Laura Ure has said it best - real estate agents see social media as a billboard and not a place to grow and nurture relationships with people.

Agent A - shares 95% listings.

Agent B - shares content that is helpful to buyers and sellers.

Agent A has a profile that you can hear crickets when you visit.

Agent B if properly educated on social can make it work to the point where they have TONS of daily interaction.

Lets face it - there have been countless articles written on how to fail as a real estate agent when it comes to social media. I could stick these articles in front of these same agents daily and they would still post their listings.

It's called STUPIDITY.

For the most part, the comtent is boring and mind numbing, and there is a definite social media fatigue trend setting in.  A

Real estate agents are notorious for posting self-serving stuff. There is an art to social media.

That's simple.  Most just do social media posting of boring stuff and one-way, rather than truly engage.  There is a minority of agents doing it very well.  An example of that is Bill Gassett .  Anita Clark and Lynn Pineda are 2 others that come to mind that are also doing it well.  (I do not consider myself as one doing well, and of course I'm not an agent).

When people wish to purchase real estate they don't go to social media platforms they go right to the source.  If I want to know how long to grill a chicken, social media is fine but if I'm spending hundreds of thousands of dollars I want an expert.

Lack of new and innovative content!

The posting of listings and market information has limited appeal for those who are not in the market.

I have always seen it as two-fold: providing quality content that buyers and sellers want to see and engaging both on the front and back-end of social media. If you can do those things well like both Bill and Lynn do, you generate plenty of interest as well as new prospects. I have yet to hear success stories from those that only post listings and use social media as a one-way avenue to push information without engagement. 

Social media is not advertising. Real Estate agents don't seem to understand the focus. Even paying someone else to do it isn't of much value- its like yelling out a window "buy my stuff!"

Maybe their audience is too small to justify posting content. The Facebook algorithm screens content from being viewed by up to 98% of your followers. 

Also, I've seen a number of real estate offices outsource their posting to people who post the same generic stuff on a lot of other real estate news feeds.  Having unique, image-rich and useful content drives engagement. 

Chris and Dick Dovorany they pretty much hit the nail on the head... why in gods name do i want to look at a realtors blog after blog on listings. or how to make chicken or about the state fair or whatever... if i want to buy a house (a home) i will LOOK ON THE LISTING PLATFORMS. period !! i will then ask friends about a realtor to use perhaps. If i want to sell i will look on the PLATFORMS also , i want to see what stuff is worth? how much will i make or lose?

Thanks so much Debbie Gartner .  It's not at all easy and requires a plan and commitment and true engagement. It's so much more than showing up, dropping links and running off; this will not breed activity as only engagement can do that. Far too many, don't engage or simply say, nice article, nice job, and the like one liners.

 It can never be just about posting listings.  You can post listings, but in between you really need to provide some content of value from yourself and others. When you do this others will be more interested in engaging with you. Just remember it's a two-way street, always.

The average U.S. adult spends 11 hours each day in front of a screen. This number is increasing year-over-year, and with every rising generation.So, we should pay attention where our clients spend the most of their online time and, at least, be find-able there:) As for ''activity'', it is hard to measure,since clients when ready pick up the phone or send email instead of liking and commenting. 

Just too much stuff, dozens of providers including us, nobody has that much time.

If you can treat your readers as your friends and family sitting around the dinner table, you'll succeed marvelously. If you treat them as two and three year olds you've suddenly had to babysit, you're not going to enjoy yourself.

Pass the sweet potato pie all around, and have some fun. Simply open the door to your visitors with a smile, and a warm handshake. I know not everyone finds it easy, but it's just another skill, so work on it!

You set the tone, and your food and conversation will keep them talking. Social media is just another way to invite new neighbors over to visit. Use good manners!

Now; get those extra chairs ready - there's a party coming!

So much of what we write comes from our comfort zone. We write hoping to connect. Sometimes our voice will reach a client, very often it won't. They are simply flooded with messages. There are so many of us. You could probably think of a dozen agents who would be great should you decide to list or sell. I would like to think I'm the only option but that would be delusional. Finally, housing is not a commodity. If you have repeat customers, chances are you have doing this for quite some time. So, it doesn't surprise me that there is a lot of noise that our potential client has to sift through. These are the cards we are dealt. No, these are the cards we are dealing. My advice is don't give up. Speak with your authentic voice and strive to be on message.

Garbage in, garbage out. Social media is more about helpful information, social interaction, and empathy. When it comes to listings on something like facebook posted to all your "friends", it is a shotgun approach rather than targeted. People get tired of being sold so create a two way conversation.

I can only speak for myself. I send out to clients via social media my listings as well as events going on around town. So I think it is 50% from me. I do Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and AR.