Add To My Page: Roost Social Real Estate App

One of the best social media strategies for real estate agents is to become your network’s trusted advisor. And of course one of the best places to put that strategy into play is, without a doubt, on Facebook. So you create a profile and import your sphere list, now what?!

Well, as a real estate professional you can easily showcase your expertise and knowledge about your market area and industry trends. One of the ways I suggest doing this is by posting status updates that offer relevant info and/or tips your network would find helpful. Now some of you are already REALLY GOOD at sharing this type of info…and you might be so good at it that you decide to create a Fan Page to focus more intently on business.

Fan Pages are becoming more popular among real estate professionals for several reasons. Most importantly, it is more widely accepted (and preferred by Facebook) to utilize a Fan Page for promoting your business and sharing comprehensive listing data. NOTE: There are some people that truly ROCK the essence of Facebook and have mastered the art of the 3 P’s (personality, passion, profession) from their profile and don’t need to maintain the separation of church and state….or personal and professional. However, for many the draw of a Fan Page breaks down to the ability of sharing listing data, as well as relevant market data in a more appropriate fashion…with an opt-in network of interested folks.

Up until now adding real estate specific applications to a Fan Page has been, to say it nicely, less than effective. Many of the listing applications copy Website functionality and seem to have forgotten the nature of this network. Ideally, these applications need to offer more than just listing information but a way to provide interaction….or a rich data set of relevant information.

And that is why I was very excited to hear about  a new application for agents that launched this week! The Roost Social Real Estate Application is the first app of its kind to offer agents the opportunity to:

• Showcase their expertise from a Fan Page
• Provide valuable market data and information for a particular area (city) to their network
• Easily customize and install on your own Page (in 5 minutes!)
• Avoid the cost of hiring a professional to customize a local resource tab for you (this app naturally integrates local market trend info via Altos Research, active listings via Roost, mapping via Google, school info via Education.com, and neighborhood info via Walkscore).

The Roost Social Real Estate Application is clearly a value-add now…but there are more goodies to come with this app! Derek Overbey and Alex Chang of Roost took some time to share some important details about using this new app, as well as what’s in store in the future! In the coming months, Roost will add the ability to share market data for up to 5 cities! In addition the feature scope will widen to include featured properties, testimonials, and IDX compliant MLS search (inside Facebook)!!!

I have to say it’s very refreshing to witness a company like Roost incorporate Facebook functionality and real estate expertise…and deliver it to agents for FREE! Yep, this app is currently available on Facebook for FREE. You can add it to you Fan Page today, simply search “Roost Social Real Estate” once logged in to Facebook. Several agents have already taken advantage of the opportunity to add the app, check out Brad Coy’s Page,  Heather Elias’ Page, and Engel Real Estate Page for great examples of customization.

To add the Roost Social Real Estate Application to your Fan Page, follow these steps:

(1)    Visit the Roost Social Real Estate Application Page inside Facebook, and click on “Go to Application”.

(2)    You’ll be prompted to customize the app to your selected Fan Page by selecting: “Create Profile”

(3)    Next customize the application with your contact information, logo, and informational verbiage. NOTE- You can update the marketing verbiage periodically to share the latest trends and tips with your local network.

(4)    Finally, you’ll need to add the app to your Page. FYI- Facebook must render some images of the app so if it doesn’t load completely at first, be patient!

Once the tab has loaded onto your Page, you can direct your clients to the info by announcing it via a status update on your Profile, and even on your Fan Page! Also, be sure to share your Facebook Page URL on all your marketing. Write a blog post letting your clients now about this new feature on your Page, or create a postcard to share with your farm.