Agent inviting couple into home

How Top Agents Push Traffic To An Open House

Agent inviting couple into homeOpen houses are widely considered a top marketing tool in real estate sales. Just because the doors are open, doesn’t mean that there will be hordes of potential buyers on the day. Regardless of market conditions, potential buyers will turn up on their allotted days.

Changes in technology mean that advertising for open homes is much more advanced than in the years gone by. With the advent of new technology, sales agents can target specific buyers who they believe will be the most interested in the property.

These days, agents use the power of digital media to engage a highly targeted audience through Facebook. They tend to do this based on age, location, interests, relationship status and other pages that they engage with.

The days where property was advertised by print alone, are far gone.

There are multiple online tools which can be used to amplify the exposure of a listing. For example, such tools can target users who are looking for property in their local area. They will then be showed a sponsored listing in their newsfeed regarding the property matching that criteria.

Despite the internet being a potentially global source of clients in property, the listing will still need to be well written. It will also need to have a specific buyer in mind. The best property marketers will understand the power of using words and photos which drive the sentiment to a target market.

Consider how the photos and text in your listing might capture the imagination of your target audience. Make sure you write advertising copy that appeals to a target audience, otherwise you may end up appealing to nobody.

Other strategies may include hosting exclusive “invite only” events at open homes for exceptional properties. A sense of exclusivity and scarcity can push buyers towards making emotional buys – pushing up property prices.

Instances of exclusive cocktail parties at high-end properties have proven to be successful when it comes to targeting buyers with a bit of extra cash. These methods have proved effective and involved buying and selling agents, as well as potential buyers.

Here is when being tactical comes into things – looking towards buyers in the area who may be lacking in certain features of their own properties, for example an expansive terrace or fantastic view.

One of the best way to showcase a property is to show potential buyers what they could have if they owned it. It’s more about creating a feeling rather than just showing off a property – hence the cocktails and party atmosphere.

If you have a luxurious property then don’t forget to make sure your event reflects that. Especially if you’ve invited buyers’ agents, as they will have local and international clients on the line.

It is generally believed that utilising an open house situation requires some traditional and some new marketing methods. It does come down to old-fashioned salesmanship. You need to engage people to come along, rather than relying on them seeing it in the media. You need to call them to action in making it their own decision.

As the world is so focussed on data catchment, you need to concentrate on that type of person. Make it relevant to your target audience, rather than casting the net out wide and hoping for the best outcome.

Now you know how to get more visitors to your Open Homes, make sure you make the most of them by read our article 10 Quick Wins For Making The Most Of An Open House.

SenRealEstate

New Sen Real Estate Website

iPropertyNewWebsite-01Sen Real Estate had recently moved over to iDashboard, so they could better assist their clients and database through an improved real estate system.

To get the most out of iDashboard, Sen Real Estate chose to upgrade to a great new website. This is where our website team stepped in, producing the new Sen Real Estate website, which is completely responsive; working on Desktops, Tablets and Smartphones allowing their staff and visitors to access any, property any time.

The new interactive home page contains a great list of ‘must-have’ features, this includes:

  • Property Search Panel
  • Home Page Featured Property Gallery
  • Latest Listing on Home Page
  • Recent Testimonials
  • Market Appraisal Request Interactive Form
  • Latest Sold Properties
  • Latest News and Updates
  • Property Videos
  • Buyer and Renter Email Alerts Signup/Login

Along with this fantastic new home page, the website boasts a property grid list view, property information pages, interactive forms and many more professionally designed features.

We wish the team at Sen Real Estate all the best with their new website and look forward to our ongoing relationship.

If you are looking for a new website, wether you are starting from scratch or want to upgrade to a modern responsive design, contact the iDashboard team today.

SenRealEstate

 

Video Metrics

10 Overlooked Video Metrics That Are Crucial to Your Marketing Plan

Video MetricsKeeping on top of your video metrics is a key aspect of measuring, developing and improving your social media advertising strategy, as well as social video plan.

With videos across the web reeling in billions of daily views and over 70% of marketers in the US planning on using videos in their social ads, whether you can afford to not get to the bottom of your video performance is the question you need to be asking yourself.

If you can make the most of a video metric, you’ll be able to understand what viewers connect with, as well as crack the key to driving higher engagement online.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at 10 of the key metrics that affect the success or failure of your social videos.

10 Social Video Metrics to Include in Your Marketing Reports

Take a look at these 10 metrics and find out the impact they can have on your social media marketing plan.

1) View count

It’s always good to start with an obvious one. The number of views that your video is getting is a simple metric to track, as it’s just a flat number of how many people saw your video.

Although the definition of a ‘view’ varies from network to network, it’s always based on someone watching a small section of your video, not necessarily the whole thing.

View count matters because strangely enough, research has shown that 47% of video campaign value actually comes from the first 3 seconds of your video. As a result, even very small amounts of exposure are worth you tracking.

2) 10-Second views

Facebook recently introduced a statistic that, yep, you guessed it, tracks how many people have watched your video past the 10-second mark. If your video comes in at under 10 seconds, the statistic instead reflects how many times viewers tipped past the 97% completion mark.

10-second views are important because, following from the research above, 75% of video campaign value is derived from the first 10 seconds. Knowing how many viewers have reached this point will help you to work out your overall ROI.

3) Watch time

This statistic measures the overall time that your video content has been watched by your audience and allegedly, it was one of the most-requested features for Facebook.

Watch time – known as ‘minutes viewed’ on Facebook and ‘time watched’ on Periscope, is an excellent means of judging the overall success of your video, as it paints a picture of long your combined audience have spent viewing your brand message.

4) Average view duration

Although you could be picking up a couple of 10-second views, that statistic is devalued unless you know the sort of engagement that your video content is getting overall.

By tracking average view duration, you’ll be able to compare it to your other videos and work out what sort of content is most appealing to your audience.

5) Audience retention

Represented as a graph on Facebook, audience retention is how well your audience is retained throughout your video. Sudden drops in the graph are representative of the points in your video where you start to lose viewers.

This is an important video metric because, if there’s a sudden point where you start to shed viewers, you’ll know that it’s a turn in the content that people don’t like. With this information in hand, you’ll be able to build more engaging content in the future.

6) Sound on or off?

This metric is particularly important if you’re delivering your message via voice communication. If your viewers haven’t clicked on your video to turn the sound on, they’re never going to get the full body of your message. With this statistic, you’ll know how many viewers are listening, as well as watching, your video.

As many as 85% of Facebook’s videos are watched with the sound off, as a part of its autoplay function. This means that un-muting sound on a video is a point of engagement that you need to track.

7) Impressions and video reach

Impressions is a metric that indicates how many times a viewer has been exposed to a post that contains your video – both your own and those shared by others. Reach is simply a statistic denoting how many times your video has been displayed.

Impressions provide an indication of how many times the post is displayed, whereas reach shows the number of people who saw the post. Reach is usually smaller than impressions, as multiple views by one person count towards the same number of impressions, but only add one count to reach.

Reach and impressions matter as metrics because they show how posts containing your video reached an audience. By comparing them to the number of views and 10-second views you’ve received, you’ll be able to develop an idea of how eye-catching your video is.

8) Click-through and conversion rates

Your video could be getting views, but is it actually driving the end result you’re after? Whether it’s traffic to your website or product purchases, this metric will help you to work out the ROI of your social video.

Click-through and conversion rates are key metrics for most marketers, so it’s key that you stay on top of them. With them in hand, you’ll be able to work to continually improve your video quality.

9) Interaction rate

 This is a key metric for 360 degree videos, as video views alone aren’t enough of a metric to cover the engagement potential for this type of content.

Interaction rate is covered by measuring how many users engage by moving their mouse and shifting the viewpoint of the video. It can also be measured based on how many mobile users tilt their phones.

Interaction rate is the statistic for measuring the impact 360 video has had on an audience. If you’re thinking about trialling how 360 degree video works compared to other content types, this metric is definitely one to work into your reports.

Conclusion: Review, review, review

If you want to get the most out of marketing, the key is to never stop testing your content and ads. No matter how well they’re performing, there’s always something that you can improve and with these metrics, you’ll be able to form educated opinions on what you’re doing right and what could be done better.

By refining your video content based on real social data, you’ll increase audience engagement, drive action and, inevitably, boost your ROI.

Mistake on social media

5 Social Media Mistakes

Mistake on social mediaThese days it’s highly unusual for a business to not be active on social media. Interacting with customers is a lot more complicated than simply having a presence on social media however.

What you choose to put out there into the online world, says a huge amount about you and your company. This means that using any social media site to spread the wrong message, can be destructive to your reputation.

These are the top 5 mistakes to make on social media.

1. Not identifying an audience

This should always be your start point when considering how to get things going with social media. “Who is this aimed at?” “Who is important to my brand?” “What do they like, need or respond well to?” These are all important questions you should be asking yourself.

Once you’ve established who you’ll aim to engage with, you can create a bespoke message to suit their needs.

This is a key facet of running any business – you need to be able to make your message/ideology/product effective and engaging for your target audience. Without this, you’ll be throwing out uncoordinated ideas that will just seem like junk to potential customers.

2. Being dishonest

No one likes to feel lied to or misguided. This will happen if you start investing in great local causes, but not really engaging with them. For example, you might have an issue if you use a local LGBT parade to promote your products but nothing else – you’ll be seen as leeching off of the community and not having a genuine interest in a cause.

It may be the case that not everyone agrees with the causes you support, but being genuine and honest will still make you stand out from the crowd. Remember though that you’ll want to avoid offending other potential customers.

3. Make dialogue, not war

The main goal of social media sites is to be able to engage with your consumers. Often this involves opening a dialogue with the customer, rather than forcing a sales pitch down their computer screen.

You should avoid looking opportunistic, which ultimately comes down to the words you use on your page. You can do this by highlighting personal connections to the events and causes you promote.

4. Getting all emotional

It’s important to recognise that as a business owner, it’s sometimes hard to become emotionally detached from the company. After all, it’s probably a labour of love that you’ve sunk countless hours and dollar bills into.

This unfortunately means that it can be harder to take criticism, without being emotionally defensive about it. Make sure that when you’re responding to discourse on your social media profiles, that you don’t respond in an over-emotional way. This can damage your reputation further.

5. Letting trolls rule the roost

Many social media platforms have fallen fowl to “trolls”. These are people who post overly negative, offensive and degrading comments in order to cause trouble. It’s important that you maintain a respectable page and don’t allow trolls to hold you to ransom.

One of the tools at your disposal as a business owner, is that you can delete offensive posts. This doesn’t mean deleting every negative post, or those you disagree with. This can work against you if people feel you’re trying to cover up their honest opinions.

GeorgePageMockup

New George Page Real Estate Website

iPropertyNewWebsite-01George Page Real Estate required a great new system to manage their properties and database, so after selecting iDashboard they needed a clean looking website that fully integrates with this Real Estate Software & CRM.

This is where our website team stepped in, producing the new George Page Real Estate website, which is completely responsive; working on Desktops, Tablets and Smartphones allowing their staff and visitors to access any, property any time.

The new interactive home page contains a great list of ‘must-have’ features, this includes:

  • Property Search Panel
  • Home Page Featured Property Scroller
  • Latest Listing on Home Page
  • Recent Testimonials
  • Market Appraisal Request Interactive Form
  • Latest Sold Properties
  • Latest News and Updates
  • Property Videos
  • Buyer and Renter Email Alerts Signup/Login

Along with this fantastic new home page, the website boasts a property grid list view, property information pages, interactive forms and many more professionally designed features.

We wish the team at George Page Real Estate all the best with their new website and look forward to our ongoing relationship.

If you are looking for a new website, wether you are starting from scratch or want to upgrade to a modern responsive design, contact the iDashboard team today.

GeorgePageMockup

 

Holding up LinkedIn sign

‘Going Viral’ On LinkedIn

Holding up LinkedIn signFor anyone who’s never heard the phrase ‘going viral’, it doesn’t mean you’ll get the flu for a week. Going viral is when you hit internet fame out of nowhere. It’s when the video of your cat falling in the bath gets two gazillion views overnight, and suddenly Tiddles is demanding a six-figure salary.

Turns out that going viral and the professional social media site: LinkedIn, go quite well together. In fact it can do big things for your career if you hit that ultimate internet achievement of going viral.

Let’s face it though, LinkedIn is hardly a good place to be posting cat videos or frog memes; so how do you go viral on a seemingly straight and narrow social media platform?

The truth is there is no one way ticket to stardom on the internet, but there are a number of things you can do to improve your chances of being recognised on the professional circuit. This comes down to two main considerations: the quality of content you create, and the tactics you use to get it out there.

Content you post should be solid. It needs to be readable and engaging, as well as shareable. So the question on your lips right now must be “how do you make engaging content for LinkedIn?” Let’s have a look.

Be the boss

Sometimes it really is as easy as knowing your field. Read publications and blogs to keep up to date on the industry. Attend relevant events and post about them. Be part of the relevant circles on and offline.

Make yourself available for questions. There’s no guarantee that it’ll get you going viral, but when you have a wealth of knowledge you’ll never be short on interesting pieces to write – and that’s what’ll get you shared.

Be a bookworm

Bookworm sounds kind of derogatory, but I mean make sure you read a lot of other professionals blogging and publishing for your industry. Take around 30 minutes a day to read up, making this part of your job. Going that little bit above and beyond will make you stand out.

This will help you find the best of what is being put out on LinkedIn. Don’t forget to share it and include your own thoughts if they’re relevant. This will make you stand out as a thought leader in your chosen network.

Don’t overdo this one though, as you don’t want to flood your newsfeed to the point where colleagues won’t read it. Only share those articles that are truly brilliant.

Be the question master

What are the most discussed points of contention in your industry? Write about them to help demystify the topic. If you can do this and make it interesting; including your own perspective, people will engage with you.

Pretend that your knowledge would normally come at a price, but that you’re giving the reader a little taster for free. This is a great way to get people sharing your content, as everyone loves a freebie right?

Go against the grain

When it comes to knowledge there is one major issue – common knowledge is common. You should look for ways to get outside of the box in your industry. This will make your content more insightful and engaging for the reader.

Sometimes people will disagree with you here, but it’s a good way to generate discussion and ultimately get you noticed on LinkedIn.

Publish during work hours

Much like posting in the evening on Facebook for all your friends to see, post on LinkedIn during work hours. LinkedIn is generally ok to use at work, so posting outside of work hours might result in your content being lost to the world.

You may want to consider scheduling posts to ensure that they hit LinkedIn at the best of times.

Make it visual

This one can be a bit of a bone of contention, as using images can appear tacky. It’s recommended not to use images in your posts, unless you’ve got the quality content to back it up.

Making things visual can work towards catching someone’s eye though, so it might be worth the risk for some extra hits.

Summary

With business turning online these days, it’s super important to have a robust online presence. Having that gusto on your LinkedIn puts you in the line of sight for potential employers, and all too often these days people are getting job offers through this platform.

Be warned though, it’s all about quality and not quantity – putting your best foot forward and not jumping in with both feet first.

Social Media Policy for your company

Social Media Policies & How To Write One For Your Business

Social Media Policy for your companyWith most companies going online and having an increasing presence on social media, it’s important to set policies surrounding usage of social media. I don’t mean telling your employees off for using their phones to go on Facebook. I’m talking about keeping your brand reputation safe online.

You may find yourself asking the question “why does my business need a social media policy?” – Here are some reasons, guidelines for best practice, training and enforcement of online social media policies.

1Protect your rep

Having a social media policy in place brings down the risk of legal issues due to misuse of social media. This will protect your brand and company reputation, by outlining and taking steps to prevent any scathing social media blunders.

Set standards for usage by employees

By putting a social media policy in place, you can establish guidelines for your employees to follow. Setting expectations for employees through a policy can actually make them feel empowered to exercise their creativity, without worrying that what they share on social media might impact their career.

Sometimes your employees might not understand when things have gone too far on social media, so it’s always a good plan to have a policy in place. This will benefit your employees by ensuring they’re aligned with your standards.

Creating consistency

As it’s your company, you’ve worked really hard to establish its voice. In today’s social media environment, one off-brand post can throw all of this up in the air.

You can use your social media policy to influence your brand’s voice and tone. As a company, you will want to have a strong brand voice, as it will increase awareness of your business; as well as showcasing personality. This will help customers connect with your business.

This reflects onto your employees who operate social media outlets for the business, as they’ll need to be aware of brand standards regarding your brand voice. It also impacts on their own social media accounts such as Twitter handles and Facebook profile pictures.

In your social media policy, you should include:

Rules and regulations

There are two main areas you should cover in the policy. The first is how employees are expected to use their personal social media accounts, and the second is how your company uses its own channels.

If you set clear expectations and standards surrounding operational behaviour, there can be no confusion amongst your employees.

These rules and regulations should include online etiquette, branding, confidentiality, conduct guidelines and accountability. It is also worth covering engagement procedures, in case employees need to interact with negative content regarding your brand.

Potential legal issues

One of the last things you’ll want to deal with is legal issues because of poor social media usage. To ensure you’re making a solid policy, it’s best if you have your legal team help out.

Issues like crediting sources correctly when you post on social media, otherwise you could end up with a copyright issues on your hands. This can also give rise to privacy issues and rules surrounding financial disclosures, depending on the industry.

You should set guidelines on which employees can talk about your brand from their personal accounts. Ensure that employees know how to protect confidential information about your company, the brand image and the customer-base.

Safety and security guidance

There are a plethora of threats out there such as malware, phishing scams, hacking and human errors. These can be avoided with clear social media guidelines. Risks such as these might not be obvious to employees so you can use your policy to highlight the importance of being aware of them.

You will want to include guidance for your employees on: creating a secure password, avoiding spam and phishing attacks, engaging properly on behalf of the brand and how to proceed in the event of an attack.

iDashboardNewFeed-01

New Outgoing Feed: First2move.com.au

New Feed Sticker for iDashboard ProductsiDashboard welcomes First2move.com.au to our family of portal sites that we upload properties too.

About First2move

Real estate is most people’s single biggest asset. We all want the best possible price for our house / apartment.
first2move.com.au understands that marketing your property is not a least cost exercise – near enough just isn’t good enough.
There is an old adage in real estate ‘when your buying, tell no one, when your selling tell everyone!’
first2move.com.au is Australia’s fastest growing real estate search portal in terms of recruitment of staff. The look and feel of first2move.com.au is different to our competitor’s; creating interest is an important part of making your property stand out from the crowd.
Ask the leading real estate Agents in your area, how you can promote your property on first2move.com.au, not only in English here in Australia but every sales listing is also translated and appears in mainland China in Mandarin.
Many of the owners of first2move.com.au are real estate Agents; they were so impressed that they brought into the company.
Be first to move and take the advantage.

This information has been sourced from First2move.com.au

To send your properties through to First2move.com.au from iDashboard, simply setup an account with them and they will contact us to activate your property feed.

Discussion with clients

Five Tips For Working With Different Types Of Vendors

Discussion with clientsThe real estate world is an incredible machine with a large number of moving parts. This can make it an unpredictable world, so agents never know who or what might come across their desk next. Being prepared in real estate is to be successful.

There are some sellers out there who will need you to hold their hands the whole way, whilst some are very demanding and confident. Some vendors will be very involved in the selling process, whilst others will be a little more reserved.

As an agent, you’ll need to find some common ground with the seller, with such a range of possible vendors out there, you’ll be wanting to check out these five tips below:

Don’t put sellers into neat little boxes

Human beings are as diverse as there are stars in the sky – there are so many personalities out there, that it’s impossible to categorise people. This goes the same way for sellers.

Putting vendors into a box and calling them “type 1” or “type 2” isn’t advisable. Just like every property sold is unique, so is each vendor. If we treat people as a homogenous mass then we lose the personal touch to our service. The personal touch is key in real estate.

At the end of the day, working with people is what makes the job of a real estate agent exciting. Yeah it’s challenging a lot of the time, but working with people is super rewarding; so get out there and relish that opportunity.

The informed seller – a bonus, not a crutch

You can hardly turn the TV on these days, without being bombarded by a reality show about property. Alongside these shows, online news and conversations with like-minded friends, all contribute to the knowledge a seller has. Turn this to your advantage.

These days, vendors are far more aware of what’s going on in real estate than they were before. Having an open and trusting relationship here is key to working with your seller effectively. This will form the basis for a mutually trusting relationship.

Be on the lookout for those who come into the relationship with little trust for estate agents. These individuals will think that they know best, but those who can let go and allow you to do your job will achieve the best results.

You can’t please everyone all the time

Sometimes you’ll find that some sellers will only choose a vendor based on commission fees. These penny pinchers are all about the figures, and you may be tempted to drop your commission fee to win the listing.

The reality is that this type of seller may go elsewhere, but end up selling the property for less. For example, they might pay 0.25 per cent less commission at your rival agency, but you might actually sell similar properties for $50,000 more than what they do.

Speak less, listen more when pitching to sellers

Once you begin to understand the vendor and his/her needs, you’ll gain valuable insights into how to best provide a service. This all comes down to people skills and listening to your client.

Factors like nasty neighbours, messy divorces, or other privacy concerns can affect the way a property is sold. You can only gain these insights by truly listening to your clients and asking the right questions.

In this instance, interviews based on questions rather than statements will be particularly effective.

Sellers love being in the loop

In real estate pretty much every situation will be unique, especially with so many personalities involved in the game. Continuing communication is the most effective strategy you could possibly hope to put in place.

This is a universal strategy and will work to reassure your sellers that you’re proactive and have the best attitude for them and their property. Make sure you exchange emails, phone calls and have a mid-way campaign meeting to avoid and smooth over any issues.

Without regular communication between you and the seller, misunderstandings can become a threat; potentially derailing an otherwise solid professional relationship.

Remember that those vendors who are well-mannered may turn rabid if you don’t communicate regularly; so make sure to give them no cause to see red.

Prospects

Want To Nail Your Prospecting? Check Out These Key Tips

ProspectsNew agents working in the real estate industry often know that they should be prospecting, but don’t necessarily know how to go about it.

If you fit within these ranks, read on. We’re going to take you through some of the top tips offered by Australia’s leading successful real estate experts.

Build rapport with past and present clients

When starting out, most agents will focus on building new leads. That’s understandable, as you need to build a base from which to build out your service. After a while, however, it can actually be more cost-effective to target past and present clients as opposed to constantly reaching out to new ones.

Almost no-one only moves house once. By keeping in touch with your past leads, you’ll be able to let them know you’re still working in the market and are available to help if they’re looking to move again. If you offer them a great level of service, they’ll also be likely to refer you to their own personal network. With this, one well-executed lead could end up meaning 3 new clients, or even more.

Offer complimentary marketing services

Not everything has to come with a price and the key to making a dent on your market is standing out.

Supplement your business development efforts with a portfolio of marketing channels, such as flyers, emails and social media. Keep in touch with the database of clients that you’ve built more easily by sending them monthly mail-outs with exclusive tips and tricks, as well as inside looks at some of your best properties on offer.

Stay motivated when rejected

It’s tough finding your footing in real estate and far too many young professionals get knocked down in the face of rejection.

One of the keys to success is accepting rejection as a part of the job and staying motivated. Prospecting for new clients is hard work, but it pays off in the end if you can commit yourself to the process.

As long as you backup your sales efforts with research to ensure you’re targeting the right people, you’ll start to see more results.

Be persistent

Dedication is an essential part of real estate success, with many agents dropping out early on. If you’re going to prospect or knock on doors, be sure that you’re consistent with it. With consistency will come leads.

If you don’t feel comfortable about prospecting on your own at the start, it’s likely that there’s another agent in your office who feels the same way, or is at least happy to help. Think about pairing up with them and tackling your target audience together.

Overall, if you can stay persistent and be consistent and creative with your prospecting efforts, business leads will follow.

2017 Trends

The 4 Top Social Marketing Trends To Capitalise On In 2017

2017 TrendsSocial media is so much more than just a way to keep in touch with old school friends and family members – it’s a tool for attracting, growing and cultivating an audience who are interested in what your brand has to say – all in an informal, ‘non-salesy’ way.

Social media strategies, however, die out of fashion almost as quickly as they come in, so keeping in touch with them isn’t always easy.

In this article, we’re going to walk you through some of the strategies that are going to land with a huge impact throughout 2017.

1. Organic social traffic is slowly dying

Partially down to user fatigue on Twitter and Facebook’s algorithm changes that favour user-generated content over promotional posts, organic traffic from social media is taking a nosedive.

To put a number to it, as we write this article, your next post is only going to be seen by roughly 2% of your fans. Pretty horrible, right? So as real estate professionals, what does that mean?

Focus on quality, not quantity

Slamming Facebook with posts 5 times a day isn’t going to get you very far any more. In fact, your precious time is far better spent working hard on 3 or 4 good posts to make a week.

Prepare to pay

Sadly, social media is on a real cash-driver. As a result, you’re going to have to be prepared to pay if you want your posts to be seen.

Get two benefits from one

If you’ve created a great post and are paying to promote it, you should make sure that you’re driving that traffic to the page that has your listings on it. If you’re not doing this, opportunities are slipping through your fingers.

2. Follow the millennials

In a few years’ time, those kids playing football on the green outside your house are going to be your customers. In fact, next year is going to see the biggest demographic shift in real estate in many, many years, as nearly half of all homebuyers will be made up by millennials.

Although it’d be great for them to find your services through your preferred platform, that’s not really what it’s about. You can help yourself to get your brand in front of them by:

Getting on Instagram

Research from eMarketer has shown that nearly 65% of millennial smartphone users are on Instagram. If you can get the jump on the competition, you’ll reap the rewards sooner.

Focus on expression instead of marketing

Millennials don’t follow brands for the sake of liking the logo – they want to see the personality behind it and be able to express themselves with it.

Stay visual (we mean it)

Real estate is a visual market and millennials love it, so if you’re not focusing on the imagery, you’re missing out.

3. Use Facebook to hit the baby boomer market

Millennials aren’t the only ones destined to rock the real estate boat in 2017. Baby boomers, or those born after World War 2, are set to make up the second-biggest home buying group in 2017.

Unlike millennials, though, baby boomers are going to keep using Facebook and in growing numbers, too. You can win their attention by:

Mixing educational and inspirational

Don’t throw a load of motivational quotes at your baby boomer audience, because there’s only so much they’ll eat up. Instead, focus on educating them and providing them with useful, actionable information.

Target exactly who you want to speak to

Facebook advertising might be a bit daunting, but it can definitely aid social media marketers in getting their message in front of the right sort of people.

When you can target an audience based on data such as zip code, age and even income, it’s definitely something you should be using.

It’s not easy to predict where social media marketing will take the real estate market in 2017, but one thing is clear – users want to see posts that are personal and look like they’ve been made just for them.

Buckle down and put on your content creation cap, because crafting meaningful, visual posts that people can relate to is the key to 2017 social media real estate.

LinkedIn Icon

5 Easy Tips For Optimising Your Real Estate LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn IconYou wouldn’t hand a potential lead an outdated flyer, so why would you let them find your LinkedIn profile with old information on it?

LinkedIn is the world’s most-used networking site, with over 2 new people joining it every second. That totals over 467 million registered users and that doesn’t look like it’s about to slow down.

In order to get the maximum benefit out of your LinkedIn presence, follow these 5 quick and easy tips.

1. Keep your profile photo updated

Online, your profile photo is the first impression that you give to people. It’s the first thing people visiting your LinkedIn profile are going to notice, so why wouldn’t you make yourself look the best you possibly can?

Update your profile photo with a good, high-definition headshot. You don’t necessarily need to get a professional photographer to shoot it – most smartphone cameras will produce a good image. Just make sure that you don’t end up pixelated!

2. Refresh your background image

Now that LinkedIn have allowed everyone to have a background image, you’ve got another fantastic opportunity to promote yourself and help yourself stand out.

Although you can choose anything, it’s best to select a background image that relates to or expresses an element of your personal life.

Over everything else, your LinkedIn profile should show how you’re going to be to work with. Use a background image to accentuate your professionalism and personality.

3. Tweak your headline

In the days of LinkedIn past, headlines used to be for simply stating your job title. Nowadays, their common usage has moved on considerably.

If you’re looking for a new job, don’t simply have ‘unemployed and looking’ in your headline. Instead, try something more descriptive and emotive, such as ‘real estate professional looking to build a future with agencies in the Sydney area’. It’ll get much more attention than a simple bland headline.

4. Edit your summary – then edit it again

LinkedIn’s recent UX update means that it can now build a profile summary for you automatically. Pretty cool, right?

Yes and no. This might be a good place to start, but it’s only going to get you so far. Sadly, computers aren’t quite at the stage yet where they can compare to human writing ability.

Your summary is an excellent place to do some storytelling. It’s a place where you should capture the interest of potential business connections by engaging them with some of your top achievements, as well as where you want to take your career in the future.

5. Personalise your profile URL

This one might seem obvious, but a lot of people completely miss it. Although LinkedIn automatically assigns your profile a URL when you sign up, it’s not exactly great.

Instead of running with a series of letters and numbers, why not set yourself a vanity URL. With this, it’ll be easier to link people to your profile and it’ll also work wonders for SEO.

Like any business material, you should check back on your profile regularly to keep it up to date.