RE Barcamp San Diego session: Advanced Facebook

Last but certainly not least is the Advanced Facebook session.  Thankfully it was in the same place as the previous Posterous session (it was a long day!).  Even though I was easily distracted at this point, the golden nugget I got from it was how REALTORS® should be using fan pages.  No, it has nothing to do with the real estate agent that sets it up.  It has everything to do with what people are already fans of – their communities!

If REALTORS® want to create facebook fan pages, they should set them up for their geographic farming areas instead of for themselves. If you are a Desert Ridge REALTOR®, set up a fan page for Desert Ridge homeowners. Don’t make it about you. It’s rarely an effective strategy to have a fan page about an individual REALTOR®. If you set up a fan page for a community you’ll find your fans start to create the content for you.

You’re simply facilitating a place for neighbors to talk with neighbors.  Allow fans to do practically anything on the page – the best thing that could happen is they take it over!  You’ll have to jump start the page with your own content, there’s no doubt about that.  If there is no content there, people aren’t going to use it.

Add pictures of the neighborhood to the photos section.  Include links to sites the community would be interested in – HOA, Sex Offenders, etc.  If you see weekend garage sales – post them. If neighbors are offering various services – post them. If you know of lost dog signs – post them.  Encourage the fans to add there own events!

What was that?  Did I just hear you ask how this would benefit your real estate business?  Here’s where the marketing hat gets put back on.  As you may or may not know, fan pages have multiple tabs across the top that you control.  You should have one of those tabs say MLS or Homes for Sale.  That way if people are interested in homes for sale in their neighborhood they simply click the tab at the top.  FBML is the fan page application that will allow you create a custom tab with links to listings, your website, or whatever lead generation tools you use!

Since you can create an unlimited number of fan pages in FB – get out there and help your community communicate!