Social Media

SEO For Social Media – A Real Estate Agency Guide

Although Google technically doesn’t pull data from social media profiles right now, there are still plenty of reasons why real estate agencies should be optimising their profiles for search engines.

Google has made hundreds of changes to the way it provides search results over the last 12 months – often without warning. This means that it’s far better to be prepared than to be caught off-guard when your page rankings sink.

As we know, targeted keywords are the main focus of SEO, which have bridged out to include search context, well known phrases and any questions the audience might be asking.

One recent game-changer has been the introduction of voice search, which has completely altered the way people search. This means that real estate agencies need to change the way they optimise too.

In this post, we’re going to walk you through the why’s and how’s of social media optimisation, with a few bespoke tips along the way.

Why should you optimise your social media?

As we’ve discussed, if search engines aren’t yet trawling social media to determine relevance, why bother optimising? That’s because, with their rapid growth, social media networks have become search engines in their own right.

Making sure your page contains the relevant info will mean you’ll be found far more easily. When users search Facebook for local real estate agents, you want your page to appear.

With the review culture that’s been created by companies like Amazon and Yelp, users often want to hear about other’s experiences with a brand before engaging with them themselves. Having your social media page pop up in search results is a great way to boost the trust they have in your brand.

Optimising social media will also attract casual browsers who see social media as their preferred channel. If a Twitter user sees your profile in Google, they’re likely to click through and browse. By seeing common search terms in your recent tweets, you’ll become instantly relevant to them.

Make your bio’s work for you

Of all the tactics you can employ to optimise your social media profiles, the one step you want to focus in on is your ‘bio’ or ‘about’ sections.

These areas on your page are an excellent way of telling your audience exactly what you do, in clear and concise language. The issue is just that, however – you’re only given a small amount of characters to work with. Sit down and think what keywords encapsulate your brand perfectly, then rework that into an intro. Make it creative to capture the attention of your browsers.

An example

To give you an idea of what we’re talking about, here’s an example. Say you’ve done some keyword research and you’ve discovered that ‘furnished apartments Sydney’ is generating a lot of searches. Your Twitter bio, however, currently says:

“Looking for a house? We’ll find you a home”.

It’s a nice slogan, but does it really say much about your business? Sadly, no. Instead, something like this might work a bit better:

“Selling furnished apartments in Sydney every day. Check out our website for this week’s listings: [link to site]”.

It might not be the catchiest, but it’s clear, concise and directly targets the majority of your search audience. By doing this, you’re going to attract a lot of the right attention.

“Content is King”

If you ask a social media expert, most of them will tell you that the best way to grow and nurture an audience is by providing them with great content. For real estate, this is no different.

If you’re posting photos of your listings often, go the extra distance – consider hiring a professional photographer to get some top shots of the properties. When stood next to your competition’s standard front-house angle, they’ll definitely stand out.

Another excellent method is by answering your audience’s questions. Do a bit of research into the problems your target audience faces around real estate and produce blog posts that answer those questions. It all comes back round to trust – by providing them with answers, your audience will deem your brand to have authority within the industry, increasing their trust in you. When they’re in the market for your services, they’ll be more likely to go with you than your competitors who aren’t using content marketing.

Make the most of Facebook

When compared to the usage stats of other popular social media sites, Facebook absolutely crushes them. If your real estate agency isn’t on Facebook, you’re missing out on a valuable resource.

Take a look at the Notes section on your page and add some in for the areas you serve. Within these notes, list the properties you currently have for sale, alongside prices and links to the listings. Add in some keywords to the body of the content and you’re good to go.

If you’re using Twitter to advertise your listings, be sure to include your keywords at the start of your tweet. Google search results only display 20-30 characters of a tweet, so it’s essential that you get your message across very quickly.

If you’ve got YouTube or Vimeo profiles for your real estate agency, make sure the title contains the relevant keywords and, where possible, try to provide transcripts for the videos in the ‘about’ sections.

Get your story straight

Remember, if you’re going to optimise your social media profiles, you need to make sure they match each other. Increasing brand awareness is great for your business, but if your Twitter and Facebook pages are saying different things, you could end up confusing potential customers.

Your website and social media profiles are your real estate brand’s voice online, so be sure to use it to its best. Link content back to your website where possible and make sure those links include keywords.

For more helpful real estate tips and information like this, check out our blog. You can also follow us on Facebook.

At iProperty, we provide leading online property management and real estate software,  responsive websites, and more.

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