Social Media and Real Estate Marketing
Wondering if you can use social media marketing for your real estate business? Data tells us y'all can— very effectively . Co-ordinate to a report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 47% of real estate businesses have found that social media results in the highest quality leads as compared to other sources! The same report also showcases that millennials between the ages of 22 and xl make up the largest share of domicile buyers – which besides overlaps with the age group that makes upwards the largest demographic of Facebook users with over 58 1000000 people.
Now, it'southward easy to connect the dots and see why social media is the fuel you demand to grow your business. But y'all tin't select a strategy at random and encounter what works. You need a strategy to win at existent estate social media marketing.
For instance, once you know that Facebook will represent an estimated 30% of online video advertizement revenue globally, y'all'd want to hit the bull's eye past creating meridian-notch video ads for Facebook instead of experimenting, right?
In this guide, nosotros'll walk you through the exact social media strategies y'all tin can use to level upward your existent estate business organization. Here are the ones nosotros'll cover:
ane. Focus on social media platforms that work for real manor
2. Run Facebook ads to gain visibility
three. Share client testimonials and wins on your social media handles
4. Share educational posts and guides on your social media handles
5. Showcase your listings via alive videos
6. Stay in touch with connections over DMs and emails
7. Connect with other realtors on LinkedIn
8. Exist consistent with posting content on social media
i. Focus on social media platforms that work for real estate
Before you start engaging with your target audience on social media, you'll need to settle on a platform that works all-time for your real estate business organization. Not every social media works for everyone, and spreading yourself sparse past being agile on all social media platforms isn't a smart move either. It takes some experimenting to figure out which platform volition yield the best results for your business organization. However, experimenting tin take quite a while.
We did some legwork for you and spoke with real estate experts to discover out where they see most success. Most experts suggested Facebook and Instagram are a get-to for real estate social media marketing.
Facebook is the staff of life and butter of real manor social media marketing. It's a platform where a large share of kickoff-time domicile buyers hangs out for an average of 38 minutes a mean solar day . Combine this with the fact that Facebook is where a sizable portion of your target audience is, and y'all've got a goldmine of potential leads. Every bit explained by the Lab Coat Agents Facebook page:
"70% of the Us population is on Facebook and nonetheless agents oftentimes overlook this powerful channel as a means to effectively connect with and convert leads. More often than non, agents feel overwhelmed by the thoughts of trying to navigate this behemoth and wade through the available marketing options available. But every bit social media continues to serve as an effective digital marketing tool to generate and catechumen leads, strategic agents must overcome their fears and expand their Facebook marketing skillset."
Facebook also makes things easier for marketers with a compelling lineup of features built right into the app. You can add listings, book calls, and collaborate with leads all in a single identify. If y'all practice a expert task of responding to leads, Facebook will favor your concern page in search results and add a "very responsive" tag also like they did on Joe Taylor Group's folio :
Facebook besides has another marketing asset—Facebook ads. They allow running targeted ads based on demographics and users who have searched for listings or interacted with another realtor's folio. You can also create an FAQ section correct at the top of your Facebook folio like Daft.ie :
You'll need a Facebook folio to start marketing your real estate concern on Facebook. Information technology tin be difficult to cutting through the noise and get enough followers at first, but that's where Facebook ads help. Run advertisement campaigns for hot listings and create content consistently to bring new people to your page and keep them engaged.
Video ads are a great fashion to become your audience's attention and it takes less than 10 minutes to create stunning video ads for Facebook using InVideo'due south online editor. Y'all tin can sign upwardly for a free account and go access to 5000+ set up-to-use templates to go you started with your real manor social media marketing plan.
Pro tip : Appoint with your audience through comments and proactively respond to DMs. Recall, Facebook favors posts with higher engagement. Being agile will become a long manner in building your presence on Facebook.
Realtors are going all-in on Instagram. With an active user base of over ane billion , Instagram is a great platform to deploy your existent estate social media marketing strategies.
Instagram is a visual medium. Then different Facebook, you'll need to spend more than time on the visuals than the text. Creating stunning Instagram videos and images is critical. For case, wait at this simple and elegant imagery from Triangle Real Estate Group's Instagram:
Don't forget to provide social proof. Let people know you're making things happen, like Adam does on his page:
Consistency is important across all social media platforms. Post content on your Instagram handle consistently, and add together some variation. Don't only mail service listings or social proof. Spice things upward with interesting snippets of data in the industry or a walkthrough of a glory's home.
Pro tip : Don't strictly keep it business on Instagram. People come to Instagram expecting to be entertained. Add together a bit of humor and personality to your posts. Rather than only focusing on selling, focus on engaging and edifice relationships.
2. Run Facebook ads to gain visibility
Facebook ads are a great nugget, especially during the early days of your existent estate social media marketing when your organic attain is low. Getting some highly-focused ads out on Facebook tin can assist y'all get a kickstart on Facebook. With a typical conversion rate of one to i.5% , the ROI on Facebook ads is impressive, provided you lot exercise it right.
Facebook ads do come with a cost, and nurturing your Facebook leads will take a while. Given these costs, you'll want to ensure your ads are highly targeted to a relevant audience. Targeting is hardly a trouble on Facebook though. In fact, a report shows that you can even target a single user through Facebook ads .
Facebook ads too take an border over Google ads considering they permit your audience to engage with them. Your connections can like the ads and comment on them, so you can ever get some feedback from your audience.
Oh, and equally you probably already know, Facebook owns Instagram. Ads you run on Facebook also announced on Instagram, so you can accomplish your audiences on both platforms through a unmarried campaign.
The most important part of your ad is the ad copy. You demand to go far bonny and relevant then it cuts through the noise from your competitors and gets your audience'southward attending. For instance, take inspiration from this advertizing by REMAX New Dimension that paints a picture of your family unit having a jolly Thanksgiving dinner in this beautiful house:
Pro tip: Get artistic with Facebook ads. Your advertizing doesn't have to strictly showcase a listing. You can besides advertise testimonials or a video of the houses y'all've sold in the current quarter or year so far. Exist clear on your goal and do plenty research on what kind of ads volition all-time help you achieve those goals.
3. Share client testimonials and wins on your social media handles
Social proof is powerful. As Robert Cialdini points out in his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion : "Whether the question is what to do with an empty popcorn box in a movie theatre, how fast to drive on a certain stretch of highway, or how to eat the craven at a dinner political party, the actions of those around the states volition be important in defining the reply."
84% of social media users trust the reviews on your page just as much as friends. When people meet happy clients, it triggers a sense of confidence near the service yous offer. Show the world how your piece of work is putting smiles on faces through social media. Every time you lot accept a happy client, request for a testimonial. In most cases, a happy client will be open up to writing a testimonial for you.
Can you overdo testimonials? Not quite. The more social proof you can offer, the better. You lot don't have to limit social proof to testimonials either. You tin share all your wins with your audience. For instance, here's how Ryan McKenzie shared a big win on his Instagram handle:
Want to make your testimonials more than engaging? Use video testimonials. They're easy to make with an editor similar InVideo. Just select a template for real estate testimonials , modify elements like text and images, and there yous have it—a beautiful video to showcase your real estate expertise to your audition.
Pro tip: While all happy clients will exist more willing to write a testimonial, you shouldn't come off as intrusive. Inquire for a testimonial and brand certain to follow upward once. But call back to act professionally and not put them on the spot.
4. Share educational posts and guides on your social media handles
The default mindset of most realtors that markets on Facebook or Instagram is to post content that brings in leads. While that is of import, it doesn't cater to people who already may accept purchased or are using your services. Only as information technology is important to create content that generates new leads, you as well need to share content that helps you nurture your existing customers.
Educational posts and guides are a neat manner to exercise this because these assistance address questions and concerns your existing customers and followers might be facing. In the process, they also help establish yous as the go-to expert for all their queries.
Have the Team Steele Facebook page for example. If you've had a termite problem, you know how they're a difficult problem to solve. Well, Team Steele recognized this problem and created a guide to help accost this query for existing and potential customers:
Another way to build your dominance is by providing your audience important updates about the industry and posting educational content. For instance, take a await at a post by Team Steele at the start of the pandemic:
Pro tip : Buyers and sellers are often anxious about the process of buying or selling real estate, particularly if it'due south their start time—you lot probably know that as a realtor. But a terrific manner to ease their anxiety is by posting guides that illustrate the entire process, and communicate why you'd be the best pick to make things like shooting fish in a barrel for them.
five. Showcase your listings via alive videos
Don't take our word for it. It's your buyers who want to see your videos. 85% of buyers and sellers prefer working with real estate agents who use videos every bit part of their real estate social media marketing strategy. Also, existent estate listings with videos receive 403% more leads than posts without a video.
Home selling is inherently visual. Yous'd be leaving money on the table past non creating videos. Even so, video is fifty-fifty amend when information technology's live. The good thing is: both Facebook and Instagram offer alive video features.
When yous get live, your audience tin can directly engage with you and enquire questions in real-time. Give your viewers a virtual tour of your hottest backdrop and go your clients the best toll. Think of it like a "virtual open house," equally Michael Switzer calls them, where viewers can accept a expect at the holding from their couch and become answers to their questions:
And hither's another swell thing about alive sessions—they accept a longer shelf life than you remember. Once y'all've concluded the live session, you can postal service it as a video for viewers that couldn't attend. You can repurpose the video beyond social media platforms, and even beautify them in less than a minute with an editor like InVideo that makes it piece of cake to create real estate videos by using templates .
For instance, Todd of Todd, Tania, and Lisa Realtors recorded a Facebook live session and repurposed it to his Instagram page, where he could as well showcase the property to his Instagram followers:
Pro tip: Don't allow silence to boss a live session. You need to keep your viewers engaged, encourage them to ask questions, and give your session a lively vibe. Don't forget to also reply comments while you're providing a bout then viewers don't feel similar they're talking into a void.
Check out this guide to real manor video ideas!
6. Stay in touch with connections over DMs and e-mail
Existent estate is a people concern. The NAR study 2021 says that 68% of sellers found their real estate agent through a referral, neighbor, or relative or used the amanuensis they have already worked with.
Social media is one of the most scalable means of building relationships. But yous can't do that by only liking everybody'due south comments on your posts. Go the extra mile and respond with a prissy comment. Respond to as many DMs as y'all tin can. DMs are warm leads. A lot of social media marketing is you putting out content for an audience you don't know personally. However, one time they are in your DMs, you have the opportunity to empathize what they're looking for and deliver the perfect fit.
Another great way to build a long-term connection with a prospective lead is to have an email marketing strategy. Apply your social media platforms to drive sign-ups to your e-mail list and stay in bear on with your warm leads with regular e-mail updates. Y'all tin can send newsletters and follow up emails. And it is a great mode to stay in bear on without being as well intrusive. For case, expect at how Alex Wright , a Montana-based real estate agent invites people to subscribe to his newsletter:
Pro tip: Be humble and don't come off as intrusive in your communications. Stay away from daily emails or communications but instead spread it out. The primal is to communicate consistently and with humble confidence.
vii. Connect with other realtors on LinkedIn
If yous don't already have an established presence on LinkedIn, you'd exist improve off focusing on making B2B connections. For example, connect with realtors. As you already know, building a network goes a long style in real manor.
Retrieve about information technology. What if a real estate agent in a dissimilar locality or city has a atomic number 82 from a buyer who wants a property in the locality where yous operate? They might consider a little quid pro quo.
LinkedIn is too a great place to show off your accolades, achievements, and past experiences. Build a professional person LinkedIn folio and starting time connecting with realtors and other people you can benefit past networking with. For example, here'southward an excellent case of your LinkedIn page should look:
You can also connect with decision-makers from companies who make decisions nigh expansion. Who do you lot recall volition a person go to when their concern is growing and they need to lease a bigger office? If yous're already in their network and take interacted with them, they'll likely think of you first.
Facebook and Instagram are a hot favorite among realtors because they work. LinkedIn is more than of a B2B platform and should be used every bit such. However, if you're already big on LinkedIn, there are a few ways to generate leads on LinkedIn besides.
Pro tip: If you're already marketing your existent estate business on Facebook or Instagram, it'due south all-time not to dedicate a whole lot of fourth dimension to LinkedIn. Post occasionally, about twice a week should exist fine, and network with people by commenting on their posts.
8. Be consistent with posting content on social media
One of the worst things y'all can do for your real estate business is not be consistent in your communication with existing and potential customers. Algorithms on social media platforms like Instagram favor posts that receive more engagement—comments, likes, and unique views—more than than others. And in order to consistently get more appointment, you lot demand to be consistent with the content y'all output.
Consistency also helps you lot put your proper name out in that location regularly so people don't "move on" from your content to someone else's.
Now, yous're probably wondering how in the world you'll accept time to post once every twenty-four hour period. The skillful affair is, y'all don't actually need to prepare aside fourth dimension every day. You can come upward with ideas for the week or the entire calendar month in one sitting, create content based on the ideas , and schedule the posts using a tool similar Hootsuite similar Adobe Base Existent Estate does:
That said, you lot'll however need to take out a couple of minutes daily to engage with your social media audition – replying to comments and DMs and engaging with other people's content on the platform. Essentially, your goal is to keep your audition engaged with valuable content so when they call up about ownership or selling, you're the first person that comes to listen.
Don't exist afraid to let your social media presence reveal who yous are as a person. In the end, it's humans y'all're trying to connect with, and everybody wants to know a tad bit more than about who they're interacting with on social media.
This mail service on Jackie and Justin'due south Instagram page is a swell example of how you can connect with your audience through a personal post:
In a lot of cases, the lack of consistency is rooted in the amount of time it requires to create a video. Nevertheless, there'southward an easy solution: templates.
InVideo has a large library of real estate video templates that you can use for quickly creating and customizing videos. You'll be able to export the videos in a set-to-upload condition by selecting the relevant social media platform considering we have pre-set aspect ratios prescribed by all major social media platforms. Simplicity tin make being consistent a whole lot easier, then why not requite InVideo a try?
Pro tip: Bring flavor to your social media posts. Don't merely post listings and manufacture updates. Mix things upwardly. Evidence your wins, happy clients, and testimonials. Share personal experiences or a snipper about a claiming yous overcame for a customer. Occasionally, post private content similar a moving picture from a family trip.
Wrapping Up
Real manor social media marketing has many basics and bolts you demand to work on. It'southward also an ongoing affair, not just a box to check off your list. Notwithstanding, the potential payoff is worth information technology. Once you've established yourself on social media, you'll generate plenty organic leads to make social media worth your time. And this article gets you one step closer to doing that.
Before you get started, equip yourself with some essential real estate marketing tools so you can use them whenever you need them for marketing on social media. If you're however getting up to speed with content creation, you may want to stop by our YouTube channel where nosotros share tips and tricks to help create compelling video content.
And if you're looking to create thumb-stopping videos (even if you're not a PRO), sign up for a free account on InVideo to get started.
This post was written past Arjun and edited by Adete from Team InVideo
Comments
Post a Comment