Quick Tech Hack! Export Your Facebook Contacts to Your CRM

If you tend to collect friends on Facebook easier than you collect contacts for your CRM (and who doesn't?!), this is the tip for you. To get started, you'll need:

• An active personal Facebook account
• A Yahoo email account (can be brand-new)
• A Gmail email account (can be brand-new)

Why do you need two separate email accounts? Here's the scoop:

Yahoo allows you to import your Facebook contacts, but they don't allow you to export your contacts to a file. In order to get your Facebook contacts into your CRM, we'll follow three quick steps:

1. Import your Facebook contacts into your Yahoo mail account
2. Import these same contacts from Yahoo into Gmail
3. Export your (new) Gmail contacts into a .CSV file your CRM will accept

Stay with me, gang!

Remember, this hack will take just ten minutes and it WILL change your ability to win business from your Facebook audience. I'll walk you through each separate step.

STEP 1. Import your Facebook contacts into your Yahoo mail account

Log into your Yahoo account or create a brand new one.

Go to Contacts > Facebook > Follow prompts to import your contacts from Facebook

STEP 2. Import these same contacts from Yahoo into Gmail

Stay logged into your Yahoo account, but open another tab. Within that second tab, log into your Gmail account.

Go to Settings > Import contacts from Yahoo into Gmail > Follow prompts to import contacts to Gmail

STEP 3. Export your (new) Gmail contacts into a .csv file

Last, we'll ask Gmail to export your new "Yahoo contacts" into a .csv file that your CRM will accept.

Go to Gmail > Account > Contacts > More > Export > Yahoo Mail

What should I do with all my new CRM contacts?

Keep in mind that these contacts didn't explicitly opt in to any mass-marketing campaigns, so you should engage them one-to-one at first. (By adding them to your marketing campaigns, you'd be violating CAN-SPAM laws which is a BIG no-no.)

To get the ball rolling, send a casual email to gauge if they need real estate advice or market information, or simply invite them to meet you for coffee or a cocktail in person.

Once you have determined that they are planning to buy or sell in the next few months or years, ask if they'd like you to send them valuable local market reports that will help them understand how homes in their area are being priced and sold.

Share your thoughts: How should you engage a Facebook friend?

Getting your contacts into a CRM is one thing, engaging them is quite another. How do you make the jump from Facebook friend to potential client? Tell us in the comments or share your favorite tactic on our Facebook page!

To view the original article, visit the Realtor.com Results blog.