This guest post was written by Jonathan Benz from ProspectMX

 According to ComScore’s latest projections, there are now 222 million users on Facebook, making it the largest social networking website. As the site enters its fifth year on the tubes, have you figured out how to use it to benefit your real estate internet marketing efforts in 2009?

After taking some time to introduce the readers of BRER to Twitter, I thought I might take some to offer advice on getting started with Facebook.

A LITTLE HISTORY

The entire Facebook revolution began at Harvard in 2004.   Mark Zuckerberg built a site where students could share photos and head shots, putting a “face” on the names in the student directory.  Harvard students dug it, and it began expanding to other universities across the country.

By the end of the year, Facebook had nearly one million users (myself included), and Zuckerberg had received some startup capital. He dropped out of Harvard and set up shop in Palo Alto, CA.

Today, Facebook is open to practically everyone and has internal e-mail communication, photo sharing, an advertising network and a constantly updating news feed that updates what your friends are up to across Facebook while you are also on Facebook.

GETTING STARTED

The basic idea behind Facebook is that it is an effective way to stay in touch with friends, family, coworkers, alumni, and other contacts in one convenient location on the internet. Connections start based on existing real-world ties.

When you register for Facebook, you establish your hometown, college, high school, or corporate network from which to select friends. Facebook will then let you survey other users based on your answers to start building a network of Facebook friends.

Lucky for all internet users, Facebook has made the process of finding your friends pretty easy. After you begin building your network based on your location, work experience, and educational background, Facebook begins suggesting people you probably know, creating a virtual sphere of influence for yourself.

Of course, you can also find friends in more traditional ways. Search by name within Facebook and having Facebook dig into your e-mail address book to find contacts is also possible. Just like Twitter, a connection is only cemented when your “friend” confirms that you are, in fact, friends. 

WHY FACEBOOK MATTERS TO REAL ESTATE AGENTS

Internet marketing is so effective because ROI is easily tracked and attributed to campaigns.  Besides, with over 222 million users, more of your prospects are likely to be online, rather than digging through the pages of your local daily paper. Getting your message in front of prospects where they are most likely to see it and respond is still the first rule of marketing, right?

The most obvious way real estate agents can effectively use Facebook is for prospecting. Creating an online sphere of influence is easy on Facebook. All Facebook users in the real estate industry should be connected to all clients, past and present, in addition to the friends, work contacts, and schoolmates you would already connect to.

As you continue to build your sphere of influence on Facebook, there are tons of options for spreading the word about your business, including:

• Starting a group related to local events or local real estate
• Uploading photos of your most recent listings to a group or photo gallery
• Adding the RSS feed of your blog to your profile or status message

THE UNSPOKEN FACEBOOK RULE

There is no question that Facebook can be an effective boost to prospecting and building your sphere. That said, there are several things to remember when using Facebook:

• While it is okay to link to your blog or company site, it is important to be “social,” meaning you must interact with other Facebook users in a non-marketing manner.
• On social networks, users can “sniff out” marketing, and prefer not to be marketed to!
• Using Facebook merely as a method to promote a free home valuation or as a driver of blog traffic can cause you to lose connections quickly.

Use Facebook the right way – without coming across as a salesman - and creating a productive sphere of influence is definitely possible.  Plus, you’ll establish an effective new method for Prospecting! 

Jonathan Bentz manages link building for a variety of clients at ProspectMX, a Pennsylvania internet marketing company. Previously, Bentz worked in marketing at a luxury resort located in Western Pennsylvania and managed their website to a substantial increase in site visits and online bookings.  He has experience in e-mail marketing, organic search optimization, moderating message boards, and developing site content plans for a variety of web clients.