Tuesday, August 17, 2010

You’re Only Hurting Yourself

In the last 2 years of being a Full-Time REALTOR I’ve picked up some interesting information regarding Social Networking. Here’s something that I figured out for myself – with a little help from my e-PRO class and the Bridges Brothers.

Facebook is a great MARKETING Tool when it’s used properly. In one form or another you should have ALL of your e-mail addresses tied to your Facebook profile.

What does this mean?

I wear many hats, volunteer at different organizations, work as a BNI Area Director and am a Full-Time REALTOR and mobile notary. I have about 3 e-mail addresses that I use daily, each is for a different hat.

Notary/Stoebe Services: 2escrow@roadrunner.com – this is for mostly my personal correspondence and ALL my family, church friends and personal friends use this e-mail address. This e-mail is part of my personal FACEBOOK page.

REALTOR: Tamara@TamaraStoebe.com – in my e-PRO class the first thing you learn is that it is important to have your own domain that travels with you no matter which company you work for. www.TamaraStoebe.com is that personal fully owned website that I own. Any and ALL real estate correspondence comes from Tamara@TamaraStoebe.com

BNI Area Director: Tamara@BNI-SCAV.com – as an Area Director I must be able to be reached by my fellow BNIers and by my Executive Directors – this e-mail automatically forwards to my 2escrow@roadrunner.com so that it does not get confused by my Real Estate peers.

Company E-mail: Tamara.Stoebe@PrudentialTroth.com automatically forwards to my Tamara@TamaraStoebe.com e-mail so that it is always tied to my real estate e-mail.

Now on Facebook I have a personal page for myself Tamara Stoebe - www.Facebook.com/TamaraStoebe which I will occasionally post real estate things, but tied to this personal page I have all of the above e-mails attached to this account so ANYONE looking for me if they have the above e-mail addresses can find me.

BUT on Facebook I also have a Fan Page - http://bit.ly/bwn1Iq - on this site all information is tied to a website: http://www.tamarastoebe.com/

Now what happens if 3 years ago I worked with someone at the local escrow association (I worked for 21 years in California Escrow) they have my 2escrow@roadrunner.com f/k/a 2escrow@adelphia.net, by searching either of these e-mails on FACEBOOK they will find me and we can reconnect.
If your FACEBOOK page is tied to your CURRENT e-mail address ONLY, and that address is tied to a specific company ie: Tamara.Stoebe@PrudentialTroth.com and you leave that company and now it becomes something like Tamara.Stoebe@ABCRealEstateCompany.com – make sure you update your FACEBOOK friends so all clients and friends can FIND you. Isn’t that what Real Estate is all about – your Sphere of Influence? Make sure your clients can find you by more than your name, brand yourself everywhere.

What do I recommend? Make sure that you have an e-mail address that no matter which company, what state, wherever you go your clients can find you. If they are in California and you’ve now moved to New York, you can get a referral fee by referring your client to your favorite Realtor you left in California, or your best friend from High School moves to Florida and remembers how much they enjoyed your company in High School and heard a rumor you were a REALTOR they search for you on FACEBOOK and they use maybe a personal e-mail you have because that’s the e-mail a mutual friend had for you. Wa La another referral opportunity.

Update your FACEBOOK profiles with all your e-mails. Good luck and I hope that this works as well for you as it has for me.