Most CRE brokers and business owners want to do the least amount of social media marketing possible. Some don’t see the value. Some don’t like it. Some don’t understand it. But it’s here to stay, whether you like it or not.

Good news is that this is a business that follows the Pareto principle. You can get about 80% of your desired social media marketing results from just 2 channels, and probably 95% from 3. I’ll cover the first two on this post.  If you good organic traffic / SEO coming from Google, you can literally outsource the social stuff to an assistant or do yourself in about an hour per week.  See this earlier post if you want to learn how to generate organic traffic through SEO.

OK, first, the objectives. Your objectives for posting are the following:

1. Stay top of mind to prospects
2. Add value to your sphere of influence, creating goodwill and establishing yourself as the authority in your market place
3. Connect with people who are ready to transact – Connections and conversations often turn into real business

What do you post about?  Remember, your objective is to add value, not to promote yourself with your numerous irrelevant awards, like everyone else does (I was a CCIM and one time a client told me he “didn’t give a shit about my awards, unless it was going to guarantee him a deal.”).  That was the last time I did it.

Examples of good value posts:

1. Increase in vacancy rates in the industrial sector in X part of town and some very important market intel that you have that is critical for people signing a new lease.  In posts like this, don’t give it all away.  Keep a bit a mystery.  Ask people to reach out to you, visit your website (if you’re reading this, this tactic works), but make sure you have real value to share when they do.  Sometimes this can be super-secret intel…sometimes it can be your unique spin, based on your experience, information, and market savvy.  Trust yourself and your abilities.
2. New company considering moving to town, with X amount of jobs and Y amount of office space they would take down.  This type of information could be great for land investors that you could represent.
3. New banking regulations and why CRE buyers should act and BUY NOW before it gets harder.  Or sell.  Or whatever will help them…and consequently, you.

How do you post this stuff?  Ok, once you have the content, you can either post it directly as a post or you could write a blog article and/or YouTube video, then share it on the social networks (I’ll tell you which ones in a second).  I recommend this second option because then your content lives on forever and you own it.  Even if it gets removed from the social networks, it’s still on your website.  And then that will help you rank in Google for terms like, “office space Denver,” “industrial warehouse in San Antonio,” “office tenant rep in Orlando.”  There’s money in that.  You can read this article for more info on that.

Ok, and finally, which networks are the most important:

1. LinkedIn – this is where the pros hang out.  You should make as many connections as possible that are relevant to your business.  Share your content to your “wall.”  But also reach out to specific players that could benefit from your content.  Direct message them and say something like this, “Hey Ms. Tenant Rep, it’s great connecting here.  I noticed you did the XYZ deal with Acme company in South Dallas last Fall.  I actually put together a list of five things to look out for before closing a deal in South Dallas with all the new city regulations.  Let me know if you’d like to see it.”  Something like that.  You get the picture.
2. Facebook – needs no introduction.  Everyone’s on Facebook.  You can go crazy with a Fanpage and run ads, but honestly, your personal page is good enough.  Just keep it clean and as free from politics as possible.  Ok to have family photos, since you are a human, but keep it light and semi-professional and positive.
3. YouTube – OK, I’m giving you a third.  I almost don’t consider this a social network because it’s also a search engine.  Document your content here as well, even if just a screenshare.  Embed the video on your website.  Help your Google rankings.  You don’t need a Hollywood crew.  An iphone is enough.  Video is growing.  Get in right now while it’s easier.

Ok, well that about does it.  Hope this has cleared things up a bit for you.  If you need any help on this or just want to have a free 15 minute strategy session, you know where to find me.  Let’s crush it.

Horacio Gallegos
Digital Assets Factory
CRE Search Engine Optimization/Digital Marketing
http://www.digitalassetsfactory.com