Facebook for Real Estate: Better Profiles and Lists of Friends

Effective Facebook Profiles and Friend Lists, Erica Vautier ©2010

Facebook forReal Estate

Profiles & Friends


Goal: to learn how to set up your

Facebook Profile & Organize your Friends


Class Topics:

• Facebook’s Staggering Statistics

• Using Facebook as a Real Estate tool

• The Difference between Profiles and Business Pages

• Building a Strong Profile

• Organizing your Friends into Lists

• Control Communications through Privacy Settings


Facebook’s Staggering Statistics

•Facebook is the largest social network in the world

•More than 500 million active users

•50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day

•Average user has 130 friends

•People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook


Facebook’s Staggering Statistics• Average user is connected to 80 community

pages, groups and events

• Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month

• More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.


Facebook’s Staggering MOBILE Statistics• There are more than 200 million active users currently

accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.

• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.

• There are more than 200 mobile operators in 60 countries working to deploy and promote Facebook mobile products


Facebook RIGHT NOWGet the latest Facebook facts and figures:

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics


Facebook as a Real Estate ToolFacebook is an incredibly powerful social networking tool and real estate thrives in healthy communication.

Ergo, savvy real estate agents can leverage the vast reach of Facebook to reach past and future clients with real estate information.


Why should a Realtor have a Facebook account??

•You will be able to connect with your sphere in a faster and more cost effective way•Facebook will keep you Top of Mind with your sphere•You can learn interesting and useful information about your sphere•It allows you to be both a person and a professional at the same time•It has the most in depth privacy filters of any social site•Facebook is on its way to become the way we connect with all other sites


Facebook Profiles vs. Business Pages

A personal profile is linked to the individual person.

While you should always keep your brand in mind as you add pictures and post comments, your Facebook profile should be a reflection of you as a person.

On your profile you can reach out to people in a personal way. Keep your privacy settings tight and only give full Friend access to people you know.



Your personal profile is not the place to sell products or services. Company promotion should be limited.

Not only will you turn off your friends, but if selling occurs frequently, your profile may be shut down by Facebook. It is really difficult to get a profile reactivated, so save selling for your Facebook Fan Pages.



A Facebook Fan Page can be set up for any business or an organization. While you will only have one personal profile, you may eventually have multiple Fan Pages.

Some features of Fan Pages are similar to that of your personal Facebook Profile.

You can post status updates that will populate your wall, fill out an information page about your business and you can share photos and videos.



The public can openly view Fan Pages, as these are the only places on Facebook that are fully visible to search engines.

By sharing relevant, interesting and keyword rich content you can improve the Search Engine Optimization of your Facebook Fan Page.




Create your Facebook Account

Go to: http://facebook.com and sign up for a free account

All you need to create your account is a valid email address, but it is also a good idea to have some photos and text ready to fill your profile.


Build a Searchable Facebook ProfileShare authentic professional and personal information in your Facebook profile. Be engaging and genuine; leave the sales pitch at home.

For many agents, this means writing a new bio in the first person.

People will connect to you through the searches they conduct; keep that in mind and use keywords wisely.


Basic Facebook Profile Content

Name: Enter your real name so people can recognize you

Sex: I think you guys know how to fill this one out

Birthday: Feel free to share just the month and day

Current City: Giving your city and state will help people find you

Hometown & Home Neighborhood: This is an instant connection to people from your past


Basic Facebook Profile ContentFamily Members: I can’t promise your kids will love that you figured out how to link your profiles on Facebook, but you might have some siblings out there to connect to

Relationship: Link to your better half and take your rightful place on their Facebook profile

Politics & Religion: Since this is your personal profile (not your business profile) you can share as much Political and Religious information as you would like, though many people choose

to leave these fields blank


Share Real and Tangible Personal Information

This is the place to share information about your favorite things in life. •What activities do you enjoy? •What are your hobbies and interests? •Do you have TV shows you refuse to miss or books you can’t put down? •What type of music do you listen do?

Challenge yourself to divulge some simple pleasures that other people can identify with.

It’s amazing how much closer you feel to people when you discover that you grew up near each other or love the same football team.


“About Me”

Keep your “About Me” straight forward and personal.

There will be plenty of places where you can share your work bio on your Facebook Fan page.

For this personal profile, an “About Me” with big life details is best.

Talk about your career without trying to sell your real estate services.


Contact MeThe email address you used to create your Facebook account will already be listing in your Contact Information.

Adding additional email addresses will complete the profile and make it easier for your friends to search for you.

Give your phone number(s), work address and website(s).


Photos and VideosProfile Pictures:It can be beneficial to keep profile pictures consistent with other head shots used in marketing. Still, be light and genuine.

Photos / Videos / Links:Add multimedia interest by uploading your photos and videos. In a links tab you can connect to your other networks.

Other fun tabs: Blogs, Slideshare, LinkedIn


EducationThe culture of Facebook is very similar to a Reunion. Sharing your school information instantly connects you with past networks.

You can list multiple high schools, universities and employers.

These networks are laden with potential for referrals and shouldn’t be skipped over.

Feeling shy? Leave the year blank.


Organize your Friends into Lists

With a strong Contact Management Strategy you can easily send target communications to select lists of Friends on Facebook


Organize Facebook Lists for CommunicationYou may share personal life updates with your family, but keep conversations professional with coworkers.

You would share local updates with people who live near you, but reminisce about the past with old friends.

There are photos that only your closest friends would appreciate, and events you’d only invite coworkers to.


Organize Facebook Lists for CommunicationAs in life, your Facebook Friends may fall into multiple lists.

Think of a friends who lives in “San Diego” that you went to “College” with who became one of your “Clients”.

Facebook allows you to put Friends into as many lists as you feel necessary.


Organize Facebook Lists for CommunicationHave you ever ignored a Friend request because you didn’t want a fellow realtor to see your list of friends? Or because you didn’t want an old Friend to embarrass you in front of clients? Well deny friendships no more! You can accept everyone…but with a caveat. Each Friend will be placed neatly into their own special list. And each list will be assigned It’s own set of rules that governs their access to your Facebook profile.


Create Lists for your FriendsHigh School Friends

College Friends

Work Friends

Clients

Closest Friends

Family

Associates

San Diego

East Coast

Limited View


Control What each List Can See

•Your contact information

•Birthday and year

•Political and religious views

•Education and work experiences

•Relationship Status


Adding a Friend to a ListSelect “Account” from the top right corner Then “Edit Friends” from the drop down menu Go through your list of friends and drop them into one, two or twenty lists . When you request a new Friend, you can pre-add them to a list. When they accept your request, they will automatically be added to the lists you selected for them.


Edit your SettingsSelect “Account” from the top right corner Then “Privacy Settings” from the drop down menu Then “Customize Settings” below Sharing on Facebook


Control your Privacy SettingsFor each item listed in your Privacy Settings, decide who can see what. You can give full access to everyone, just the friends of your friends or only your Facebook Friends.


Custom Edit your Privacy SettingsIf you want to go into more detail, select the option “Custom edit” From the “Custom Privacy” screen you can choose specific lists of people to view (or not view) your Facebook profile.


Photo Albums by ListFrom the “Privacy Settings” page, follow the link called “Edit album privacy” to control who can see what photos Next to each album you have a drop down menu that will allow you to custom its visibility. Go album by album and select the appropriate lists to view each set of your photos. To block certain people or lists of people from viewing photos you are tagged in, return to Privacy Settings.


Wall Posts by ListFrom your Privacy Settings you establish the default for who can view your Wall Posts. Well, what if there is an exception?

No worries, you can decide to make an exception to your default setting on a case by case basis.

Start at your wall and enter in a status update.

Then click on the padlock icon next to the “Share” button.


Preview your Profile by ListWith numerous lists and Friends that fall into multiple lists, it can become hard to keep track of who can see what. You can keep tabs on the different settings you gave your Friends by previewing your profile.

From the “Privacy Settings” screen click on the button “ Preview Profile”.


Preview your Profile by ListEnter a Friends name and Preview your Profile how it would appear to them. Not happy with the results?

Go back to Privacy Setting and make any adjustments you want to.


Wall Posts by ListFrom here you can customize you can view this specific wall post. This is a ONE TIME RULE and will not change your Privacy Settings for other posts.

You can use it to post a message that you only want a few people to see, like your high school Friends. Or to block a list of people from seeing, like your coworkers. Share hyperlocal updates with your neighbors while letting your family know about a surprise birthday party.

One account, one password, one neat and organized system.


Custom Edit your Privacy SettingsMake this visible to:Choose “Specific People”Enter the names of individual Friends or lists of Friends who you want to be the only people who can view certain information

Hide this from:Your information will be visible to whoever you selected above, expect for…Enter the names of individual Friends of lists of friends who will be the exception to the rule you set above


Facebook Presentation by Erica Vautier

Self Improvement

Facebook for Real Estate: Better Profiles and Lists of Friends