Return on investment or return on influence? That may be the first question you ask stumbling upon my post. I am speaking about the former: return on investment.
"Show Me the ROI!" - image courtesy of author
There are three basic elements to ROI measurement that I have found to be successful in my agent career:
- Brand identity.
- Lead generation.
- Sphere of influence.
Brand identity is vital in this overly saturated digital world we live in. You need to stand out. And your brand must be clear, concise and have continuity. I always consult agents to begin with WHY they want to utilize social media and WHO they are as a real estate agent. If these questions are not answered, you already are “behind the social media eight ball.” It’s like the foundation of a house: It’s what everything is built upon.
Next: lead generation. And before I begin, I want to note that I believe all leads generated through social media are “warm leads.” As agents, we all want to:
- Increase our revenue.
- Drive more traffic to our listings and agent pages/blogs/social media.
- Produce passive income.
- Bring in more relocation referrals.
- Pull in more customers.
- Establish a legacy.
Here is one way to begin. I advise other agents to create a spreadsheet on Google Drive or whatever cloud service you use.
The main columns are the specific lead source (FB, Twitter, Pinterest); customer name/info; active/inactive; search criteria; and conversion status. You have to track the complete cycle from generation to conversion. Don’t just keep it in your head. Without facts and analysis, we, as agents, get irrational — and irrational is not good for making sound business decisions. Using myself as an example, I was able to bring in $200,000 of commissions in 2009 generated from social media alone, not taking into account my other sources.
Lastly, increase your sphere of influence (industry and non-industry). I believe whole-heartedly that the power of social media is in the second-degree connections. And from my tracking, the facts stand by this. Furthermore, this has been one of the biggest surprises for me. My SOI has grown exponentially every year since 2007. I have become colleagues with high-profile industry experts by meeting them on Twitter. I have also met potential warm leads participating in an interest group on Facebook. I have even found (through Facebook) a wonderful business networking group for real estate professionals and social media. Using myself as an example again, I am closing a condo deal this month where the seller was generated from Facebook. One deal. $35,000 commission.
I realize this is quite a macro look at ROI and there are many details to discuss and hammer out, and we will. Check out this video where I speak about Google Plus and ROI to get a more specific look.
YouTube: Google Plus For Real Estate Agents with Stephanie L Davis
So maybe when it really comes down to it, ROI for social media falls somewhere in between return on investment and return on influence. It’s all a work in progress, guys. We champion on!
Track Social Media Leads - image courtesy of author
