Putting the ‘social’ back in social media is a key question! Isn’t posting about your hamster and best Halloween costumes from your college days good enough? Believe it or not, the answer is no. Today, we’re going to give you some tips on what Facebook and Instagram want to see so that you can expand your reach when you post.

These platforms want to see you being social, and the trick is to purposefully engage behind the scenes. This means leaving thoughtful comments and interacting on feeds before engaging in DM’s (direct messages). The people that you will eventually DM are more likely to see your posts when you do in fact post.

A couple tricks for expanding your reach on Facebook are:

• Engage in stories first to create conversations with people. Engage with people that you don’t normally interact with.
• Think about what you like to do outside of work and find a local group that isn’t real estate related

A couple tricks for expanding your reach on Instagram are:

• Look into who your friends are following and follow those individuals
• Look at comments to see who is being thoughtful and then follow those people

The goal for social media is to get friends/followers (and eventually, their business) and to build relationships, not become an influencer. Think of it as digital farming. The way you can measure your success is by the amount of conversations you’re having. Consistent posting says “you can trust me, I do what I say I’m going to do.” This is a long-term nurture game and helps build your credibility.

Start slow and take baby steps. This is not going to change your business overnight so create a realistic schedule that will stick over time. The more you do this, the easier it will become! If you’re looking for more ways to expand your reach on social media, we’d love to have a conversation with you.