By Jamie Swann, Contributing Writer
Oversharing, constant status updates, vague posts begging for sympathy and selfies.
So many selfies.
Everyone has someone on their newsfeed guilty of committing at least one of these common Facebook faux pas.
But do the same rules apply when using social media for business?
Marketing professionals know social media can be a powerful tool for real estate agents to connect with the communities they serve, share information about properties and promote their business.
While every agent should use some form of social media, this type of marketing is one of the most commonly misused forms in the industry.
“The biggest mistake I see happening on social media is that a company will try to be on every platform and not be effective at it,” said Jim Doyle of REDdot Marketing. “It’s worse to be on a platform and not do anything because your company looks dead.”
A Facebook page for a business can help promote properties and a business at the same time.
Sharing listings, promoting specific offers and showing homes that were sold is great — in moderation.
Excessive and routine posting can make social media accounts uninteresting and, for some people, even annoying.
With recent changes made to Facebook’s algorithm, the amount of promotional content from business pages on news feeds is being reduced.
The changes make it even more important to mix in other content like blog posts with promotional messages in order to be seen.
“Agents should post one to two times per day,” Doyle said at the July Sales and Marketing Council breakfast. “Use a social media management platform like Hootsuite to schedule your posts. Social media doesn’t have to be a full-time job.”
Programs like Hootsuite, Buffer, Edgar and IFTTT allow users to schedule posts for all social media platforms, making the days of manually entering every single social media post obsolete.
Many of these services also offer analytics, allowing users to track the performance of status updates, tweets and other social media posts.
Analytics help users improve their marketing tactics, provide information such as which platform drives the most traffic and when is the prime time to reach the most people.
“If you’re not using an analytics software, you are missing opportunities,” said J.D. Blair, president of Mad Men Marketing, while participating on the SMC panel.
For example, he said, analytic software shows using pictures in posts increases activity and a great time to post on Facebook is 1-4 p.m.
A picture is worth a thousand words, especially on social media. Videos and slideshows are key, as well.
According to recent Facebook data, photo posts get 120 percent more engagement than a text-only post.
As long as users optimize social media pages by posting quality content regularly, they are likely to receive a comment in response.
Keys to building relationships are replying shortly after receiving comments and responding with positive comments.
If the comment is negative, tread lightly and consider whether it’s worth responding. If you feel it’s best to reply, take the “kill them with kindness” approach.