5 Tips to Start Your Real Estate Social Media Marketing

The business of real estate is now conducted largely online. Rather than opening their Sunday papers to look at homes, or perusing realtors in the Yellow pages, folks are heading to Instagram, Facebook, and other social media pages.

Realtors know that they can use social media to build trust, generate leads, and create relationships with potential customers. Social media is also the path to building thought leadership, branding, and connecting with influencers. The only problem is that so many realtors aren’t using social media to its full potential. Some still aren’t using it at all.

The good news is that you can create a great social media marketing strategy for your real estate business, and the process is quite painless. Whether you’re starting from scratch, or revisiting an existing strategy, check out these five tips to start your real estate social media marketing today.

First: The Importance of Setting Goals

Social media marketing efforts are never static. They change over time as you learn more about what works for your business and what doesn’t. They also evolve as your goals do the same. These goals are often referred to as key performance indicators (KPIs). These should be matched to your social media marketing efforts, and might include:

• Getting more followers
• Increasing engagement
• Increasing traffic to your website or landing pages
• Earning more subscribers to your blog or newsletter
• Generating more leads

Once you establish your goals, you begin to form your social media campaigns around them. Setting goals also gives you a way to establish metrics. Then, by collecting data and analyzing it, you can determine what is working and what isn’t.

Now, onto the tips…

1. Using Videos is Practically Mandatory

87% of online marketers are using video. You don’t want to be one of the 13% who is still lagging behind. Another 51% of marketers cite video as the content type with the best ROI.

Video can jumpstart your social media presence. It can also help you do a better job of meeting the needs of your clients. For example, you can use video to:

• Provide virtual tours to potential home buyers all over the world.
• Showcase properties through Snapchat or Instagram stories.
• Use live video feeds for property walkthroughs, open houses, or Q&A sessions.
• Create a series of YouTube videos to educate about the ins and outs of buying and selling properties.

2. Make Local Content a Priority

Chances are, many of your potential clients will be local. Those that aren’t will still be interested in news, events, and information about the areas in which they are searching for properties to buy and sell. People from both groups will use locally optimized keywords to search for information. Naturally, a good portion of your content should be focused on local audiences.

Here are a few things you can do to optimize for local:

• Share content about community events.
• Write about local news stories.
• Follow other local businesses and boost their content.
• Participate in and sponsor local events and charities, then share that on your social media feeds.
• Use locally optimized hashtags in your posts #myCity #mycityrealestate
• Connect with local influencers and media outlets
• Build thought leadership by blogging and participating in conversations on local real estate news and topics.
• Join social media groups that are related to real estate or other complementary industries(e.g. Banking and construction).
• Use locally optimized keywords in your content.

If you operate in multiple locations, you might consider creating an independent social media presence for each location. Finally, don’t forget to create and optimize your Google my Business profile. It isn’t directly related to social media but will improve your overall local optimization efforts.

3. Use Hashtags to Make Content Searchable And Engaging

It’s time to embrace hashtags. They can help you improve name recognition, boost your branding, and make it easier for social media users to find your content. Yes, there’s potential for hashtag overuse, but the potential benefits make these little additions to your content so worthwhile.

Start by creating a handful of branded hashtags. You’ll use these in your posts, and encourage your followers to do the same. A branded hashtag is an original hashtag that you create to be directly associated with your business. These might include, #youragencyname, #youragencynamecity, #youragencynamehomes, #youragencynamecommercial, #youragencynamesells.

Next, you’ll want to learn about industry-relevant hashtags. There are several that are popular in the real estate niche. These are perfect for making your social media content more visible to potential followers and customers. Here are some of the more common tags:

• #JustListed
• #ForSale
• #HomeInspiration
• #DreamHome
• #RealEstate
• #HouseHunting
• #Location
• #Rental

Use these and other tags to attract people who may not be aware you exist.

Finally, you can use hashtags that aren’t directly related to your business or real estate but are relevant to a particular post. For example, if you’re agency is in Chicago, you might use the tags #Cubs or #WhiteSox if you share local sports news. Used sparingly, they make your content fun, and more engaging.

The trick to getting the most traction with your hashtags is understanding how to use them in your content naturally. This starts with writing posts that are engaging and relevant. Try using a few tools and resources to help including, Hemingway, Grammarly, and Hot Essay Service.

4. Optimize Your Social Media Profiles

Before you get started on any social media platform, you have to fill out a profile and create an account. You may be tempted to rush through this process, providing only the mandatory information. That way, you can get down to posting great content, right?

Don’t do that. A complete, carefully crafted profile can really make a big difference. It’s also imperative that you update your profile if you make any changes. Take the time to ensure that all of the following information is complete and up to date:

• Your Profile And Background Photo
• Address Information
• Email And Other Contact Details
• Website

Next, you’ll want to add any other information that you can. Depending on the platform this will be your bio, story, business hours, services offered, etc.

5. Let Your Happy Customers do The Talking

You can leverage user-generated content in the form of testimonials, positive reviews, and shared images and stories to create great social media engagement. User-generated content also helps you to build trust and credibility. You can encourage your audience to share by:

• Creating a hashtag campaign.
• Holding contests and giveaways.
• Providing discounts and incentives
• Asking satisfied customers to post a quick testimonial

You can also share and link to customer-generated content such as reviews and photos. Just be sure to get the appropriate permissions, and to thank the customer for their positive feedback.

Finally, remember that everyone loves a good story. If you’ve got a customer with an amazing home buying or selling story, write it down. Share it with your followers to boost goodwill, and show what you can do for them.

Final Thoughts

Your social media presence can lead to great things for your real estate business. Apply the five tips here, and watch your traffic and engagement grow.

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