Facebook has been great for me with keeping up with my family and friends. I have a niece in Korea - teaching English without having to know Korean - and she shares videos, pictures and so much more with all of us. It wouldn't be possible for her to keep up with so many of us without it. I have found people I used to work with and see that they have had babies etc. I can keep up with so many people - including friends I have found on ActiveRain. But what really took it to the next level is finding past clients.
Thanks to reading a post from Brian Brady, I was introduced to the idea of using my Outlook contacts to find former clients and see if they are on Facebook. I sent an e-mail asking how to do this (he is now a friend on Facebook) and he called to personally tell me how. This is not a post about how great everyone is on ActiveRain but I was surprised and touched that he took the time to do that - and so quickly after I sent the request. When I was home at Thanksgiving, I coached my brother and sister-in-law (who own their own Tishhouse Electric business in Kalamazoo) how to do it and they found clients as well. It is very easy; In the top menu, find the Tab "Friends" and click. It opens to "Invite Friends" and click on this option. On the right hand side, click the "Import Email addresses". Here you will see two choices under Email Applications and click the first button for "Automatically import my contacts from Outlook" and click "Find Friends". It doesn't download anything but checks to see which e-mail address are in the Facebook data base and then creates a list of all matches and gives you the opportunity to invite all of them. It can take a while depending on how many addresses you have in Outlook.
I downloaded my Outlook contacts and found at least 12 former clients who are on Facebook and accepted me as a "friend". I found out that one of them is having their first baby and I was able to stop in and congratulate them. I will be able to find out when he/she is born and pictures I am sure. Then I can follow up with a card etc. Another client had their wedding pictures posted. We had talked about seeing them once and I never did-so I stopped by and commented as well. The list goes on. . . I know I often feel a certain withdrawal from my clients after working with them so much to find the right home. When it is over, I don't always know how they are doing. I send cards, periodic e-mails etc. but peeking in on what they want to share with those of us that they have accepted as friends is awesome.
Many of you may know this already - but our blogs from ActiveRain can be automatically posted and all our friends can keep up on what we are saying as well. I just joined Twitter and Twitter feeds on "what are you doing now" can be linked into Facebook as well-I can catch up on both simultaneously. Social Media - I love it.
Royal Oak Realtor selling Real Estate in Southeastern Michigan. TishHouse sells Houses - selling Oakland County Real Estate with RE/MAX Showcase Homes in Birmingham, Michigan. Helping People in a challenging market by specializing in Short Sales. See what my clients have to say about my extraordinary customer service.
Cathy, How do you do that? I didn't know you could. Not that I would want all 3000 contacts in FaceBook but I would like to search for some of them. Maybe that will be your next post. hint hint
Missy: The instructions are in the second paragraph - probably missed as they are so easy. In fact, when Brian called me, I didn't take notes as I thought it was that easy but had to have him explain it to me again via e-mail :-) Take a look at the second paragraph in the post and you will see instructions. I would probably let it scan all your contacts - just leave it and walk away for a while - it took my brother a really long time - when it finds the ones in Facebook, you can click on the ones you want to invite - don't have to do all of them.
Cathy, you're going to end up giving Maureen Francis a run for her money as the top social media Realtor in the area if you keep these posts up!
I am looking forwrad to trying this out. It sounds like it could be helpful. Take ia lesson from the kids.
While visiting one of my daughters and her family for Thanksgiving in Texas, my granddaughter showed us all my neice's new beau in Florida, who we knew little about, but that she already knew to use FB to check out anyone she wanted to know about! These kids are amazing1
Hi Kathy; Yes, it is a surprise how many people/clients are on Facebook. I found several clients I am currently working with on there. It's a good resource and way to stay connected.
Cathy:
Thats a great idea, I will have to try to fiquire it out.
Richard
Thanks for the post. It says it doesn't support my e-mail addresses. I tried downloading for MS 2000+, too, but that didn't work either. Bummer. But sounds like a useful tool. :)
Drew: What a great compliment that I am in a league with those who contribute so much.
Pat: I follow a lot of "kids" on Twitter because they are the ones creating a lot of this stuff now. Good to learn from the younger generation.
Eileen: I check in on past clients on Facebook from time to time and comment - I would not be speaking or sending notes that often - but this keeps each other in our thoughts.
Richard: Definitely try it out - as said above, I like checking in on people I have sold a home to and see how they are doing. It matters to me.
Terri: I downloaded from Outlook - if I remember correctly it supports that and maybe AOL - can't remember.