I was part of a panel at a conference for realtors last week — more of an unconference really — where the topics are chosen on the fly and you pretty much go with the flow. My biggest takeaway from that experience was that I am not fond of that type of set-up but that’s another post for another day.

The topic was Facebook Fan pages. I told the organizer that I would talk about building community because that’s my thing and I firmly believe that you need to get the idea of building a community ingrained in your head first and foremost when you plan to bring people together across the social web or create any community environment where you’d like to see people congregate.

So I did just that for about 10 minutes and then it was all about the fan page. There was a realtor there from Atlanta who was also on the panel. (Related question: Is it really a panel if there’s no moderator?) He went on and on about his fan page and how he uploads photos and communicates with people, etc …

Then the questions came. What these real estate agents really wanted was the magic formula for making their Facebook fan page help them sell houses. I was growing weary.

"Do they really think a Fan Page is going to do this for them?" I wondered.

Someone in the audience with a national chain gave a great story about how they’ve hosted open houses and made all kinds of connections through their fan page and people wanted answers. How do we make sales? Do you have any real-life examples of people making money? How do I get a picture of myself on the page? How do I get people to come?

Some thought that once they made the page it would grow organically. They don’t know what they want. All they know is they’ve been told they need to be on Facebok for business and the way to do that is through fan pages.

…because,after all, everyone want to fan a realtor on Facebook, right?

I asked them if they were fans of many pages on Facebook. Not many were. I asked those that were fans of businesses how they interact with them.  Many did not at all.  So all I could offer at that point, between the guy from Atlanta talking about his fan page like it was the second-coming and the other guy who is an acquaintance but who also oversold and over hyped the platform was this: Think like a consumer.

That, in my opinion is the missing piece. Think about what you would want from a realtor.  Use your forum as an area to offer expertise and showcase your knowledge about the industry. Do something other than create a page and wait, and do consider other niche communities, like say … those focused on the area where you actually sell houses.

A Facebook Fan page is yet another tool. It is not a strategy, and frankly I am getting tired of hearing about it from those who have no concrete evidence of how it has affected their business.

So until you actually get some, enough already.