Investing in America and Expanding Agent Networks

We live in a global marketplace where not all home buyers are locally situated. Eight percent of the properties sold in the United States are international transactions. Of that, five countries account for 51 percent of the purchases: Canada, China, Mexico, India and the United Kingdom.

If you are not tapped into the international market, there’s lot of opportunity that you might be missing. But, don’t worry! Connecting with international buyers is easier than you might think.

Keller Williams associate Elizabeth Olcott of Napa Valley, California, has been a successful real estate agent for 15 years and a member of KW Global Property Specialists (GPS) since 2014. Approximately three percent of her business in 2015 came from working with international clients.

Olcott says that networking with international agents is key to the success of international sales. “It’s all about relationships!” Olcott says. “The stronger value is in developing relationships and networking with agents worldwide, more valuable than trying to find clients directly.”

In September 2015, she attended the LPS conference in Guangzhou, China with fellow members of GPS and as a result, formed professional relationships with other agents in China, Australia, Dubai and Italy.

When asked what was The ONE Thing about her GPS membership that has helped her business the most, Olcott replied: “The ability to create ads of my listings, translated into the native language of other countries and incorporating them into listing presentations in Proxio Pro. ​It’s been a definite wow factor when presenting.​”

Trends to Watch For in 2016

It is important to note that market trends vary depending on location. Olcott says that with regards to the Napa market, she is seeing that the European market has not been garnering as much attention of late; however, they are still seeing quite a bit of European investment, as well as from the China, Asian market.  As she gears up for 2016, she says she will be keeping her eyes on both the European and Chinese markets as well as the U.S. economy as a whole.

Nationally, history shows that our neighbors to the north have been our biggest contributors. However, Chinese buyers have surpassed Canadians as the most dominant foreign home purchasers in the United States, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2015 profile of Home Buying Activity of International Clients.

Based on information from NAR’s 2015 Profile of Home Buying Activity of International Clients, proximity to the home country, the presence of relatives, friends and associates, job and educational opportunities, and climate and location appear to be important considerations to prospective buyers. Europeans and Canadians tend to be attracted to Florida and Arizona for the warmer climates whereas California and Texas are favored by purchasers from Asia/Oceania. Buyers from Latin America, including Mexico, favor states in close proximity such as Texas and Florida. But these are just the most popular locations, not the only ones.

To get started mining international buyers in your market, read these tips from GPS member Mallina Wilson who knows what it takes to build a successful real estate business serving international buyers.

REAL Trends Talks with Keller Williams CEO about 2016 Outlook

Steve Murray and Chris Heller discuss challenges and opportunities in real estate

By Steve Murray, publisher, REAL Trends
 

“There are two basic kinds of people—the traditional people and the innovative people. The traditional ones stick to the tried and true, and there is nothing wrong with that approach. Innovative people tend to anticipate changes ahead and try to leapfrog them. We are trying diligently to be the innovative kind of organization. There is a growing gap between the two groups,” says Chris Heller, CEO of Keller Williams Realty International. “This business is changing, and we are going to try to stay ahead of it—that is a big focus of ours.”

A Good Sales Year (Not Great)

Heller, who has a strong background in building real estate sales teams (including his own nationally ranked team), thinks that 2016 will be a good, not great, sales year. “We think sales units and prices will still be up, just not as strong as 2015 versus 2014. It is an election year, and you typically don’t see a great deal of shifting going on in the market,” he added.

New Business Models

He does see a proliferation of new business models appearing throughout the industry and while he doesn’t see anything that worries him, he pays attention to what they are doing. “It doesn’t pay to ignore new models and new ways of doing business. At the least, we can learn something from them and become aware of serious new threats well ahead of when they may begin to affect our business. I know some of them are fads, but some of them have some real substance to them,” Heller commented.

Good Momentum

Asked about how things are going at KW, Heller said that their focus on growth across the board is paying large dividends. “What [KW President] John Davis is achieving with our Growth Initiative is unbelievable. Our local and regional leaders are buying-in and building momentum for their businesses.” Heller said that by virtually any metric KW will have another record year in 2015, and he believes the stage is set to top it in 2016. “We have good momentum right now. We are going to grow our market center count by 20 or more in the next year, and we expect total agent and assistant count to be near 129,000 at yearend—up significantly from yearend 2014. “We strongly think our growth is going to accelerate in the year ahead.”

Upstream

He says Keller Williams is a strong proponent of Upstream and the Broker Public Portal and have key executives involved in both. “We think these are both hugely worthwhile projects. There are significant challenges to both projects. In Upstream, we have to create the technologies to make it work. We have to create a safe environment for all participants, and we have to create an entire educational process to ensure that brokerage industry participants understand how it works and what the benefits are to them.”

On the Broker Public Portal, Heller says that the drive to create the kind of public listing portal in-line with the Fair Display Standards is also a big challenge but that it needs to get done. “We think the benefits could be substantial to have such a platform, if nothing else than to have more competition and a safe place for agents to market their properties.”

Asked about his view of the real estate world, Heller said, “These are exciting times. When things are changing it allows for more room for incumbents to try new ways, to experiment.” He says KW has several things in its pipeline for 2016, some which are improvements to what they have built and some that may surprise people as they are outside the box. He demurred when asked what these might be, but said they represent a significant new direction for the company. “These times require that an organization develop a sense of awareness and a sense of urgency to accept new ideas and new ways of growing. We are working on both all the time.”

2016 Awards Gala

One Million Reasons to Grow Your Market Center in 2016

Profit share is one way in which Keller Williams Realty exemplifies the principle of success through others. Each month, market centers share roughly half of their profits with the agents who helped grow the market center and make it profitable. But in order for there to be profit share, there must first be success.

“Any great business starts with a big vision from leadership.” Smokey Garrett @kwri

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Smokey Garrett, the regional director for the North Texas/New Mexico/Memphis Region, says, “When I started here, we had this little bitty market center, but we had a big vision on where to go and were focused on getting buy-in from our people on how they were going to fit into that vision. Before you can worry about profits, you have to worry about how well your people are doing and if their businesses are getting bigger.”

When Garrett came to the market center, Keller Williams Realty President John Davis was the operating partner, and the focus from Day 1 was on running the models and working the
systems in their daily activities – basically, implementing the Growth Initiative before it was officially the “Growth Initiative.”

“We work on implementing the Growth Initiative every day,” Garrett said. “As leadership, we say, ‘People have lived before us, and we know Keller Williams systems and models work.’
What makes a great business is taking the systems we have and executing them at the highest possible level. We take that same level and work it through with our agents, because what works
for the market center will also work for our agents’ businesses.”

In addition to providing proven models and systems, Garrett and his leadership team ensure that agents have access to education and training.

“Our goal is always to have our people be the best-trained and the most educated for the market of the moment and to allow them to go build businesses as big as they want,” he said. “There are no limits with our people. The value we’ve brought to our agents is how we make our people better.”

Initially, the Arlington market center had only 60 agents, but today, it’s grown to 550 agents, and its training calendar has grown as well. Three to five training classes are offered each day with courses at every level, and the education committee boasts more than 30 members.

“It’s very much a fluid calendar because we’re always addressing our strengths and weaknesses and where our market is that particular month,” Garrett said. “We’re working to get perfect, so we use Training Tracking, which is one of the tools that is fueling the success of the Growth Initiative. For example, we never stop running Ignite, and we know that an agent that goes through Ignite and graduates makes $47,000 more than agents who don’t graduate. Knowing that stat makes it much more valid and explains our expectations. An agent attending two training classes per month within our market center has 209 percent more GCI than someone who doesn’t.”

The statistics also show that the market center’s rookie of the year for the past seven years averaged $170,000 their first year in real estate, and the 2014 rookie of the year actually earned  $272,000. Statistics like these wouldn’t be possible without strong leaders, and Garrett, for one, focuses on leading through the people at the market center.

“We use our ALC a lot, and we have a saying: ‘As the ALC goes, so goes the market center,’” Garrett said. “I’m very passionate about helping us be an agent-driven, agent-led company. Anytime I’ve gotten in trouble here is because I didn’t slow down, help to explain and get everybody’s buy-in. I had to slow down, focus on our ALC and focus on where everyone wanted to go.”

Keeping a close eye on expenses has also played a crucial role in the market center’s success.

“Everyone holds expenses very accountable,” Garrett said. “Holly Serben does a phenomenal job of training the MCAs, the finance committee and everybody on the expense side. We’ve got lots of eyes focusing on making sure we get a return on what we’re doing.”

Hitting the $1 million mark in profit share undoubtedly made a splash in company news, but more important were the ripple effects that impressive figure had on the market center’s agents.

“It’s been a really fun number to put out there and share, but at the end of the day, it’s not about the number,” Garrett said.

“It’s about what each individual associate’s profit share has done for them and what it’s done for their families. It’s about understanding what passive income does for people. It’s allowed spouses in our market center to stop working, to stay home and do what they want to do. It’s allowed people to buy vacation houses and investment properties, to give to charities and to do what their passions are. It’s provided freedom without the fear.”

It’s allowed for further conversation with people on building wealth and made that real to people. We’ve helped share this wealth-building gift our company does and helped everybody go achieve that.” Now that they’ve reached this milestone, Garrett and his market center are focused on the future.

“What’s next is that there are thousands and thousands of more people to be in business with and whose lives we can help affect on a daily basis,” he said. “The million-dollar mark is like the four-minute mile. Once somebody broke it, it became possible. John Davis and the Growth Initiative tools have allowed this to become the new standard. We’re just at the beginning of what our company can accomplish and what we can accomplish together.”

Your Holiday Gift-Giving Questions Answered

Holiday gift-giving in the workplace is a time to express your gratitude and appreciation for those with whom you work. It’s an investment in your working relationships.

However, gift recipients and gift selection can be daunting. Before you begin shopping, settle on a budget and a recipient list and be sure you have a clear understanding of your intent and purpose with each gift. While it’s all right to give a gift to remain top of mind, be sure your gift giving is coming from a place of gratitude and appreciation.

Your Holiday Gift Giving Questions Answered 

Not all gifts have to be equal
A gift to an assistant who has worked closely with you all year can warrant a different type of gift than a business associate or acquaintance. It’s perfectly acceptable to take note of a special client, an appreciated team member and/or a business relationship when planning your gift list. Consider giving these gifts privately and in person to avoid any unintended hurt feelings between others in the office.

Include a handwritten note
A handwritten note says you have taken the time to acknowledge your recipient. A personal and meaningful touch of such gratitude goes a long way, far more than a generic message.

Your gift can last all year long
Subscription-based gifts are thoughtful gestures that give back 12 months out of the year. These types of gifts require a bit more thought because the recipient will be receiving something from you all year long. The upside is, since your nice gesture is ongoing throughout the year, you stay top-of-mind longer.

Personalize your gifts
Paying attention to hobbies and habits is a surefire way to give a well received and personal gift. If you recently shared, or discussed, a game of golf with someone you are gifting, then a golf related item may be a good idea. If your recipient is passionate about their pets, then consider a gift for their dog or cat.

Industry related gifts are a great idea
Real estate agents can never go wrong with giving a client something for their home. This personal touch speaks to the value of your service to them and the importance of their home.

Ditch the Logo Gifts
Gifts with logos and the innuendo of a sales pitch have a negative connotation. They are not really considered genuine “gifts.” Instead, choose a gift that conveys the message of gratitude this holiday season. While these types of gifts are appropriate throughout the year, the holidays are not the best time for them.

When in doubt, remain neutral
If it’s unclear what holiday is celebrated by your recipient, then it’s best to play it safe and send a gift that celebrates the New Year.

Don’t Be Left Out! Learn to Harvest Mega Agent Expansion

For Keller Williams Mega Agent Jason Abrams, of Farmington Hills, Mich., the case for expansion comes down to one simple question he recommends all agents ask: “What are you currently doing that is lower-lying fruit than this [expansion]?”

Abrams says: “If you’re honest about your business and your market center, you’ll realize the answer is ‘nothing.’”

“Expansion is your chance to be on the cutting edge of something. Right now, we’re counting expansion agents in the hundreds, but it’s going to be in the thousands,” he says. “If you leave this opportunity on the table, you are walking away from the single greatest opportunity for a real estate agent since licensing.”

Abrams, star of “Scoring the Deal” on HGTV, has a very successful expansion business with his business partner Brian Gubernick. Their expansion real estate business covers Michigan; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; San Diego, Calif.; and Riverside County, Calif. Last year, they earned $1.6 million in GCI at their expansion locations alone.

The idea for expansion took root when Gubernick, who specializes in short sales, and Abrams, who focuses on luxury, joined forces to put their specialties to work in new marketplaces.

The Keller Williams expansion models and systems are the ones you’ll learn about in Expansion Systems Orientation. “These models allow you to do it faster and more profitably,” Abrams says. “You already know how to lead generate in a marketplace. These systems help you go after that low-lying fruit, so you can open anywhere in the United States and do 50 transactions within 18 months. That’s the beauty of expanding.”

Abrams compares expansion to the increased profitability that would come from owning two businesses instead of one.

“If you do 36 transactions at an average sales price of $350,000, the hub can net $100,000,” he says. “If you think about how startups on expansion teams are so low because you’re leveraging what you have, that means you can have one in every Keller Williams office in the system. Say you get 600 offices. Consider the math on that. It’s $60 million.”

The ESO course also includes information on how to find expansion partners, excel at communication from the hub, and how to use technology and accountability to motivate agents in all expansion locations.

“If you’re an agent and you’re not thinking of yourself as an expansion agent, you need to broaden your horizons,” Abrams says. “This is where it’s at. You need to get to ESO so you understand what this opportunity is.”

Are you ready to get started? The last ESO course of 2015 will be held from December 2 – 3, 2015 at KWRI in Austin, Texas. Register today. 2016 ESO dates will be released soon.

Online Lead Generation Tips You Must Know

If you want to know how to survive – and thrive – amid the 21st century digital marketing disruption, take a page out of the playbooks of Lori Ballen and Cal Carter. These Keller Williams associates are generating qualified Internet leads with a few dollars and a little elbow grease.

Ballen, founder of The Ballen Group in Las Vegas, Nev., sold nearly 65 homes in 2014 using a combination of digital marketing strategies like press release distribution and content development to improve search engine optimization (SEO) and Website rankings. The Ballen Group also has a growing social media presence that contributes to 200 leads a month at no cost.

“We have to be where the consumer is – online,” Ballen says. “We have to have what they want – products, home values and information. And we need to be available when they finally do need us. SEO is about first learning how people search, determining what type of product they want, and then dominating the search engine page results so consumers find us again and again.”

Ballen boasts more than 1,000 No. 1 ranking terms, such as “Summerlin real estate agent,” “Las Vegas short sale agent,” and “the vistas Summerlin.” With such a strong SEO showing, it’s no surprise that all of Ballen’s leads are Web-driven. About 23 percent come from property portals, while more than threequarters come via content marketing. This focused strategy has reduced her marketing costs from about $1,500 a month to $200 a month. Essentially, she pays about $1 a lead.

“I use a lot of photo and video – both for the consumer and for search. I title the images and videos around the topic I am creating the piece for,” Ballen explains. “Video ranks faster on page one of Google and stays for a longer period of time than much of your content can. I have a video on page one of Google focused on sellers that has been there since 2011. That’s what great optimization will do for you with media.”

Diverse Digital Strategies
Most of Ballen’s pay-per-click budget goes to Facebook ads generated to offer home values in Summerlin or other hyperlocal communities, but she prefers not to invest heavily in paid advertising because free strategies like SEO and press releases offer stronger ROI. As she sees it, Google is changing the way it values press releases because the distribution has become “spammy” with too many people tossing out 300-word articles and calling them news just to gain rankings. But she still finds value in the strategy.

“We issue a press release every time we have a closing, win an award, donate, are involved in a big event or make a new hire – sometimes several times a week,” she says. “Our press releases are about 750 words and always full of statistics and valuable information with proven results. Our press releases show the seller – or buyer – that we solve problems and get results.”

Ballen started over four years ago with no money and no help, so she understands the challenges associated with launching a digital strategy with a small team. Her advice: hire ghostwriters from sites like CrowdContent. com or Ghostbloggers.net to take on the Website content, blogs and press releases. You can even check with a local college about hiring an intern.

“It’s hard to hold the direct activity responsible for ROI because it’s part of an overall strategy,” Ballen says. “I used to create my own content. I didn’t start hiring it out until we had it in the marketing budget to do so. It must be in your budget. Period. And then the strategy has to be held to whatever your ROI standards are. Going forward, search will become more social, bringing in the social networks to give authority to the influencers and content creators, in my opinion. Social media this year has actually passed search for me in closed volume.”

The Conversion Funnel
Carter averages about 45 leads a day – up to 100 a day in the high season – via just one of his Websites. He has two additional Websites that generate about half that volume. Most of his landing  pages are specific to subdivisions and condominium complexes.

“We attract lots of buyers,” Carter says. “I haven’t cracked the code for getting sellers from the Internet, but I’m pretty sure it is more of a script problem and not working our database properly to  find them.” Carter notes that several years ago he created landing pages constantly but has since shifted his strategy to improving his conversion rate. He has learned this lesson:

Although templates are fine for landing pages, original content is king. – Cal Carter @kwri

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“One would be foolish not to map out a thought process to quickly and efficiently cover a lot of ground with a template of some sort,” Carter says. “Likewise, it would be foolish for someone with a template to start stamping out a bunch of garbage that will end up shooting them in the foot.”

Carter once spent more than 160 hours a month on the site and content. He hasn’t created any new content in about two years. The site is now on autopilot because it’s working so well that he doesn’t want to rock the boat. “I have more to fear from breaking something that works than I do from not adding more leads,” he says. “We can just handle the numbers we have now, why get more? We need to first fix the conversion funnel before getting more.”

In terms of tracking performance of landing pages, Carter, who handles Web administration on his own, doesn’t have time to get that granular, so he pulls back and focuses on the overall Website. At a glance, he can tell if return visits are down and work to determine the root cause. He calls the ROI “infinite” because he invested mostly sweat equity to build his Internet kingdom.

Google Is Your Friend
On the social media front, Carter doesn’t have much time for Twitter anymore. He finds Pinterest intriguing and leverages it, but admits he just doesn’t get it. Carter focuses most of his social media energy on Facebook. He has developed a formula that works: 80 percent social activity and 20 percent or less business. This strategy offers him “infinite” ROI because there’s no upfront financial investment.

“If you aren’t going to socialize on Facebook, then don’t go throw your business at people – it is wrong-minded,” he advises. “Facebook has been a huge part of my growth by connecting me with big thinkers in multiple Facebook Groups,” Carter says. “It was a big part of getting me into Recruit-Select and Fierce Conversations.”

His advice for agents just getting started building a real estate business and building a Website: Invest in real-time analytics so you can see what works and what doesn’t, and consider Google your friend when it comes to developing your Internet strategy.

“If you love it, all the answers are out there. Google will help you find your answer. There is no quick fix, easy fix or magic bullet,” Carter says. “If you love it, do it and keep doing it. If you don’t, find someone who does and help them with their problem, which is going to be conversions – become the best of the best of converters with the best of the best lead generators.”

Mega Recruit Select Coming January 14th!

Oscar Winning Home Staging Tips

Why Home Staging Sells

Real estate agents and sellers know how important it is to show a home that is presented in its finest form.  Statistics show that staged homes sell faster and for more money. Interestingly, it is estimated that only 10 percent of prospective buyers can visualize a home looking any different than the way it looks when they walk in the door. They need help and you can help them!

Staged homes give the perception that a home is well-maintained and stylish. Working with the flow of a home, eliminating personal effects and clutter, and arranging furniture can make all the difference a home needs be best presented.

The Two Types of Staging

Occupied Home

In an occupied home, furniture can rearranged to showcase each room’s functionality and flow. Removing an abundance of personal effects allows the buyer to envision themselves in the home, rather than feel like an outside guest visiting. If the budget permits, upgrading floors, replacing countertops and adding a fresh coat of paint go a long way to spruce up a home.

Vacant Home

As is often the case with a vacant home, the buyer is focused on the things that need fixing, the cracks in the walls, the worn carpets, the dated countertops, etc.  Buyers can also have difficulty envisioning what to do with the space. Staging offers suggestions they can build on.

Here Are a Few Pro Staging Tips to Help Your Sellers

1. Scent 
Candles, freshly baked cookies or room fragrances may seem to evoke pleasant associations, however, they can also bring about negative associations. While one person may love the smell of a particular scent, another may hate it.

Over masking with scent is also a red flags for buyers that there is an odor issue in the home. If there is an odor issue in a home, it is best to address the cause, rather than mask it.

2. Accents
Area rugs, pillows, bedding and lighting are a great ways to introduce color and newness to rooms. A family of color throughout the home weaves warmth and cohesiveness together. Well-lit rooms evoke space and openness.

3. Declutter and Depersonalize
The first thing a stager will likely do is remove many of your personal effects and decorations – do not take it personally. It is important to take a step back and realize that buyers want to envision your home, as their own. Creating a neutral environment will help buyers connect with a house and see themselves living in it.

4. Show Off Your Storage
Remove excess furniture, clothes and items in storage areas of the home such as closets. Buyers want to see the size of closets and storage area.

5. Don’t Forget the Outside! 
Curb appeal is your homes first impression. Spruce up its curb appeal by:
Mowing the lawn and trimming any necessary trees/shrubs
Power washing your driveway, deck, walkway and any other outside area
Add a fresh potted plant and a new doormat to welcome buyers to your home.

The benefits of a well-staged home are plentiful. A staged home suggests that the home has been well maintained and may even shift attention away from imperfections and otherwise negative selling points.

Do you want to provide staging expertise for your clients? Read about how a Chicago area Keller Williams team has staged its way to multi-million dollar success.

Understanding Upstream and Why Agents Should Care

Last week, it was announced that the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) signed an agreement with Upstream™. Keller Williams Vice President of Industry Development Cary Sylvester said the new agreement is “revolutionary.” She added, “For the first time since the formation of the MLS system, the entire real estate industry is working together to create an environment that supports innovation.”

So, What is Upstream?

There are currently more than 800 MLS organizations across the United States. Each of these 800 MLSs, in addition to facilitating the cooperation and compensation of local brokers and setting local policies, stores and distributes real estate data across the web. While governing local policy is an invaluable, and irreplaceable, responsibility of the MLS, the negative side effect of the multitude of channels sharing listing data is confusion and the distribution of inaccurate or outdated information. The real estate industry is fragmented and has lost its leverage in negotiating power.

In an effort to streamline the management of listing data, a coalition of brokerages, networks and national franchisors united to create a centralized data repository of listing information—known as Upstream. The goal of Upstream is to reorder the flow of information through the creation of a central database for agents to enter, store, modify and then distribute their listing information where they choose—connecting real estate firms with the recipients of real estate data (such as MLS organizations, personal websites, syndication sites and more). However, Upstream isn’t just about syndication, it is about efficiency, accuracy and fostering innovation.

In 2014, Upstream created UpstreamRE, LLC, an industry owned and controlled data management company governed by a Board of Managers. In order to ensure that every type of company has a voice in Upstream, the Board of Managers has seats for representatives of small firms, medium-sized firms, large firms, and networks and franchisors. Each manager will be elected by Upstream participants on an ongoing basis. Keller Williams has a seat on this board.

Upstream will not have any consumer-facing website—so it will not be competing with syndication sites like Zillow and Trulia. Upstream will not be an MLS or an MLS vendor—so it will not be involved in the cooperation or compensation of local real estate brokers or any local policies. Instead, Upstream will only focus on efficiently managing listing information and all data needed to run a real estate brokerage.

To accelerate development, as aforementioned, Upstream has entered into a technology agreement with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Realtors Property Resource (RPR), the data analytics and reporting subsidiary of NAR. NAR will provide startup funding, administrative support and marketing services to launch Upstream using RPR software services. Upstream will provide product direction and retain governance of Project Upstream through the Board of Managers.

Why Should Agents Care About Upstream?

Ultimately, Upstream will offer agents a simplified data entry process and control over the distribution of their listings. This will ensure not only that accurate listing information is distributed, but also that each agent can decide when and where to send their listings. It offers protection to agents, brokers and consumers and it is why Keller Williams has been working with Upstream from the very beginning.

Leverage Social Media to Grow Your Business

Social Media for Real Estate Agents

Today’s successful real estate agents are excellent at building and maintaining relationships in person. But, in this current digital age, it’s increasingly important for agents to become skilled at developing online relationships too.

According to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), 43 percent of US home buyers begin their search for potential homes and real estate agents online. Websites and social media channels are used daily by consumers looking to hire a real estate agent. Are you leveraging this trend?

Although social media may seem daunting as a means of building trust and loyalty, following these simple tips will help you get started:

Facebook

Over a billion people visit Facebook Pages monthly. When you set up a Facebook page, make sure you are publishing the right content.

Your Facebook business page gives you an online voice and a presence to reach and connect people in a dynamic way. You can boost your marketing efforts and even gain insight into page analytics to better understand your audience.

Ideas to post about on your professional Facebook page:

1. Trends in your local real estate market
2. Upcoming events in your community
3. Listings, recently listed and sold houses (take a photo of your clients in front of their new home!)
4. “Geo Targeted” ads to reach clientele
5. Engaging images of homes and local neighborhoods
6. Giving back – encouraging clients to join your team participating in local 5Ks and fundraising events in the community
7. Moving, packing and storage tips
8. Home staging tips and tricks for potential clients
9. Tips for showing/selling a home with dogs/cats
10. Find your niche! If you specialize in selling a specific type of property, or have unique services, make sure your posts let you audience know.

Best of all, Facebook pages are free and very easy to set up. Always keep your Facebook page positive, professional informative and engaging.

Personal vs. Business Pages

Experts caution against using a business Facebook page to post information about your family life. While some agents feel that this helps to personalize them and make a connection with clients; others suggest that it creates a security risk and dilutes the important information about your business. For this reason, as a best practice, many agents opt for both a personal page and a business page.

When you feel comfortable with clients, you can invite them to learn more about you on your personal page. In the meantime, let them learn about you as a real estate agent on your business page.

6 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Real Estate Business Network

Twitter

Like Facebook, Twitter gives you another arena to market yourself for free and strengthen your online presence.

Twitter is less interactive than Facebook, and only gives you 140 characters or less per Tweet (your Twitter post). Twitter can be an engaging platform for offering content such as “Tip of the week”, “Fun Facts” about your marketing region and “Upcoming Events”.

Professional Tweets should be snippets of information, insights and quick tips. Link the reader back to your website and blog; it’s where you can not only gain Website traffic, but offer a platform for consumers to learn even more.

As an extension of you and your business, your social media presence represents an exciting opportunity to offer positive and insightful information to increase your marketing efforts.