The more Facebook Friends and Fan Pages that a user is connected with, the more posts those users will have to go through to find the content they are interested in viewing.

Facebook matures because of the way people use and interact with it changes. There are certain levels of expectations with what pulls up on your Facebook Feeds. In the early days of Facebook you would be more open to LIKE more posts and fan pages because there were fewer posts pulling up on your feed.  As time goes on you pick up more friends and like more pages you then start to reach a point to where you cannot see everything that every friend or fan page posts!  Now Facebook has to determine for you what it will pull up on your feed. This is a formula (The Facebook Algorithm) based on who you have the most interactions with and the Sponsored Advertisements being placed on your feed which pull up as posts.

What you have to know about Facebook is what’s important to it. It’s  Interaction. The more interaction that takes place on Facebook, the more time people spend on Facebook. This in turn allows Facebook to charge for advertisements on it’s feeds and pages. Once you understand this concept you can understand how to use it effectively. Pretty simple so far? Or have I lost you?

Not everyone will see everything you post all of the time. You have to compete for that valuable space on your friends Facebook Feeds. Add mobile devices into the mix and think about your own personal use of Facebook. How quickly do you scroll through your Facebook Feed and how much stuff to you pass and not even take a look at? For most of you the answer will be “a lot”.

The Real Estate Fan Page can sometimes become a Virtual Desert where content is placed but not too many people are seeing it and if nobody see’s your posts then what’s the point?

MY OWN CASE STUDY:   I like to use my connection with my brother Michael Cuevas on Facebook. Even though we are brothers and connected on Facebook I often will not see his posts pull up on my feed. Because we work together and our desks are next to each other we don’t have to interact on Facebook at all. I typically don’t write on his wall or make comments on his postings and he does the same with me. When your at work together everyday there just is no need to. Because we both connected with over 500 friends and over 100 pages on Facebook we cannot see everything that everyone posts, so Facebook determines what we will see pull up on our feeds. If I were to start posting on Mike’s wall and liking his posts by going on his wall, then the Facebook Algorithm would kick and notice the interaction taking place. Our posts would start to pull up more on each others walls as the interaction takes place.

What Strategy Works on Facebook?

My strategy is Simple and here it is: Purposeful, Engaging, and Creative Interaction is the Strategy.

1. Purposeful: Treat the Facebook as your Informal Database (you do have a database right?). Using a Personal Profile on Facebook and not a Fan Page  to interact with your connections. You engage with your connections in creative ways which remind them that you are in the real estate business, your having a good time with it, and your successful. My general rule is the 60/40. 60% of your posts are Non-Real Estate Related and the remaining 40% are Real Estate Related.
2. Engagement: How you engage on Facebook is crucial because this is what keeps your posts pulling up on your friends Facebook Feeds. This means interacting on your friends posts, saying happy birthday, changing over your profile and cover images, and maintaining a good mix of Personal vs. Real Estate postings.
3. Being Creative means your postings must be more than just sharing your current listings for sale. Remember, Facebook is not Craigslist or a Classified Ad! Creativity on Facebook will involve using your smartphone to capture moments that will make funny and interesting posts. It also means using video in some of your posts because everyone today loves to click the play button on Facebook.

You’ve probably heard from fellow agents, your broker, social media gurus, and real estate trainers that you need to “BE ON FACEBOOK”, or, “YOUR LOSING POTENTIAL BUSINESS”! They’re correct, the question is just how are you going to use Facebook for becoming an effective lead generation tool in your business. For Real Estate Agents, how they use Facebook will be much different from the way a local restaurant or business with a physical product to sell uses it. Selling a service online is a little different, plus it’s a service in which a client will only use it once every 3-5 years on average.

Two years from now my strategy may no longer work and be ineffective. I recognize this because I understand Facebook will continue change.

Social Media and Technology are in a constant state of change and directly affecting how we are connected with family, friends, information, products, and the news. Real estate agents need to adjust and change with them in order to stay competitive in a recovering marketplace. So when mine or your strategy starts to become ineffective you need to recognize its time for an adjustment.

If you agree or disagree with this article please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts on Facebook and Fan Pages. I do hope you enjoyed it and subscribe to my email list.