5 ways real estate agents can build their sphere of influence with social media

A real estate agent’s sphere of influence is one of their most important professional assets. Handled well, this relational network can become a lead generating powerhouse, fueling your real estate business for years (even decades!).

But building your sphere of influence is more than a tactic or strategy: it’s learning how to build authentic, professional relationships with real people. And since people are relational, it only makes sense to reach out to them in a relational way. That’s where social media can help.

Whether you’re a brand new agent or you’ve been marketing, prospecting, and farming for years, social media’s sphere-building potential could make a big difference for your real estate business.

Check out these 5 ways real estate agents can build their sphere of influence with social media.

1. Get Serious About Facebook

Add more contacts
Use a business page
Post quality content
Start advertising

We sometimes take Facebook for granted. As a social media platform, it certainly get’s a lot of attention, but the relational power and business-building potential of Facebook can sometimes get buried by all of the cat memes and political rants!

For starters, review all of the contacts in your sphere and start connecting with those people on Facebook. Come at this from the perspective that you’re building authentic connections with people, not just making business contacts. And make it a habit to regularly review your contacts and reach out to them on Facebook. This doesn’t have to be limited to individuals either. Building connections with local businesses, civic organizations, etc. can also be a great way to add more people to your network.

Also, go ahead and set up a Facebook business Page. Brand it, include your headshot, logos, contact information, etc., and basically treat your Page as if it’s a storefront for your online Facebook real estate business.

This business Page gives you a professional platform from which to share posts and interact with your sphere (not to mention the fact that using a Page gives you advertising capabilities and more information about your followers).

Next, start posting on a regular basis, but try to avoid posting your listings over and over again. Instead, focus on posting entertaining, shareable, and informative content. There’s certainly a place for posting your listings, but too much promotional content can cause your followers to tune you out, and it doesn’t go very far in building authentic professional relationships.

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Once your Page is set up, branded, and you’re in the groove of posting quality content, invite your Facebook friends to like your Page. This can help to get your sphere interacting with you on a more frequent basis, helping you stay top of mind in a noisy and competitive environment.

Now that you’re firing on all cylinders, it’s time to start taking advantage of Facebook’s advertising capabilities. This is a good way to get your brand and listings in front of your current contacts and expand your sphere at the same time. To get started, try boosting a post that’s already performing well (people are liking it, sharing it, commenting on it, etc.). Or start a campaign aimed at getting people to like your Page.

Since Facebook lets you target specific audiences, try aiming these paid ads at the friends of the people who like your Page. This is a way to stretch your sphere by getting your name, company, and services in front of more people by leveraging your existing network.

2. Get Organized with Contact Lists on Twitter

Twitter is a great place to get fast-moving information from people and business in your area and from around the world. But with so many people on Twitter, how can real estate agents connect with people in an efficient way?

By organizing your Twitter contacts into lists, it makes it easier to find the people you need to communicate with, and it helps you be more effective at regularly interacting with them: a key component of nurturing your sphere of influence.

After you’ve connected with your current contacts on Twitter, start using private lists to organize your sphere contacts. You want some kind of strategy here, otherwise there’s not much point in categorizing the people in your sphere! One method could be to group contacts by where they are in your sales funnel, whether they’re a local business, a supporting service provider such as a lender or insurance agency, or a referral source…and also, don’t forget to include your past clients.

Tip: Connect with local businesses on Twitter, and do this frequently and consistently. You want to develop the idea that you’re a local expert who has their finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the community. Tag local businesses in your posts, write 140 character reviews, share photos and videos of local shops, in short, engage with the businesses in your area on Twitter and join the conversation.

3. Start & Join Conversations on Social Media

Trying to build your sphere of influence on social media without working to communicate with others is an exercise in futility.

Start up a conversation.

What do people need to know about the home buying or selling process? What do they need to know about a particular neighborhood, school district, development, etc. that no one else is talking about (or at least they haven’t done it justice)?

Opportunities are all around you to start conversations on social media. So take advantage of them!

But even the best of real estate agents encounters something on social media they may not have bargained for.

Silence.

No matter which social media platform you’re using, the time will probably come when you have the thought, “Is anybody out there? Where are all the comments and likes and shares I thought would be coming my way?”

You could panic or take your ball and go home. But there’s another option.

Find some conversations that make sense for you to be a part of and jump in! Keep up with what’s going on in your market (real estate related and not), pay attention to local happenings, and join in on discussions about local trends or items of interest. Find groups on social media to be a part of. Like, share, and comment on other people’s posts. Think about how you can help people, celebrate with them, serve them, and just be social on social media.

One strategy to help with this is to go local. Phil Greely of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty says that “[i]n addition to being experts on ‘real estate’, we are also experts on our community. Pick the community you live in or the neighborhood you’d like to work and go deep with your content. Neighborhood videos at the local ice cream shop; business profiles with local small businesses in that community…” basically become an agent who both cares about the community and shares about it, too.

This approach can pay dividends on social media, and it should help you build your sphere of influence with local, quality contact opportunities.

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4. Be Social in Real Life

By combining offline and online marketing tactics, real estate agents can basically get the best of both worlds. An even better way to think about this is to see online, or digital marketing, as part of your “real-world” marketing.

Think about it. The same people you meet at the local coffee shop are the same people who are on social media. Why do you see them differently? Why not add more people to your sphere of influence by using social media to follow up after those great, real-world conversations you’re having?

Tip: Make it a practice that every time you meet someone new in real life, you invite them to connect with you on social media. Use your smartphone to connect with others on the spot!

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5. Reach Out to Past Clients on Social Media

While social media presents you with great opportunities to build your sphere with new contacts, it’s also good advice to remember those connections from the past as well.

Set yourself up for future success by getting in the habit of connecting with potential buyers and sellers on social media. Later on, if you’ve done a good job of building those social ties online, those same people could become good sources of future referrals.

Jay Thompson, Director of Industry Outreach for Zillow, says that “[f]ew people have real estate sales as their first and only career. All those people you met and worked with in your past life before real estate? SOI members. LinkedIn is a great resource for reconnecting with past co-workers. OK, so maybe the guy in the next cubicle used to drive you insane, but he still needs a place to live — go sell him a house!” (Zillow).

Start Building with Social

Social media really can help you build your business by giving you more opportunities to tap into your existing (and potential) relational network.

So go for it: start using social media to engage with your current sphere and to expand it.

What are some things you’ve done on social media (or plan to do) to build your sphere of influence?

Ready to grow your sphere of influence with social media? Get your free copy of the Social media growth guide here.