The reason why this annoys me so is because no-one ever
thinks to give a reason WHY I should like your Facebook page. Remember, people
go on Facebook to chill out and catch up with friends and family. They don’t go
on Facebook to be sold to, they go on Facebook to be entertained.
So when I get emails from letting agents or estate agents or
property maintenance firms saying on email, “Like our Facebook page” and gives
me absolutely no reason why I should, it is completely reasonable for me to
expect that they just want me on there to sell to me. Am I really going to let
you invade my leisure space that way just because it furthers your own agenda? Sod
off more like.
Why should I? What’s in it for me?
So what should you do instead?
The first mistake small businesses make around Facebook
pages is to build a little shrine to themselves – and that doesn’t work. Facebook
is the medium which brings togehter people around a common interest. When you
use Facebook personally and privately, that common interest is YOU. That’s why
(if you use Facebook properly) all your Facebook friends are your family and
your real life friends. You very rarely meet new people through Facebook
(although it is possible, and I have done so – but it is the exception, not the
rule).
However, if you want to use Facebook for business, you have
to be a Apple or a Jaguar in order for this approach to work. If you or your
business is to be the common interest around which you unite people, then you
need a legion of existing real life fans – and let’s be honest, who loves letting
and estate agents? If you don’t have loads of people who already love you, then
the trick is to find something that people DO already love, and tap into that.
Why should we? No-one knows who we are. That will take loads of work to make
people know about us, and then love us.
So what do landlords love?
Well it certainly is every property you have put on the market .. so why
the hell do you agents insist on posting every listing on your facebook page.
You are wasting your time and more importantly, wasting my time .. If I did
like your page, I will soon be un-liking it. Landlords love property though – they
love that is happening to their property market and more importantly, how the local market affects THEIR property
So Southampton landlords love
the Southampton property market, Uxbridge landlords love Uxbridge property ..
so on and so forth .. but they don’t love you Mr(s) letting agent. So why don’t
you make a Facebook page about that – your local property market. Tap into that
pre-existing love. It’s a lot easier. When we invite people to like our
Facebook page, we tell them why, we tell them exactly what they can expect: a
place where they can share and indulge their love of the local property market
So what does this mean for you Mr(s) Letting Agent?
If you’ve survived in business this long, then I know you’re
not so selfish and clueless that you would expect the general public to love
you and support you for no reason. There’s got to be something in it for them.
So, if you want people to like your Facebook page, get over yourself and give
us a reason to. Don’t expect something for nothing.
So, ask yourself ... As a landlord, who lives in
Southampton, whose Facebook page would you be more likely to like: the letting
agent who says, “Please like our Facebook page” (implied: so we can sell to
you)? Or the letting agent who says, “Pop over to our Facebook page for daily
tips where the buy to let bargains are in Southampton”? (Just change the location to your town and I
think you will get my drift)
PS .. before you all go off setting up a facebook page on the local property market .. how many 40 to 70 middle aged, executives, middle class males (typical profile of a landlord) even have a facebook account, let alone use it ... think on Mr(s) Letting agent .. is facebook really where you should be putting your efforts?
PPS I think Facebook is a complete and utter waste of time for letting agents. Good for estate agents, but not letting agents. Ironic that I write a whole article about facebook, I know, but that's just my opinion, as the UK's Numero Two Lettings Guru on Letitngs BizGen (who is No.1 .. well that's for you to find out!)