My real estate professional colleagues ask me all the time “Why Facebook?”

Here’s my answer (plus the answer you need to give to impress clients at a listing presentation).

Facebook has become the new standard for the internet. People now start their day by going online to Facebook. The internet has become a social experience and Facebook won the social race.

But here’s the short but sweet answer – because your clients are on Facebook – and if your clients are on Facebook you need to be on Facebook.

Here’s a few stats that demonstrate the unbelievable reach of Facebook. You can use these stats when you sit down at the table with a potential client and want to prove that you’re socially savvy and a social media marketing genius.

Facebook is one of the world’s most popular online brands and over 54% of the world’s online population has visited Facebook.

 Facebook is used by 62% of internet users in the United State.

Now here’s the stat I find particularly revealing and most significant.

 It tracks how much people trust advertising and clearly demonstrates something we already know – people trust recommendations from people they know. That’s where social media comes into its own as social network friends actively seek recommendations from one another; provide unsolicited reviews about products and service providers and blog about their experience.

Social network friends will blog things like “Can anyone recommend a Realtor?” Their social network friends will reply with recommendations of Realtors. You need to make sure that they’re talking about you!

Still not sure about “doing the Facebook thing?”

About Ross Hair

Ross Hair is bald, a huge fan of real estate social media and the founder of Social Media Marketing Camp.

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In 2010 real estate social media stormed to the forefront of online real estate marketing so I thought it would be a good time to share the top 7 real estate sites and blogs.

Social Media Advocate

Social Media Advocate is a community blog and network packed with thousands of real estate professionals, free education and social media resources. You can view how to videos and step-by-step workbooks on how to do things like customize a Fan Page or build a community site for your local town on Facebook.

Tech Savvy Agent

The Tech Savvy Agent won the 2010 Inman Most innovative Blogger award and features the latest and greatest real estate tech tools. As the name suggests there’s a strong tech focus but the articles are easy to read and very practical.

Agent Genius

Agent Genius is a community blog featuring contributions from over 70 top real estate agents. There’s much more to the site than just social media marketing as many of the contributors are niche experts with unique and interesting perspectives on the future of real estate marketing.

Future of Real Estate Marketing

The Future of Real Estate Marketing is an Inman News site that blends social media with news and trends in real estate marketing. You get great real estate news (as you would expect from Inman), a showcase for up and coming technology (mainly reviews of vendors) and social network tips.

My Tech Opinion

I saved one of the best for last – My Tech Opinion.

My Tech opinion has cutting edge insights into blogging, social networking and mobile real estate marketing. It’s the best place for information on how to incorporate your iPhone or iPad into your real estate business and is always ahead of the curve with new technology reviews.

About Ross Hair

Ross Hair is Bald, a full time a real estate broker and and fan huge fan of real estate social media marketing.

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The one piece of real estate social media software that I simply can’t do without is HootSuite.

HootSuite is a third party application that allows you to view all your social media accounts on a single dashboard, connect all your accounts so that you can syndicate posts and automatically upload RSS feeds from any website (including your blog) to all the social networks.

And did I mention that it’s free!

I use HootSuite extensively to post to multiple groups, fan pages and accounts. It’s really simple to use and includes a URL shortener to help with your Twitter posts.

But the thing I do most with HootSuite is “listen” to the conversation by tracking keywords on Twitter. It’s an awesome way to find active home buyers and sellers in your local area and to keep an eye on local news.

It’s my favorite social media tool and I highly recommend that you open a free acount on HootSuite right now.

About Ross Hair

Ross Hair is bald, a real estate social media fan and the founder of Social Media Marketing Camp.

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Here’s a sneak peak at the outline of the Real Estate Social Media eBook – 10 days to Social Media Success and MORE Real Estate Closings!

The 10 day Plan is designed to get your social media marketing plan operational and productive in just 10 days.

On Day 1 you will identify your real estate social media strategy.

On Day 2 you will set up all your essential social network and technology accounts.

On Day 3 you will build your blog and add the most important widgets.

On Day 4 you will map out and plan your blogging strategy and publish your first blog posts.

The purpose of your blog is to provide a venue to receive thousands of new social network friends. Traffic to your blog will come from the social networks and you can expect an avalanche of prospective clients.

The most important function of your blog is to convert your visitors into contacts.

On Day 5 you will start making friends on Facebook and building your network.

On Day 6 you will create a fan page on Facebook for your local community. This is currently the single most successful tactic for rapidly growing your friend network on any of the social networks.

On Day 7 you will start making connections on Linked In and will build a group for your local community.

On Day 8 you will learn how to “listen” for business on Twitter by tracking keywords that identify ready and willing buyers and sellers.

On Day 9 you will set up your control panel on Hoot Suite to monitor and manage all your social networks in one convenient dashboard.

On Day 10 you’ll review your entire social media marketing plan and make sure that your networks are all connected and your content is syndicated.

About Ross Hair

Ross Hair is the Baldest Man in Real Estate Social Media and the founder of SMM Camp (Social Media Marketing Camp).

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Here’s the single most important thing about my real estate social media strategy …

I think it’s too difficult to sell real estate online. So I don’t even try.

Is that a crazy statement or what?

It’s certainly counter intuitive.

Why spend so much time telling people that social media marketing is perfect for real estate if you think it’s too difficult to sell real estate online?

What I found was that it was difficult to sell real estate online but much easier to sell it offline in the real world.

So I don’t try to sell online. I sell it offline. (Actually, I don’t even sell it offline because I refer 99% of my deals to my nationwide referral network).

I only try to do one thing online.

Do you know what that is?

All I try to do online is get a name and email address and permission to email.

My entire social marketing plan is designed to turn a stranger into a “friend” and then turn my new “friend” into a contact.

I’m marketing just for contact details. That’s it!

You see I found that although it was difficult to sell real estate online, it was really easy to make friends online.

So here’s my entire real estate social media strategy in three sentences:

1. Make as many friends online as possible
2. Don’t try to sell real estate online, only try to get an email address and permission to send an email
3. Take your hot prospects offline and sell real estate to them the old fashioned way.

Social Media gurus hate this approach.

They think it breaks the new golden rule of participation and interaction and don’t see it as being very sociable. I understand what they’re saying but I just couldn’t work out how to chat with thousands of new clients and efficiently manage my time.

So I guess I’ll just keep on doing the things that work for my business.

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