Gordon Yan, Managing Director of Gordon Conveyancing, talks about why he uses Facebook as a marketing tool and how other conveyancers might benefit from it.
These days, people of all ages use the internet and social media to do their own research before making contact or committing themselves to a product or service. With over one billion daily users, Facebook is a great tool for businesses of all sizes.
I use Facebook as another reference point for my business, and together with my website, LinkedIn and Google, it’s like an additional shopfront. However, we’re reaching an audience that doesn’t drive past our office each day.
Getting started on Facebook
In the beginning, I used sponsored posts to build an initial audience. If you just post a standard link, image or comment on your page, it might only be seen by a portion of your followers. Sponsoring posts means you pay to reach a wider number of people whose interests match what you’re looking for. Facebook is able to target users based on certain demographics, so it’s easier to reach the people you think will be interested in your content.
Once I had about 300 people in my audience, I stopped paying for sponsored posts and started posting things I thought my audience would find fascinating. The growth has been native from that point.
My advice to anyone who’s worried about working out what to post is: don’t be. I post things that I’m interested in, such as architecture and design, or that I think people want to see.
Find something you like that gives your business a point of difference. My family background is in property development so I’m constantly noticing buildings that are beautiful, bizarre or just different. About once a month, I’ll find something that is directly relevant to conveyancing, such as a first home owners’ grant update, and share that with the audience.
I don’t worry about spending too much time on Facebook, either. It doesn’t take much to maintain your online presence – I only spend about an hour a week on it.
If you’re busy, I’d recommend re-posting or linking to articles and images you find online, and maybe writing a line or two to personalise them for your followers. The important thing is to maintain an active feed.
Our company page now has around 2600 followers, which means our reputation is solid in that space.
Keeping up appearances
The number of new clients who have come to us through Facebook can be hard to quantify, because a lot who are recommended through Google have also seen us on Facebook.
It’s all part of building a good reputation and increasing brand awareness, both crucial ingredients in a successful conversion. When you speak with a client, it’s easier to get them on board if they have prior awareness of your business through Facebook, Google, LinkedIn or your website. I recommend asking satisfied clients if they’ll give you a review (maybe offer some questions to get them started).
Be aware, though, that listing your business on social media can leave you open to others’ opinions. I’ve even had someone who wasn’t a client write a negative review on Google – that was a strange experience.
There are good and bad aspects to online reviews, but the positives generally outweigh the negatives. As Oscar Wilde wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
Whether social media leads directly to sales for conveyancers is undocumented, but having an active Facebook presence will certainly help lift awareness of your conveyancing firm. I’m unaware of any direct business through our page, but the number of people who have heard of our brand has grown exponentially. We could never have done that by listing in the Yellow Pages.
– Gordon Yan, Managing Director of Gordon Conveyancing
