Have you ever heard this statement: “Knowing when your fans are online is the key to a successful Facebook business page”?

Well, guess what I’m here to tell you?! I’m here to tell you that you can totally and completely ignore that little doozy of a statement.

That’s right. You don’t need to know when your fans are online. In fact, you don’t need to take the time to know either. In fact, it’s absolutely unnecessary for you to know this for you to have a successful Facebook business page.

WHAT?!

As a real estate agent, a successful Facebook business page means that you are generating real leads that are turning into real closings.

THAT is your key focus.

Your key focus for your Facebook business page is not to build a community. It is not to engage your page likes. Your key focus is to drive your page likes into your email database.

To build your list.

This means that you don’t need to spend your time figuring out when people are online (and when they aren’t).

What you do need to figure out is how to leverage the posts on your Facebook business page so that they drive leads into your database.

This is vastly different than focusing on engagement and timing.

So I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

One of the absolute best things to leverage on your Facebook business page is your posting frequency.

But then, that drives you into the question of “How often should real estate agents post on their Facebook business page.”

And oh boy, people have definite opinions on this subject. With the plethora of types of pages out there and the vast expanse of goals for said pages… you’ve got to know what the right method is for you, as a real estate agent.

In other words, just listening to so-called experts about how often to post isn’t going to help you.

You need a solid plan for your specific situation.

Remember, your focus is to drive traffic from Facebook into your database.

You want to drive the right traffic with the right mindset into your database. In other words, you want people in your target area, who are most likely to want and need your real estate services.

I see people spouting advice on posting frequency from all over the spectrum, including:

• No more than once a week
• No more than 3 days a week
• Daily
• Multiple times a day

Instead of listening to opinions and individual preferences, you’ve got to go with the facts, and since the “facts” are all over the map, we need to turn to Facebook itself.

This means looking at and understanding, as much as possible, Facebook’s algorithms. Now, I’m not going to get into Facebook’s algorithm in this article. I’ve written several others where I’ve addressed some key algorithm elements.

I am going to get into what you can do to leverage the algorithm to your benefit.

First though, we have a reality check that needs to be faced and that reality check is this. In most cases, rather than seeking out what truly works, we tend to seek out that which supports what we believe to be, or want to be, true.

Case in point, real estate agents think they over contact people when in fact, they grossly under contact people. Now, whether they think this and use it as an excuse, or they think it and it freezes them into inaction, is an individual piece I’m not going to dive into here.

But, the thing is, when it comes to Facebook business page posting frequency, there are multiple elements involved.

How often Facebook puts your posts into your followers NewsFeeds is one such element.

Let me be very clear here: Facebook pushes out business page content significantly less than any other content.

If you’ve built a Facebook page with likes that are not targeted, you’ll get even less presence in the NewsFeed.

If you are posting content on your Facebook page that isn’t valuable, relevant, or interesting to your page likes, you’ll get even less presence in the NewsFeed.

If you aren’t posting frequently enough, you’ll get even less presence in the NewsFeed.

The best thing you can do is build a page with targeted page likes, and then post content that is relevant to your page likes.

No one sees everything you post.

In fact, most people see only a fraction of what you post.

Posts typically have a life span of about 3-4 hours. In other words, if someone isn’t online when you post, the likelihood of them seeing that post is almost non-existent.

Not everyone is online at the same time. You need to post on your page accordingly to overcome this, so that you reach as many people as possible over the course of an entire week.

The best thing you can do is post about once every 4 hours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The type of posts you post is important.

Variety is the spice of life. You need to post a variety of post types.

Don’t listen to the crowds when they tell you that one specific type of post works best. By the time you hear them say that and then implement it, you’ll already be behind.

Facebook isn’t dumb. They know when people are trying to game the system.

Instead, post a variety of post types including photos, text only, questions, quotes, links, native content, uploaded videos, live streams, etc.

You must be valuable.

Posting often (to leverage Facebook’s algorithm and encourage action) is important. Posting valuable and engaging content is the cream of the crop.

Posting the same thing over and over again will negate your efforts and Facebook sees this and acts accordingly. In other words, if all you’re doing is posting your listings or open houses, Facebook pulls you out of the NewsFeed more and more.

Posting new, fresh, and valuable content several times each day is ideal.

What does this mean for you? As a real estate agent, you need to be seeking out and creating valuable content, valuable resources, that you are giving out to your page likes each and every day.

It’s a lot easier to do than you might think, and it takes a lot less time than we imagine it to take.

Go on the hunt and find some great sources that answer real estate questions. Places like HGTV, Lowe’s, Home Depot, This Old House, etc. Bookmark these sites. They are constantly putting out fresh articles that are interesting and relevant – and you can easily share these articles on your Facebook business page.

Looking back over the last 30 days, how often have you been posting on your Facebook business page?