I am not exaggerating when I say that 90 out of 100 real estate agent have attempted to use Facebook to get “free” leads with all but marginal success.

So how is that some are able to tap into this online social network to get bona-fide clients?

This is the number one question I get about using Facebook for real estate.  But usually it comes in this form:  “How do I find real clients on Facebook?”

Emphasis on “real” — real people working with you face-to-face in real life.

The steps to begin this process are quite simple and can be done in under an hour:

STEP 1: Create A Facebook “Fan Page” (based on a specific prospect)
STEP 2: Use A “Magnet” To Attract Leads (fans who “like” your page)
STEP 3: Follow-up With Leads (help them and invite them to contact you)

Problem is, somewhere between setting up the page and getting fans, an onslaught of other questions flood your mind around what to do with these fans.

• “What to say to them?”,
• “How often to message them?”,
• “How to know if they want to work with me?”,
• and on, and on…

Let’s start from the beginning — if you’ve set up a targeted Facebook Fan Page as this free report shows you how to do… you should have a group of targeted fans (leads!) who have expressed interest in a particular type of real estate property.

Assuming you’ve done that groundwork, there are 4 ways to start a dialogue with any buyer or seller “fan” of your Facebook page and convert them into a commission-producing client…

1. Send all your fans an update at the same time
2. Post a status update on your fan page
3. Send a fan a private message to each fan individually
4. Have your fans opt-in to your email list

Starting from the top, we’ll talk about the simplest way to message your fans…

Client Conversion Strategy #1:

FIRST, you can message your fans from within Facebook using the “update” feature.  This is like a mass email, except that it’s only an update in a person’s Facebook messages area (they will not receive a separate email like they would with a group).

“So, why not start a Facebook Group instead of a Fan page?”

Fan pages are better to get new leads because they allow you to reach people who are not yet your personal friends on Facebook.  Groups allow you to message only those people who are already your personal friends and who have joined your group.

With this in mind, here’s how you send an update to fans of your Facebook fan page:

□    Go to: “Edit Page” and click “Marketing”
□    Then click “Send an Update”
□    This will bring up a screen to type a message to your fans
□    TIP #1: Keep the update message short and include a link to your website/blog or to your Fan page
□    TIP #2: A great strategy is to sound like you’re talking directly to one person (even though you are messaging an entire group of people).

Here’s a good example update message if your Fan page is about foreclosure listings in your area:

I just found a property you might be interested in… Check it out by clicking this link:

[link to property information]

If you want to see this one, give me a call at 555.555.5555

Again, this feature allows you to send mass update to all your fans, but they will only see it if they check their “updates” – all but the most active fans could miss this.  Which is why you also use…

Client Conversion Strategy #2:

The SECOND way to reach out to your fans should be to post a status update on your fan page.  Your message will appear in each fan’s News Feed (which most Facebook users DO actively check).

Because it’s obvious you’re not sending a message directly to each person, here’s a good example status update message:

Hey everyone… I just found a great potential investment property… Check it out by clicking this link:

[link to property information]

If you want to see this one, give me a call at 555.555.5555

This is a strategy most agents try to use with their personal profile.  Where most fail is a lack of targeting – messaging every one of your personal contacts is not a good idea (most don’t care and some may find promoting your business annoying or offensive).

That’s why using a Facebook “Fan Page” to group your personal and new contacts into “niche markets” is so much more effective… you’re able to send targeted messages to those you know are interested because they became a fan of your property-specific page!  How else can you message fans?…

Client Conversion Strategy #3:

The THIRD way to message fans of your Facebook page is to send them a private message…

□    Click on the “People Like This” link on your page (on the left side under the number of your fans)
□    Click on any fan’s name or their photo to go to their personal profile
□    Then click “Send Message” on the top right (even if they are not your personal connections yet you can send them a personal message)…

It’s up to you if you want to “collect” these leads as personal friends.  But realize your objective is target potential buyers, not waste time on Facebook!  And speaking of your valuable time…

You can have your assistant (if you have one) message contacts daily.  Use this message the first time for new fans:

Hey just wanted to say hi and thanks for being a fan of my page:  [[name of page]].

Is there anything I can help you with?

You can reach me directly at 555.555.5555, or send me an email at email@example.com

Client Conversion Strategy #4:

The FOURTH way to message your fans takes the most work but is the most powerful way to leverage Facebook to get leads.

There’s a way to get your fans to “opt-in” to your normal email list by putting a signup form on your page.  This would let you directly send messages into their email in-box through whatever email marketing provider you use.  You read that right — you want to get them “off” Facebook so you can send them direct emails where you have their full attention.

How do you do this?

By giving your fans something else of value (to them) as an incentive to join your email list.

Your fans already liked your page to get a free gift.  What’s the next thing that would help them?

Examples of additional lead magnets to get an opt-in:

• a free home analysis (Maximum Home Value Audit™)
• a free home search (Dream Home Finder Service™)
• free workshop on the ins-and-outs of foreclosure investing…
• Basically this should be a “step up” from your first lead magnet offer and should continue the client-conversion process.

But, how do you get people to a page where they can opt-in?

The BEST way to get new opt-ins is to simply have a hyperlink over to your website or blog.

This way you don’t have to mess with setting up an opt-in form inside Facebook.

This can even be presented directly after they “Like” your page for the first lead magnet.  Here’s an example if you have a page about Foreclosure listings in your area:

Thanks for liking my page!

I’ll be updating this page regularly with foreclosure listings.   If one of them catches your eye, let me know and I can do some groundwork and then help you see it in person.

ALSO… I have a 10-minute video on my website that explains in detail the 3 common mistakes investors make when buying foreclosures — and how to avoid them.

Click here to learn more

This can be a video you create or one you find on YouTube.

Think about what’s important to your “Fans” and continue to be a helpful resource for them by posting new information at least once a week (which would only take 5 minutes each time).

Now, go out and get some fans, leads, and new clients!

How do YOU get real clients from Facebook?

Email us to share it with the Agent Inner Circle^® community. Or…

Click Here To Leave A Comment

*** BREAKING NEWS: The updated report below includes the latest way to capture leads with Facebook fan pages…

Most real estate professionals have a personal Facebook profile, but few understand how to use this social networking site to generate red-hot buyer leads on demand.

Facebook started as a site for college students and teenagers, but now has over 500 million users of all ages and backgrounds… and the fastest growing segment of users is the 35+ age group.

This means you can now instantly connect with people who live in your area (or people who want to move there) who are ready to buy, sell, or invest soon.

In this way, Facebook is a great source for free leads… but only if you have an easy system to identify the prospects in your local area without wasting a lot of time or bombarding your personal contacts.

Here’s how to get free leads without spending hours of your precious time online:

STEP 1:

Download this FREE report and get click-by-click SCREENSHOTS of how to set up a Facebook fan page and generate leads in the next 30-minutes…

Simply CLICK HERE to go to our Agent Inner Circle page on Facebook then click “Like” to get the report if you’re not already a fan.

STEP 2:

Watch this video that explains more about this system:

Video Note 2: If you’ve already read the free report, skip to
minute 4:30 to get answers to common questions.

STEP 3:

Read this real estate marketing article about the 4 Ways To Turn Facebook Fans Into Clients.

Do not overlook the client-conversion process. It’s what separates those who just play with social media from those who is it as a powerful business tool. There are 4 specific ways to reach out to your Facebook contacts and have them call you for help.

Bottom Line: I’ve been hearing from agents that this report and the client-getting system it contains is more valuable than what many sell for $97 or more. It’s yours FREE for being a valued member of our community.

You can thank us… OR… you can pay-it-forward and tell your Realtor friends about our online agent community so we have even more profit-multiplying strategies to share!

Click the “send” button below to message your Realtor friends about this system…

In Part 1 of our article series, we covered 6 strategies for generating online buyer and seller leads.

Now we’ll shift our focus to an even more important area of web marketing… converting leads into commission-producing clients.

How To Convert Online Real Estate Leads

The first step in the conversion process is capturing the contact information of leads so you can follow-up and give them more reasons to become your client.

INTERNET STRATEGY #7: Make An OFFER For Valuable Information

Contact forms are not new to real estate websites, but it’s surprising how many agents don’t include a “lead generation magnet” to collect the contact information of interested prospects.  This is a specific offer for a free report or free video in exchange for a person’s email address, mailing address, or phone number.

Remember, 99% of your website visitors will not fill out a “Contact Me” form just because it’s on your site.  You need to offer visitors something THEY value and then create a custom opt-in form for them to request the free information.

What could you offer?

• Free MLS searches
  • Allow visitors to view 2 listings, before they register (this method is proven to get 14 times more leads than other options)
  • Allow visitors to save searches — if they register
  • Create a signup for HouseTrack to get automatic email updates on the listings they like
• Free “Introductory” Services
  • “Dream Home Finder Service” for buyers
  • “Maximum Home Value Audit” for sellers
• Free information
  • A relocation package, including local information and moving tips
  • Special “consumer awareness” reports filled with helpful information for buyers or sellers and pre-sells your services
  • A video tour of homes in specific subdivisions or areas of your city
• Free news and updates
  • A free signup for your real estate newsletter
  • You can also offer staging tips, market information, local event reminders, and real estate news

How do you create a custom contact form?

Most website providers have a way to create contact forms and add them to your website.  At the very least, you’ll want to capture a person’s name and email address.  Keep in mind the more information you request the less likely you’ll get leads, however, the leads may be a higher quality if you ask for full mailing address and phone number.

After a person requests your free information… deliver it via email, physical mail, phone conversation or in person.  Then, continue to follow-up to convert them to a client.

INTERNET STRATEGY #8: Track Your Visitors On Your Site

It used to be that you would have to talk to a homebuyer first in order to discover what they’re looking for in a home.

Now, the right technology allows you to immediately know what a homebuyer is searching for in the MLS.  Meaning, you can have that information ready before you actually have a conversation with them.

This allows you to be more efficient when dealing with new leads AND you make a better impression when you talk to them.

Common situations where this information is helpful:

1. You can’t reach a homebuyer. Whenever you call, they aren’t available. Well, when you know the time of day that a homebuyer is usually searching for homes, you can customize your strategy to reach the homebuyer at a time you KNOW they are available.

2. A homebuyer has viewed the same listing repeatedly. You notice that a homebuyer has returned to your MLS Search page to view the same listing they saved a week ago.  You know that they are obviously interested in that specific home so you can contact them offering to setup a viewing.

Several high-end IDX MLS Search tools now offer tracking information similar to what is mentioned above.  These tools also help you track your communication with leads.  If your IDX search tool includes these features, it will more than pay for itself from the increase in the number of leads you can convert into commissions.

INTERNET STRATEGY #9: Send Out Listing Update Emails

If you have a tracking system on your website you will know if a homebuyer is searching for very specific features.  The more focused the homebuyer is, the closer they tend to be to purchasing.

You can offer to setup showings or send other listings that you know match their search criteria.  These “listing update” emails are an invaluable service to a homebuyer!

There are two ways to implement this strategy:

FIRST, you could search the MLS and send your leads periodic emails about new listings, updated listings, and hot buys that the homebuyer may be interested in.

SECOND, you could use a system that has a built-in feature for sending out listing updates automatically.  When visitors save a search on your MLS Search page, they have the option to receive HouseTrack and get automated listing update emails.

All emails should include your photo and link back to your website, meaning your name stays at the top of their mind. These emails are a great way to keep your website visitors coming back to your site and to convert them to from online to a live showing of some of the listings.

INTERNET STRATEGY #10: Follow-up ASAP and Ongoing

This is perhaps the most important strategy of all to increase the number of online leads you convert to clients.

If you don’t try to get in touch with new leads immediately, they won’t become your clients.  They will not pursue you.  If you are unresponsive, homebuyers will move on to find someone who is responsive.

Why is quick response time so critical?

Because it communicates how responsive you’ll be if they were your client.  A slow response time sends a message that you cannot provide the support they need.  No one wants to work with an agent that is too busy to even talk to them. Plus, if someone fills out a form on your website and you wait a week before you respond to their inquiry, they may not even remember you.

According to a study done by the California Association of REALTORS®, when homebuyers were asked why they were satisfied with their agent, the most common response was “always quick to respond”.  So make sure your real estate website has a way to notify you every time a new lead fills out a form on your site.

ALSO, and this is really important, most of your leads will not be ready to buy or sell when you contact them.  Most will needs weeks if not months more to decide their next move.

How can you stay in touch with these leads at least once a month without spending a lot of time managing the process?

The biggest mistake agents make after the initial contact is failure to follow-up sufficiently to convert a lead to a client.  The important point here is you continue to keep in contact with leads you generate…offering them more information and resources to help with their search, or simply being on their mind when the time is right for them.  Here are two ways to contact leads without it taking a lot of time:

1. After a lead opt-ins on your website, add them to an automated drip email campaign. You can send them market information, real estate news, home buying and selling tips, or anything else that is relevant to what they requested from you.  Showcase your expertise and the high level of service you offer.   These emails can be sent daily or weekly at first and then monthly to ask them how else you can help.
2. Consider sending them a monthly real estate newsletter (email or print) that is NOT all about real estate. They may be close to buying or selling but the vast majority of people will welcome and value helpful consumer-related information more than continual mailings that are only about the real estate market. You’ll be surprised at how well this can build trust and pre-sell your services, especially if you continue to offer multiple reasons for them to contact you in your monthly newsletter.

So, there you have it… the last 4 of our “top 10” strategies for generating and converting real estate leads online.  If you have an existing website you can begin to implement these strategies or talk with your webmaster this week about adding these features to your site right away.

If you’re looking for a complete web marketing system without the usual technical hassles or expense, you can check out the new Elite Website platform by clicking here.

[Ed Note: If you'd like to learn how one of our agent-members from Boston is using these strategies to make over $6-Figures per year GCI from her website visit this site to learn more...
http://agentinnercircle.com/SixFigureWebsites ]

Here’s a free publicity case study I’ve been meaning to write about for a while.

It’s a paint-by-the-numbers way to get free publicity and how it resulted in over $52,000 in traceable business for my most important client at the time:  my wife.

But first, to really grasp the nuances of what I’m about to share, you’ll need to imagine a world quite different from ours today.

And it’d help if you’re acquainted with Bizarro World in D.C. Comics — the place where incompetence is rewarded, stupidity is praised and ugliness is treasured. Interestingly, Bizarro World boasts a popular financial instrument called the Bizarro Bond, “guaranteed to lose money for you.”

The backdrop for this story gives Bizarro World a run for its money.

Imagine a place where…

• Little things like collateral, income and creditworthiness are totally irrelevant factors when buying a home.
• Property values can go nowhere but up.
• Generous credit lines are given to anyone with a beating pulse.
• And similar to the Bizarro Bond, something called the sub-prime note is the preferred ruinous investment of choice.

Well, you needn’t imagine it. This was that very strange year known as 2005 and the place was the good ole’ US of A.

But don’t worry. Even if you resided elsewhere, we almost certainly exported these to a place near you.

Recalling this brings to mind an oft-used quote of Woody Allen’s:

“80% of Success Is Showing Up.”

Great quote Woody came up with except in 2005, he was off by 20%.

This was a year in which money ran uphill.

Almost everyone in the real estate, lending, construction and related industries made a nice living just by showing up — from the spec home builder to the journeyman electrician to the girl making photocopies at the title company.

Those who brought something extra to the game enjoyed the gravy.

During this astonishing time, my wife decided to jump into real estate, after watching her energy trading markets implode in the post-Enron world.

She faced a challenge…

Unlike her previous industry where she had plenty of credentials and bountiful press, including a front page article in the Money section of the USA Today (12/11/01), she had no obvious competitive advantage coming into real estate.

But since money was running uphill, she got her license, jumped in and cashed her commission checks.

After a year of enjoying the fruits of being in the right place at the right time, we realized it was time to sit down and figure out…

How To Craft A Real Competitive Advantage

How does a newcomer differentiate herself from the masses? Moreover, how can she turn her lack of experience into an advantage?

Smart marketers know almost any challenge can be broken down into a set of concrete steps. And our first step was to leverage an asset we didn’t own.

Almost immediately, she mentioned a technology-laden home listed at $17.5 million, which was several multiples more expensive than anything else in town. It was also a home with a major marketing challenge.

Since Tucson is far removed from the glitz of the Coasts — it’s a winter haven for frozen mid-westerners, an hour’s drive from Mexico — finding a buyer for a 17.5 million dollar home was no mean feat.

And from what my wife told me, the listing agent was spending far more marketing this property than most agents were making at the time.

So, we decided, (don’t laugh)…

“Let’s put the home on eBay.”

You have to remember, this was 2005, the height of the housing bubble, and real estate marketing on eBay was a trend in full force.

And like anything else that’s trendy online, whether it’s eBay in 2005 or Facebook in 2010, the marketing opportunity lies somewhere between the overhyped to the underutilized.

So, Anjelina went to the listing agent with a simple proposition:

“With you and your seller’s permission, I’ll market this property online at no cost to you and if I find a buyer, I’ll receive full commission as the buyer’s agent. Deal?”

Hard to argue with that. They wanted to get the place sold, so they gave her the green light.

Since this was over a half-decade ago and literally was a house ad, I’ll make a confession that I’d never make to my copywriting clients today.

The ad I wrote was a midnight write.

Yet, it was wildly successful because I unearthed the right hook and linked it to a trendy channel.

My main material to craft the ad was a coffee-table sized prospectus that looked more expensive than a small trailer home. Of course, it was loaded with the kind of gushy superlatives that makes copywriters like me cringe.

Step 1: Find The Right “Hook”

A strong hook (or “power concept”) is a must for even a chance at creating a winning promotion. Fortunately, this home was so loaded with technology, that it leapt right out at me and I put it in the headline…

“Amazing ‘22nd Century’ Tucson estate boasts every luxury and technology innovation you could ever conceive of…

it even comes with a 602-page owner’s manual”

No time for fifty candidate headlines. This was a midnight write because we told the listing agent the ad would be published by morning.

As soon as I learned of the 602-page owners manual, I knew that was it. What was a barely legible footnote in the prospectus was transformed into a dynamite advertising hook.

The rest was straightforward.

I added captions to the photos and made a bulleted list of the most compelling features of the home. Features, not benefits — this was pure cut-and-paste since I had so little time.

Within a short-time, the “Amazing 22nd Century Tucson estate” listing rocketed up eBay Pulse.

<< CLICK HERE To See the eBay Homes Ad Along

With Newspaper Articles From The Publicity >>

At $13.5 million (which didn’t include the surrounding 10 acres of land) it was the most expensive piece of residential real estate on eBay for two out of three 30-day ad insertions.

The barrage of emails and phone calls from all corners was relentless.

Since the percentage of people with a net worth of over $50 million is small compared to the number of eBay users, most of the inquiries came from curiosity seekers, plus a healthy share of outright nutters.

Eventually, the ad brought in several qualified respondents who took tours of the home. One even flew into town on his company’s private jet shortly after making a telephone inquiry.

Step 2: Contact The Press

With several thousand page views taking place each day, it wasn’t long before Anjelina’s name became associated with this property. And all she did was offer to help the seller and his agent market the property in a way they hadn’t considered, while spending almost nothing out of pocket.

Now, it was time to contact the state and local newspapers and let them know about the eBay auction.

All it took were a handful of emails before the state’s second biggest newspaper called. Within a week, there was a front-page article in the business section about the property and Anjelina’s role in marketing it on eBay.

Even though this happened over a half-decade ago, there are plenty of timeless marketing and public relations lessons in here.

The one that still jumps out at me is what I call the “newcomer’s advantage.”

Most people are accustomed to looking at a lack of experience as a negative. And while it’s true there are some spin-resistant professions like heart surgeons and airline pilots, you can make a case in many fields that the old, entrenched way of doing things doesn’t work as well as a bold, novel approach. That was one of the clear take-aways from the article.

The Lifetime Advantage of Free Publicity

Besides achieving the major marketing advantage of having prospects come to you, after a front-page story like this hits, you now hold the lifetime advantage of being able to say: “as seen in The Wall Street Journal” or “as reported in The Oshkosh Northwestern.”

Oftentimes, you can parlay one story into many.

In Anjelina’s case, she was later written about in a real estate industry trade journal, as well as interviewed on a local TV station.

And the best part is, you don’t need to spend thousands on publicity agents or PR courses to do it.

In fact, the absence of a marketing or a publicity budget has often been an advantage for me because every time I’ve thrown money at a problem, it’s usually gone down the drain.

My PR approach today can be best described as a bootstraper with a budget. Here are my…

3 Guidelines For Getting Press For
Yourself And Your Business

1. Keep your eyes pealed for unexploited marketing channels. Are you a specialist in one or multiple areas? Look for ways to bring something being marketing successfully into your niche area. (Example: I’m now working with a company that does over $20 million in sales through direct mail but they have almost no experience with online marketing. I’m condensing and translating their strongest direct mail packages to the web, then helping them push this offer to proven online lists in their market. News outlets are often interested in stories like this which would benefit both me and my client.)
2. Find a hook or create one yourself. “22nd Century Tucson Home.” Cliche-ish? Sure. But it’s memorable. You want something where readers and viewers will have as close as possible to 20/20 recall.
3. Join two ideas together in an exciting way. The attraction of social media for business development is trendy, and to a degree, a black box. But the problem with social media marketing is it can be a boringly generic. Solution? Join the use of social media to an exiting business model. (Example: Curtis Kimball runs his business from a crème brûlée cart on the streets of San Francisco. On any given day, he can be miles from where he was yesterday. Curtis’ customers not only follow him on Twitter to find out his location but also about the flavors of the day. The New York Times liked this enough to lead with Curtis’ story in an article over the summer. Think what that’s done for his business.)

Epilogue of the 22nd Century Home Story

As you may have guessed, we didn’t sell the home. We came ever so close but as they say close only counts in horseshoes.

Had the home been sold, a $500,000 commission from this marketing and PR adventure would have made a great 80/20 case study but no complaints…we got plenty out of it.

And we weren’t ready to quit. A year after this, we gave it another go.

We suspected the sellers were using direct mail to contact people on the Forbes 400 list who lived in the States.

So, we asked ourselves, “who could they have overlooked that this home might make sense for?”

And someone came to mind.

Today, Carlos Slim of Mexico City is the world’s richest man, but at the time, he was relatively unknown in the States.

How do you get the attention of a billionaire like Carlos Slim?

The same way you get anyone’s attention — do something different, even slightly outlandish.

So, we FedExed him a black leather briefcase containing a prospectus for the home, an invitation to come and see it, and a letter making a case for how the home could be a valuable cross-border asset as a corporate retreat.

Though I never spoke to him directly, his English speaking secretary, Sylvia, was easy enough to reach. A week after sending the package I rang her up and introduced myself. She immediately answered in a mixed tone of recognition and astonishment: “Oh, you’re the ones who sent the briefcase!”

And after a dozen more follow-up calls with replies like “Sr. Slim is in Switzerland and will examine your proposal on return,” he finally looked it over and declined.

Sylvia related his answer which was diplomatic and portentous — “Mr. Slim is not interested in making any investments in the U.S. real estate market at this time.”

Guess he knew about Bizarro Bonds.

[Ed note: Copyright Lawrence Bernstein.  Reprinted with permission.  Lawrence has 20 Real Estate Domains for Sale in Top US Markets that would be next to impossible to come by in 2010.  If you're interested, click here for more information... ]

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