Real Estate professionals – Ask yourself, are you a social networking pest?

I have lots of Real Estate Professionals on my twitter, Facebook & Linkedin. I know many of you are new to the space & just feeling your way.  While I think it is fantastic that Real Estate Professionals have jumped on the bandwagon & starting to utilise social media I think many Agents need to think about if what they are posting is interesting to the people following them. As someone who follows a large number of Agents I feel I need to stand up & let you guys know that many of you are boring us all to death.

Hey, if I can’t tell you who will?? 

I find many Agents have hit social media with a 100% TAKE attitude. They clog up my feed with “OFI – PROPERTY ADDRESS” & “SOLD – PROPERTY ADDRESS”. I deal with this by simply turning off the feed – just as I put a “no unsolicited mail” sticker on my mail box to stop the five boring letterbox drops a day that were clogging my mail box.

Just like that, connection lost. These updates do not make me or anyone else want to use your services. Instead they make me hate you a little.

Ok, ask yourself, what value am I bringing to this space? Am I adding any value  to the lives of the people who follow me?

Firstly, while you are able to connect your Twitter/Facebook account to your Linkedin account (nifty I know) I believe these social mediums all need to be treated very differently.

Linkedin is a professional network of industry contacts. Don’t smash your connections with marketing material, the 7 OFI’s you had that day or any other self-serving communication.These people are your peers, they couldn’t give a rats what OFI’s you are holding. Also, a professional network like Linkedin is not the place to share 10 personal status updates a day. Your professional contacts don’t care what you had for lunch that day, that you went to the gym or that your kids have diarrhoea.

Personally – I have a different style of photo & post style for each of these social mediums. On Linkedin I have a professional photo. I only post things I believe people will find professionally interesting & I only post about once a week so I’m not spamming my professional contacts.

On facebook I’m more relaxed, I have a personal photo & post status updates usually once or twice a day. I try to operate on a rule of is 90% give, 10% take. What I mean by this is 75% of the time my posts are something (I hope!) my contacts will find interesting (from professional blogs, to the odd YouTube clip that made laugh or some other kind of link or update that people will appreciate), 15% of the time I post personal status updates to allow my network to get to know me better on a personal level. Something strange or funny that happened to me that day, something people can get a laugh out or relate to. I want my contacts to know that I am a real person who they can connect with. I want them to feel no hesitation in emailing or picking up the phone to me for the first time as they feel like they already know me.

My 10% ‘take’ is the sell, putting up a link to a job ad or putting up a photo of something I received from a happy candidate (bunch of flowers, a nice card etc).

I also have a professional Facebook & a personal Facebook. I find the two don’t mix, the last thing you want is your professional FB friends seeing a photo of you at your friends hens night where you puked in a flower pot then passed out on the stairs & your personal friends don’t give a rats about all the ‘interesting’ professional blogs you are posting that have nothing to do with their industry.

Twitter I use differently again, since it was invented by Lady GaGa I let the more quirky side of me through. Twitter I would have 30% personal updates (I’m much more opinionated & risqué on twitter than on FB as it seems to suit the space), 30% interesting non-professional links that my follows would enjoy (a funny photo, you tube clip or whatever), 30% professional links (blogs, industry related news etc) & again maximum 10% ‘take’ (again, job ads etc). I’m only new to twitter but I’m finding it a fascinating space.

Now, before your next post stop & think, you have this amazing opportunity to build strong new connections with people by being motivational, entertaining, and educational. Are you wasting it?