Dave Robison
By Dave Robison
Ever had that friend that whenever your phone rang, you looked at the caller ID and cringed? You simply subconsciously wanted to call them your friend because at one time they were, but for some reason they crossed the line into a category that none of us dare say to their face that they are now apart of. It’s the “What are they selling now?” category. Many REALTORS® are in that category, especially during the downturn as they have jumped to selling their clients other products, cell phones, or even pyramid schemes.
For me, I hated getting calls from that friend. For that reason I built my company so that I didn’t have to beg for business. I could focus on being a friend instead of a beggar.
How am I getting referrals without asking for referrals? I’m having fun and growing a tribe.
First: Facebook has stats on fan pages and I can see how effective I’m being. I can tell if my tribe is growing and can gauge interaction with people. If likes are growing and interaction and comments are growing my referrals will grow as well. Secret weapon to getting referrals without asking is my fan page
Second: The blogging of house listings and market conditions are dead. Blogging is all about interacting. We started a theme called “Dig it or Ditch it” where we post a picture of a room inside a house. Comments soared. Add a contest where people ‘”share the post” on their profile and our likes grew too. We now are reaching our friends’ friends. On one of these posts we received 19 new fans who were friends with our friends. We didn’t have to call our friends and beg them for business and we gained access to 19 of their friends without throwing a house warming party or sending out postcards. We just posted a pic of a room in a house. Continue reading »
Laura Rubinchuk
By Laura Rubinchuk
Lately I’ve been convinced that Facebook business pages should be more like a community page, a 365 page, or another way to get your community involved and talking.
While I see extreme value in that, and don’t mean to discredit that theory, because there are many ways to make social media work for you, I want to say that you should STILL have a fan page for you business (or your brand).
I recently got engaged and found wedding planning to be a second job. Research, planning, Web surfing, reviews, etc. etc. <eyes glazing over here> I’ve found that I went back to what I know well. When I find a vendor I’m interested in, I took to wedding rating sites in addition to Facebook. I wanted to see what people were willing to stake their names and identities to say. Is it just the vendor talking about recent events or did the clients actually post something to say “Thank you! You were great!” or something of the sort. In one instance, I was so torn between two vendors, I actually sent a complete stranger a Facebook message. Surprised? She responded. She was willing to spend the time to tell a complete stranger how great this DJ was at her wedding. I find it’s easy to bash or praise a vendor as a faceless avatar with an arbitrary name – it’s more credibility when it’s an actual person speaking up and vouching for this professional.
Take that to your business. We ask clients for testimonials all the time – we add it to our websites, our marketing brochures, we paste them everywhere! But what about your Facebook page? Why not simply ask them to write it there? You know they’re on there killing time anyway! You know how it goes – the post shows up on their wall, and their friends see it, and so on and so forth.
Just don’t forget to be consistent. Don’t have one post a month or none at all. Don’t brag, don’t just post your blogs or tweets. Actually provide some content and reassurance so when a stranger looks for you, they’ll find something great they can’t ignore! I plan to implement this new strategy, now that the lightbulb has gone off!
Laura Rubinchuk, GRI, is a real estate practitioner with Keller Williams Realty in McLean, Va. Visit her blog at www.ArlingtonRealEstateNews.com or her Web site at www.TheLJRGroup.com.
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