From putting your best ‘face’ forward on Facebook to bidding a fond farewell to your previous profiles, here are some practical tips to get you sorted on social media.

Facebooking with a first-impression focus

There’s no question we live in a fun country – one infamous for its barbecues, beaches, and beer. And it’s also not news that Facebook is often the go-to channel for showcasing and sharing our adventures with these three Bs – and lots of other exploits from A to Z for that matter. But when you’re serious about raising the bar on your professional profile, you don’t really want your holiday snaps or that video from a night out with your mates to be the first digital impression you make? Your bikini or budgie smugglers are surely not something you want to etch into clients minds? At least I hope not.

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What’s more, many of us don’t even know what people can and cannot see on our Facebook page. For starters, it’s important to realise that Facebook always makes your profile picture and cover image public – whether you like it or not. The social media giant may also, over time, make public other images that you upload. With that in mind, a good place to start is to have someone who’s unconnected with you – a trusted colleague, perhaps? – look at your Facebook profile and share their findings.

Fortunately, once you do get a sense of how exposed you are, you have options for hiding posts, images, and videos you deem unsuitable for your Facebook page. To get started, follow these steps:

On a computer, go to the top right-hand corner of Facebook and click on the down arrow. Select ‘settings’ towards the bottom of the drop down options.

On the left-hand side, you’ll see an option for ‘Privacy’, click that (see screenshot).

Under ‘Who can see my stuff?’ click on ‘Limit the audience for posts you’ve shared with friends of friends or Public’.

Then, by selecting ‘Limit Old Posts’, content you’ve shared in the pasts will revert to displaying only to ‘Friends’.

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With your updated privacy settings now in place and ongoing mindfulness about what you’re posting (and the message you want to send), you won’t have to ‘unfriend’ Facebook from a professional standpoint. In fact, it may prove to be an invaluable ally.

Banishing the ghosts of agencies past

Another online obstacle that real estate agents face is keeping their online profile current. When I conduct workshops, I usually ask agents to team up and Google each other to see what they find. Often, they come across a lot of out-of-date information. Maybe you haven’t updated your LinkedIn profile since you’ve switched agencies. Or perhaps you created (and subsequently neglected or forgot about) online profiles created whilst you were with a previous employer?

Also, don’t forget to check out the likes of Domain.com.au, Realestate.com.au, or referral sites such as RateMyAgent.com.au that create ‘unclaimed’ profiles on your behalf.

The problem is, the people you want to find you are still finding these old profiles and are getting confused about where exactly you work now. And you don’t want that.

Luckily, again, you can take some easy steps to proclaim “out with the old, in with the new” when it comes to your web presence:

  • If you know the login details for those old profiles, start by going in and updating or deleting them.
  • If there are some for which you’ve forgotten the password, make use of the “Forgot your password?” function, and before you have a chance to forget or misplace it again, I repeat: update and delete.
  • If there are some linked with old agencies, you may have to contact each agency’s IT support desk for help. Simply ask them to use the reset password feature and then delete your old account for you or help you add your updated email address so that you can merge it with a new account.
  • If you have profiles you want to update or delete on other social media, such as Facebook or LinkedIn, you should submit a request for help on their support pages. Links to each social media sites relevant support page are as follows;

Facebook advice

If you no longer have access to the old email address

LinkedIn

Merging or closing duplicate accounts

Twitter

I know longer have access to my accounts email address

Instagram

What can I do if I’ve lost access to the email I signed up with?

Google Plus

Having trouble signing in?

Setting aside a little time to follow these simple profile-decluttering steps can pay big dividends for you and your real estate personal brand. Besides, you’ll more than make up for lost time when you think about how much faster your potential clients can now find you online!

Want help cleaning up your digital act? Contact me for a free 1 hour phone chat, where I will review your online profiles.

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Written by Melanie Hoole

My team and I specialise in helping real estate and property professionals perfect their personal brand, build a first-class digital profile and implement inbound marketing activities to attract leads. If you are unsure which direction to take with your digital marketing contact me for help.

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