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SocialMLS is a Facebook marketing tool for real estate agents.
Platform(s): Browser-based; optimized for mobile browsers
Ideal for: All agents and teams looking to build structure around Facebook marketing for listings and new customers
Top selling points
- Involves seller in marketing
- Automated
- Individual pages for each listing
Things to consider
The software is connected with ListHub in central Ohio with markets in the works around the country. Until then, listings need to be implemented manually. Having seen the interface, I can attest to that being a painless process.
Full review
Facebook marketing does work.
It has to be done correctly, though.
Posting your content and listings on your page alone isn’t effective. That tactic leaves you facing the task of having to draw people there. That’s hard.
SocialMLS is different. It creates posts that your sellers can place on their pages to promote houses — your listings — to their network. It then automates the postings.
SocialMLS builds post content but sellers can add their own text.
The posts are well-designed while highlighting imagery and sending interested people to a custom page for the property, which greatly aids in measuring traffic and where leads originated.
If connected via ListHub to your MLS, setup is a breeze. Users choose from a list of their properties to market with SocialMLS and from there, invite sellers via email into the system.
The onboarding process for sellers is clean and should be easy to navigate for anyone remotely familiar with a Web browser. Users can preview posts and choose from a few different templates.
I like that SocialMLS does all it reasonably can to control this process, making it easy for sellers to get their listing out to the Web.
This concept also plays heavy into our voyeuristic natures. Tell me you didn’t look up your friend’s house when they told you it’s on the market?
The posts are designed to showcase the listing, not the agent. It’s a passive tactic, but effective. And it lends to the authenticity of the seller’s post.
This concept also plays heavy into our voyeuristic natures.
Each listing can be published to a seller’s network four times. Agents can post a listing to theirs 10 times.
The majority of us are scrolling through Facebook when in line for coffee or at the kid’s recital, so SocialMLS built everything to function well on the small screen — even your listing pages are designed for mobile users.
User metrics are all tracked, which can be further used to determine which words, images and post templates work the best.
If combined with some paid advertising and a sturdy email marketing effort, SocialMLS could prove a valuable component to your online marketing budget.
However, the company is seeking beta testers in specific markets, so budget may not be an issue.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe.
