Social Media for Real Estate – Should You Outsource or Not?
We all know that Social Media has exploded over the last few years, and has become a cornerstone for marketing and networking in real estate. From blogging, to Facebook, to Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube; you can see where I’m going with this…(Google+).
As we look for better ways to effectively manage our time and our businesses, it would seem to make sense to “outsource” these tasks so we have someone to take care of them for us. But is this is a wise strategy? Yes, as long as you are not taking “YOU” out of your social media strategy.
What Should You Outsource?
The first steps to outsourcing social media are to have a solid strategy, goals and objectives, and a plan. If you find yourself struggling with a plan of your own, collaborating with a consultant or a VA for an hour or two can clear a path that will help you stick to your goals, and that may be all the help you need. But to maximize the potential for outsourcing let’s break it down a bit more. Below are some great tasks to outsource.
Establish and optimize your social media profiles: As a business owner your profiles should reflect your branding consistently throughout platforms. Your written bios, profile picture and contact information should reflect up to date information so that no matter how people find you, they recognize you and can contact you.
Facebook Business page: Customizing your page can include adding in contact forms and coordinated branding to your website and other goodies which can be a great lead generation tool. There are some FB apps that can be added, like Roost, the MLSApp, and others to add real estate specific engagement tools to optimize the page. Add your assistant on as an additional Admin to add these items and help you manage the page.
Automated status updates: You can have your assistant set up your RSS blog feed to automatically update your Facebook page. They can also add in other events, videos, photos or add reviews. (your assistant can also update Twitter and Facebook at the same time)
Background design: Your Twitter background is the first stop for visitors to get a fresh, quick look at what you are all about. You can get a bit more creative with your background and have fun. Have an assistant or designer create something custom for you, or use one of the many background tools.
Scheduling Tweets: When you aren’t engaging on Twitter you can have your assistant find great information and schedule tweets for you. From Open House announcements, your newest video, industry resources, or fun community events, take advantage of tools to pre-schedule content. (Be prepared to respond yourself to any re-tweeters once or twice during the day so you can grow your network.)
Organize Lists & Followers: Have your assistant create lists in Twitter to help you manage your followers and those that you follow with more clarity. Connecting and following people on a hyper-local level will effectively streamline your time spent on Twitter. If there is a conference you’d like to follow by #hashtag, have your assistant set-up the search, and transcribe the conference information afterwards.
YouTube
Your assistant can upload your videos and customize your YouTube channel. By utilizing DropBox or Box.net for shared video files you won’t have to wait for those videos to load. (both of these also have mobile apps to make uploading video a snap)
Trulia Profile and Blog
Have your assistant optimize your profile, update your listings, add content to your blog, and announce your Open Houses. (The real estate Q & A and other engagement should come from you, the professional.) A good VA knows all the tips and tricks to get you and your listings in front of more homebuyers on sites like Trulia.
Website/Blog
Have your assistant integrate your real estate blog activities with your social media profiles by setting up and managing RSS Feed readers and Google Alerts to develop consumer-centric content, articles, news and links. Using apps like Evernote, your assistant can create a “Notebook” just for your content for you to review and collaborate future content.
Others like Yelp, LinkedIn
Optimizing profiles, organizing and publishing testimonials, recommendations and reviews is something your assistant can do to make sure they stay up to date and fresh.
What You Shouldn’t Outsource:
Quite simply, YOU are the most important part of your social media strategy. Your relationships and your conversations are the keys to success. Here is the list of things you should not, by any means outsource to another:
- Your voice
- Your expertise
- Your unique experiences in life and in business
- Your passions, causes and hobbies
- Your neighborhood, your favorite people, coffee shops, restaurants, photos & videos
- most of all… your simple, joyful connections to others
Social Media is a combination of marketing and networking, and although you might outsource marketing tasks, you wouldn’t send someone to impersonate you to a networking event. The same holds true for Social Media. Automate the technical things, and spend 10-15 minutes a few times a day connecting and engaging to others, and the ROI of the trust that others find in you will positively impact the success of your business.
lauramonroe
As the founder of Creative Agent Solutions.com, Laura Monroe is a leading Real Estate Virtual Consultant, assisting real estate professionals and industry leaders across the country implement online marketing strategies, social media, and business systems to equip brokers and sales associates with the tools needed for success.
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Legacy Comments
Really? Your best advice is to have my assistant do the bulk of my social media work? If she had the time to do all of that, I wouldn’t have enough business to need her in the first place. Further, if I need to dominate social media to pick up a few more clients, I don’t HAVE an assistant. It seems as though the best advice is for a successful agent looking to grow to hire a web-savvy, brand-conscious unemployed marketer on a part-time basis to boost that agent’s internet presence.
And I don’t think anyone needs to hire a Real Estate Virtual Consultant for that advice.
When you have some realistic advice for the woman who is just kicking off her real estate career with no experience and NO assistant, I will read that article.
Cheers!
Hi DJ-Thanks for your comment.
I don’t think this post ever advised that you have your assistant do the bulk of your social media, in fact just the opposite. This was meant to offer ideas to those agents who feel a bit overwhelmed keeping up with many of their social media efforts, and are looking for some solutions. Obviously, every agent will have different priorities at different times.
Laura, I’m with DJ on this one! Also, if you don’t think you “ever advised that you have your assistant do the bulk of your social media…” read your post again. Every operation/function begins with “have your assistant do…”, “your assistant can ….” etc. The best advice you gave was on what one should not outsource. Too many turn everything over over to a third party or automate and there’s no “YOU’ there anymore.
Hi MaryAnn~
There are many different ways to approach social media, and every business owner is completely entitled to their opinion on what, when, how and IF to outsource any of the tasks involved. This post obviously offers solutions to those who “choose” to outsource social media, not necessarily a blanket endorsement that everyone “should”. My intent is that it be helpful to those who might be considering outsourcing it, and find ways to free up time in their day. It’s my practice to encourage as much engagement from “you” as possible.
Laura-I am freelancing here in Kona doing web marketing. I sit down with a variety of Realtors who always end up saying, “Can’t I just hire someone to do this for me?” I share alot of the advice you gave about what they CAN’T outsource and that is definitely their voice and expertise. I agree with you on a lot of the points about what CAN be outsourced and in response to the comment above, many of these tasks can be done rather quickly by someone who knows what they are doing and it does not have to cost a fortune.
My advice to a new agent just starting out is to do some of their own web research on creating an online presence, since they may have more time than money. However, spending a few hundred dollars to get everything set up, a game plan created and some advice on moving forward could be a great way to kick off a new business.
Great article, Laura! Will share on my blog, too!
Can I leave a plug here for some free real estate web marketing tips? http://www.facebook.com/RealtorTips4NewMedia
Hi Julie~ I agree with you 100%. I actually get the inquiry quite often as well, and most of time agents simply need some help getting started in social media, OR they need help filling in some gaps with great content during their busiest days and weeks so as not to lose momentum they have earned through engagement they have already established with their friends and followers. Either way its a win, and definitely does not have to cost a lot.
I don’t know who this DJ person is but I thought the article was about as simple and effective as could be!
I am a newbie and 26 so a lot of this social media stuff comes naturally to me (after all I was in college when FB was just for us peeps). I have done just about everything to get started and now am at the point where I am maintaining and trying to connect everything together.
It takes A LOT of time to blog and stay engaged on all of my social media platforms on top of trying to maintain my website. Probably 3 hours a day that should be outsourced. I find the problem with online marketing in general is finding a good company to help real estate agents out. Or in this case a VA that can not only help out on the social media side but creating blogs and working on web development on my website.
So, the only thing I would have added to this article was a list of recommended companies.
Thank you Chris for your comment. It does take an investment of time to build your online presence and continually engage in those relationships. The tasks that are easy to outsource are the ones that are technical, while allowing you the time to freely engage. It’s simply a matter of the business/marketing model that works for you. But in essence, the big picture is that you need to be spending time where your efforts bring you the success you need and want.
Feel free to contact me via my website, if you would like some referrals for some help.
It seems every other person is trying to promote social media for your real estate business, when the figures show that only 4% of sales are attributed to social media. Furthermore, ALL the so called Social Media gurus who hold classes around the country tell you in the first instance, DO NOT USE THESE SITES FOR YOUR BUSINESS. People who play around on facebook, twitter etc. want to know if little Janie has had her cup of coffee at Starbucks this morning, or if Tom is picking up the kids after Soccer practice. The moment you start saying, hey I’m an agent and I have this stunning house for sale, t5hat is when they turn of or more likely delete you. I do not nor will I try to do business on these medias.
John, You might try setting up and using a FB Business Page for biz. I agree with you about not using your personal page or site for business; it’s a turn off & rude to those engaging with you.
For those feeling overwhelmed by all the “get on the social media train” hype, this article is helpful. It does address a specific audience though; the agent who is or has done well and wants to get/stay current. I’ve sat in many a socmed class with Realtors who are either too lazy to learn or don’t see the need to apply all of this new tech stuff. Personally, I love it. I don’t outsource my socmed for some very specific reasons. 1. It is my best way to reach a large audience. 2. Sphere touches are constant and current 3. Being myself brands me in the same way a face to face does 4. Any schmo can spew out boring market stats and cat story blogs, and they will work to a point. Agents have sent seed packets and football schedules to neighborhoods full of strangers and that works too… to a point. Just because you have a forum to write, doesn’t mean you should. Nor does it mean that you should be on Facebook or Twitter filling up space with stupid self-promo. Get your business by earning it. To me that means be real, be really good at what you do, be really, really good at connecting with people.
P.S. The only thing I hate about a fb biz page is that you have to ask your friends to follow/like you and then you’re asking them to repeat themselves. My friends already like me. I post real estate stuff the same way others post regular old job stuff.
It’s not stealing the information from your actual computer, only the information you provide on Facebook which includes email addresses, personal information, contacts, etc. Below is from PCWorld. . “In the latest episode of the gang that couldn’t get privacy straight, it was revealed by the Wall Street Journal that many of Facebook’s popular applications were unintentionally transmitting the names of the social network’s members and, in some cases, their friends’ names to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies.”
When you deactivate your account, your profile and all its associated information are immediately made inaccessible to other Facebook users. Although this means that you effectively disappear from the service, your information will remain saved by Facebook so that you can reactivate your account whenever you want.