If you’ve ever thought about posting more online as an estate agent, you’ve probably heard the same advice again and again.

Be visible. Share your knowledge. Build your personal brand. Let people see who you really are.

And to be fair, much of that advice is correct. Visibility matters more than ever in estate agency. Sellers will often look you up online long before they ever pick up the phone, and the agents who appear regularly in their feeds can quickly become familiar names.

But there’s a part of posting online that doesn’t get talked about very often.

The downside.

Because the moment you start putting your thoughts out there publicly, you’re also opening the door for other people to comment on them. And not all of those comments will be particularly kind.

If you’ve ever shared an opinion online, you’ll probably recognise the feeling. You post something you think is fairly reasonable, maybe even helpful, and before long someone appears underneath to tell you that you’re completely wrong.

I’ve had articles published that I thought were perfectly sensible pieces of advice for estate agents. Nothing controversial, nothing particularly dramatic.

Yet one of the comments simply read: “What a load of tosh.”

That was the entire review. Lovely.

Now, I’d love to say that reading something like that doesn’t affect you at all. But if you’re honest, it usually makes you pause for a moment. Nobody particularly enjoys seeing their ideas dismissed like that, even when it’s coming from a random stranger on the internet.

And that’s one of the reasons many agents hesitate before posting online in the first place.

It isn’t always about worrying what to say or feeling uncomfortable on camera. Quite often it’s simply the thought of what might come back in response. What if people disagree with you? What if someone criticises what you’ve written? What if someone decides to tell you your post is rubbish?

The truth is, those things do happen.

But they’re also part of the trade-off that comes with being visible.

While a small number of people might criticise what you say, the vast majority of people who read your posts will never comment at all. Some will quietly find value in what you share. Some will remember your name when they eventually need an agent. And some of them will become clients down the line.

The agents who seem most comfortable posting online aren’t necessarily the ones who never receive negative comments. They’re usually just the ones who’ve accepted that it comes with the territory.

When you put your ideas out into the world, not everyone will agree with them.

And that’s okay.

Personally, my view on this is quite simple.

Life becomes a lot easier when you stop letting online strangers influence how you feel about something you’ve produced.

So if you’d like to comment below telling me this article is a load of tosh, please feel free.

Go for it.

I won’t be checking the comments anyway.

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