The lovely thing about social media is that it allows REALTORS to do what they usually do best – socialize and connect with people. It’s free, it’s easy, there’s no special knowledge required (although some folks are killing it with their super special skills!)
But when it comes to sharing listings on social media, it seems like the ball gets dropped more than Taylor Swift after a few dates.
Guidelines for sharing listings on social media
Don’t link to your listing on Realtor.com or Zillow or any other site you don’t control. The agent that has paid for placement will likely have their smiling face right next to your listing and the people you’ve sent there can easily click to that agent’s profile and end up in their inbox or on their CRM. Instead, share links from your own website, where hopefully you have the ability to gather contact information from visitors. The same can be said for linking directly to the MLS – there’s no click to call and there’s no way for a person to continue searching for other properties. Make it easy, easy, easy, for someone to find what they want without wandering off to another agent.
Don’t share someone else’s listings without permission (unless it’s from your IDX). I can’t tell you the number of agents that have been reprimanded for swiping MLS photos and using them on Instagram with a link to their website. That’s not allowed!! You are allowed, however, to share listings from your brokerage or agent website as long as they link back to the IDX on that site. It’s good form to let people know that you’re not the listing agent when sharing another brokerage’s listing. Something along the lines of “I absolutely adore this new listing – it’s not mine, but I’d love to show it to you” is friendly, casual, and doesn’t leave the consumer with any hint of misrepresentation.
If you don’t know what IDX is, ask your broker to explain how it’s handled at your company. The short explanation of IDX is how listings are distributed from the MLS to every brokerage site. For example, when a KW agent lists a house, it shows up on the L&B website – that’s IDX at work. IDX is also how your listings syndicate to Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, and the multitude of other places that display homes for sale.
The idea behind sharing listings is to encourage engagement and/or drive registrations on your site – no one can register if you don’t have a website or a way to capture leads. There are as many CRMs as there are fish in the sea, but the best one is the one that’s easy for you to use. Having a website that can capture contact information, add it to your CRM, and notify you is as important as just about any other tool on your agent toolbelt.
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