Without tools, human would have ended up in the same graveyard as dinosaurs. Instead, we put footprints on the moon. And I have to hand it to real estate agents — they’ve been pretty good at utilizing a variety of tools. I know they’ve broken in their share of cellphones. When computers came along, the good agents put lead management software to work for them.

Now there’s another tool that can take agents to untold home-selling heights: social media. Why? That’s easy: Real estate has been — and always will be — a people business and social media couldn’t be more about people. So, agents need to be on social media as much as they need to be on oxygen.

Social media is so important because that’s where the eyeballs are. In 2017, 81% of Americans had a social media profile, and over 200 million people in the U.S. alone are estimated to be on social media by 2020. What’s more, American social media usage is highest among people who live in the suburbs, people who earn over $75,000 a year and the most educated.

But that’s not all. Professional marketers are sold on social media, too. A recent survey of 271 marketing pros found that 41% say they’ll boost their social media marketing budgets “significantly” this year.

It’s clear that social media makes plenty of sense for real estate agents. But the key is to use it wisely. When you hold a wrench by the wrong end, well, you’ll be at the job for a while. The same is true with social media: Done right, it can increase your trips to the bank. Done poorly, it can drive you to the poor house.

Here are my best tips on tapping social media for your real estate business:

1. Understand your options: The social media outlets I recommend for real estate agents are Facebook and Twitter (the main staples that seem to get the most press), Instagram and Pinterest (both primarily visual, which is good for agents who like to show off their spectacular listings) and finally LinkedIn (mostly a business-to-business outlet, which could lead to referrals from other agents).