Wondering how social media can help you achieve success as a real estate professional? You’ve seen other brick and mortar businesses do it, why can’t you? Your real estate social media campaigns may just be the key that you need to unlock doors of opportunities that will bring you many fresh new clients. Social media is a very rich channel of like-minded people who interact with each other to learn, suggest and share their views. If you could put your real estate expert tips at the right place where thousands of people can see it, you’re but a social post away from reaching your real estate goals.
As a licensed realtor, you need to be leveraging social media to build your real estate business, from getting new clients, to nourishing your relationships and making the actual sales. When you learn to do it right, you can attract new clients without spending much on advertising[2]. And what’s more, you can end up with an email[3] list of interested individuals whom you can regularly follow-up with about your real estate offers.
It’s not really difficult to achieve all this. But you need to have your social media campaigns focused on activities that will help you produce the outcome that you want. Once you’ve identified a clear goal, all you’ve got to do is be consistent in publishing your social media messages and respond to comments. Having said that, here are the social media tasks that you should prioritize on your list to boost your real estate business.
Getting people to know you may be the top reason why you need to be on social media. It doesn’t matter where you start, even if you’re a total beginner that nobody has heard of. You can use social media to position yourself as a real estate expert who’s very knowledgeable about the ins and outs of your industry.
Through targeted social content, you can reach out to potential clients about their dream of owning their own properties. You can lay out the facts that they must know and the process they need to go through to acquire (or sell) their dream home. You can also tell stories about your different experiences in real estate. Your clients will like this type of content, especially if they can relate to it. By releasing quality content on different social networks, you’ll easily attract a good number of followers who respect you for everything that you have to say about your industry.
Your network is your net worth, as the saying goes. The people you know has a lot to do with how successful you can become as a realtor. If you don’t know much, no problem. That’s why you need to leverage the power of social media, so that you can start connecting with the successful people in the real estate industry and learn from them. Ask them questions, be observant of their actions when it comes to getting leads and closing sales. Follow what they’re doing on social media. There’s a lot to discover on how other people create their own successes. Then you can take what applies to you and your business.
You can also use social media to regularly connect with your leads and clients. Just by sending them a simple greeting, it can go a long way in your relationship with them. Whether it ends up as an actual sale with them or someone they’re connected to, networking with your clients always keeps you updated of your markets needs and wants. You can take this vital information to all your social media marketing efforts, to make effective and appealing messages to your own community.
Tap into the word of mouth marketing about the real estate services you provide. When newcomers see your social media account profile full of good reviews and testimonials, the more they would like to engage business with you. That’s why, you need to make an effort to encourage the clients you work with to leave you a review online. Make the process quick and easy for them, and rewarding too, so they’re likely to participate.
Also, make sure that prospects can immediately book an appointment with you or leave a message in case they want to inquire about something. Social media truly specializes in giving a personalized experience for your customer[4] relationships. For example, you can assign a tab in your Facebook[5] page for this purpose. Set up ways where prospects can initiate a hassle-free communication with you, so that they’ll be encouraged to connect with your real estate business instead of somebody else’s.
Social media may not come easy to most real estate professionals. You may be a real estate broker active on social media and yet lacking results. How can it be possible? If you think you’re already doing the tips mentioned earlier, but your social media marketing doesn’t produce new clients on a regular basis, you might have a problem engaging your leads through your content.
Remember, when using the internet[6] to market your real estate business, especially social media, content is king, but context is still everything. You have to do your due research to find out what topics are timely and relevant for your market. Addressing local issues about real estate in your area may be very useful in attracting the interest of local people.
With that said, here are the common problems that realtors encounter on social media. We also added points to keep in mind to avoid being ignored when promoting your real estate business.
Always go back to your purpose as a real estate professional. Isn’t it to serve the needs of the real estate marketplace? And so, it’s in your best interest to know what current affairs are happening that affect the people in your area, what questions they have, what their desires are, and what they want to do. These are the type of content that you need to use to build up your real estate social marketing.
You can keep your followers engaged when you’re able to serve their needs. Recognize that when reaching out to others, it’s really all about them, and not about you. They won’t bother to pay attention to your social messages if your content don’t even speak to them and to what they’re looking for. If that’s what you’ve been doing, your efforts can be easily passed by your market as they look into someone else’s content which they can identify their desires with. You don’t have to make this mistake.
Pay attention to what your real estate audience wants, and give it to them through your social marketing content. Take time to get this information and it will be worth it. When you speak through their core, they’ll be naturally drawn to come to you, to your advice, offers and services. Start right with your content marketing, and your audience will love you for it.
It may sound contradicting, but it’s not. When using social media to recommend your real estate services, you probably realize by now that pitching your name and brand is the worst way to do it. Most people are already tired of being pitched products and services. They have what we call the ‘consumer fatigue syndrome’. That’s why they tend to run away from the salesy approach.
Here’s an idea. What you can do to make a difference, is simply go back to being helpful. Provide them something of value. Respond to their real estate inquiries. Give them some points to consider before buying or selling a property. Maybe they’re new to this, and it could be that they overlook some things that they might regret later on. It may be the right time to help them make a self-assessment, before the actual sale, so they can wisely decide. When clients trust your sincerity, they’ll go all the way to engage in transactions with you. The returns will be greater than what you initially invested.
The way with social media is to win their hearts first by being helpful in any way possible. Your real estate prospects are all different in their walks in life, but they all want to be successful just like you. Helping them find success on matters related to real estate, even before they formally engage with your professional service can mean a lot. Go start, spread the love.
When you have the right content that helps people, the next thing you have to focus on is, how to get the right people to see it. Actually, through organic search, your content will be viewed by your target market. However, it may take some time and consistency. If you want to have great results fast, then you have to target your local audience. Narrow down your aim, and you can get to them quicker.
To achieve this, you can adapt local keywords in your social media content. It could be the name of your town or city, or a specific local name that’s only used by local residents. Modify your messages to suit daily local conversations. Apply them when sharing real estate stories in your social media campaigns. Create hashtags about it. When you target a local audience, you can resonate with a specific group of people within the neighborhood that you’re in. In short, you can have greater impact with them than when you target the whole world. When it happens, people will start sharing your posts and it could go viral.
Be careful not to commit these mistakes on social media, and your real estate business can move fast and go a long, long way. Always make your social marketing be about “them” and not you, and your own business will soon take off. When you know your followers, you can provide them information that is very specific to what they want, then you can expect them to be engaged with you on social media.
Now that you know the top mistakes to avoid, let’s look at the top 3 ways to get new sales leads, listing leads and clients using social media:
Social media is an ever changing landscape that adapts to how consumers buy. As a real estate broker, you’re probably aware that more and more millenials are entering the real estate market. They are so accustomed to digital technology in all aspects of life, especially finding information and purchasing. How much easier would your job be as a real estate professional if you can use social media to build a community of advocates who would recommend you to their trusted connections?
It will help you a lot, if you start adding referral marketing into your social media efforts. You can use your social connections to grow your real estate business. These campaigns are simple to launch, so you have no excuse not to take advantage of this free and yet very effective form of advertisement. It can also help boost your real estate website traffic, as Google[7] rewards sites with high social mentions.
Here are the top three referral marketing strategies that you can start to implement alongside your social media posts which will help you win new clients every time. Don’t get overwhelmed. There are software programs available that run the entire program from start to finish.
You start the program by offering a unique link to your client through email or social media. When your client shares this unique link and their friends clicks on it, and it converts to a sales lead, the client who shared the link and the one who clicked on the link both get a reward.
This referral strategy works so well because your client benefits in two ways by participating in your refer-a-friend program. 1. They feel good about introducing you as their real estate agent to their friends or colleagues who are looking for one. 2. They have a chance to earn free rewards just by doing it. The strategy is based on the fact that the best source of new and quality clients are your existing ones. So, go for it!
First, you need to determine the best offer to give to your client’s friends.
Second, you have to decide the most appealing offer for your real estate client.
Third, you have to write up your program rules.
Fourth, you need to set up a mini website where you can let your clients sign up for your referral program and retrieve their unique link.
Fifth, it’s time to launch! Announce to everyone on your list and followers about your referral program. Encourage them to join by telling them about the rewards available for them and their friends.
Here are three places where you can promote your refer-a-friend program:
If you have a section on your real estate website frequented by your existing clients, promote your refer-a-friend program there with a banner or pop-up window. When they click the link, the campaign microsite will allow them to signup and obtain their unique link to share.
You probably have a list of clients. Send them an email periodically asking them to refer friends who are thinking of buying or selling. Remind them that they will receive a reward for their efforts.
Many of your customers will have connected with you on social media. Promote your refer-a-friend program regularly on your social media feeds. Put a tab on your Facebook business page, so year-round it will be there to provide clients a way to recommend your services.
You probably have a document that provides local real estate information to prospects. Maybe it’s a list of foreclosure properties, or neighborhood information, or active property listings, etc. Use your referral software to setup a download page for your prospects. They will fill out a form with their contact information before they can download the valuable local information. Once they submit the form, the software will prompt them to share the information with friends so both they and the friends will receive a $5 coffee card, or similar gift. It’s a great way to leverage your existing prospects to earn new ones.
First, think of the best offer for your client.
Second, come up with your program rules.
Third, set up a program microsite.
Fourth, launch your referral program.
Use this strategy on the following locations of your digital marketing[1]:
Each time you publish a new report to download, email your list and prompt them to download the report. The software will do the rest.
Create a banner on your home page that directs visitors to the free report download page. It will add anonymous visitors to your email list and help spread your content.
Add a tab on your Facebook Page, specifically for the ‘Free Report’ download. By doing this, they don’t need to leave their favorite social media site even when they download it and share with friends.
Make the most of all of your social media feeds by posting a link to download page.
Boost your social posts using the prior step instead of creating all new ads. Be sure to target your desired audience for higher click throughs and conversion rates.
Ask your clients and social connections to submit a photo, video or essay to your contest website. Winners are chosen based on the number of votes. Entrants will be encouraged to share their entry with friends. When their friends click the link to view their entry and cast their votes, they are also encouraged to join the contest or check your real estate website.
This program involves a lot of content sharing. Each share brings more exposure to your real estate business, and also website traffic. A secondary benefit to these contests, is the user generated content that you can use later on for marketing purposes even when the contest period is over. Just make sure to ask for your entrants’ permission during the submission process by including this in the contest rules. This is a proven fun and engaging way to involve your clients and their friends in what you’re doing as a real estate agent.
First, you need to determine the appropriate theme for your contest.
Second, you need to come up with a good grand prize and possibly second and third place prizes too.
Third, you must create your contest rules.
Fourth, you need to put up all the information on your contest website.
Fifth, it’s time to launch the contest and let everybody join!
It’s important that everyone in your social circles learn about your social media contest, so they or someone they know can have the chance to join and win. Here are four places where you can tell them about your program:
Invite everyone on your email list to enter the contest. When you send an email, give them a link to the contest microsite.
Make sure to put up a banner on your home page that will direct visitors to the contest microsite.
Create an exclusive tab for your social media contest in your Facebook page. Add the contest microsite and they can vote or enter the contest without leaving the page. Your contest can reach a lot of people, as it’s very easy to share on Facebook.
Remember to regularly post a link to the contest microsite on your social media feeds.
That wraps up the three referral marketing strategies that you can use to attract new clients. Decide which one you’re most drawn to, and implement today to get a consistent flow of leads that can win you new clients.
Which of the three is most appealing to you? Tell us in the comments! We want to hear from you.
Did you find this blog[8] post useful? We can give you more details on how exactly you can run these strategies, plus, 3 more referral strategies that are very effective in helping you gain more referrals through social media, as a real estate professional.
To build a strong online presence, real estate professionals must effectively use social media. Building relationships and implementing social media marketing strategies are key. Engage with your audience, create valuable content, and be consistent.
To identify and target your ideal clientele on social media, start by understanding their needs and preferences. Use targeted ads, engage with relevant communities, and create content that resonates with them.
To create engaging content on social media, focus on providing valuable information to your audience. Use strategies like storytelling, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and interactive posts to keep followers interested and build trust.
To capture the attention of potential clients, real estate professionals can use visuals on social media to showcase properties. Get creative with photos and videos to present properties in unique and engaging ways.
To attract new clients on social media, leverage effective social media advertising strategies. Engage with your audience, offer valuable content, and utilize targeted ads to reach potential clients.
English 
Español 
Français