There’s no denying that lately, Facebook seems to be taking over the world.  But is it really a marketing gold mine?  Or is it  just a black hole, sucking up all your time?  Well, let’s look at a few fact:

•450 Million Users and Growing
•2nd Most Trafficked website in the World
• 50% of Facebook users login in at least once a day
•If Facebook were a country, it would be the 3rd most populated in the World!
•The Fastest growing Facebook Demographic is Women over 55
•Studies show that engaging in online conversations with the right people is more affective than advertising

If you’re doing it right, Facebook will:

•Grow your Network and Sphere of Influence
•Create Customer Loyalty
•Generate Referrals

Here are a some tips to follow, that will help you get the most out of your Facebook marketing:

1. Make and organize your Friend “Lists” One of the coolest features Facebook has ever added is the ability to create Friend Lists.  This feature allows you to categorize your friends.  Facebook has a great Help Center that will show you how to create and manage your lists.
2. Set Security Features based on Friend Lists Now that you have each Facebook friend in a list, you can set  security features based on your lists.  You want to share personal family photos with your close friends, but you might now want your clients to see these.  Use the Facebook Help Center to learn about setting up your Security Settings.
3. Connect! Hopefully you have a database of email addresses that you’ve been using in your email campaigns. You can upload your data file and send each one an invite to connect. Here’s the Facebook Help Center page for uploading data files.
4. Be Consistent Ideally, you should post everyday, 2-3 times a day.  This isn’t as hard as it sounds.  If you have any type of smart phone, you can post right from your phone. Upload photos with a caption or simply change your status.
5. Use the 30/30/30 Rule Mix it up!  Make at least 30% of your posts about your personal life. People want to get to know you! Make 30% of your posts about your personal real estate business. Posts about a home you just sold, or a photo of a happy buyer in front of their new home. And be sure to post your Obeo Homesite, too! Make 30% of your posts about the Real Estate Industry. Link to an interesting article about market conditions or home staging tips.  And that leave 10% to do whatever you want with!  Maybe a daily inspirational quote, or a funny joke.
6. Do it Yourself That’s right. Social Media is all about making “emotional” connections.  Your assistant can’t do that for you. In order to be authentic and believable, you have to do it yourself.
7. Interact with Others There’s more to Facebook Marketing than creating posts. You need to interact. You have to comment on other peoples’s pages & posts.
8. Engage your Readers Ask questions, post photos, be interesting.  Network on Facebook like it was a big party! Make it professional, but not boring.
9. Automate!  There are some terrific automation tools available, to make your Social Media work a bit easier.  Obeo is of course one of the best!  Obeo will automatically post your listings to Facebook (Twitter & YouTube, too!). It’s very simple to set up, just click here to learn how.  Hootsuite is another great tool that allows you to schedule your posts ahead of  Time. You can take one day of the week and schedule a majority of your posts!

Be sure to connect with Obeo on Facebook!