Now more than ever, social media marketing is essential to promoting yourself as a real estate professional. Gone are the days when home buyers would open a newspaper to look for properties for sale or look up names of real estate agents in a phone book.
Therefore, it is imperative for any real estate agent to use social media in marketing their businesses and listings. And while any realtor can open a Facebook or Instagram account, it’s not always as clear how to use social media as a tool to send the right message to the right people at the right time. In our course Social Media Marketing for Real Estate Professionals you will find valuable need to know information to make yourself and your business a social media success! Here are 3 steps to get maximum exposure for your brand and properties online.
1. Use Different Platforms
Remember all platforms are different and the voice and message should match that. The top 3 social media markets are Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Of course, there are many more, but don’t spread yourself to thin trying to market on every platform.
Post photos on Instagram to generate leads.
Instagram is widely considered the perfect social media platform for realtors. There are more than 700 million users on Instagram, who reportedly press the “like” button on images about 4.2 billion times per day.
- You get engagement by doing polls on insta-stories (very effective) and asking a question in the last line of the caption. Getting users to engage on your account is one of the best ways to grow and connect with your audience.
Without a doubt, Facebook is the king of social media.
With more than 2 billion users worldwide, it is easy to understand why the brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg is the first thing that comes to mind when one hears “social media.”
- Use the 80/20 rule with updates: 80% of posts ought to be customer-centric while 20% should be about the business. It also helps the cause of agents to post about happenings in and around their communities like local charity events, school-related activities or even gas prices (especially when they’re low)
Tweet to promote listings.
The volume of tweets will greatly boost a realtor’s exposure. The more tweets a real estate agent sends out, the more leads can be generated. In addition to sharing listings, there are other types of content or pieces of information worth tweeting, like advice on moving as well as tips for staging and upgrading homes.
- Hashtags are also very important, as people use them to search for a particular topic on Twitter. Agents should use hashtags like the geographic area they operate in, recent events or keywords that their target market may be searching.
2. Use more videos and photos
Just like many others, it’s tough to turn the camera on yourself….but you have to get over it! The reality is that no one cares that your video isn’t professional grade all the time, your hair isn’t perfect or that you stumble over your words occasionally. Being yourself is the key. People will respect your effort and want to do business with you if you are authentic. Establishing that you are likable, good at your job, and can be trusted are the keys to winning!
- Sharing images and video clips on your social media platforms can also greatly enhance the engagement level of real estate agents online.
3. Measure social media metrics.
Finally, real estate agents should identify and track their social media metrics to gain a better understanding of which strategies are working and which should be replaced or tweaked.
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- Metrics like the number of “likes” per share, number of followers and level of engagement can guide real estate agents toward what they ought to do with their social media campaigns. Facebook Audience Insights will tell you which kind of posts generate interest, and which kind lead to unfollows.