Three Tips for Marketing on Social Media
Social media is no longer just for posting selfies and family vacation photos. A consistent online presence is now essential to building your brand. Yet many real estate agents are intimidated by social media marketing and struggle with finding the time or knowledge to use it successfully. Without a consistent social strategy, grabbing potential clients’ attention and sparking engagement seems as easy as catching a unicorn.
Why is marketing on social media important? The average American spends 123 minutes on social media each day – so what better way to build your brand awareness than simply making sure your posts show up as a potential client opens and scrolls through Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn? Patricia Piat, a real estate agent with Mike Thomas Associates in Fort Wayne, believes social media marketing is important because “even though I’m a very private person- I don’t post on Facebook; I only use it to follow friends and clients- Annie (Wow’s Marketing Manager) helped me realize I need to have a[n online] presence because that’s how people engage and interact these days.” Keep these three tips in mind when you post and stay till the end for a new marketing method to revamp your social media strategy.
Post Engaging Content. Post content that asks questions or provokes a response to open conversations with your followers, such as “Is a front porch a must-have?”, “What’s your favorite local business?”, or “What is one thing you didn’t know about home ownership before buying your first house?”. Use their answers to connect with them; taking time to converse with them instead of always ‘selling’ to them enhances your image as a friendly professional with whom they’d want to do business. Building rapport with people gives you the opportunity to show them you care and a better chance of showing them that new listing when it does get posted. Another agent with Mike Thomas, Brad Springer, loves using social media to stay connected. “[Social media] allows me to show clients my personal and professional life. I can connect with a variety of people, from past clients to those who are just starting the process of selling their homes. I can market and help others get information and keep them in the loop, which is key to my business… We are able to keep in touch with pleased and repeat customers, even those we worked with two or three years ago- they’re still liking our posts and information. Social media helps us build credibility and make more connections.”
Mix It Up! Post a variety of subjects and formats, such as listings, articles, pictures or videos of your work life, community involvement, and your family and pets. A blend of personal and professional posts will show your clients you are a professional AND make you more approachable as your followers connect to you on a personal level. Additionally, don’t post anything too personal; keep it lighthearted and save life updates for your personal account. A picture of your homemade family dinner is great; bemoaning how your car broke down might scare followers away. Most importantly, always post media. Instagram and FaceBook tend to prioritize posts featuring media over posts with only text; posting photos and videos will help ensure your post is placed toward the top of your followers’ feeds.
Post Local Content. You are an expert on your community! Post about local businesses, events, schools, etc. and tag other pages as available. Local highlights – whether about the library’s new book collection, the upcoming high school play, or the best local playgrounds this summer – is a great way to show your clients you are plugged into the community and give them a window into the best parts of living where you sell. Val Bartrom, an agent in the Fort Wayne area, posts often about her community involvement, including a giveaway for membership to a local zoo and a food drive she participated in. For her, posting about her community involvement is important “to show that we are more than an agent, but also a go-to for what’s going on in the community. The better a community can be, it comes back to the real estate market. Many [agents] just post about houses and the market, and when someone buys a house from you, they probably won’t buy right away but they still need something from you.”
Does this sound like a lot of time and work to remember and manage? Many people are intimidated by the idea of running a professional social media account. Remembering to post regularly and finding unique and engaging content sounds like a ton of time and effort added to regular client appointments and showings. How relieving would it be to hand off this responsibility to someone else? Even more, to experts?
Enter Social360. With this program, you leave social media to Wow Video Tours’ team of experts. Not only do we post for you, but we also create engaging content that can be personalized to your brand. While some brokerages or other companies provide cookie-cutter content for agents to post, we create unique, engaging content and can individualize each post to your personality, interests, and location, setting you apart from your competition! We can post your listings as well! Patricia Piat has found our Social360 program helpful in how she uses social media. “The program has been very helpful to me. I wanted to have a professional [online] presence, and the program helped me bridge that gap by posting some personal but still professional posts. I get lots of engagement on my personal posts, but I like that the posts have pertinent information as well.” Social360 has also widened Brad Springer’s reach online. “Social360 helped me add around one hundred more followers through Facebook ads… Social360 is one thousand times better than our own advertising- I love the program.” With the option to be as hands-on or hands-off as you want, Social360 is perfect for any real estate agent who wants to take the next step in successful marketing.
Whether you are looking to have a consistent brand presence online, want to increase your brand awareness, or want someone to handle it all for you, we have a plan to meet your needs. With engaging, personalized content and experts who do the work for you, you can’t go wrong using Social360.
What’s your social media strategy? Have you tried any of these tips? Let us know in the comments!