Posted on: January 30, 2015 by

Social Media Best Practices for Real Estate Agents

With the prevalence of home buying sites such as Zillow, it’s important more now than ever for real estate agents to have a strong social media presence. But when it comes to social media use, there is certainly a right way and a wrong way for professionals to approach it. By not using best practices when engaging on social media, you are opening yourself up to professional liability exposures that might have been avoided.

This being said, more than 1 billion people in the world are not on Facebook, with over 175 million of those people being Americans; so the benefits of being online are clear. Many REALTORS are trying to take advantage of these social media standings, but using social platforms to advertise their services and broadcast their messages, but is it effective? Below are a few tips to help you not only utilize social media successfully, but also in a way that will mitigate your liability risks.

Be a good listener. Look for people who are already engaging with your competitors. What type of information do they value? Are they interested in statistics from the neighborhoods you work in? Do they want to know how good the schools are in your area? Knowing these things right off the bat will help you tailor your social media pages to the right audiences.

Show, don’t tell. Give potential customers a reason to “like” and “follow” you on Facebook, don’t just tell them they should. For example one way of doing this would be to, instead of saying something like “like our Facebook page”, say “Get answers to your real estate questions by visiting our Facebook page.” You will likely find yourself garnering many “likes” this way.

Be authentic. Remember that social media is all about engagement and having a conversation, not about hard selling and not even about self-promotion (even though that is of course your end goal). Talk to people online just as you would meeting with them face-to-face.

As stated by sources from REALTOR.com, the secret to the most effective social media marketing is simple; just be likeable. Of course, we at NewMark Insurance Services understand the Real Estate Liability Risks you face by being as public facing as social media requires you to be. We offer comprehensive Professional Liability Insurance for Real Estate Agents and a number of other professionals. Please contact us today for more information at (855) 777-6549.

Posted in: blog Real Estate Real Estate E&O

Tagged: Best Practices e&o errors and omissions insurance liability professional liability Real Estate Agent Social Media