1. 713-503-2529
www.woodlands-homes.com
amy@amysmytheharris.com
Amy Smythe
amyoutloud
ashrealestate

2. Learning objectives –
1. For agents to understand the need to incorporate social media
practices in their business
2. Implement best practices and NAR social media guidelines
while using Facebook
3. Networking with your Sphere of Influence to generate leads

3. Facebook Basics
Getting Started
1. Set up an account on Facebook.com
a. Write down your log-in and password
login-in:
password:
b. Start filling in your information. Remember depending on how you have your account
settings, people may be able to view all your information.
c. Load in your profile picture. If you are doing this for real estate, you may want to have
your profile picture be the photo that is on your business card. Make sure it is a picture
of you.
d. Start uploading photos to an album. These can be personal or strictly business.
Remember your sphere of influence does like to see pictures of you and your family.
e. If you have a video of yourself, you can load that it in under the Video tab. This is a
great marketing tool!
f. Settings- You will find this in the upper right hand corner toolbar. These can be
changed as is necessary. Click on Settings, then click on Account Settings. Then there
will a laundry list of items that you can edit. Click on manage under Privacy. You may
want to change who is allowed to see your Profile. Your choices are Everyone, My
network and friends, Friends of Friends, Only Friends, Customize. The Customize
option allows you to set up only certain friends to see specific things, like status updates
or photos. Also, check the News Feeds and Wall for your privacy settings. You may
not want everyone to get your status updates or be able to write on your wall. There is
no right way to do this, but a personal choice.
g. Friends- you can add friends through their email or Facebook will look for friends you
may know based on what you put in your profile! Then as you add friends you can see
their friends and see if you know them. It’s a “6th degree of Separation” thing. Different
ways to add friends. You can search by people you email, look through the suggestions
which is based on your profile, search for people, or find people you IM. It’s a great way
to reconnect with people you have lost track of from your past.
h. Create lists of your Friends- go to Account, edit friends, click on All Connections on
left hand side. Then click on Create New List in middle of screen. Type in a name for
the list, Click on friends you want to add, then hit create list.
i. Applications- Allow you to customize your Facebook Profiles. They range from
Birthday Cards, We’re related, Pieces of Flair, Pass a drink, Mafia Wars,Photos, Videos,
Memorable Web addresses & so many more. It can be just personal items or use the
Marketplace for business!
j. Wall Post- start posting on other peoples walls. If they make a status update and you
want to say “Way to go”, then under their status update, click on Comment, type
message, then click on blue Comment box. The “like” button is perfect!
k. Update Status- Tell people what is on your mind! It can be short & sweet or long
winded!! It can be personal- “ About to work out!” to “Watching paint dry” or it can be
about business. “Out to show a client” or “Writing an offer!” Be careful posting all the
time about work because most of your friends may not care.
Have fun in Facebook! It’s great to reconnect!

4. Time Management
1. Decide on a time of day that will be the time you spend 15 minutes on FB on your
computer. Saying Happy Birthday to people, writing on their walls, responding to Event
invites. Set a timer so you will stop once the time beeps!!!!
2. If you have the Facebook Application on your mobile phone, then while waiting at the
doctor’s office, in line at the grocery store, or waiting for clients to show up, use that time to
engage your friends.
Facebook is about building relationships, but know that you will not be able to “talk” to
everyone all the time!!!
Proper Etiquette & Manners
1. When adding Friends, please send them a message. Don’t assume that because you knew
each other 20 years ago, that they still will remember you!
2. In the “Info”, put in your work info, plus an email or cell. Some way to contact you
3. Please don’t Poke people!!
4. Be aware of what you are writing on people’s walls! A good rule of thumb is post only
something that you would feel comfortable with your Grandma seeing.
5. Don’t post embarrassing photos of other people and tag them. Also, don’t get upset if they
untag you. If someone does this to you, this is the time to send them a FB message (privately)
or to call them and ask them to remove it.
6. Breaking up online- if you are in a relationship, please don’t break up on FB without letting the
other person know first.
7. If you Share from someone’s wall onto your own wall, please make a comment like, “Great
link/article/video & I posted it on my wall”

5. How to get business using Facebook
If you were standing in a group of friends carrying on a conversation, you wouldn't out of nowhere
say: "If you guys are looking to buy or sell real estate, call me." This is old school way of thinking and
can potentially put people off of you. You would talk to them about the typical stuff: Kids, The Rockets
beating the Lakers, Eating crawfish, being married/single, catching up on each other's day to day
lives. Eventually, they would ask what you do for a living. Then you tell them. That is what the social
media of Facebook is all about. It allows you grow your business digitally by making small talk, let
your SOI get to know you and then you become the go-to person for real estate assistance.
Let’s start with some basic fundamentals to grow your business on FB, then you can explode from
there.
1. Update your status by mentioning you are “Showing a house” or “Negotiating an offer”. You
are marketing to your SOI, so remember if you are always posting things that you are doing in
real estate, you will make your potential clients on FB upset. So a good rule of thumb is a 10-1
rule. Meaning 10 personal posts to 1 real estate posts. For example, in a 24 hour period, you
could post things like: “Waking up and drinking my French Vanilla coffee! Yummy!”, then post,
“Headed to meet client to show them homes!”, then later in the day you post, “Going to
workout!” or “Chilling in front of the TV catching up on my DVR shows!”
2. Writing on other peoples walls! This can become a very consuming addiction, so you may
want to set aside specifics time of the day to do this. The more you write on others walls or
status updates, then you increasing your name to them.
3. Posting your listings. Remember to follow NAR Social Media guidelines-
4. Post videos to your FB! What you don’t have any? It’s ok! There are plenty of ready made
videos that you can post without making your own. Real estate video ideas for you to post:
REALTOR.org videos
a. Go to realtor.org and click on Videos on the top right hand side
b. Post a video from their library. You will also find the public awareness campaign here
under Most Popular. So, maybe you are trying to be more green in your business or you
just recently got the NAR GREEN designation, you could post the Eco-friendly kitchen
video to your FB.
Youtube.com
a. Youtube.com
b. Search for real estate related items here…Maybe a DIY tip for you clients. Like how to
stage a home or how to fix a leaky faucet
c. Underneath the video, click Facebook
d. Then type in message and click post!
e. If you are videoing your listings & posting on youtube, then put your listing video on your
FB
**Tip** If you are using the link from youtube to post the video, then remember it will get
pushed down your wall as more people post. If you want the video to stay permanently in
your Video section then the video will need to be uploaded through the video button.
**Tip** You can convert any youtube video using a free converter program like
vdownloader.com or paid converter program like Smart FLV Converter Pro for $39.00
http://www.flvtoaviconverter.com/features.htm

6. Share someone else’s video
a. If you like a video that you see someone has posted on their wall & you would like to
post on your wall so you SOI sees it, then under their video, click on the Share button
b. Put your information in to “sell” the video and then click Pos
Video your own listing with your Flip
a. Take video of your listing
b. Upload your video to youtube
c. Save video to your hard drive
d. On Facebook – click on video on Profile page. Click on upload from Hard Drive, then
find your listing video on your computer. This way it will always be in the Video Section
Make a marketing plan on how often you post real estate related videos- Maybe every
Thursday
5. Join Groups
This is a great way to meet other real estate agents or connect with new SOI. Click on groups
at bottom of the FB page. Then search for Groups. You can also look at your friends to see
what groups they may be in to help guide you.
6. Post trivia questions- Same time every week and have a prize for you who wins
7. Post links to news articles. Every once in a while it is okay to open up and speak a little more
about what you do: "The Home Buyer Tax Credit is really keeping things jumping here in
Houston. We really haven't been affected like the rest of the U.S. Florida, California, and
Detroit are in bad shape - OUCH!!! Check out this article/link." –Tip by Ozzie Ramirez.
a. To post a link, find the link you want and highlight the link.
b. Right click and click on copy
c. On your status update, click on link and right click and paste there.
d. Write a message with it and hit post
8. Get your own vanity with Facebook and post it on your e-mail signatures and business cards.
a. Go to www.facebook.com/username
b. Type in your name & Voila!
9. Post your listings on Marketplace
a. Go to Facebook applications
b. Click on Marketplace
c. Post your listings
10. Use Facebook as a Database- it is a wealth of information. So if a client needs a Window
Cleaning company (personal example), then post it on your wall. Great way to refresh your
friend’s memories that you are in the business (without being in their face all the time), your
client gets quick information (which they love), and you can normally find someone there to
contact even if they are not your friend on Facebook or in your phone as contacts!!!
The key to generating business on Facebook is to be genuine, tangible and non-intrusive. It is a hot
lead generating place if you follow some of the simple guidelines as stated above. Remember, be
polite, be careful what you say, and have fun reconnecting with potential clients.

7. Facebook Pros
 Application mashup; find people, make connections, email, instant messaging, image/video
sharing, etc.
 Most people can quickly grasp the value of connecting with friends, family and established
contacts; some people report they use Facebook instead of email and IM
 More emphasis on deep connections with others vs. who has the most connections
 “True Friends” feature increases your transparency to selected connections; almost like having
private and public profiles
 Huge, rapidly growing installed user base
 Inherit stickiness, third party applications, “gift giving” and personal data collection make
Facebook a powerful advertising platform
Facebook Cons
 More difficult to navigate and update
 Requires investment of time to realize sustained benefit
 Opt in model requires a user to allow others to connect
 Less immediate responses; unless you stay logged on continually
*Source - http://www.twitip.com/twitter-versus-facebook/
Most real estate agents don’t have time to be on all the social media portals. Thanks goodness that
most of the social media sites are feeding to each other. Twitter can be added to your Facebook.
You can add your Facebook friends onto your Tweetdeck to get status updates. You can add
NetworkBlog application to your Facebook so your are blogging from there.
Or your can download Ping.fm and update all your social media site updates at once. If you are on
the road constantly & you want to do a status update, then sign up for jott.com. You call the Jott
number and tell it to Jott your Facebook or Twitter and record your message. It will take your voice,
turn it into text and update the specified social networking site!
If you are blogging for business, you may want to have a disclaimer according to TAR stating that “
the views expressed herein are mine and do not reflect those of my company"
Two great websites to pull content from for FB:
http://ow.ly/2qJk
www.mashable.com
The Future of Social Networking
In the end, Facebook is simply a communication tool; which will continue to evolve as users find new
ways to extract value in their personal & professional domain. As the evolution continues, you will see
more social media sites that provide a multi-functional platform

8. Checklist for Facebook
Profile Page
 Adding picture
 Adding comment under photo
 Information correct on Information Tab
 Know what the privacy settings are here before they become your friend
Adding Multi-Media
 Adding Photo Albums
 Adding mobile uploads
 Adding videos
 Adding photo to wall
 Adding photo to profile pictures
 Commenting on video or photos
 Sharing video
 Tagging photos/videos
 Untagging photos/videos
 Tagging someone in a post
 Finding friends through search
 Finding friends through Friend Finder
 Finding friends through mutual friends
 How to add a friend
 How to send them a message when you add a friend
 How to create friend lists
 How to add friends to your lists
 How to hide friends from the Newsfeeds
 How to delete friends
Privacy Settings
 Search Settings
 Notification Settings
 Block user
 Application Settings
 Block photos being tagged of you (personal choice)
 Block Applications
Communication
 Wall-to-Wall
 Chat
 Commenting on Photos/Status Updates/Videos/Links
 FB Inbox- “FB me”

9. Applications
 Installing Applications –Twitter, Countdown Calendar, Links, etc.
Groups
 Searching for Groups
 Joining Groups
 Starting your own Group
Fan Pages
 Searching for Fan pages
 Becoming a Fan
Events
 Adding event
 Inviting to an event
 Reminders with events
Real Estate ideas
 Post your listing to FB
 Post your listing video to Youtube.com
 Upload your listing video to FB
 Post videos from Realtor.org
 Add links from Texasrealtors.org or Realtor.org
 Add links from HGTV.com