Did…

1. They are an open networker. Agents who are effectively utilizing Facebook are accepting and seeking out friends and followers in all shapes and sizes, including other Realtors. But the agents who amass a large friend list understand that it’s not about a popularity contest. The key is being able to figure out how to engage that friend list on Facebook.

2. They are authentic and personal. Successful agents are sharing lots of information about their passions. This causes their Facebook friends to begin to see them as a real person along with what makes them special and unique. This is important because, when given a choice, people like to deal with friends they like and trust as opposed to a stranger.

3. They are making a commitment to stay engaged. Facebook-savvy agents are engaging consistently. Social networking is a game of touches and you have to be a participant in the conversation throughout. Many of us are simply not using the opportunities presented by our smartphones—such as mobile access to Facebook. It literally takes 30 seconds to post a comment, even less than that to comment on someone else’s post, and only a second to “like” something. Social networking is about the little engagements.

4. They are where the conversation is happening, but don’t dominate. This is all about achieving a very important balance in your Facebook presence. You don’t want Facebook friends saying the online equivalent of, “Don’t look now! Here comes Betty Sue and all she wants to do is sell us real estate.” We all have those Facebook friends who we block from our walls in order to avoid their barrage of in-your-face posts. Don’t give your friends a reason to block you.

5. They balance sharing thoughts and provoking ideas. While posting your thoughts and opinions is certainly part of the Facebook equation, the key is to provoke conversation from your posts. Posting questions, posting meaningful photos of where you happen to be, paying attention to what might be of benefit to your friends, are all essential parts of the Facebook secret sauce.

6. They become the community reporter. For those agents who are making money on Facebook, one of the universal things they share is a top-of-mind awareness of their community. Ryan Hukill of the Hukill Group in Oklahoma City, for example, has positioned himself as the foremost authority as to what’s going on in the greater Oklahoma City area. His passion for his community always comes through.

7. They promote listings from a different angle. A lot of people are making a big faux pas by sharing all the details of their listings on their Facebook wall. You need to share information about listings from a different perspective. Ryan, for example, made a video on the effects of water damage by walking through one of his listings and pointing out some areas where water caused problems. Without throwing the house under the bus, he created an educational video that people wanted to watch and promoted his listing at the same time.

Mark Porter, a top producer from Carrollton, Texas, encourages everybody to open an account on Postlets.com—a place where you can post free photos of your listings for 30 days. Mark does this, then gets the seller to post the Postlets link to their Facebook page. Mark makes sure to comment on the seller’s post, thereby gaining access to all those who also comment on the post. This is a really covert way to get the word out about your listings.

When it comes to building business through Facebook, it’s all about likeability and strategy. You have to continue to monitor and measure what’s working and what isn’t—it’s not a straight line to the finish. You have to be flexible enough to deviate as needed.

George “Gee” Dunsten, president of Gee Dunsten Seminars, Inc., has been a real estate agent and broker/owner for almost 40 years. Dunsten has been a senior instructor with the Council of Residential Specialists for more than 20 years. To reach Gee, please e-mail, gee@gee-dunsten.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Have you heard about RISMedia’s Real Estate Information Network® (RREIN)? RREIN is an elite network of leading real estate companies dedicated to providing consumers and their agents with leading real estate information, and committed to the belief that Information Share Equals Market Share. Having only launched this past June 2010, the RREIN network is already comprised of 40 leading brokerages, which make up 575 offices, 30,000 agents, 167,000 closings and represents over billion in transactions. How can RREIN help your recruiting efforts and differentiate your company today? For more information, email rrein@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

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“Knowing what social skills you have is vital to understanding your own particular brand of leadership and can improve your ability to make friends, fans, and followers in business,” says Barry Libert, author of the new book Social Nation: How to Harness the Power of Social Media to Attract Customers, Motivate Employees, and Grow Your Business..

Libert offers the following social competencies that can help you be more effective in driving business results:

Be flexible. The ability to adjust expectations and behavior on the fly to fit any type of situation is crucial in the fast-paced world of business. Adaptors are comfortable with dealing with shifted plans and the unpredictable world of social networks and online communities. Likewise, they can help to implement a change in strategy wherever it might be needed.

See the big picture. Having a clearly defined mission for how to get to where you’re going is a skill that is often overlooked. However, architects are capable of understanding how an organization’s strategic path will help them reach their goals. They also have a knack for visualizing the overall direction in which their organization needs to be heading. In sustaining a social presence, architects keep conversations going by infusing them with this vision.

Work together. Being a team player is absolutely necessary in any business. Collaborators prefer to be a part of a support system and promote a common purpose. Furthermore, they often measure their own success as a function of the team’s success, and they help an organization act as one in a social community. Collaborators are also great at revving up team participation. And as they are typically more socially inclined, they aren’t afraid to approach people and build relationships outside an organization’s normal sphere of communication.

Control the chaos. Knowing how to organize the various aspects of day-to-day business and how to configure complex pieces to get better results is key within a company. Connectors integrate a variety of viewpoints and perspectives into a complete composition and enable social interactions and conversations to run smoothly.

Think innovatively. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, but proposing new ideas can rejuvenate a team. Creative thinkers come up with inventive ways to tackle familiar challenges and enjoy being enlightened while collecting new information. Additionally, they are skilled at finding unusual connections among people and content within a Social Nation.

Break down the façade. Wearing few social masks and being an open book can gain both trust and respect from others. With transparent individuals, open, authentic communication is the name of their game—and they encourage their organization to increase its level of transparency by sharing through social media.

Don’t be afraid of taking risks. Venturing into unknown territory may be scary, but it can also be very rewarding. Risk takers know that there is much to be gained through trial-and-error learning and are motivated by progress. Unlike risk-averse naysayers, they’ll gladly take on the social movement challenge.

Imagine the possibilities. Instead of focusing on obstacles, thinking about alternative outcomes and solutions can help energize and inspire others. Visionaries tend to have intuitive foresight, and they challenge the status quo to reach for a better future.

“Remember that the key is to try to achieve a balance between all eight traits,” concludes Libert. “You’re probably not going to master all of them on your own. Tackle them as a team, and your organization can make progress in building a successful social strategy and, ultimately, a true Social Nation.”

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Have you heard about RISMedia’s Real Estate Information Network® (RREIN)? RREIN is an elite network of leading real estate companies dedicated to providing consumers and their agents with leading real estate information, and committed to the belief that Information Share Equals Market Share. Having only launched this past June 2010, the RREIN network is already comprised of 40 leading brokerages, which make up 575 offices, 30,000 agents, 167,000 closings and represents over billion in transactions. How can RREIN help your recruiting efforts and differentiate your company today? For more information, email rrein@rismedia.com.

Copyright© 2010 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

While many may be blogging, very few are doing it on a regular basis with this focus of providing relevant content. However, that’s exactly where people need to start in order to develop an effective social media plan. Effective blogging has got to be a balance of planting seeds and expressing views on a particular topic while at the same time getting others to contribute—that’s how blogging grows exponentially. You have to look for great ideas and important things to blog about and also harvest what people want to know about. In essence, you need to become a local media outlet.

If your blog is content-oriented and relevant, then you don’t have to worry about stepping around the subject of real estate. If your direction is right and your commitment is pure, then the real estate business will follow. San Diego top producer Gregg Neuman, for example, has mastered and capitalized on this concept. Gregg has multiple blogs on multiple communities and condo communities. Pre-real estate, Gregg was a world-class bartender and learned how to listen to people and stay abreast of the things that were important to them. That talent has now cascaded through his social media marketing plan and makes his blog a huge part of his success.

Brian Copeland has been in the real estate business for three-and-a-half years and he, being a Gen Y-er, created a Web presence around a blogging forum and video at Nashvilleandbeyond.com. He never wants the videos to be about him but rather all about Nashville. He interviews people about why they like a neighborhood and never crosses the line to talk about how good he is at selling real estate.

Another great way to reach out and encourage interaction is to create a contest, like the Nellis Group of Northern Virginia did. They asked people to submit their best-kept secrets for off-the-beaten-path places to visit in town. Everyone who entered got a certificate for free ice cream and the winners received a certificate for dinner for two.

To me, this epitomizes how blogging doesn’t have to mean working harder, but rather, working smarter. The Nellis Group had 65-75 people submit photos with their responses. All the work was done for them.

Finding relevant content for your blog is as simple as a contest like this or taking two minutes a day to see what RISMedia is talking about, or having three or four topics set up as Google alerts. Determine what is relevant to your audience and then find ways to have that information pushed to you. Instead of licking and stamping direct mail pieces to send out, spend 15 minutes a day generating some great blog content.

Use your clients as blog fodder. Narrow down the most frequently asked questions clients approach you with and turn them into blog topics, such as how to appeal your property taxes, how to avoid foreclosure, the general requirements for a short sale kit, what to do if your home hasn’t sold, etc.

Blogging allows you to provide expert insight into what currently matters to people, whether it’s posting information about a local event, talking about relevant lifestyle issues or discussing topics that people might be confused about.

If you don’t have the time to write paragraphs, blog in bullet points. If you can’t do bullet points, create a video—it doesn’t need to be more than 90 seconds. If you’re uncomfortable being on camera, be behind the camera and interview someone else. Take on the mentality of being a reporter in the street.

Blogging is all about having the right mindset. Once you have that, the content will flow easily.

George “Gee” Dunsten, president of Gee Dunsten Seminars, Inc., has been a real estate agent and broker/owner for almost 40 years. Dunsten has been a senior instructor with the Council of Residential Specialists for more than 20 years. To reach Gee, please e-mail, gee@gee-dunsten.com.

For Part I of this series, please visit www.rismedia.com.

RISMedia welcomes your comments and questions. Email realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.