You check your email. Maybe it’s Facebook. Or Twitter. Or Linkedin or whatever. And you see it. It’s an article from a real estate source about the real estate market or why NOW is the best time to buy or sell or HOW to avoid foreclosure or WHY you NEED a REALTOR® or loan officer or whatever.
And it’s awesome.
It’s awesome because you have a client or a potential client that NEEDS to read this article or watch this video about why they need YOU or why NOW is the time to buy, sell, invest etc. So you share it. Through email. And Facebook. And Linkedin. And Twitter. Maybe even Pinterest or Google + or whatever.
Great huh!?
Nope. You just got played. And in the process of sharing this real estate information you undermined yourself as a real estate agent, REALTOR® or lender and your real estate business and it probably (if not now) will cost you business and/or money later.
I Want To Scream
I see this all the time and I want to SCREAM “OMG what are you doing!?”. And I mean it. I see real estate agents and lenders sharing articles and videos with their database, friends and family on social media sites, and I’m screaming “What are you doing?” Look, I get it – you think you are helping your clients or yourself but you are NOT. You are killing yourself. And it’s been cleverly orchestrated by many of the real estate websites and organizations you trust.
Lets replay this. Ready?
You are a REALTOR® or loan officer or whatever and you read an article from Zillow or Trulia or R.com or NY Times or WSJ or well, you get the point. It makes PERFECT sense and it could get that one buyer or seller off the fence IF they could only read it. You email it to that client. Or post it on your facebook page for your network to read. Or Twitter. or Linkedin. Now keep in mind, your social network IS probably your database. Past clients, current prospects. Friends. Family. A database you have worked hard not just to build but connect with.
Still with me?
You post the article link on your social networking sites. And what happens? Yes – they read it (or you hope they do). But the bigger question is WHERE do they read it? Not on facebook. Or Twitter. Or Pinterest. Or Linkedin Or their email. Noooooooo. They read the article on the very website the article originated on. They read it on Zillow, Trulia, R.com, NY Times, WSJ etc.
Your database. Your past clients or present clients or whatever are now being marketed to. NOT BY YOU but by the website that created the article. The article YOU shared with them. They will be subjected to ads. Ads from other real estate agents. Other lenders. They will be encouraged to REGISTER. Register to search for homes or get market info, or walking scores or watch videos. And they probably will. Why wouldn’t they? YOU just set this website up as an authority. As someone or something to be trusted.
You Gave It Away
And ya know what just happened? You just gave away your database. Or at least some of it. And the companies and media outlets that create these articles that YOU share – know it. Now these companies have YOUR clients email address, maybe even phone number. What do you think they do with that information? Sit on it? Noooooo. They either market to them through email OR they provide that information, your clients contact info, to their preferred agents or loan officers. Those that pay to advertise on the websites YOU sent your clients to by posting that link to begin with.
What should you do as real estate agent, REALTOR® or loan officer?
STOP! Stop sharing their articles with your database. If you think the article is of value you should repurpose it. Media outlets from TV to radio, blogs to newspaper do it all the time. Have you ever noticed when one site or outlet talks about something it shows up on others? They repurpose each others content. So can you. Rewrite it on YOUR WordPress real estate website. Don’t copy it. Rewrite it and take a position either FOR or AGAINST the information. Tie it to a personal story that validates what you are saying and THEN…. share it. Share it with your database. Past and present clients. And now when they click on that link through email, facebook, twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest etc they will be on YOUR real estate website. Searching for homes. Learning more about you and your specialty, how you can HELP them. Your website IS your storefront. The longer a consumer is in your storefront the more likely it is they will become a lead. But they need to be on your WEBSITE. Not someone else’s.
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