There’s always something to howl about.

Facebook Works If You Work It. If You Won’t Work It, Just Play Farmville

Let me restate my case about Facebook; if you’re not using Facebook as a prospecting tool, you are most likely wasting your time and engaging in the ultimate procrastination scheme.  I don’t begrudge folks fun and Facebook can provide much joy.  You can reconnect with old friends and make interesting new friends there but if you plan to use it for business, you’ll most likely end up wasting hours that could have been better spent standing in front of a supermarket, handing out your business card.

Like this, from Agent Genius:

You don’t need a business page.  In fact, a business page is just one more time suck.  People rarely go to a business page to learn about real estate on Facebook; look at the metrics offered to prove that.   The author’s offered advice is just plain wrong:

You shouldn’t be using your personal profile page to promote business. It is against the guidelines on Facebook and just rude, regardless. I will share with you how you CAN use your profile effectively, but blasting out your market reports and new listings is a big NO-NO on your personal profile.

Huh?  I have no idea where the author found the “rule” about doing business on personal pages but can tell you, from a few years experience on Facebook, that telling your audience about your business is not only desirable but effective.   Posting listings isn’t rude, it’s your stock-in-trade.  If you’re only posting listings on your Facebook page, you’re likely to be branded as boring but listings are real estate porn, designed to slow down the gawkers and encourage a reaction from them.  Your “friends” will most likely be gawking at your listings if you’re interesting enough to be in their Facebook stream.

I have what I think is a low key way of occasionally including real estate into my status without it being obvious. I share parts of my day that include real estate in a personal light. For example: last winter I was showing REO property and put as my status update: “Showing bank owned properties and it is colder INSIDE than OUT, my feet are totally numb!” A status like this reminds my friends and family on my personal page that I am a REALTOR without the typical “sales pitch”.

Status updates are an excellent way to mix in your business life with your personal.  The advice offered, while seemingly paradoxical to the author’s etiquette course offered earlier, is a good way to remind people that you sell homes.

Want to really make Facebook effective for business?

Prospect your friends’ list.  That’s right, actually call people up and say hello to them.  Reach out and discover what they do offline and remind them you sell real estate.  Go one step further and get permission to do the MREA thing and every twelve of these conversations will turn into an annual transaction. That may seem “rude” but your number one job as a real estate agent is to find prospects.

Keller and Jenks (authors of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent) claim that with shifted markets, must come shifted focus, in their follow up book Shift:

When leads become fewer, prospecting increases.  The research from Millionaire Real Estate Agent shows that top agents use “marketing-based and prospecting-enhanced” approaches, but experience teaches us that a shifted market requires that you move more towards prospecting.  You could still be marketing based, but you’re probably doing more prospecting than you were.  It’s all about meeting your lead generation goals.  Prospecting tends to uncover more motivated leads faster and keeps you more in control.  Because prospecting puts you in immediate contact with people you get immediate feedback- and that is what you want in a shifted market.

The advice offered by the author about Facebook then, is so 2005.  You would be much better served to call every single person on your Facebook connection list, ask them if they have any questions about real estate. and secure permission to enter their name in your MREA database. Most of you won’t do that because, well…it’s “rude” (and requires courage and work).  Just play Farmville then, keep a low profile,  and forget about using Facebook for business.  You’ll probably do more harm than good if you try to mix business with game playing.