Social networking has taken hold of every business and none moreso than in real estate.  Having a robust profile on Linkedin or Facebook is as important today as having a cell phone or pager was in the 90’s or a business card before that.  Social networking allows consumers to easily find someone in their database or their friend’s database that meets a need they have.  However, because social networking is new for so many, the vast majority of those adopting the technology are doing so rather poorly. 

Take for example a profile on Facebook or Myspace.  In my opinion, these profiles are best used to reach out to those whom you know and / or lost touch with.  However, most agents are using it to showcase themselves, their interests, and their family.  We don’t because buyers are still interested in still just one thing: real estate, not me.  Also, I wouldn’t expect someone to hire me because my son is the world’s cutest child or that I have a dog.  Instead, I would like to demonstrate my professionalism to them through these online channels to earn their business. 

I have run across many a profile from an agent who never read up on privacy controls and as a result, have many inappropriate pictures and comments on their profile pages.  That’s not the image that I would deem appropriate, especially with these pages aggregating so much higher in the search engine ranking than their professional websites.  If you’ve ever thought of running an ad demonstrating why someone shouldn’t hire you, guess what..you may have with your profile!

My recommendation is to start a fan page instead.  On facebook, the fan page allows you to create a separate profile for your business where you can interact with your “fans” on a consistent basis.  You can release photos, post events, videos, ask for reviews, so much more.  More 98% of all agents looking to add a social networking component to their internet strategy, fan pages are the way to go.  Check out our facebook fan page to see how we’re utilizing this tool.  My vision is to use our fan page as a channel of our website where users can come and get helpful real estate information and hopefully choose to use us as their agent. 

Charlotte Real Estate