How You Should Use Facebook as a Real Estate Wholesale Investor
It’s something we are all addicted to now. The next disability will be an addiction to Social Media. It may sound far fetched but in reality we spend at least an hour on average online every day. That’s a lunch break at work for most of us. For business it’s a way to reach customers they wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise. These are some of things that you should and shouldn’t do on Facebook with Real Estate.
Basics
If you have a page for business use it for business. Your personal page doesn’t have your business name attached to it. This is the most common error I see with people in Real Estate. Since Facebook has a way to unfollow now but remain friends it happens that you lose some personal credibility. This isn’t new information. We’ve heard for a couple of years that people don’t like scrolling constantly seeing advertisements. That’s why Facebook changed the algorithm a while back to keep feeds more relevant to a users life.
You can use your personal page for subtle updates that remind your friends of what you do for a living but constantly posting We Buy Houses or a link to your latest deal isn’t a good idea. Facebook intentionally made groups for this purpose so you could share with like minded people.
The Shouldn’t Do’s
Even though the basics was a shouldn’t do for the most part it is the most basic thing that people in Real Estate do wrong.
If you have a page you shouldn’t share links on your personal page or mass invite your friends. When you share a post of your page to your personal page it turns people off. Imagine if all of your friends posted what they are selling or their daily activities with their job. You would think that person had issues and no life. It’s the same when you do it.
If you mass invite your friends to your page some will accept but most will roll their eyes. I see people a lot posting about mass invites with frustration in their words. You don’t want your friends on your business page anyway. They are friends not buyers or sellers. The likelihood of a friend letting you low ball them on their house is slim to none so let’s just be honest about it. You only want people on your business page that are interested in your business. Friends are like the people that window shop but never buy anything. That’s how you go out of business instead of stay in business. You need people ready to buy your service. That’s all you want on your Facebook page.
You also shouldn’t create a page and forget about it. This leads me to the should do’s of Facebook.
The Should Do’s
The first thing you should do is create a business account to manage your page. You can do that here. Once you create your business account you need to adjust your template. You have likely been using the basic template for pages managed by personal users. Facebook has templates for almost every type of business now. You need a layout that fits what you do not a generic template everyone uses. They are free and so is the Business account.
Once you have the right template you need to update your page information and create a call-to-action button. The call-to-action button is the Call or Sign up button you see on everyone’s page. You need one. They convert.
When you update your page information make sure to complete as many areas as possible with relevant information. In many cases your Facebook page can rank higher than your website in search results. That’s a positive because it doesn’t matter where the leads come from so long as the leads come. A key part of updating the page information is putting your phone number and website at the top of the description. So many times people only want contact information from a page or a website. If they can’t find it as soon as they land you run the risk of losing the business. Wherever you post online always make sure your contact information is in the landing screen.
Maintaining Your Facebook Page
I said earlier not to post your deals or that you buy houses on your personal page. You really shouldn’t do that often on your business page either. The reason is most people still see Wholesaling Real Estate as a scam. You want to let them know you buy houses without being overly We Buy Houses pushy. On my Facebook buyer’s page I typically talk about the weather or post something about Real Estate. Usually I run ads to tell people We Buy Houses. Advertising on Facebook is very inexpensive if you know how to target an audience. I want my users to see my company as a professional investment company. I don’t want to associate myself directly with the We Buy Houses stigma even though it’s what I do.
You should always have a light tone with your post. An easy way to get users engaged is posting a picture of nice scenery in your area with a positive comment. I have noticed that posting pictures of old buildings or places without identifying them can get users engaged. They may be remembering the good ol’ days with old pictures or playing the game of trying to figure out where I took the picture. Make your page fun. If you make it fun you inadvertently build trust because everyone likes someone that can make them laugh. It’s important to walk a professional line while being funny. Avoid the hot button issues at all costs. Play games like below.
If you are from the area tell me where this is and go…
Final Thoughts
Your Facebook page can generate a substantial amount of leads for you. It’s just like anything else. There are right ways and wrong ways. When you look at pages and groups that have a lot of followers try to figure out what they are doing to keep so many users engaged. You may have a group full of jerks but there is an attraction to that group some way. In order to understand a funnel you have to actually go thru that funnel. Sign up for someone’s free trial and see how they incorporate their Facebook page with their business. I guarantee it is a big part of their business.
Even though you are using a business page you should be social as it suggests. You shouldn’t post anything in depth or long. You should work on your headline and short description writing. That’s what is engaging users today. The clickbait or fake news phenomenon. Unfortunately, you have to do the same thing but hopefully in a more controlled and respectful way.
