Ask Yourself These Questions Before Creating a New Social Profile

Social media has become an integrated part of our daily lives, but learning how to strategically manage each social platform to benefit your business takes time and skill. However, by the time you finally figure out how to truly incorporate a particular site into your business, a new one magically appears out of thin air.

As real estate professionals, time is money and you would rather be spending that time with prospects and clients, but in the interests of growing your database you tell yourself, "Here we go again, time to learn a new social platform." However, we have come up with these questions you should ask yourself before creating another social media account.

Is your target audience using this social network?

Connecting with followers and customers through social media differs depending on what site you are using. You will also find different audiences throughout different social media networks. The average age of home buyers in the U.S. is 44 years old (NAR 2016 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers), making this age group (+/- 10 years) your target audience. Furthermore, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center study, 79 percent of American, adult, online users are on social media. Of that number, 78 percent of Facebook users fall into this age group, followed by 25.5 percent on Instagram, and 22 percent on Twitter.

If your business already has a well established social profile on a different network with a large following, you don't necessarily have to start from zero when you move into a new social platform. Most networks let you upload a list of followers from other sites and/or email lists. This will save you time when searching for new followers and help you locate current clients who may already be using the new network.