Years ago, social media was a "new thing" that was all the rage.
Start a Facebook Page, they said.
Get on Instagram, they said.
Open a Twitter account, they said.
When I look at the activity my social media pages and profiles have, it's almost nothing. Maybe it made sense to do all these things ten years ago, before the algorithms started picking and choosing which of my posts were actually going to be seen. But now days, it's much harder to see what useful purpose social media serves for a real estate investor... and I'm not one who likes to do things just because, "that's what you're supposed to do". I need a real compelling reason behind the way I spend my time, and lately, I just haven't been seeing it in this area.
Maybe the one big exception would be Facebook Marketplace, which acts sort of like Craigslist. For selling or renting out properties, that definitely has some value if you're willing to play the games that FB makes you play. But when it comes to just posting links to my listings or other B.S. on my profiles and pages, it really doesn't seem like anyone is listening, watching or paying attention.
Am I alone in this? Curious to see who out there is actually finding some real, verifiable value in being active on social media (without paying for any ads or boosting their posts).
Posting things to my FB page has done absolutely nothing for me over the past few years. Maybe it's because I'm posting the wrong things? Whatever the case, this idea of my followers not seeing my posts even though they follow me is a little ridiculous. It contradicts the whole point of following someone.
I know this is nothing new, and every social website works like this now, but I think when that stopped working the way it was originally designed, it really changed the whole scope of how useful social media websites are and how much they can even be trusted. I'm surprised they're still such a staple of society. Maybe we'll see that start to change in the coming years.
@mattpayne Great question. I noticed the same thing quite a while ago. I am starting to realize that the only things social media platforms are any good for is local citations for your business website to improve SEO and paid promotion to boost traffic to your website again to boost SEO, from my very limited understanding of how SEO works.
@mattpayne If it weren't for so much of REtipster's presence being tied into it (like our Facebook Group - which is probably the most active and useful thing I do on any social media platform) and the usefulness of getting properties sold in some cases, I would seriously consider shutting down all of my social media accounts.
I saw an interesting article from Corbett Barr a while ago where he lays out some compelling cases for quitting and explains just how bad social media has gotten.
Sometimes I can tell within moments of getting on Facebook, my overall mental state just starts to go downhill. I feel tired and overwhelmed at the onslaught of information, opinions, and comments people leave (many of which are not very well thought out and spread misinformation and half-truths like a wildfire).
It's a tough call because there is still a lot of good in social media, it's just gotten watered-down with a lot of noise and meaningless chatter that doesn't add value (and of course, ads and other garbage that the platform wants you to see). It doesn't feel as clean and fun as it used to be back in the day.
My 2 cents are - if you're not seeing the value in it for your business, don't hesitate to pull the plug. Life is too short to be messing around with things that don't add tremendous value to your life for the time you spend on them.
I have had the same questions, so maybe I can add some validation to your concerns. I run what I believe to be a very successful real estate (land) investment business. I am a full time investor, this isn't just a side gig for me. This is how I support my family. .....And I'm successful without social media. I don't do anything, zero, zilch, nada, with social media, including twitter, FB and Instagram and I never have. I don't even use any of them in my personal life. The only thing I do in this category, and this is actually key for my business, is I use real estate agents to sell all of my property. When I hire a new agent, I want to make sure that they are advertising on FB as a part of their overall marketing strategy (MLS, land websites, etc.). But thats it. I always/only sell property by partnering with agents. They do all the advertising for me, so there is no need for me to have a social media presence. I do have a website, but that is intended to build credibility for my company, for those that are considering selling their land to me. And I don't do any SEO. I'm not trying to build a brand or drive traffic to my site. In my view, your gut feeling on this is correct. I'm living proof.
For me, FB is a good one. But not so much for selling property. I have sole multiple properties there but it can be a huge time waste. I do use FB to participate in land investors groups and I run a a group of my own for begginning investors. This has helped me stay connected. Beyond that I scroll through instagram on occasion and tik tok, but not for business purposes.
Having a solid website is important I believe. Also, lately most of my leada come from paid advertising on lands.com
@mattpayne This is an interesting question. While I was still grinding away in my accounting/finance career, I decided social media was just a "kid's game" that I wasn't interested in learning.
About 6 months ago, I escaped Corporate America. Among other things, this has given me time to reflect on what I want to do with my next 20 years.
In the last few months, I started a travel blog to journal my travels (yes, can you believe I traveled a ton actually since the 2nd half of 2020?!?).
As I delved into the travel blog and learning social media marketing, I wondered why nobody in the land biz uses social media in the same way as others do. I think this thread answers my question: the juice isn't worth the squeeze! I agree, if it's not a value-add exercise, don't waste your time!
Just my two cents from an outsider/newbie looking in...
@mattpayne I believe in the use of social media platforms for land. Not really as market places but more as means to promote trust and create a brand for your Business. Now, I am a land investor, not a marketer: this means that I don’t have the skills to create compelling contents on a consitent base. And even if I had the skills, I probably wouldn’t do it, as I strongly believe that SMALL business owners should focus on one thing and my “one thing” is just Land. Yet, I believe that BIG and VERY BIG investors should leverage the use of digital platforms. I think about attracting capital funders, interested developers, land agents or just add “normal” followers who could become leads one day or just play the role of marketers by word-of-mouth. Who wants to be the first Grant Cardone in the land biz?
I just found this post questioning social media. Here is my take as someone who uses it fairly extensively for organic and paid in my separate home services business. As I see it for the small land investor, the only reasons to have accounts on FB/IG would be for social proof that you are a legit company when others choose to research you. Many people in their 40s and below will choose to recon your background before engaging with your letter/text/rvm/call to buy their land (same applies to selling land also). So much of what we are bombarded with seems like spam so to be able to have an actual face or legit company profile available can really help. I do not plan to be very active on my socials for land investing, however, I do plan to set up proper profiles and periodically add basic posts to prove I am a legit business. I would not waste much time outside of the initial setup and ~monthly post. If you don’t ever plan to do paid ads through social, you do not need to constantly create fresh content. Like it or not, however, many people will look to find you there before taking the next step of contact. I may also add LinkedIn to this as well since it is considered a more “professional” network. Thoughts?
@jhb-0 this sounds like a good take on the issue. I almost never sell my properties by posting ads to them on our FB page, but from the consumer’s standpoint, I often find companies pages just and use that as a basis to decide whether or not I think they’re a legitimate company. Just having a presence there and looking like you’re active and respected can go a long way.
