Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Social media has become an essential and lucrative marketing tool for real estate agents across the entire world. Millions of people have Facebook, Twitter, and dozens of other social media accounts and using these platforms to find and research information has revolutionized the way real estate businesses operate.
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If you are a real estate agent and are not actively using social media as a way to find and contact potential homebuyers, there is a 100% chance you’re missing out on generating more business that can eventually lead to more home sales. Below, I’ve compiled a short list of the top social media platforms for real estate agents, and how I would use each if I were a professional Realtor:
1) Facebook -Widely known as perhaps the most popular social media service, Facebook is perfect for posting your real estate listings on a regular basis. Along with back-linking each listing to your real estate website, Facebook users should also post all the property’s photos, neighborhood info, and other home statistics homebuyers want to know before making an offer. In addition, Realtors can also post local real estate home values, median sales prices, and other important real estate statistics with various add-ons and plugins designed specifically for the real estate professional.
2) Twitter -When using Twitter in the real estate business, I would recommend only tweeting out quick tid-bits about your specific real estate business. Whether it’s a price reduction of a home or condominium for sale or a new residential property that just came onto the market, Twitter’s 140 character limit restrict users from including an overload of information with each post. However, backlinking listings or real estate information to your site is also a great strategy when using Twitter because of the link shrinking feature that’s automatically applied to a web address when inputting it into a Twitter post.
3) Pinterest -As mentioned in a previous RealtyBizNews.com story, Pinterest is an excellent service to display fabulous high-end, luxury real estate. Because of its largely photo-based structure, real estate property that takes beautiful photographs and is “easy on the eyes” so-to-speak, works extremely well with the Pinterest platform. It also adds great exposure to your real estate business and is a creative way to share those high-end listings that make agents the most money possible!
4) Reddit - The reddit social media platform is designed to share links and content from various sources from all over the internet. Posting links to real estate news and realty company information is perfect for reddit, but before you start sharing away, make sure every web link you post if relevant and interesting content. Other reddit users vote on each user post, which ultimately determines where it will rank on reddit’s front page. And while this may seem like a bit of a deterrent, real estate agents should definitely use this unique aspect to their advantage. Having other reddit users dictate page rankings actually allows agents to understand what homebuyers are reading and how to better position you to post the real estate information people are looking for. If one particular real estate subject isn’t ranking well among reddit users, try something else until you finally find what the people want!
5) Linkedin -Though most homebuyers won’t be searching for real estate property on Linkedin, it’s very important to have a detailed, well-organized profile on this professional networking site. Today’s tech-savvy homebuyers may not find a home for sale or new apartment rental on Linkedin, but the odds they find and research local Realtors here are quite high. So the more information about your qualifications and expertise in the real estate market you can provide to consumers, the more likely you’ll get a phone call to give a new listing presentation or the opportunity to show that brand new home for sale that just hit the market.
Joe Heath is a graduate of Indiana University and possesses a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Drexel University. After working in the market research sector and authoring published Market Snapshots for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, Joe now works as a Web Marketing Specialist and co-owns Real Estate Web Creation with his partner, Ted Guarnero, a 25+ year real estate veteran.
