A commentary by Tami Bonnell, CEO, EXIT Realty Corp. International
While it’s reported that 95% of Facebook users didn’t use the Friends List Feed feature, we at EXIT Realty recommended it to our associates as a way for them to efficiently stay apprised of the feeds from selected friends, such as recruiting prospects, clients, their “Dirty Dozen” (a trusted group of advisors who work on the real estate industry but not in it), and so on. Having quick and easy access to those individuals’ feeds helped interactions to be more personal. As of August 9th, this feature has been removed. If you relied on this feature, these tips from EXIT’s VP of Technology Engagement, Annette Anthony, may help:
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- Remember the basics – Segment and/or tag your online contacts in your offline CRM.
- Find other places online to connect with your Facebook friends, such as Instagram (Facebook owns Instagram), Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
- To receive a notification every time someone posts, go to your Friends list, hover over the “Friends” button for that contact and make sure “Get Notifications” is checked off. Facebook will then notify you every time they post.
- By using the same hover, you can denote someone as a “Close Friend” and Facebook will notify you when they post. You can also direct your posts to just those people.
- You can prioritize who you see first on your newsfeed. Decide on the 30 people whose posts you want to see first, then click “Newsfeed Preferences”, followed by “Prioritize Who to See First”. We recommend you update this list often as your priorities may change.
- Create a Facebook Group to share local events, new listings, tips, etc.
- Smart Lists are created by Facebook using the information added by you to the Work, Education, and Current City sections of your profile. For example, if you list Fredericton as your current city, you’ll have a list with all your friends who also list Fredericton as their current city. Smart Lists automatically update based on what your friends enter in their profiles. This can be especially helpful when taking the online offline to engage with people in real life.
The main benefit of using social media in real estate is to create and nurture relationships. Social media platforms can and do change their rules around the way they engage with you and allow you to engage with others, so to rely on them too heavily isn’t prudent. Your CRM, not any one social media platform, should be your main hub for staying in touch with your prospects and sphere.
