Many real estate agents have been asking me about this, so today I’m discussing what you should be doing every day to increase engagement and business with your sphere of influence. Your sphere of influence (SOI) is a group of people upon which you have some kind of influence because they know you. This includes family, friends, those you do business with, fellow organization or club members, etc. Increasing your SOI should be an ongoing goal that pays off in your real estate business over time.
Many people have also been asking how social media sites can help grow SOI and impact those around them. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others build your SOI through networking, referral marketing, advertising, and promoting your business. The Internet and email streamline all these activities. These social media sites changed the game dramatically and permanently.
Leverage is the key. By using social sites, you leverage your abilities with communication and how many people you can share information with, which allows you to grow your SOI immensely. You can post or comment about what you do, and have thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people looking at it almost immediately.
Facebook has billions of users; nearly everyone you know or will know uses it. It’s truly a social site in that a ton of the information shared is of a personal nature. You can create a Facebook business page and run Facebook ads to deliver targeted traffic to that page and your website. Facebook will also recommend your page to users who have shown interest in your type of content.
Twitter is a headline communication tool, as the length of posts allowed is still very limited. That’s not necessarily an issue, as you can share the headline and direct them elsewhere to your website or other social sites. Twitter can be a wonderful tool for reaching a wide audience with focused headlines that grab attention.
LinkedIn is strictly a business-oriented site, so you can market as much as you want there. An SOI is also going to include your vendors, title company people, attorneys, surveyors, and others who work in real estate-related fields. Using LinkedIn, you can answer questions, participate in business discussions, and link your website and other content. Don’t skip this site if you want to build your business contact and referral business.
Instagram and Pinterest are all about imagery, and since real estate agents take a lot of photos, posting them to these sites can deliver a ton of traffic to other content. Don’t shortchange the value of these sites for building your SOI. Start engaging and nurturing your SOI by posting content that will help them know, like, and trust you.
If you have further questions about increasing your SOI or anything else real estate-related, reach out via phone or email. I would love to speak with you.
