Facebook Marketing Frustrations—Dealing With Trolls And Troublemakers

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the Land Geek, with your favorite niche real estate website, www.thelandgeek.com. and today's roundtable, we got the usual suspects. We got the technique I'm gonna do really fast because I feel like Eric Peterson has a pretentious hard stop. If you've been listening to the podcast, you know who's on the podcast? The technician, Eric Peterson, the nightcap OG the nightcap meister, Scott Bossman, the big papa, Tate Litcher Field. We got the most feared woman in the country, Mimi Schmidt. And of course, landmoto.com posting domination.com the land geek. And finally, investor ninjas.com. oh, by the way, today's podcast is sponsored by Lots. Check out looking over tateshoulderthelandgeek.com lots. And also, we got flight school coming up. Go to thelandgeek.com training. Learn more about flight school. Eric Peterson, what do you want to talk about today on the roundtable?

I think we should talk about Facebook pet peeves. So, you know, a lot of us are using Facebook to market property, and, you know, there's a certain handful of things that drive a lot of us crazy.

What drives you crazy? Besides maybe having somebody keeping their phone not on a Bluetooth speaker about Facebook?

That's the biggest one, Mark, that really.

Gets under your skin. So if I'm listening to my notifications just through the speaker, that would just drive you crazy? Oh, yes.

You know what?

You know what drives me crazy is a room full of people talking and someone on their speakerphone.

Like at a restaurant?

Yeah, sometimes at a restaurant. But, you know, sometimes, like, you have people over at your house or something, and someone's just, you know, everybody's having a conversation and you have someone over in the corner on speakerphone.

Right.

So what do you. How do you handle that?

It depends who it is. You have to be careful.

Okay, okay, I get that. I get that. Mimi, what would you do?

It's usually my husband. I tell him to knock it off. Everyone else has, like, manners around me, usually.

Dave Schmidt, if you're listening to the podcast, just get a Bluetooth speaker.

But then he's still talking through it.

Right?

He needs headphones or an earpiece.

Yeah, right, right. But I do think it's interesting, though, as far as the hug your haters type of strategy that you can use on Facebook. So, for example, I mean, Scott Bossman, let's just ask you, like on Facebook marketing, what is your pet peeve?

Oh, I think everyone's number one pet Peeve is scam. How often do we get that? That one comment, it just ruins the whole thread, right? And then you get defensive and you're like, this isn't a scam. I can prove ownership to you. I have references. So that's. You know, there's just people out there, they just love to hate. And you have to come to realize that the reason they're doing that is to get a rise out of you. So now I just kind of laugh it off. But initially, you know, you kind of take defense, you argue with them, and I take the higher road now, and I either just block them all together or I just leave one statement on there that says verify ownership with the county or whatever. So, okay, great.

Bear land. Aaron, how about you? What's your Facebook pet peeve?

Well, I've got probably two. Can I tell. Can I say two? I don't want to steal one in case it's somebody else's.

But.

I guess my most recent pet peeve is when they contact you use. When you're using Marketplace and they just hit the is it available?

Button.

Then, you know, I don't like to just hit the yes button back because I want to start a conversation, right? So, you know, I'll say, yes, it is. And, you know, maybe one of those, what did you like about it? Or, you know, just some kind of question to get the conversation going, and they ghost you. It's like, dude, why'd you even hit the button? You know, so.

So.

That'S one of my biggest ones. But my other one is just, like, people not reading the actual ad and then asking you the same stuff over and over, which, if they would have scrolled like half an inch, would have seen it. So those are my two biggest ones. But, you know, it's the game, so you deal with it and move on.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Big Papa Tay, Litchfield. What's your biggest pet peeve?

You know, those are really good. My biggest pet peeve with Facebook is just how time consuming it is. I just hate posting something on Facebook and then having to deal with the instant responses all the time. And I know that's a good thing, and it's definitely like a first world problem because people are interested in buying what I'm selling. But, you know, the reason I love Craigslist or some of these other platforms so much is I'm able to post an ad and respond to people when it's convenient for me. And if I post an ad on Facebook, I've got to make sure that, like, I Don't have any obligations coming up. Right. The baby doesn't need me or Alison's good. And otherwise, I'm just tied to a computer. And that's what I hate about Facebook. It's probably its best attribute, but also, in my opinion, its worst attribute. I hear you.

I hear you, Scott. Todd, how about you?

Oh, I think it's. I like what Tate said, too, but I think that dealing with some of the mean. The dumb comments that people put up there, right?

They're not.

I mean, I've had people be mean about it, and then you can always just kind of like, punch them back a little bit and they run away. They never be seen again. But, like, you know, the smart comments, like, I posted some desert land that I had, and someone wrote, I bet you there's not a tree within 500 miles of this property. And so my response is always like, a smart response back to them. It says, good news, you're not paying for trees. Something like that. Just like, come on, man, why are you being a jerk? Or another one I love is when they'll say something like, yeah, I've got some water or oceanfront land in Arizona for you too. I always, like, punch him back. And saying, you're lying. There's no oceanfront water in Arizona. So, you know, like, they do that. I, like, punch them back. It's a pet peeve. But at the same time, I like it because I'm like, boom, Punching you back.

Scott.

We must have the same trolls.

Maybe.

Yeah, I think we all do, bossman, for all we know.

Yeah.

Aaron. Bossman. Aaron's got her lunch. And. And Aaron's like, let's troll. I'm gonna go on my Facebook account. And they're laughing.

So.

Okay, so Jay Baer B A E R has a great book. I recommend it to everybody. Hug your haters. And I'm gonna just save you time reading the book for Facebook ad hate. Because essentially the protocol is this is a great marketing opportunity where you have somebody who's clearly trying to get attention, trying to get a rise out of you, and kind of can seem a little crazy, right? You've got this very, you know, very strong ad, pictures, whatever, on Facebook, and then somebody just comments. Just, you know, this is a total scam. That is your opportunity to be very reasonable and not attack them. But you're not. You're not even addressing them. You're addressing everyone else that's reading the comments. Thanks for your comment, comma. This is clearly not a scam, as you know, blank Blank, blank, X, Y, and Z. And so you're not addressing them because no matter what you say to that person, they're going to think it's a scam and it's everybody. If the fact is, if you ignore the comment, somebody might think, well, if they're ignoring it, well, maybe it is a scam. So then you address it. Then they come back with some more hate, right? They'll say, yeah, I just read what you said, and, you know, now I think you're even a bigger scammer. And you can say, hey, thanks again for that comment. I have to disagree with you. Based on the last, you know, few years of me working in this business, I have an A plus B BBB rating. We have a simple business philosophy. This is our guarantee. And now everyone who's reading this comment, you're making that person look even crazier. You're more reasonable, and you're taking a marketing opportunity. Now, on the third heat comment, that's where you ignore it because obviously you can't just keep doing it. So it's two comments respond as a marketing opportunity, and it can really help your sales conversions by doing that. Eric Peterson, your thoughts?

I like it. I've done similar things. I do take that approach where I don't necessarily confront the hater as much as I take that as an opportunity to market my business in some way that kind of ties back to whatever their comment might have been. So I'm on board with that.

So you're telling me I shouldn't just delete their comments?

That's what he's saying.

Yeah.

Don't delete the comment now. Leave the first two. Now. If the third, the fourth, the fifth, get out of here.

I mean, but I've let these things go and I've taken this approach a few times, and it. It seems like one negative comment ruins the entire thread. It doesn't matter what I say. It doesn't matter how well I respond or how kind and compassionate I am. Like Scott, it seems like if I respond or if somebody trolls me, if I get on the troll radar system, that lead, that ad is dead. I'm better off just deleting it or deleting the comment itself and hoping that somebody didn't read it. I don't know. That's just my personal opinion. I think this guy's book makes a lot of sense and I'm sure it works, but I don't know, I might have to call a little bit of.

Yes, maybe.

I don't want to say that Because I didn't write a book and I don't have any market data that backs this. It's just Tate Litchfield trying to sell some desert land, you know, oceanfront property in Arizona. That people are not nice sometimes.

Well, I mean, besides, you know, doing like a ballistic missile or a drone. Mimi Schmidt, how do you handle it? Mimi, you still there?

So I thought you were talking. I. I used to message the person and say, hey, you know, I'm just a military wife, you know, starting a business. Give me a break. And I could turn it around sometimes anymore. I just delete the ad and report the person to the group admins.

Really? So you don't. You don't hug the hater? You won't make the two comment thing?

No, I used to, but anymore, if it's a problem, I just report the person and delete the ad and move on. Just move on. I don't let upset me. I don't try to. I don't spend the time. I just move on.

So you're in Tate's camp. It ruins the thread.

Yes. People see that. And then it's hard to bounce back from Scott Bossman.

I mean, I've done. I've done a little bit of everything. I've hugged the hater. I've reported people who are just absolutely nasty. The thing I love about our community is that land investors will stick up for each other. So I just recall an instance where Matt Forbes was just getting hammered by somebody, and I chimed in and said, you know, stuck up for him and said, hey, this is legit, and he's done the same for me. So that's kind of a cool thing. You can chime in and help somebody. But yeah, I mean, it kind of depends on how toxic it is for me. If it's one or two comments, that's fine. I'll leave it on there and I'll let other people chime in. If it's encapsulating the entire thread, I'm usually blocking that person and maybe saying something to the admin.

Okay, Scott, Todd, how about you?

No, I'll do the same thing. I'll do the hug your haters approach. I think it tends to work. You'll always have that person that will come back for the third time. But most time people will run away and, you know, like, I had a situation where somebody chimed in on, like, we were running an ad for lan Moto, and some lady comes up and she says, you know, be careful of this clan, because something that effective, like they. They stole My house, read what's in the paperwork. And we replied back and said, no, this isn't true, because we don't sell properties with homes on it. And then she came back and she's like, no, I didn't say you stole. I said somebody else did. And I tell people to read the. Read the paperwork. And so then, like, months and months go by. The same ad is still running. Some guy comes up while we were at our last boot camp, Mark. And he, like, calls her out. He tags her. He's like, hey, you said these people stole your stuff, and that's not true. Why are you doing that to them? And then she replied back and she said, I didn't say them. I fixed it. So, like, you'll be amazed. Like, you present the facts, and people can tell. People are very good. You know, like, people can tell for the most part whether someone's just being a mean jerk or if they're wrong. But it was kind of cool for me to see, like, here's this lady who's saying that we stole her house, and we're like, that's not true. And then the guy comes along and says, but that's what you said. Why are you. Why are you doing this to these people? And I thought that was really cool. It's like, it restored my faith in humanity and Facebook, at least.

Yeah. I feel like there should be, like, a. Like, a. You have a mental health issues emoji, and you just put that there and just kind of respond with that. Right.

I think you could do black gift or something. You know, like, you know, something.

Something like that. Or just have, like, you know, the doors playing in the background. People are strange when there's a stranger.

What they need.

What Facebook really needs to do is they're so worried about, like, fake news. What they need to worry about is fake people.

Right?

Like, and that's.

That's.

The other way that you could do this, too, is like. And I've done this myself is. I will say something like. Like, they'll say, like, this is. This is not true. And I'll just say, oh, no, it's true. Unlike you trolling people. You know, we're honest. I'm like, you.

We.

How do we know you're not Russian? You know, like, you. You could use some of the current.

Media to your favor.

And people. People will get a chuckle out of it.

They really will.

I had one guy come back and say, hey, that was a great comeback. And, like, we called him out. Like, he. He was mean to us. We kind of hugged him, but caught him out. Like, I think he said, like, something about, like, this is. This is crap. And we're like, no, this isn't crap. Like, unlike the people who are trolling our ads. And he's like, okay, good comeback.

Yeah.

So sometimes people just want to mess with you. That's the way it is.

Yeah. Barelyn. Aaron, will you come in and just say Dimitri or some kind of Russian first name and just, you know.

Yeah, Vladimir. Yeah.

Yeah.

Like, put the vodka down, Boris.

Put your keyboard away and go hug Natasha.

By the way, for all our Russian listeners, I apologize. And I feel I can actually with the last name. I am Russian, so I'm making fun of myself.

I'm half Russian too, so we're good.

Mark.

So. I actually had something. I had one that I started to get some haters, the scam. And I think Melissa was running the ad at the time, and it almost started to get out of hand. We were, you know, hugging our haters and making some comments, and all of a sudden the admin got involved and he checked us out and he made a comment on the thread that said, you know what? They're totally legit and I think I'm gonna buy some land from them, so shut up. It was cool.

He didn't.

But he's on our buyers list, so that was cool.

Very cool. Very cool. Well, I think we really got a lot done with the pet peeve of Facebook ads. Does. Is there any other, you know, comments anybody wants to make before we go to our tip of the week? Anything else? No.

Oh, I got one.

Eric.

So when someone comes along and just puts the word next, that drives me crazy. I mean, what's the purpose?

They want to know more. I thought that was a negative thing. Well, I thought it was more of a positive.

Eric Peterson, the Four Agreements.

So just come along and say next.

Yeah.

That makes no sense.

I know.

It makes sense when you're in the Facebook flea market and people are selling a $10 T shirt, right? And all these people chime in and want it. So there's kind of a priority list. There's a Facebook etiquette when you're selling these really low dollar items, from what I've witnessed. So if there's a really popular item, it's kind of a first come, first serve basis. And if the first person can't purchase it, the person who says next is next in line.

Right. So there's a positive connotation to it. We always, I assume they're saying next, like Next item. Like go away. This item. But they're not. They're actually saying, hey, tell me more about the item.

So you got another lingo I didn't even know.

Yeah.

I like it. Aren't you glad you you brought that up? You would have never known I would announce.

Positive thing, Eric.

Yeah.

All right.

Absolutely. Anything else?

I think that's it for me.

All right. Because I mean, we can see the countdown clock behind you, Eric, with that. With that pretentious hard stop. So let's just go do our tip of the week. A website, a resource, a book, something actionable. Mimi Schmidt. Where the art of passive income listeners can go improve their businesses, improve their lives. What have you got?

I've been using this website recently when I need forms outside of the standard deeds that are in LG Pass. It's called www.virtualunderwriter.com. and so for affidavits to certify trusts or deaths of trustees or a lot of different forms like that, you can find them on this website. You just put the state and then you can scroll down and see the different forms they have. I've used probably three of them in the last month, but it's been a good source.

Wow. This, this is from store title. This is a big title company providing this. Yeah, that's cool. Virtualunderwriter.com.

Yeah. So it has things like quick claim. Yeah. If you need other deeds too, it has Florida quitclaim deeds, other deeds like that too. But I use it more for the affidavits, extra forms that I need for trusts and deaths and things.

Wow, very cool. There's even international forms. Select a country. This is awesome. Land modification endorsement. Look at this, huh? Even barelyn. Aaron is not gonna have anything negative to say about this, but I'll give you an opportunity. Beer Land.

No.

All right, fantastic. Virtualunderwriter.com well, I have a tip for everybody. It's learn more about flight school. I know I talked about this earlier, but go to Langeek.com training. I promise you, having that 15, 30 minute call with Scott Bossman Mike Zano literally could be life changing. So you owe it to yourself to learn more about that thelandgeek.com training. Eric Peterson. Are we good?

We're great.

All right, well, I want to thank you for being on the podcast, winning the roundtable despite the pretentious heart. Stop. We're all very appreciative, so thank you so much. Mimi, Are we good?

Good.

Very good.

Scott Bossman.

We are. We are. Excellent.

Bearland Aaron.

Stupendous.

Big Papa Tate. Litchfield.

Yep, we're good.

The Brain, the Sherpa, the Professor, Scott Todd.

I love this, this website. Yeah, I'm great.

I know, like, Scott's already downloaded like seven forms as we were going around.

That's nice.

It's good. It's good.

He's killing it with the tip of the week.

She really is. She really is. By the way, Ray Zang, we got to do a shout out to him. He created a beautiful testimonial for lots going through that course, looking over Tate's shoulder. So please do that look over his shoulder. It could be really cool. I know, it's cool. So just go to landgeek.com lots. Lots. Alright, so are we ready to do this? 1, 2, 3.

Let freedom ring.

It just never, never goes smoothly, does it bring. Exactly. Exactly. So what's. What's everybody going on the rest of the day?

Closing sales.

Closing sales.

Closing sales. I took your advice, Tate and Eric. I hired a sales assistant. Her first day training was yesterday. And I'm so, so grateful. I see the relief on the horizon.

Awesome.

Gonna change your life. It's gonna make you so much happier.

Oh, that's. That's. That's the next level. Mimi, that is the last thing, really. Once you build that machine, that is the last piece that you should outsource. Absolutely. And keep a close eye on it too. And help be. Be there. You know, what's it, what's Scott Todd. What's that? The time rule one to 30 ratio.

Yeah.

You're on mute. Yeah.

30X rule.

30X rule. So if it takes you, Mimi, 20 minutes to close a deal, it's going to take 600 minutes of training. Am I doing my math right? Yeah. So that's not that bad to have sales out of your life for the rest of your life.

And I'm okay with keeping parts of it. I just need. I can't do it all. Can't do it all.

No, absolutely. And you know, you want to keep the things that bring you joy too. It's not like. Yeah, you know, you should have a choice with it.

Well, you know, I'm not. I'm not a salesperson by trade or nature, but I got a call yesterday from a woman who'd driven out to the property and she's crying. She was gonna use some inheritance that she'd gotten from her mom and she was so excited about the property. You know, it's just so. It warms your heart when you find people that think the land's as cool as you do or think that it's super cool, right? So that was good.

Yeah, that's awesome. Bossman, you jumping on the peloton today?

Actually, I am. I am this afternoon. I got back on Friday. My knee felt good.

Oh, good, good. Scott. Scott's got a great workout for you.

He does? All right.

Oh, man.

I don't know if I can tell him this, Mark, because the last time I did this, he, like, almost killed himself with this same person.

I got it. Tell me, tell me. In a month, I got a ramp back up again.

But I got to tell you now, though, because I'm super excited. So you can just. Don't listen this in a month, but here's the deal.

I did.

I did a ride today with. With Jennifer Jacobs, right?

All right. Yeah.

And it's a 20 minute climb ride. Sound familiar?

All right.

However. However, here's the deal. The first four minutes, you're warming up, obviously. The last minute, you're cooling down. The 15 minutes in between is. The resistance is 50 to 65. You choose. It does not move. It stays the same throughout the entire ride. And Your cadence is 50 to 60 the entire ride in the saddle. Okay? So it's obviously a climb ride and, like, it will kill you. And Tate's, like, laughing at us, right?

Like this smirk on his face. He's got the smirk on his face. That's really cute, guy.

15 minutes in the saddle climb.

I mean, it sounds hard. Anytime you have to do a low, low cadence like that, it's tough. I don't care.

Yeah, see? And Scott, you gotta hurry up and get up to speed because at the end of the month, she's doing a 90 minute climb ride. So I think the three of us are gonna be live on that one. All 90 minutes of it.

Scott, Todd, you hate. You hate more than 20 minutes on that thing.

I do. I do. But if it meant that I was you guys, you better believe I'm showing up.

All right.

That would be interesting, though.

I've got a bet going with Matt Forbes for the month. Like, who can do more workouts?

Or.

I think we each have to do, like, minimum three times a week, and whoever slips off owes the other person five acres, so I'm motivated. Five acres.

Nice bet.

He's got way more going on than me. There's no way I can lose this bet. It's either gonna be a push or I'm winning. So, you know, I gotta vox him from time to time to just, you know, motivate him to do it for sure. And again, Tate's got that look like, oh, that's so cute. Just cute. You guys are so cute. Cute on your seat three times a.

Week in the air condition.

Yeah, I was gonna say, how do you. How do you bike in Las Vegas? Like, 110 degrees. You're gonna get, like, sunstroke, heatstroke, get up early.

Just.

I don't know. You get used to it, I guess. Right. Like, we've been riding outside.

I don't.

Know, a long time, and it's kind of what makes Vegas so appealing to so many people is we don't have to stop riding. In the winter. Yes. In the summer, it's crazy hot out, but you just get up at, you know, 5:30 and ride. You're done. So you get used to it, I guess.

Nice.

All right, cool.

What's a typical ride mileage wise, for you today?

Like, Today we did 32 miles. That's pretty. Like, that's a pretty average morning for us. You know, go up and climb around a bit. You know, we do. Can you believe we do, like, a couple thousand feet of elevation in the morning? And it's fun, though. I ride with a good group of guys.

They're.

They're really solid, and, you know, they're hardcore. Every morning, they're there no matter what, no matter the temperature, they're outside. So it makes it easy. Like you guys were saying, when you have a group that's supporting you, kind of like the Landee community, makes it that much easier to show up and do what you got to get done every day.

I mean, to put things in perspective, you ride more in a day than I do in a week, and I'm doing, like, nine miles in that 30 minutes and dialing.

We're trying to do, like, you know, keep it above 20 miles an hour on the rides.

Jeez, how big is the group?

What's that?

How big is the group?

Like, today there's three of us. So some days we get a couple more guys. Like, we'll get up to six or seven guys, but when there's that many guys, it turns into, like, this bloodbath where everybody's just trading blows and the group gets whittled down to two or three at the end of it. So the bigger the group, it's harder, actually.

Yeah, I would think so.

Yeah.

But it's fun.

All right, very cool. Very cool. Well, if you're listening to this bonus content here after the podcast, it's really gonna be cool to see Tate in action at boot camp in his hometown in Vegas. So as a special bonus, you can wake up at 3:30 in the morning and ride with Tate during that weekend. That sounds like fun.

Yeah, you'll have to be, especially if you're coming from somewhere where it's not 120 outside.

330.

Yeah. Seriously. Yeah. So go to landgeek.combootcamp sign up for the Vegas Bootcamp just not to learn land investing, but the. But to learn more about cycling with Tate in Vegas. And as an extra bonus, two and a half days of land investing immersion.

No.

Pretty good. Sounds good. All right, Eric Peterson's getting. We gotta go.

Getting antsy.

He's getting really antsy. You can see it. Yeah, for sure.

All right, I'm going to go get on the bike.

All right. I'm going to go eat some lunch.

All right, we'll see you.

All right, see you guys. Thanks, everybody.

Bye.

Bye.