This Guest Post was contributed by Kathleen Mackenzie, a writer for Tampa Homes 24-7,
which specializes in Riverview Real Estate.

A combination of two external factors can help you make the most money even in this current economic recession: 1) the over abundance of available and prime real estate due to foreclosures and the overwhelming real estate crisis, and 2) the surge of social networks and social media sparked by the always evolving technology revolution. 

If you can tap into both of these factors to build up your portfolio of real estate and learn to strategically navigate and advertise through the world of social media, you can quickly and easily increase your average, usual income.

5 Tips for Using Social Media to Promote Your Listings

It seems like everything and everyone is online these days.  Real estate professionals who have already tapped into this growing media world have already seen the benefits of using new social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or LinkedIn to brand themselves and market their products.

1.  Create a Brand.  The first thing you should do is create a brand for yourself or a company name.  Come up with an image or logo that can be easily identified and associated with the brand you create.  Set up profiles for your brand on any social media website that you come across.  A variety of people use these different sites for different purposes, and tapping into all of them will maximize the number and types of people that you can reach and market your real estate to. 

2.  Make Your Yard Signs Social.  Make sure that each for sale, for lease, or for rent sign you place in front of your locations indicate that you can be reached on the sites you’ve signed into and set up accounts on.  And be consistent, place that brand or company name and logo on the sign so that you reinforce the connection between your name, the logo that signifies your company, and the locations that you are marketing. 

3.  Use Video Tours on Your Social Media Sites.  Using a simple point and shoot camera, most of which are enabled with video options, film a video tour of each of your locations.  This will supplement the photos you have already been taken, and placing them on each of your social media profiles will allow people outside your usual market to view and tour each of your locations. 

This will also make the selling or renting process much less tedious; if people are able to view your real estate on the internet before coming to view the location, then those who actually schedule appointments to view it in person will already have expressed interest in perhaps buying or renting your location. 

4.  Learn From Others.  In addition to consistently posting up your listings online and sharing videos with prospective buyers and sellers, you also can receive tips from people from areas you might never have even ventured to about potential future deals.  And communicating with the online community of other real estate professionals can help you hone your own methods and techniques for buying and selling listings. 

5.  Show Your Expertise.  You can also build up your consumer base by taking your sites and profiles to the next level, giving your own personal and professional opinions and perspectives about the real estate market.  This will build the trust your consumers place in you and will keep them returning to you for your helpful advice.