Real estate agents have long recognized the power of social media as a branding tool. But successful branding is more than posting photos of your listings and maintaining a professional profile image.
There's a secret formula of relevant content, target audience, and effective messaging that, when mixed correctly, can establish your real estate brand far better than any logo or catchy tagline.
While that magic formula may look different to every agency, this cheat sheet can help you avoid some of the mistakes that others had to learn the hard way. Keep it handy - this will be the only social media branding cheat sheet you will ever need.
Content
Content is king in the realm of real estate. Granted, content represents the top dog for just about every other industry, but specifically for real estate professionals, content can go a long way in communicating your brand and not just your services.
But what should your content be about and where does it come from? These 6 hacks can answer that:
- Create your own blog and fill it with non-sales material, such as new homeowner advice, home-staging tips, or wisdom from first-time buyers.
- Curate content from DIY websites, mortgage lenders, land developers, and other valuable resources.
- Post your listings and recently sold properties on your social channels.
- Congratulate new homeowners and thank them for partnering with you.
- Take drone photos or videos of the area you serve to show local points of interest.
- Share pictures of local events, happenings, and newsworthy items in your area to establish yourself as a member of the community.
Audience
All that great content you share on your social channels is absolutely meaningless until someone sees it. These 5 tips can help you build a reputable audience that provides more than just an army of unengaged followers:
- Promote your social channels on your website, business cards, email signature, and any advertising or marketing material.
- Pay for ads that push your content to your defined demographics.
- Follow other companies who have your same customer base, but are not considered competitors (such as banks, media outlets, interior designers, etc). Then try to contribute to discussions on those companies' channels.
- Ask those closest to you (family, friends, and co-workers) to like and share your page. Offer an incentive to your office team for sharing posts on their own channels.
- Engage with users in community-based Facebook groups by providing helpful answers to their questions or sharing relevant content.
Purpose
One common misconception about using social media in real estate is that most real estate agents believe in social media as a selling tool. It's not, exactly.
If people know you are a real estate agency, they already know you are capable of selling a home or helping them buy one. Rather, social media is a stepping stone for clients to determine why they should choose your agency over another.
These 7 Do's and Don'ts will help you ensure you're emphasizing your brand over your capabilities:
- DO engage with your followers on social, such as replying to comments or reviews.
- DO post at least weekly.
- DO continue to gauge what's working and what's not in your social media efforts over time.
- DO keep all your profile information current, such as hours, phone numbers, emails, websites, etc.
- DON'T make every post about you and your agency. Keep an 80/20 ratio, where 80% of the content focuses on providing value.
- DON'T inundate your audience with posts every day - it makes you look attention hungry.
- DON'T simply follow the lead of other agencies.
When you make branding a priority, selling will naturally follow.
Ben Shepardson
Ben Shepardson is a Realty Biz News Contributing Writer and has a long track record of success in online marketing and web development. While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems, he worked doing enterprise-level SEO and started an online business offering web development services to small business customers.
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