Real Estate Elevated: Use Facebook and Twitter to Get More Leads

Whenever we’re teaching Real Estate Elevated Education seminars, people always ask Tarek and me how we get leads on properties so quickly and consistently. We definitely use a lot of the more traditional methods – like direct mail, driving around neighborhoods where we want to flip, networking with wholesalers, etc. However, that’s not the only way we find flip houses these days. We’ve also totally embraced the 21st century way to do everything: social media.

We use Facebook and Twitter all the time to find and follow up on leads, but some of the ways we use these social networks might actually surprise you. Here are my best tips for filling up your lead funnel with social media.

Follow and Engage with Other Real Estate Investors

First, remember that other house flippers aren’t always your competition. Yes, you’ll sometimes end up selling comps in the same areas with them, and then you’ll be competing with them temporarily. Most of the time, though, you’re just peers in the same industry, and you might even team up on bigger flips together, too.

So follow wholesalers, private investors, lenders, and other flippers on Facebook and Twitter, and don’t be afraid to engage with them. This kind of networking is great because it really doesn’t take much time but it does get the word out about you and your house flipping business faster.

Post About the Properties You’re Flipping

You can build even more buzz around what you’re doing by posting cool pictures of your rehab projects and how your flip houses are coming along. Those other real estate investors you’re following will check out your profiles, and they’ll see that you do good work. Your new wholesaler contacts will see that you mean business, and they’re likely to start calling you when they have deals. Likewise, other investors are likely to let you know when they have leads that don't work with their business models but might work better with yours.

Let the World Know When You’re Looking for New Flips

You’ve seen those makeshift signs around different neighborhoods claiming to buy houses for cash, right? Well, you’ve no doubt figured out that those signs are made and posted by other flippers, and they’re pretty effective. Do you know what’s even more effective? Letting the whole world know on Facebook and Twitter.

Use Effective Hashtags

Of course, you want to reach a wider audience than just your own followers (though you want to grow that audience, too). That’s where hashtags come in. Use hashtags that are trending and that get a lot of use, and more people will see your posts. Add a custom hashtag along with those, and people who see your posts will also see it and can see all of your related posts by clicking on it.

Post Valuable Content and Link to Your Website

Finally, you can improve your website’s SEO (search engine optimization) and drive more traffic, by posting valuable content on Facebook and Twitter and then linking to your site. The more engagement you have on social media and the more hits you get on your site from Facebook and Twitter, the higher your site will rise in the search results rankings. Then, more motivated sellers will click on your site instead of someone else’s, and you’ll keep getting more leads.

As we flip houses and teach our Real Estate Elevated Education seminars, Tarek and I are finding more and more great ways to use social media to build and grow our house flipping business. And you can do the same thing. Just follow these tips and really embrace the Internet as a great lead generator.

For more information about real estate investing, visit Real Estate Elevated's BiggerPockets blog.