5 Facebook tools real estate agents should be using

There’s no doubt Facebook is one of the most beloved and user-friendly social networks of today, 968 million daily active users worldwide can’t be wrong!

Many agents use social media with different objectives in mind. For Balmain based agent Ben Munro Smith social media ‘isn’t all about selling, it’s about being part of the community, supporting local business and connecting with people’.

Facebook in particular ‘helps the community get to know you and in return helps you to understand them’, Ben says.

Due to the constantly evolving nature of Facebook it can be difficult for users and agents alike to keep up with the new tools and features available that could potentially make our lives that little bit easier.

Here are five Facebook hacks that can help optimise and simplify the management of your agency’s Facebook page:

1. Archive content to share later.

Use Facebook’s ‘Save’ bookmarking feature to archive and curate relevant content for your page. This is a particularly useful if you’re following the 70/20/10 posting rule (where 70 per cent of posts come from your brand and add value to your community, 20 per cent of posts come from others and 10 per cent have a promotional purpose). Meaning you no longer waste time endlessly scrolling and searching for that interesting article or video you saw, as you’ll already have it in your ‘Saved’ items.

To save an item select the drop down arrow in the upper right-hand corner of the post and click ‘Save’. Access your bookmarked items in the ‘More’ tab in the app or on the left-hand column of the web browser under ‘Saved’.

2. Add a call-to-action (CTA) button.

Facebook allows you to add a CTA button on bottom of your cover photo. You have seven different button options to choose from to add the URL destination of you choosing. This is a brilliant way to drive traffic from your Facebook page directly to your website.

Add a CTA by clicking on ‘Create call-to-action’ on your page’s cover photo, select the button type and add the URL. To check how much traffic is going to your URL destination click the drop-down arrow on your button to ‘View insights’.

3. Find out the ‘real’ engagement level of your posts.

If you’ve ever been disappointed with a low amount of interaction on a particular post don’t get too disheartened. These numbers can be deceiving and low amounts of likes, shares or comments don’t necessarily mean your post wasn’t engaging.

To get a quick snapshot of a post’s performance click on ‘People reached’ at the bottom left of the post. Here you’ll be able to see deeper metrics, like the number of clicks, views, unlikes and hides to get a clearer picture of interaction levels and the posts overall performance.

Try pinning important posts to the top of your timeline to increase visibility and engagement. To pin a post click the downward facing arrow in the top right corner of it and hit ‘Pin to top’.

4. Schedule posts. 

A great way to keep your stress levels in check and save time is to use apps like Buffer, dlvr.it and Hootsuite to schedule all your updates in advance. This ensures updates go out at the optimal time and you don’t have to stress about being at your computer 24/7.

You can also schedule, backdate and set posts to expire at a certain date on Facebook.

To schedule a post use the drop down menu next to ‘Publish’ and select the date and time you want it to be published. You can schedule posts to go up within 10 minutes to six months’ time, which is great if you want to take some time off.

5. Remote log off.

Did you know you can remotely log off of your Facebook account? If you can’t remember whether you logged off or not or if you accidentally leave your Facebook session active on a friend’s device or public computer, don’t stress because you can easily log out from a mobile device or another computer.

Log off remotely by going into your ‘Settings’, clicking on ‘Security’ and choosing edit on ‘Where you’re logged in’ and select ‘End activity’ on the locations you want to log out of and presto you’ve saved yourself from a Facebook prankster or PR disaster.

We hope these tricks and tips come in handy when managing your business’s Facebook page. If you found this post useful please feel free to share it via the links below.