Building small communities in your city, school district, neighborhood and workplace is one of the best ways to reach every potential contact in your sphere of influence. And who doesn’t want to expand their sphere and add to their database? While communicating with friends, family and acquaintances online is easier and more efficient, it is still important to interact in person and make personal connections. The more connected you are, the more leads you will get.
USE FACEBOOK AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook groups are an excellent way to target small groups within your community. They are easy to create and maintain, and they bring new contacts straight to your database. Members of your Facebook group can add friends who have an interest in the group and who are active members in the community. The larger the Facebook group, the more people you will contact. However, only add people to the group who are actually in the community you want to build.
Some good Facebook groups to create include:
Local groups
Use your proximity to people as a resource for building a community.
School. Your kids’ school is a great way to meet other parents. PTA, room moms, and extracurriculars are awesome groups to get involved with in your local school district.
Work. Create a Facebook group for your department or introduce yourself to your significant other’s coworkers and spouses.
Parent. Take your parent-of-the-kid group message to social media! Facebook groups for moms and dads allow you to create events and send out invitations that don’t get lost in a sea of text messages.
Neighborhood. If your homeowners association or neighborhood association doesn’t have a Facebook group already, start one! This is possibly the most important community to be a part of because the members care about local real estate … and you are the local real estate expert.
Common interest groups
Use a shared love or passion to connect with people in a community.
Hobbies. Running, crafting, Netflix-binging, wine tasting. Things you love doing in your free time.
Sports. College or professional football, soccer, baseball, volleyball. Whatever gets the crowd cheering.
Events. Concerts, musicals, plays, screenings. Anything going on around town.
ORGANIZE WEEKLY/MONTHLY MEETUPS
Now that you’ve built these communities and touched your growing database on social media, go one step further and make a personal connection with the group members. Plan and organize frequent meetups that allow your community to connect your face with your brand. Happy hours, playdates, watch parties and sporting events are all fun and creative ways to get to know your database on a personal level.
The benefit of building communities online and in person is knowing the people around you that you otherwise could overlook as potential clients or lead sources. Build trust and your reputation as a resource in the community, get the message out that you want to help them and the people they know with their real estate needs, and market yourself as the local real estate expert.
Now that you’ve got a strong foundation, go out and build a community!