Facebook is the single most important Social Media tool a Real Estate Agent has in 2013. A very close second is YouTube. Some agents across the country are masters at using Facebook for Lead Generation and others not so much. Some Agents who master Facebook for Lead Generation sometimes don’t even know exactly what it is they are doing to make it work so well! Still, the single most asked question I get from agents is; How do I get more leads from Facebook?

However, the question is the wrong one to ask. The question should be: What strategy works best for getting more leads on Facebook? There is a huge difference here and a different way to approach how an agent uses Social Media in 2013.

How to use Facebook for Real Estate

Question: How do I get more leads from Facebook?
Answer: Through Interaction and Creative Posts which encourage Interaction

Pretty simple right?

This is a simple strategy to learn but you must keep an open mind and understand some basic things about how Facebook operates. There is no magic pills I’m offering you to get an extra 5 more deals out of your Facebook account in the next 5 days. What I train and What I offer are Basic Training Strategies for how to use Social Media in Real Estate in an effective manner. This strategy for using Facebook today will most likely change in the future as Facebook itself continues to change and how Facebook Users change how they interact with it.

Facebook is in a constant state of change, trying to improve the whole Facebook Experience for everyone who uses it. Remember that Facebook is a business and it needs to generate revenue. Even though it’s free to set up a personal profile or business page this is only to give you access to the site and the “News Feed”. The Facebook “News Feed” is what we all go to Facebook to see everyday and the essential lifeblood of Facebook. This is where a bulk of the interaction takes place on the medium. and it’s the single most important area for any marketer to “spread their message”.

This week Facebook announced changes and updates to the News Feed Algorithm it uses to determine what actually pulls up on your news feed. The Facebook changes and article are from Tuesday, August 6th, 2013. It’s short and easy to read and gives you some insight into the News Feed.

You can link to the article by CLICKING HERE and read it in it’s entirety.

The article gives Facebook Business Users a little background about the News Feed and how Facebook uses it to keep the most relevant posts up on the feed. For example, when you login into your Facebook account and check your News Feed from your computer or mobile device you most likely scan through all of the posts in your feed, but you don’t scroll through them all. The average Facebook user has approx. 1,500 potential stories from friends, family, people they follow, and the pages they like which are available to be seen on a daily basis. However, there is simply no way for most people to scroll through the whole News Feed and see everything, especially 1,500 posts! This is where Facebook’s Algorithm (mathematical code for manipulating data) goes to work and displays the most relevant posts from all of these groups which it feels the user has the most interest in. The Algorithm is basically creating a ranking system for all of the posts on your feed.

Now the question should be: How does the News Feed know which of those 1,500 posts to show?

According to Facebook it’s the User which determines what content is going to pull up on their news feed. Facebook determines this by tracking the signals that a user makes when using it. With this Facebook can prioritize an average of 300 stories out of the 1,500 stories which will appear every day in the feed. Here’s a list of examples from the article which Facebook uses as “signals”.

• How often you interact with the Friend, Page, or Public Figure who posted.
• The number of Likes, Shares and Comments a post receives.
• How much you have interacted with a particular type of post.

If I didn’t lose you by now let’s go back to the Question and Answer from the beginning of the article.

Question: How do I get more leads from Facebook?
Answer: Through Interaction and Creative Posts which encourage Interaction

The Agent Redefined Facebook Strategy

Now, you know that Facebook has a formula for determining which posts are going to have a better chance of being seen on the News Feed. Therefore, you want to create content that will encourage your connections to make comments and like. This is where a little creatively is needed and a strategy for how and when to make your real estate posts.

Remember, Agent Redefined Social Media Training calls for an agent to use their personal Facebook account for developing Lead Generation. You should look at Facebook as an extension of your Database and treat it like one.  This means it must be nurtured. A “Content Strategy” is absolutely critical here. If your only using Real Estate posts like your current listings for sale and nothing else, then you will NOT encourage a lot of interaction from your connections.  Just reposting your listings for sale directly to Facebook is a strategy that worked a few years ago but not as much today. It does work on Rental Listings much better though. More creativity is required today.

Find out more my view on Facebook Fan Pages and Content Strategy for Residential Real Estate Agents CLICK HERE.

The Content Strategy should incorporate my 60% / 40% Rule. 

60% of your Facebook posts on your personal account should have absolutely nothing to do with Real Estate.

40% of your Facebook posts are Real Estate Related, but these are creative postings and not direct posts of your current listings for sale. (Remember commercial and rental listings are different and utilize a different strategy. This is for Residential Listings for Sale)

Following the 60/40 rule will not overload your connections with real estate related content and keep your posts fresh on your Facebook friend’s News Feeds. Interaction is ultimately the key for making Facebook for you as a Lead Generation tool.  Whether your using a Fan Page or not it’s the interaction that Facebook wants in order to keep your posts on the News Feeds. Being creative with your Pictures and Videos now become a crucial for your content strategy!

If you enjoyed this article and video please leave a comment and let me know what you think.