John Harper

Writer for national real estate opinion column AgentGenius.com, focusing on the improvement of the real estate industry by educating peers about technology, real estate legislation, ethics, practices and brokerage with the end result being that consumers have a better experience.

Dude, Rate My Topic!
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (Please Rate This Post!)
Loading ... Loading ...

11 Comments

  1. Benn Rosales

    A successful real estate facebooker has a lot of friends that are not Realtors. They simply have lots of friends in their local circle that are referred by default. Pretty simple. jmo I found just such a 20 something re couple the other night, I’ll see if I can reproduce the results and give you a link.

  2. Lani Anglin

    I agree with Benn- it’s the same as any social network- be social and the result is natural referrals. Too many people are guilty of abusing Facebook by placing unnatrual comments on “walls” or sending sales-y messages to “friends.”

    My theory is that if you make friends online (or off for that matter) and they happen to know what you do for a living instead of basing your entire “conversations” on what you do for a living, referrals are the natural result of these friendships.

    If the connections aren’t natural, I believe it will be nothing more than a waste of time. My point: the subject matter will guide your success… talk about your city with people from your city, join groups of people with similar interests and talk about those interests. If you talk about nothing but YOU and YOUR business, the Facebook connection may be lost.

  3. Jay Thompson

    Benn and Lani are so smart. Seriously.

    Most of my Facebook friends are agents or at least connected to the industry. But I do have a current client whose preferred method of communication is through Facebook. Not email, phone or text message. Facebook.

    They actually told me, “It’s cool that someone your age is on Facebook.” I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or smack them.

  4. Benn Rosales

    haha smack them anyway- but seriously, smack them.

  5. Brian Wilson

    Smacking aside, we can learn from Jay’s story. It seems nearly all college kids and 20-somethings are either on facebook or MySpace or both or more. This is a great way to tap into the Generation Y networks, and we will definitely need to sooner or later to stay afloat in real estate :)

    Brian Wilson, Zolve.com

  6. Linda Davis

    I’m still trying to figure out whether it is good if someone pokes you.

    1. Jim Lee

      Poke back Linda; it’s good, they’re noticing you and letting you know.

  7. Benn Rosales

    Only when no one else is looking linda ;]

  8. Steve Volkers

    I have been on facebook marketing myself for 4 months and have not had closed deals from it but have made a lot of friends and connections. I also have seen a big jump in my website hits coming from my facebook profile. So it’s a good addition to my over all internet marketing.

  9. Bonnie Erickson

    It’s all about the sheep, the flying sheep! Honestly, I’m no genius and haven’t gotten too involved with the social part of Facebook yet. I find it’s easy to spread my time too thin and not get anything done. The more time I spend there the less time I have to read other’s blogs, to write my own blog posts, to update web pages, etc. I have found, however, that the 20 something crowd is surprised when they find I’m on MySpace and Facebook. Now if I could just get all my kids friends to be my friends, I could sit back and live off the cream of the social network!

  10. Jim Lee

    I have a couple of current sellers who love to communicate with me on Facebook; works for me if that’s what they want.

    I’ve also got a couple of listings; not the two mentioned above, as a direct result of sellers finding me on Facebook and deciding I was their guy. Works for me too; I believe in always riding your horse in the direction he’s going.

One Trackback/Pingback

  1. Check This Out : agentgenius.com

    [...] was looking around for John Harper a cool image of Einstein (not that anything is wrong with his! *wink*), and while perusing the [...]

Be cool, leave a comment

10 day real estate social media plan
  • Gwen Banta: Before Sherri confines you to the house for your own...
  • Joe Loomer: Oh #%#. Wife just saw the last post. I got some...
  • Joe Loomer: Twenty one years of service to this country and THIS...
  • Gwen Banta: You are seriously in need of help, Mr. Loomer. There...
  • Joe Loomer: Hic – uh, ok, – hic – uh, ok –...
  • Steven Teoh: Thank for the post, now I need to check out Vflyer.
  • Gwen Banta: I love them both, Tanya, although tulips are hard to...
  • Gwen Banta: Sorry, Tanya – I misquoted your website...
  • Tanya Nouwens: And on other days, “I Will Survive.”
  • Tanya Nouwens: “Tiptoe…Through the Tulips.”

Great 2.0 Tools for Agents

Featured Genius Writer

Janie Coffey

Consumerism, Geo-mapping columnist

For over 20 years, Janie Coffey has been devoted to the real estate industry ranging from development and construction to home sales. She is the co-owner of sister companies Papillon Real estate and Papillon ReDevelopment in Florida. Her unique background includes undergraduate work in historical preservation all the way up to her current graduate work studying Atlantic History with a focus on the history of business and technology. Janie writes about geotechnology and consumer behavior and real estate, and you can read her real estate column here or catch up with her on Twitter.

Real Estate Articles by Janie

Featured Genius Writer

Brandie Young

Marketing columnist

Brandie is a highly respected marketing professional who has held senior level positions with Fidelity, GE and numerous startups, leading to her current work at MarketingTBD which she co-founded. Brandie is not only an investor but was raised by a real estate broker, so her love of the industry runs deeply. You can find her marketing column here on AG or get to know her sassy personality by following her on Twitter.

Real Estate Articles by Brandie

Recently featured writers:
Ines Hegedus-Garcia, Real Estate Columnist
Jack Leblond, Real Estate SEO Columnist

Upcoming featured writers:
Greg Cooper, Political Columnist
Ken Brand, Real Estate Marketing Columnist
Gwen Banta, Real Estate Humor Columnist
Fred Glick, Real Estate Opinion Columnist