Age: 54
Years in real estate: Five
Job title: Sales associate
Location: Keller Williams Short Hills
Hours per week spent on social media: Two to three hours per day
Social media accounts: Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Plus and Twitter
Target demographic: Buyers ages 30 to 41, sellers 40 and older
Average number of posts per day: Three to four
Which social channels do you work most?
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
How many friends, likes, etc., do you have?
My Facebook business page has 2,416 likes; I have 130 followers on Pinterest, 46 followers on Twitter and 400 connections on LinkedIn.
Does that number matter to you?
Only insomuch as it helps me to get my content out and to directly communicate with people of interest.
Do you ever give it a break?
Not really — it depends on when I develop content and the immediacy of the content.
Does social help your business, and how?
Very much — it gives me a big platform to reach current and potential clients. The direct-message tools are ideal for communicating in a personal way with people whose email addresses I don’t have. It allows me to keep up-to-date on people’s life events and when they have a need to sell or buy. It builds my page views for my website, which in turn ups my rankings on Google. It all works together to give my brand big reach.
What’s your goal for your favorite social channel?
My goal to is be considered a local market expert in Millburn, Maplewood and South Orange, New Jersey, with a great brand image.
What’s your strategy to achieve it?
I generate content that is fresh and significant. If it’s analytical, I link it to my blog where I have more room to cover real estate news in-depth. I also post about events and happenings in the towns I serve and the nonprofit organizations I am involved with.
Is it worth it, and why?
Yes, it has helped increase my brand awareness, and connected me to many more potential buyers and sellers I could ever have reached on my own.
What’s your craziest social media-related story?
I read in the news about a major sports management figure getting a new job that would mean relocating to Florida from New Jersey. I am friends on Facebook with the person’s wife, whom I worked with for 10 years in my previous professional life. So I reached out with a message through Facebook because I don’t have their email address, phone number or home address, and I have a shot at getting their listing — which is a super-high-end luxury estate in an area where I have no market penetration.
What actions do you take that have gotten the most results?
My best results are from providing information that isn’t available anywhere else or sharing interesting facts about the neighborhoods I serve.
Is this more about social or about business?
For me, I keep the two completely separate. I have a Facebook personal page for ongoing personal communication and a business page for professional communication. However, I invite my friends to like my business page.
How do you monitor the channels? Do you use software or apps to manage your accounts, and which ones?
I don’t use any apps — I like to push out my content whenever I have the time and need to create it. Then it’s easy to share on multiple channels at once.
How many hours per day are you on social?
I check social media at various times per day — especially Facebook.
Do you ever think of retiring?
No — after five years of building my presence, I am now seeing a really great return on using and expanding my roles.
Do you consider yourself an influencer?
Yes.
Are you social in real life?
Not that much!
What did you do with your time before?
Talked on the phone and watched more television.
Do you have someone helping you?
I do it on my own.
Who do you follow, and why?
I follow various influencers both in and out of the real estate business. I like to keep a pulse on pop culture, media, music and other things.
Where do you find the content that you put out?
I create content several different ways. I try to push out event-related content for the towns I serve to help build awareness of charitable and town-centered special events. I push out content about the foundation I serve on, the Community Coalition on Race; I also create blog posts with real estate market updates that are very specific to the towns I serve (for example, my recent blog post about the six-year market trends for South Orange and Maplewood). I might write about trends that indicate who is buying in these towns and what makes them so appealing to buyers.
What has been your all-time hit share? Can you share a link to the post?
The only real way I’ve found to get major response is to promote a post on Facebook — or the other platforms. The sites have changed their algorithms to make it a challenge any other way (because they want to generate more ad revenue) — which is essentially advertising it. In January, I had my best response to a post I made on Facebook with a link to my blog on my personal website. For a total spend of $20, I got 81 clicks to my website, which is approximately 26 cents per click — far cheaper than what you can get using Google AdWords. So it’s incredibly effective. I highlighted it on my Facebook page; it’s about famous performing artists who live in South Orange and Maplewood.
Would you like to participate in our social media profile series? Email contributors@sandbox.inman.com.
