Real Estate Agents – listen up! I have a friend who is a car guy. Incredibly nice guy, incredibly cool car. That’s an M4. If you are into BMW you might know that internally the M4 is referred to as an F82.
He’s kind of popular and on most other social media platforms everyone knows him as @GregFeightytwo. See what he did there? He’s the same name on Flickr, Instagram, and everywhere he could possibly be.
Greg is in the insurance business. Here’s his website. He passionate about cars and is very active in the niche. He’s also one of the nicest, warmest people you’ll ever meet. It’s almost impossible to forget that Greg has a BMW F82. That comes in handy like when you need insurance and met him last week. (check out this for him)
That’s not just good branding, that’s GREAT branding. Many of you could only wish for that kind of branding.
But that all stopped recently when it came to Facebook. Facebook has what is called a “real-name” policy. Per this policy, a “real name” is defined by “your real name as it would be listed on your credit card, driver’s license or student ID. Obviously, Greg’s last name isn’t Feightytwo.
BUT I”M A REAL ESTATE AGENT, I DON’T EVEN LIKE CARS….
Ahhh, but you like branding, right? Most everything you do is about branding. You also like everyone to know that you are a Realtor. That’s why you might have added it to your FB name?
Technically speaking, you are in the same boat as Greg. The word “Realtor” doesn’t appear on your driver’s license does it? Unfortunately, Facebook will eventually find you and delete your account.
They don’t ask, they don’t warn, and when they do… your whole Facebook just goes away with a
What names are allowed on Facebook? Just your real name.
No
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Symbols, numbers, unusual capitalization, repeating characters or punctuation.
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Characters from multiple languages.
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Titles of any kind (ex: professional, religious).
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Words, phrases or nicknames in place of a middle name.
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Offensive or suggestive words of any kind.
What happens if I need to prove my Name?
Hey, maybe you changed your legal last name to Realtor (it could happen). If you did and Facebook has an issue with it you can appeal by proving it’s your legal name.
They’ll accept the usual
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Birth certificate
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Driver’s license
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Passport
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Marriage certificate
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Official name change paperwork
as well as
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Bank statement
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Bus card
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Check
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Credit card
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Employment verification
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Library card
It’s not just Realtor. Add to that CRS, ePro, ABR, SRS, GRI, CDPE, and every other designation out there. Oh, and phone numbers too!
REMEMBER: Since Facebook went IPO they have to answer to investors. Investors deal in numbers. Those investors ask pesky little questions like, “How many real profiles are active on the site?” and, “What is being done about duplicate Profiles, Fake Profiles, and Fake Likes?” If you currently maintain duplicate profiles as in Mike Mueller (for family and friends) and Mike Mueller – Super Real Estate Agent (for your business side), they’ll find out. When they do, both your profiles will be gone.
WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW
If you have something in your profile that isn’t your real name, remove it. simple as that.
If you have duplicate profiles (not talking about Pages)…
- Decide on the one you want to keep,
- Go to the other one and ask all your friends to go friend your alter ego,
- Delete your alter ego.
Sorry you have to do that but it always been a rule in Facebook of one profile per human being. Always.
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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