When someone is looking to buy a home, the first thing they do is go online. As a real estate agent, this is something you should be aware of.
According to a 2021 survey by the National Association of REALTORS®, almost every home search starts online.
Although posting listings on the internet will help bring in leads, it is not the only thing you need to do to be successful.
According to a NAR survey, social media is the best lead source for 52% of agents and 50% use it to build and maintain relationships as well as promote listings.
Even though there are always new digital marketing channels appearing, real estate is still mainly about dealings between people. One that revolves around personal connections.
The way that people connect with each other has changed.
In today’s digital world, social media is a new way to connect with people. An initial introduction that makes potential customers feel confident and prepared to do business.
If you are successful, you can create the same “know-like-trust” factor that previous agents could only communicate in person. There are many options for social media marketing, but where should you begin?
This guide will teach you why social media is an excellent tool for marketing in the real estate industry, using examples from top realtors.
Why social media marketing is so crucial in real estate
We don’t want to waste your time by repeating the latest social media data. You already know this stuff matters.
The cost of lead generation in the real estate industry is increasing. The number of free and organic lead sources is decreasing. You need to have deeper pockets than your competitors to compete on a paid strategy alone.
Now, the good news.
Social media marketing is F-R-E-E. you don’t need to be on every social media channel to get results for your real estate business
To be successful on social media, you need to choose the platforms that will work best for you and then create a strategy for each one that you will consistently follow.
Here are three simple questions to help you focus your social media marketing strategy:
- What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to generate leads? Keep the convo going with your sphere of influence (SOI)? Promote listings? Different goals call for different social media channels and strategies.
- Who do you want to reach? Millennials use Instagram more than baby boomers do. YouTube has the largest user base, but Pinterest users tend to be older and more affluent. Your choice of channel should depend not only on what you like, but also who you want to reach.
- What kind of content will be of interest to your audience? Do they want real estate advice? Trend insights? Community info? You’ll want to make sure your content aligns with your audience’s top interests and the type of content best-suited for the specific channel you’re using.
The three questions in the text can help you create a social media strategy, but you should also look at individual channels and how they fit into your marketing strategy.
When trying to promote your business on either Facebook or YouTube, it is crucial to understand the differences between the two platforms. Facebook isbetter for selling products, while YouTube is better for creating a personal brand.
The inside scoop on each social media channel for realtors
It seems like every day there’s another business influencer writing about the latest social media channel.
When considering the value of social media, it is not only the number of users that is important. What matters is not who they are or what they are doing.
Below are some facts and figures that will help you decide which social media channels will work best for your real estate business.
Facebook — A place for everyone
Facebook is a good way to reach a lot of people. The social media giant has nearly 3 billion active monthly users globally and estimates put its US visitors at just under 200 million.
On Facebook, you can connect with people from all different backgrounds, including first-time home buyers, couples with families, those looking for mid-priced homes, or those who want a luxury or vacation home.
The downside? It can be difficult to identify a specific target market when promoting your real estate business on Facebook, due to the wide range of people using the platform. If you’re using Facebook as part of your social media marketing strategy, Facebook Insights is a valuable tool to learn more about your followers and what content they’re most interested in. By tailoring your content to what your followers are interested in, you can make sure your message stands out.
Think of Facebook as a busy coffee house. It’s the place to go to have a conversation.
You can talk to hundreds, if not thousands of people online, generate leads, and nurture your sphere of influence.
How to Create the Ultimate Social Media Marketing Strategy as a Real Estate Agent
You will not be able to effectively market your real estate business in 2021 if you only have a website and blog. Social media marketing is more important than ever before, and this is especially true in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you want to stay competitive as a real estate agent or broker, you need to be active on social media to generate leads. This section of digital marketing does not require specific technical skills or experience. To create a successful strategy, you need to be diligent and systematic in your approach.
The following is a guide on how to develop the ultimate social media marketing strategy as an agent.
Decide Which Social Media Networks to Use
When creating a real estate marketing strategy for social media, the first step is to decide which platforms you want to have accounts on. Each network offers different advantages and disadvantages, so you need to be present on a few networks to get the most benefit. The more social media platforms you use to market your business, the more potential home buyers and sellers you’ll reach.
When you’re trying to decide where to focus your efforts, keep in mind that Facebook is still the most popular social media site 17 years after it launched. This is true for all industries, including real estate. Since you are an agent who is looking to expand your digital marketing strategy to social media, it is crucial that you make use of Facebook. The 2.8 billion monthly active users on Facebook means that almost everyone you could potentially be selling real estate to, or someone related to them, has an account on Facebook. Also, Facebook marketing is relatively easy and quick to set up.
Instagram is a key component in social media marketing for real estate agents and brokers. Over the past few years, Instagram has become known for being a great place to post photos and short videos. Because of this, it is now considered to be the perfect platform for the real estate industry. If you want to get the attention of real estate leads, you need to have high-quality photos and videos of your listings. The only thing left to do in order to sell your homes is to post professional photos and virtual tours of them on Instagram.
Many experts claim that marketing on Twitter is dead, but this is not the reality. Twitter is popular social media platform that is still widely used. This software is also great for real estate marketing. You can share your latest listing by uploading a photo or video and writing up to 280 characters of text. Twitter provides agents with the ability to add location information to their tweets in a way that is similar to Instagram. This can be a powerful tool for agents who want to share information about their listings or open houses with potential buyers in the area. Having the right audience for your tweets is important for real estate.
YouTube
While Instagram is popular for short videos, YouTube is still the best platform for posting videos that are longer in length. In order to stay competitive with other agents in the local housing market, you need to share videos of your properties on YouTube. This is yet another social media network that you should consider adding to your marketing plan.
As a real estate agent, you cannot afford to ignore LinkedIn as a social media site. Instead of being a social network like the others, LinkedIn is a network made up of established professionals. Clients will view your personal LinkedIn profile and your brokerage’s business page as evidence that you are a reputable and trustworthy agent to work with. Before contacts you, most leads will look you up on LinkedIn to check out your experience, skills, and endorsements. A strong LinkedIn profile can help you stand out from other job seekers. You should ask past and current clients, as well as colleagues who are agents or brokers, to endorse your skills and share their experiences working with you.
Focus on Visual Content
Now that you have set up your accounts on the social media platforms listed above, you can start to think about the content you will share. The visual content you create is the most important part of your social media strategy.
There are millions of new posts every day, so it’s hard to get potential clients to notice your content. The best way to get people to engage with your content is to post amazing photos and videos. As an agent, you have an advantage as you likely already have attention-grabbing photos of your listings. You should start by scheduling property photos on social media. Choose photos that show the best features of the homes you are selling. Make sure that your agency’s logo is on all the photos you post.
Videos are another great type of digital content to use for social media marketing. This can include videos of the exterior of homes for sale, as well as virtual tours of the interior. You can post these videos on your YouTube channel and share the links to your other platforms.
If you want to be seen as an expert on the local real estate market, you can create and publish infographics. For example, you could use an infographic to share information about the local housing market and recent trends in real estate. If you know a lot about local real estate, potential customers will respect you and see you as an expert.
Research and Incorporate the Best Real Estate Hashtags
Having hashtags in your posts is vital to having a successful social media marketing strategy as an agent. Hashtags can be thought of as keywords for content marketing if you are already familiar with it. New social media users will be able to find your posts by essentially following your accounts. This is also how you will continue to get new followers and keep your old ones coming back.
When hashtagging your real estate posts, always choose the most relevant tags. There are hundreds of real estate-related tags to choose from. The most popular hashtags are different on each social media platform. You should do extensive research on which hashtags are most popular for real estate on each social media platform.
To research hashtags your competitors are using, go to each network and search for competitors in your field. In addition, Twitter provides suggested hashtags as you are typing a post and also displays how many times each hashtag has been used recently. Hashtags are especially important on Twitter. Third-party tools can be used to research hashtags.
If you want your posts to reach a wider audience, be sure to include 5-6 of the top hashtags you’ve compiled in each social media post.
Share Content on a Regular Basis
You should make a schedule or calendar for your social media strategy. You need to plan what content to post, when to post it, and where to post it. Before you get into this type of marketing, you should know that you cannot just occasionally post on Facebook or Twitter when you have some extra time. If you want to generate new leads and build an audience, you need to commit to posting regularly.
If you are wondering how often you should be posting content on social media, the answer is at least a few times a day on each channel that you have an active account on. You should think about this when you decide which networks to join. Don’t try to manage more social media accounts than you can handle while still trying to do your main job of buying and selling properties.
There are also tools available that can help manage your posts for social media platforms, which can save you time. Tools that allow you to schedule your posts in advance are very useful. Set aside a few hours every week to pre-write social media posts, and you’ll free up the rest of your time for other tasks.
Engage with Your Social Media Audience
You should also consider engaging with your followers as part of your social media strategy. The reason social media is called social is because it allows people to interact with each other. The most important thing is to be social and engage with your audience.
As an agent or broker, you have great people skills which makes social media marketing the perfect place for you to use them. You need to respond to comments and questions as soon as you get them. If you want to generate leads on social media, it helps to communicate with users who have already expressed interest in engaging with you.
You should also post content that encourages users to interact. Some examples include posting questions and posting contests.
There is no doubt that social media will play a big role in marketing for real estate agents in the future. You should start working on your project as soon as possible to get ahead of your competition and keep your position. You should now have a good understanding of how to create a social media strategy that will be effective in marketing your real estate business.
