Sam Powell is a Realtor with Dream Town Realty.

Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Sam Powell, who is a Realtor with Dream Town Realty and the 2014 President of Women’s Council of Realtors.

Let me start out by saying I have never been a “phone kid.” I much prefer the ability to knock out a email (I type 90-plus words per minute) or whip out a text message to someone over being on a live phone conversation.

That may surprise you, so allow me to explain why. It’s two-fold, really: first, there are so many times where I have dialed that special someone only to get their greeting, and not been able to talk to them live. Or second, I encounter problems – there’s a poor signals; the call drops; or I get the voicemail of the listing agent. “Irritating” is the word that comes to mind when I get a voicemail message that requests that I return a call, with no other “meat” to the message.

What does this have to do with Facebook? Well, in my world, Facebook is my new phone/Skype/ Slydial/Craigslist/Freecycle/Postcard/USPS all in one package deal! Here are seven ways that the social network helps my business:

7. When I meet someone, I’m inclined to invite them to Facebook before LinkedIn, and even before putting them into my contact management. Why? simply, Facebook can get me in touch with them – I can ask for their address and their phone; I can message them if we are friends; and I get to learn a whole lot more about them in their day-to-day life that they are wiling to post on Facebook than what they might be inclined to tell me in our first meeting together.

6. I’ve had many fights over the years with the US Postal Service regarding returned mail for arbitrary reasons, or it never making it to the consumer on the other end. I can’t fix the lost security deposit checks for my owners, but I can mail them with a tracking number so they can be watched be accepted and delivered.

So I think of Facebook as my LifeBook, my online journal that I openly share with the world. I have no security settings on my Facebook. I want to be found. I want to be followed. And I like when the reverse is true, and I can find someone I am looking for and learn a little about them, and engage with them on layers that I would not always have an opportunity to do. Between my closest friends/clients and I, we know so much about what is going on in each other’s lives that when we get together to “play,” we really play – or have those serious conversations that don’t happen in the open on Facebook.

5. How neat is it to learn your client is pregnant, and to be able to send them a little something – either a private message, a very public message, a electronic greeting card or a gift though the addition of Facebook’s gift service? It’s a pretty cool gig to look at your Facebook once a day with the focus on learning about your peeps, and engaging with them in a meaningful, powerful and sometimes touching way.

Facebook also allows me an easy way to remember faces and names before walking into a meeting and being able to have a better shot at recognizing someone and saying their name, even if I had to write it on my hand with a pen or sharpie; it’s all about overcoming and enhancing skill sets!

4. To me, Facebook is like having your first assistant in real estate. A few clicks throughout the day, and you can stay in touch with your clients, your best friends, peers in your industry and ancillary industries. In a few clicks a day you can learn a little more, peel back another layer of the onion or share something about yourself, your skills and your community service efforts.

There have been two times in my real estate career where I used Facebook as my own emergency hotline. I posted when my car battery died, and a client came in about 10 minutes to jump my car for me, and a Realtor came to my rescue another time.. It was way, way faster than waiting for a tow service to come to my rescue! Being authentic, and sharing and asking, is what it’s all about.

3. When someone posts a truly terrific/awesome photo of something in their world, I love to save the photo, typically through my iPhone 5 and a third party software package like Send Postcards, Postagram, Popcarte etc. I then upload that photo, add some text, and along with a thoughtful message, I send the photo via USPS to the client’s home. Facebook brings me the best images of my clients lives – some of them are so amazing to look at, and look awesome on their fridge or in a frame in their home or office when I visit them! It’s a wonderful way to merge technologies to enhance relationships and have fun with it!

2. When I have a listing and the seller/occupant has some gently used items that they don’t want to throw away and don’t want to worry about getting picked up by a donation service, we post them on Facebook and help them “pay it forward.” It’s an empowering and wonderful feeling to be able to see items go to a family in need, or a friend who was looking for something just like that. My clients love it, and the recipients of the items love it!

1. Finally, more and more, I am having referrals come to me through Facebook introductions, namely in private messages to and from people who want to talk about their real estate needs. For such interactions, I recommend using the Facebook messaging app. It allows me to get them right away and interact with new leads, and answer quick questions from clients right away as if it were a traditional text message. One more tip before I close this – when I need to remind myself to do something for a client (say they sent me a Facebook message and I now have an assignment to do), I’ll send myself a personal email from myself. I know, it sounds crazy, but when I’m back at my computer and working, I see that message, and then I remember, “Oh yeah! I have to do that assignment!”

So work with Facebook as your assistant, let the world know what you are up to and what you are all about. So many of my clients have “googled me” and found me on Facebook first and knew a little about me before taking me up on a meeting for coffee or the beverage of their choice!

Sam Powell is a Realtor with Dream Town Realty and the 2014 President of Women’s Council of Realtors. A real estate professional since 2002, Sam was awarded with top producer distinction by the Chicago Association of Realtors in 2012 and 2013. A resident of Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood, Sam can be spotted anywhere from Chicago Sky basketball games, to Windy City Rollers derby matches, to ushering at the Goodman Theatre.