Creating an Online Professional Referral Network

Make Sure You’re Not Missing Your Closest Referral Opportunities

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Many business owners, including real estate agents and mortgage lenders, neglect to factor their circle of friends into the picture when looking to build their business. Real estate is a business of intimate relationships; home buying is a personal process that necessitates a great deal of trust.

The endorsement by people who know you and have experienced your work performance is one of the most overlooked referral marketing tools available. Social media makes starting and fostering these high power referral relationships even easier.

Happy customers won’t mind “liking” your Facebook page or re-tweeting a tip from you. Once you get the ball rolling, the process will continue and you’ll get free word-of-mouth marketing.

Getting Referrals In The Real Estate and Mortgage Businesses

Success in the real estate business depends on repeat business and referrals. Since most home buyers settle in for at least a few years before needing your services again, referrals are a great way to take advantage of the excellent care you provided and the time you spent with past clients.

In a follow-up email after the closing papers, include a short paragraph asking for recommendations. This can be created and saved in advance, then simply pasted into the applicable emails. Letting your customers know that you work by referral and appreciate their feedback makes it much more likely that they will actually give you the endorsement that you want.

Ask Your Happy Customers To Show Their Appreciation On Social Networks

You should thank them for their business, ask them to give your contact information (included for their convenience) to any friends who need advice or a new home, and ask that they consider providing a recommendation on a customer service site like Angie’s List or Yelp .

This will take only moments of their time, so you can feel free to ask without fear of being seen as pushy. Include an icon to “Like” your business on Facebook in your signature for another hassle-free reminder that boosts your online presence.

People You Should Contact For Your Referral Marketing Social Media Networks

Whether you revamped the website or just got a Facebook page, consider shooting a brief message to anyone who may be interested in keeping up with you, including:

Family (Don’t overlook the people closest to you. They need you to tell them that you appreciate their referrals too!)
Friends and neighbors
LinkedIn contacts
Any former clients
Contractors (plumbers, electricians, inspectors) you have a relationship with
Potential home buyers who fell through the cracks

Large Social Networks Make It Quick And Easy To Create Top Of Mind Awareness

Aim toward growing as large a network as possible through your social media networks. Each one of these online communities are an additional marketing list that, once connected with you, is very quick and easy to stay in touch with.

Something as simple as one quick email gives these people the option to engage in a conversation with your business. They can receive blog posts, Tweets, information about the market — any marketing material can be instantly shared with interested readers. You just have to make the connection.

If you’d like to learn exactly how to drive more repeat and referral business using blog content marketing and social media syndication,