Miriam Gilmore is a mortgage banker with City First Mortgage Services in Miami.

Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Miriam Gilmore, a mortgage banker with City First Mortgage Services LLC in Miami.

Today, savvy Realtors need to be on the cutting edge of social media; here are some helpful tips to make sure you get the most out of your social media Posts.

Facebook Tips:

Facebook is where people go to connect with their family and friends online. More Realtors, in turn, want to connect with the friends and family of clients. It provides trust and word of mouth marketing. So how can you, as a good real estate agent, tap into this market?

5. Pose your posts as questions. Social media is about engagement and having a conversation, not about self-promotion. If a Realtor posts on Facebook, “Come in and see what’s on the market today,” nobody will comment and nobody will call to make an appointment. If that Realtor posts a question as simple as, “What’s your favorite shutter style?” along with a picture, people will be more likely to comment online and engage with the company.

4. Use visuals. Statistics say using photos, videos, and information about the properties and their neighborhood increases engagement.

3. Use the event feature of Facebook to create events for all of your open houses. You can even send invitations to people who you think might be interested in your open house.

2. Use the Customer Audience feature on Facebook to target a custom audience. This feature, one of my personal favorites, allows for you to specifically select who you want to see your ads. So, whenever that person comes on Facebook and you are running your ad, they see your face on their side bar.

1. Lastly, create a unique page for each of your listings.

Twitter Tips:

Twitter provides quick mobile opportunities to keep connected to your clients. Use it to engage and strengthen your relationship.

4. Share your listings using photos, videos, and information about the properties and their neighborhoods. Remember to add links to your web site or your Facebook page for more information about these properties.

3. As with Facebook, tweet questions to your followers to encourage discussion.

2.Tweet local news with links to the story.

1. Use hash tags to get seen by more than just your followers. This applies to Facebook posts as well.

Should you want to learn more about these tips or would like for Miriam Gilmore to visit your office for a lunch and learn please feel free to reach her at Miriam.gilmore@city1st.com.