Generating leads in our business can sometimes be a dreadful thing. As Realtors, we forget that we are actually dealing with people just like us. One concept to understand is that people want to see us and not always our inventory of listings. By being conversational, personal, educational and inspirational on social media, you are opening up yourself to people who may only see you as a real estate professional.

A few years ago, I contemplated deleting my Facebook account as I rarely used it and didn't get much traffic from it into my business. But I decided to give it another shot. I did some research and learned that most businesses used Facebook as a main source of generating leads. They were able to form wildly profitable collaborations with business owners they met on Facebook. As well, Facebook brings their website lots of traffic and builds their list of email subscribers.

I asked myself: How were they doing this?

I’ve spent some time and though I am not where I want to be with my page like numbers, I am happy with the numbers of clients I have closed deals with through Facebook.

So, how exactly do you get clients from Facebook groups?

Genuinely believe you have something to offer.

Don't promote lots of your content and constantly spam the other members with you, you, you. Facebook groups are about forming a community and giving. Provide free advice to other members. Do free work for them, but keep it at a minimum. Be kind and courteous. Portray an image of yourself that people are proud to be affiliated with.

If there are daily challenges or questions asked, make sure you join in and get your name seen by the other members. Especially if the questions asked are about your niche. This is a great way of establishing your expertise.

In most Facebook groups there is a certain day in the week where all members can share their latest blog post or service. Make sure you share yours to build your online image. After all the free advice you've been dishing out, people might want to visit your website or like your page and get in touch with you.

And, please stop posting only about listings and closings. Really…No one cares. That is the quickest way to get unfriended, unfollowed and forgotten. Add value to your sphere of influence by:

Encouraging people with a quote;
Asking non real estate related questions that will get responses;
Posting pictures with your family so people find ways to relate to you; or
Telling people something they don’t know.

Be as visual as you can.

Don’t just say it, show it. I recently read a blog post that discussed how we retain 10% of everything we read and up to 65% of what we see. We all know the cliche: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, research is showing it’s actually true!

Facebook Live is the most powerful tool on the planet right now. And it’s free. Facebook provides you with free marketing and it allows you to reach a much larger audience than any other social media platform. Go live and go often. Think about this: Businesses pay thousands of dollars to have 30-second commercials run on local television where they don’t even get to control the audience. Well, you can go live for 5 minutes, talk about something valuable and reach exactly who you want when you want. And it costs you nothing!

Here are some questions you should ask yourself before you go live:

Who is my target audience?
What is my message?
Is my message actually valuable?
Am I prepared?
How long am I going to talk?

Drop your link strategically.

What does strategically mean? This means that if you’re browsing a FB group and someone has a question that you answered in a post then leave your link. Make sure you offer something helpful first or even a summary of your post. Don’t leave your random blog link in a post that is completely random.

But if I'm honest, Facebook groups do something better than help you find clients. They help you find amazing friends from all over the world. The majority of my clients become my friends during the transaction and that to me, speaks volumes.

With Love | Nikki