Illinois REALTOR®: Get Social

Social Media—It’s cheap, it’s easy and it’s one of the newest tools to build your brand and reach out to a broader base of potential clients.

15 tips from REALTORS® and others for getting more out of social media tools.

1. You need to have a plan and participate. Online reputation management is crucial—both building one and maintaining it. - REALTOR® Sara Bonert, ESM Realty, Chicago

2. What you write about is what you will attract. If you just write or tweet about what you ate that day, you’ll attract other people who care about what people are eating. If you blog/tweet about the condo scene in downtown Chicago, you’ll attract people who care about that. - Bonert

3. Don’t think that social media will work magic. It’s just another tool for networking. Get out and meet people IRL (in real life) or F2F (face to face). - REALTOR® Tim McDonald, Zoom Real Estate, Waukegan

4. Be consistent with your use. If you pop in and disappear, don’t expect to gain anything. - McDonald

5. Interact, reach out and touch those in the social community you are involved in. If you blog, read others’ blogs and comment. If you are on Twitter, tweet your thoughts on subjects, news items, other people’s tweets. Don’t block your updates—how will others get to know you? On Facebook, let others see you, write on friend’s walls, comment on pictures. - REALTOR® Tony Lazzari, Ryan Hill Realty, Naperville

6. Networking with professionals through social media works. I just referred two past clients to another agent in Colorado Springs, and that worked out well for my clients. I wouldn't have known about this REALTOR® had it not been for blogging. - REALTOR® Yolanda Hoversten, Prudential One Realty Centre, O’Fallon

7. If blogging, post a two-minute video every day or every other day. When you create a video, be yourself and link to it often and from multiple sites to give it better coverage and search engine ­optimization (SEO). - RE BarCamp

8. What is your overall goal with social media? Who is your target? What is the topic? Is this done in my voice? Use time effectively. - Real estate trainer Matt Dollinger at June 2009 RE BarCamp in Chicago.

9. When on Twitter, tweet a third of the time about yourself, a third of the time about others and a third of the time about business. - RE BarCamp

10. Put a personal, friendly picture as your avatar, one that people will recognize. Use some version of your name as your handle—again, recognition. - Lazzari

11. Attend a Tweetup and meet others who Twitter. Or schedule one.
Or join a Tweetride (cyclists who Twitter and meet to ride). Be ­creative
and interactive. - Lazzari

12. Tweet about and “retweet” those ­comments that you feel are notable. Showing interest is more important than being interesting and will gain you followers. Thank those who retweet your comments. Showing gratitude builds social capital which builds a following. - Lazzari

13. Before you start tweeting, take a couple of weeks to just listen to people you ­follow. Then, don’t do what bothers you about their tweets. ­- REALTOR® Markus Azadeh, Re/Max 1st Class Realty, Skokie

14. Use tools like Seesmic, UberTwitter, and Ping to ­effectively manage messages. - REALTOR® Andrea Geller, Hot Property®, Sudler Sotheby’s International Realty, Chicago

15. Use Twitter to create more interest in your blog and drive more Internet traffic there. – IAR Tech Guy Matt Brewer

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