Last night I was chatting with a friend of mine who is a loan officer. Our discussion turned to using “Social Media” in our market …Ah, “Social Media” -  the newest catch phrase buzzing around offices and blogs. Okay, we know we need to do it. We know we need to use it and sign up for it, but how? How does it all work? How does it “link” together?

First you have to have a personal Facebook page, adding your Business Page. Facebook will not allow you to have a Business Page if you don’t have a personal Facebook page to start with. Here’s how to build your Facebook Business Page. Load it up with your professional information and photo. Link that to your website and blog. Start commenting, “Liking” other Facebook business pages (ie – Gitomer, TBWS etc). You can also “share” articles from other blog posts onto your Business Page.

Next, sign up for your Twitter Account. Start following some industry powerhouses – ie Gitomer and TBWS and others. You can tweet, but wait. I’ll show you an easy way to kill 2 birds with one stone when tweeting.  Twitter can be customized with your picture and background. Link that to your website and blog, also. Feel free to retweet when you find something  your followers may find interesting.

Then sign up for Linked In. Elaborate on your profile with Linked in – fill it out completely – include your photo. Start inviting business associates to link with you. Do a search and then invite them. Post links to your blog when you have written your blog. This post will then show up in Twitter as a Tweet.

Sign up for Active Rain. It’s a great networking tool and a wealth of blog posts for Real Estate professionals. The topics are varied, vast and all are quite interesting and useful. Here, you can post or repost your blog, twitter or Linked-in articles.

And with all these - link back to your blog and website with your comments and posts.

That’s the very condensed version of using Social Media. But most of all it works; but you have to work it. Not only are you giving your clients useful information, but you are optimizing search engines organically – FOR FREE!

If you need help, feel free to contact me.  Also, I would love if you “Liked” me on Facebook; followed me on Twitter; link with me on Linked In; or find me on ActiveRain.com.