Let’s face it, in real estate, people do business with agents they know, like and trust. This is a mantra I have heard over and over again at countless events across the country.

Facebook is one of the best tools available to build relationships; to get to know people and to build trust. One of the ways you do that on Facebook is by posting engaging content.

People are sharing more on Facebook more than ever before.

Remember when the only information you had about a potential client was their name, phone number and perhaps email? Now, the culture of sharing has changed; people openly share about their interests, their vacations, their family and more. Because of Facebook, it is easier now than ever to build relationships and engage with potential clients over the long haul.

One of the best things you can do as a real estate professional is to use Facebook as a tool to engage with potential clients.

Here are five quick and easy tips to increase engagement on Facebook business pages:

1. Stay topical and relevant. As you are thinking about the most relevant content you could share on Facebook, make sure it is relevant to the season. Pay attention to the calendar, holidays, and seasons. For example, now is a great time to talk about the New Year, spring cleaning and tax time. Staying topical will keep people’s attention and engage them more in your content.

2. Include humor. Sometimes we take ourselves so seriously in real estate. Make sure you incorporate some fun into your posts on Facebook. Pinterest is a great source for fun quotes and photos that you can share on Facebook. On the Inman News Facebook Page, we share a real estate cartoon every Saturday. Keeping it light makes it fun, and it is an easy way to build engagement.

3. Brief is better. According to Facebook, posts that are between 100 and 250 characters (less than 3 lines of text) see about 60% more likes, comments and shares than posts greater than 250 characters. Keep it short and edit ruthlessly!

4. Don’t post too often. Statistically a Facebook post on a business page “lives” about three hours. Wondering how long your posts live? Check out EdgeRank Checker. “A Post is considered dead when the growth in engagement is less than 10% of the largest growth of engagement between hourly snapshots” The biggest mistake I see people making with their Facebook Business Page is posting too often. This is why having a content strategy is key; know when you will post and what you post.

5. Photos still are king. Photos are undeniably still the king of engagement on Facebook. Posts including a picture generate about 120%, more engagement. Be smart about your photos; are you pinning interesting photos? Use some of those photos in your Facebook content strategy. Same applies to Instagram. If you are an agent – snap a few Instagram photos of working with clients. Use these photos as part of your Facebook strategy. Do you take a photo with every single client you work with? Every client has a story and those stories are great pieces of content for your brand on Facebook!

Looking for more tips? Check out this webinar recording I did last year – a one hour class on “The Power of Engagement on Facebook.” Would love your comments and feedback, feel free to post below or leave a comment on my Facebook Page!

P.S. I will be speaking at Agent Reboot NYC and Real Estate Connect NYC next week. They are both going to be incredible events. I will be talking about relationships in social media and trust and transparency in social media; both crucial topics for 2013. Hope to see you there!