Every real estate agent should have a social media marketing strategy. It’s an easy and low-cost way to get your name and brand top of mind to a large number of people. According to 47 percent of agents, social media marketing brings the highest quality leads compared to any other tech tool.
More than three-quarters of agents use social media, but that doesn’t mean they’re all using it effectively. Whether you’re brand new to the game or a seasoned professional, you could benefit from amping up your social media presence. Follow these tips to improve your social media strategy and grow your business:
Keep It Real
Be yourself! This is the number one rule of social media. You are the only you. This means you can use your personality as a way to differentiate yourself from other agents. By being sincere, you’ll connect with people who are a great fit for you, and you can build a loyal client base from your following.
To encourage real connections, make sure you’re posting about your personal life around 80 percent of the time on your personal page. The other 20 percent of your content should remind your connections about your business. If you’re posting business stuff more often than that, you may lose people’s interest — as well as that sense of an authentic friendship.
If you want to post more frequently about your business, set up a separate business account. However, even on a business account, be sure to let your personality show. Otherwise, you may have a tough time building connections and differentiating yourself from competitors.
Don’t Be Boring In Your Social Media Marketing
The most popular posts on social media are photos or videos of travel, food, fitness, and cute animals. What type of social media makes you stop scrolling and leave a comment? You should be posting the type of content that people really enjoy seeing.
Don’t let your page be all business all the time. No one will pay attention to that. Post a photo of the labradoodle puppy you just adopted and ask for help coming up with names. Share the view from the hotel during your Costa Rica vacation.
Posting fun content can actually help your business. Too many people think real estate marketing should be laser focused on properties and transactions. The truth is, though, to grow your business, you first need to get people’s attention. Once you’ve gained people’s interest, they just might think of you first when they need to buy or sell a home.
Include Videos
If you’re not already using video as part of your social media strategy, you’re missing out on a powerful tool for increasing your exposure. Not only will your content be seen more frequently when you include videos, but video also allows you to showcase your personality. Your audience can hear your voice, see your mannerisms, and get a sense for the real you.
If you’re not sure where to begin with your videos, start small. All you need is your phone. It’s okay for videos to not be professional quality. The important thing is that your audience gets something valuable out of it.
It’s a good idea to create a short script and practice a few times before filming. Being on camera doesn’t feel natural to most people, so you’ll sound more like yourself if you run through it in advance.
Your videos probably won’t be perfect, at least not right away. It’s okay to embrace the imperfections. It lets people know you’re human. In fact, it’s fun to post the bloopers every so often. As long as you’re getting some fun videos out there, you’ll see your social media presence improve.
Be Consistent
A social media following isn’t built overnight. It’ll take time to build your audience and encourage interaction. While getting started, post every day, or at the very least, every other day. This will help your audience grow faster.
It’ll likely take months of consistently posting engaging content to see the benefits of using social media. Creating a calendar makes it a lot easier to keep up with posting regularly. A tool like RISMedia’s ACESocial will help you schedule your posts in advance and stay on top of your calendar.
Master One Social Media Marketing Platform at a Time
If you’re just getting started with social media, take it one platform at a time. It’s better to do an amazing job on one platform than to have a lackluster presence on multiple platforms.
Most agents use Facebook for the first platform. In fact, 97 percent of agents who use social media real estate marketing say they have some Facebook presence. While other platforms might be getting some buzz these days, Facebook is still the most used social platform.
Facebook has 2.8 billion active users, and those users average 19.5 hours on the site per month. The platform also allows you to create a business account and run ads targeted at specific regions or demographics. With the number of people on Facebook, running ads here is a great way to reach new clients.
LinkedIn is also a popular platform for agents, however, it’s primarily a business networking platform. Of all agents who are on social media, 59 percent, report that they are using LinkedIn. Don’t let this be your only social platform, though. It’s not as effective as other platforms at finding prospective clients, but it’s a great tool for letting people know you’re in the industry.
Workman Success Systems provides real estate agents with the coaching and training needed to grow their business. To learn more about how to use social media marketing for real estate, schedule a free consultation with one of our business analysts.
