Posted by LinkedSelling in Uncategorized
“Many brokers and agents I talk to struggle with understanding how investing in LinkedIn can yield results for them. What would you say to them? How has your LinkedIn presence impacted your business?”
I recently posed this question in a few real estate focused LinkedIn groups.
Not surprisingly, the majority of responses were not positive.
Most real estate professionals aren't getting real business leads and sales from LinkedIn.
There's a clear reason for it, which I'll get into in just a bit.
But first let's take a look at a few of these responses:
“My connections have not generated any business, but have established some good relationships.” – Robin Lechner
“Your professional background is visible to clients as well as services you are offering. This is an effective way to promote yourself and your company.” – Isabell Salesny
“I some times wonder if its a waste of time, or members are cautious as to dealing with folks they know little about.” – Albert Henriques
“LinkedIn has been and is still a continuing success for me. I am a broker in ALL MLS's Alabama and Florida and offer to work with any agent with listings, referrals and expireds. It is simply wonderful to meet so many different types of people on so many levels. Is there a better avenue to connect with our peers? I feel that the more you extend yourself, the more interaction you have, the more we grow ourselves and our business.” – Cliff Glansen
“The discussions in some of the groups have been very helpful from sourcing to writing contracts, and setting up systems. My connections have not generated any business, but have established some good relationships.” – Robin Lechner
“So far this forum has been good for networking yet no business leads although hopeful that something will develop in the near future.” – Edgar W. Rojas
Clearly there are some brokers achieving results with LinkedIn. Yet most are not.
And that's because poking around in groups, commenting on other people's discussions, and just “connecting” with people doesn't get CONSISTENT results.
The people that get big results on LinkedIn are active producers of content and community builders.
How Brokers Can Start Getting Results on LinkedIn
Let's cut right to it.
The most impactful long-term strategy for brokers on LinkedIn requires positioning yourself as THE leader in your community.
The results of this are two-fold:
- Attracting new agents who want to work for the best, thus growing your brokerage.
- More referrals from attorneys, mortgage brokers, financial planners, contractors, other brokers and agents, and more.
The way to achieve this is by building a LinkedIn group that attracts agents and referral partners.
What kind of a group would attract these people?
Local networking groups targeted to specific industries are some of the most popular on LinkedIn. If you're a real estate broker in the Paducah, Kentucky area…build the very best group for the Paducha real estate industry.
(If you're not real well versed on the benefits of starting your own LinkedIn group, check out this article I wrote a few months back, Why Starting a LinkedIn Group Will Change Your Business Forever.)
What Should This Group Be About?
Don't turn it into a megaphone for your marketing and promotional efforts. That's a sure-fire way to completely destroy your position as the go-to person for real estate, and in people's minds you will become “the person always pushing their services.”
Instead, focus on delivering great value and resources that keep people coming back and checking their email for your group's digest of activity.
Sure, every once in a while you can slip in something with a little promotion in it. But you don't even need to.
By positioning yourself as THE leader in your area, the referrals will just come your way and new agents will start reaching out to you unsolicited.
Wondering if this strategy really works? Check out this article on how an attorney in St. Louis followed this exact formula to become the go-to attorney in the St. Louis construction industry. Click here for the article.
Now his group has approximately 3,000 members and is a huge source of new business.
Next Steps
If you believe this is the best strategy to finally tap into LinkedIn's massive network and grow your business, here's what I recommend you do next:
- Come up with a group name.
- Define the types of people that you want included in your group.
- Establish a content plan for the group. Be sure you have at least one discussion posted per day, at least until the group grows to a size where you
- Moderate closely. People will try to spam your group with their promotional content. They're good people, they just can't help themselves. It's your job to keep this kind of stuff out of your group. Remember, your group is going to be a true resource.
- Get to work promoting and growing your group.
This is clearly not a strategy for everybody. Not everybody has what it takes.
But for those who do, you're going to get some big results with this approach.
I had never thought that this could be that effective as i read above in your post. In future, i will concentrate on my LinkedIn profile. I really liked your post.
I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I come across a blog that’s equally educative and amusing, and let me tell you, you’ve
hit the nail on the head. The issue is something that too few men and
women are speaking intelligently about. Now i’m very happy that I came
across this in my hunt for something concerning this.