I was talking with a real estate agent the few days ago, helping her plan her social media strategy. She had set up a page on Facebook for her business and set up a Twitter account as well. While she wasn’t super active – posting maybe once or twice per month – she was making an attempt to market off the huge networking opportunities on social media. But she was discouraged about why she wasn’t getting more likes, followers and engagement on both Twitter and Facebook. The main reason? While she had created the accounts (which to her credit is more than many real estate agents do), she did absolutely nothing to promote either of them, and this is a huge mistake many social media novices make.
In order to get followers, likes and conversation on either Twitter or Facebook, you need to ensure you are promoting your social media accounts so people can find them. The vast majority of your potential clients aren’t going to hunt down your Twitter account, but if they see a link to your account, chances are they might click it and then follow you.
So what are things you can do in order to promote your social media accounts so people realize you have them?
Email signatures
This is one of the most cost effective ways to repeatedly get your social media accounts before your clients. At the end of your regular email signature, add “Follow me on Twitter at @yourhandle” and “Like us on Facebook!”. And be sure that signature is linked to both of those accounts – you want people to just click and end up on your Twitter account. If you make them type in www.twitter.com/yourhandle, chances are good they won’t bother. Always remember the KISS method.
Website links
Make sure you add your relevant social media links to your website. Facebook and Twitter are the most common, but also add your YouTube account and Pinterest account if you are utilizing them as part of your social media marketing campaign too. If you have a webmaster who makes your changes for you, send him or her the links to your social media accounts so he can add them along with the appropriate company logos – this is one of the more common website additions so it should be quick and easy to add to your website.
Print ads
Especially if you are taking out a larger sized ad, it is easy to add “Follow me on Twitter at @yourhandle” and “Like us on Facebook!” on those print advertisements. Or if space is limited, choose one or the other. And if you do happen to have a large advertisement coming out, don’t forget to make sure you update your Twitter status or share something on Facebook. You don’t want people to see you have a Twitter account, only to discover you haven’t engaged on it for the past six months.
Don’t be dormant
While on Pinterest it isn’t as obvious if you haven’t shared anything in the past six months, on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, it is quite noticeable. People also forget that posting on those accounts is also promoting those accounts. Anytime a client shares something you posted on Facebook, it has the added bonus that all that client’s friends and family see not only the share, but also that it originated with you, and those people are not only reminded of your name, company and what you do for a living, they might also re-share it to all of their friends too, extending your reach on Facebook even more, and potentially getting not only brand awareness for yourself with a potential new circle of people, but also the possibility that some of them will “Like” your Facebook page as well.
While it would be amazing to just be able to create our social media accounts and then ignore them, while the magical powers of social media do the rest, in order to make social media work, you do need to put some effort into promoting it.
Note: We offer social media audits and strategy blueprints for realtors looking to extend their social media marketing for networking and selling. Please contact us for more information.
