The Professional’s Guide to Social Media
You build your business one relationship at a time—through word-of-mouth referrals. Social media is how word-of-mouth happens on the internet today. One shared comment can spur dozens of discussions among hundreds of people.
What is Social Media and Why Should You Care?
Trying to figure out the best way to reach the next generation of clients? You need to know how to use Facebook, Twitter and MySpace—the three pillars of “social media.” With more than 100M potential tenants spending an average of 2 hours a day conversing with their extended circle of friends, these sites are invaluable for generating word-of-mouth marketing and building your brand.
Guide for Success in Social Media
Create a professional presence on multiple sites
Establish a presence on the “Big 3” of social media: Facebook (500M people), MySpace (120M people, younger demographic than Facebook) and Twitter (50M people, older demographic than Facebook). These sites offer the most trusted and popular ways to connect with different communities in the way they like to interact best. Moreover, millions of users are actively looking for what you’re offering on Marketplace on Facebook and MySpace Classifieds–both powered by Oodle–as well as on Twitter.
Distinguish professional from personal
Create a separate identity (e.g., Facebook “page”, Twitter “account” and MySpace “profile”) to represent your business. Include a logo, professional photo and a link to your website; add some local flavor; and give it a personal tone. Be yourself but save private information for your personal profiles.
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Facebook: Set up and enhance a professional “Fan Page”
Set up a “Fan Page” for your business that is linked to your personal profile. Don’t create a second profile—this violates Facebooks’s terms of use.
Use Oodle Pro to automatically enhance your Facebook Fan Page with a "My Listings" tab to showcase your listings.
Reach out and make friends
The more connections you make, the more buzz you’ll generate. The fastest way to build your online social network is to upload your contact list to find the people you know. Even if you have a pre-existing Facebook profile, it’s good to periodically get fresh looks at the evolution of your social network by uploading your contacts. Follow leaders in your field and watch your connections grow.
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If you already have friends associated with your personal accounts on Facebook, MySpace & Twitter, invite them to also follow your professional accounts (discussed above in Step 2). Many of your friends would love to stay up to date on what you're doing professionally. Moreover, this makes it easy for them to share your information with their extended network.
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Social media is also a great way to stay in touch with your existing clients and prospects. It’s easy to track what’s going on in their lives and check in with them periodically. To find your existing relationships, try uploading your contacts from Gmail, Yahoo, or wherever you store your contacts.
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Facebook: from Facebook.com, select Friends, then Invite Friends
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Twitter: from Twitter.com, select Find People, then Find on other networks
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MySpace: from MySpace.com, select Friends, then Invite Friends
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On Twitter, see who your friends and professional contacts are following. Follow those that you find interesting. Many times someone you follow returns the favor and begins to follow you.
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Oodle Pro helps you make new connections by increasing your exposure. Listings featured in Marketplace on Facebook and MySpace Classifieds are linked to your professional identity. Your professional identity is also featured in the property manager’s directory.
Share and share again
Sharing updates with your extended network is what social media is all about. Do it regularly and keep it light. Share news and links as well as your listings. And don’t just talk about business: engage your fans with updates on local events, witty news stories and points of community interest.
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It’s helpful to remember that the updates and comments you share are not invasive. They appear on your friends’ Facebook, MySpace and Twitter pages where they can choose to dive into the conversation when they see something that interests them—so don’t be shy.
It’s okay to share information about your business including your listings. But don’t make it the only thing that you share. Indeed, it should be less than half.
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Share links related to your local market. Sharing great content is the best way to establish authority and credibility.
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Use Oodle Pro— it automatically shares all your new listings.
Participate in conversations
Social media is a two-way conversation. Your comments on other people’s posts are as important as the conversations you start. Engage in the conversations of friends and colleagues by adding your comments. Respond to those that reach out to you.
Regularly watch your streams on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. They are located prominently on your home page (the page you see when you log in). When you see something that interests you, check it out and comment in a supportive way.
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It’s important to track what people are saying about your listings. Oodle Pro makes this easy by showing you when people are commenting or responding to your listings. As people comment or ask question, jump into the thread.
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Search Twitter for conversations relating to your local market. When jumping in on a conversation with someone you don’t know, tread lightly. Identify yourself and offer brief and helpful commentary. Let them decide to follow up.