During RISMedia's 2021 "Real Estate's Rocking in the New Year" virtual event, co-presented with the National Association of REALTORS®, Marki Lemons Ryhal, global virtual keynote speaker and international best-selling author, moderated the panel, More Than Just Likes: A Blueprint for Online Success. Joining her on this panel was Sheena Baker, broker for CarMarc Realty; Wendy Forsythe, chief brand officer of Fathom Realty; Laura Ryan, owner of The Mark Ryan Group; and Andrew Velez, REALTOR® for RE/MAX Advisors. Panelists discussed where real estate professionals should be focusing their online efforts, offering a blueprint for maximizing their ROI, as well as utilizing social media for more than just likes.
Ryhal opened the panel by asking panelists, "What is one major success you have experienced as the result of utilizing social media?"
RISMedia is making a limited number of “Real Estate’s Rocking in the New Year” sessions accessible to the public. Readers may view this dynamic session in the video below.
Forsythe explained how social media not only helps in building her brand, but also allows her to build and maintain relationships with clients and agents around the world.
"Being able to stay connected in a really authentic way is an important use of social media," Forsythe said, sharing a story about how social media has made it easier to reach thousands of people. "To be able to share using social media to help other people has been a huge success for me."
Ryan, supporting the importance of being authentic on social media, shared how these platforms have helped her find success in referrals and maintaining connections otherwise made face-to-face. "A lot of us have made these connections at conventions, but maintaining those connections when you don't live in the same state, and you don't see people on an everyday basis, is one of the reasons I think we do so much referral business."
"Social media is a great way to continue to maintain relationships," she said, adding that for your audience to know, like and trust you as a professional, your social media presence needs to be intentional.
Ryhal directed a question to Forsythe about where agents should focus their attention, specifically on Facebook. Forsythe shared her strategy, explaining that there are three main areas of this platform that all agents should focus on—personal page, business page and groups—putting a big emphasis on hyperlocal involvement.
Baker shared her experience with Instagram for her business and how the platform's features have not only helped build relationships with agents across the country, but also grow her referral network. Instagram has also allowed her to share business development tips with those agents through the "highlights" feature.
Ryhal then asked Velez to share which Google strategy has provided his business with favorable results in 2020. He was quick to share his preference for Google MyBusiness.
"I think there's a hidden gem out there and that's Google MyBusiness," he said, explaining that it is an easy-to-use and free service. "It's a way to highlight your business. For this year, our focus was to not only cultivate the different facets of social media, but the search engines. It's really important to get your business on Google MyBusiness."
Ryhal asked each panelist to share their favorite apps. From Canva to TikTok to YouTube, it was clear that each panelist favored tools that focus on visuals.
"Every last one of those platforms, you can bring in some form of video content—all visual content," Ryhal said, highlighting the importance of creativity on social media, as well as the idea of repurposing content from one platform to another.
As each panelist shared their words of wisdom to conclude the panel, Ryhal shared her own, appropriately wrapping up this session on the importance of social media and how, when utilized properly, agents can find great success: "Technology will never replace a REALTOR®; however, a REALTOR® with technology will replace a REALTOR® without technology."
To purchase a ticket to view all the event replays, click here.
Be sure to mark your calendars for April 8, 2021, when RISMedia and the National Association of REALTORS® present '"Spring Into Action," a full-day virtual event packed with strategies to help you maximize the spring and summer markets.
