By now, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that social media is good for more than just spying on friends and watching videos of cats. It’s a real, viable tool for building out business, and as a visual, social industry, real estate agents have got it good.
The big question, however, is how can you use social media to convince customers to hire your services? The simple answer – a funnel. It’s a core marketing tactic, based around the concept of taking potential customers through different steps, each one bringing them that little bit closer to hiring you.
The theory, produced by Elias St. Elmo Lewis, has long been tried and tested and is based around 4 key steps on your customer’s journey:
1) Awareness: your target audience need to be aware of your real estate services
2) Interest: they need to be interested enough to at least click an ad
3) Desire: you need to foster curiosity and grab that interest
4) Action: you need to compel them to take the desired step, whether that be downloading an eBook or picking up the phone and booking a valuation.
The funnel might have been produced in 1898, but it’s still used today by professional marketers and copywriters the world over. Why? Because it works. And if you’re not employing it for your real estate marketing, you’re missing a trick.
Building Your Social Media Funnel – the Right Way
In this post, we’re going to take a look at how you can utilise sales funnel methodology and bring it into play with your real estate social media efforts.
A great place to start is changing the 4 funnel stages into questions:
1) Awareness: How will your customers find you on social media?
2) Evaluation: How are they going to use social media to compare you and your competitors?
3) Acquisition: How are you going to turn them into leads?
4) Engagement: How will you keep in touch with customers on social media?
5) Advocacy: How will you get referrals on social media from satisfied customers?
One of the main mistakes real estate agencies make is to only invest time and money into the first few stages of the funnel when realistically, you need to cover it all. For example, if they see one of your property marketing videos on YouTube with your branded logo, they’ll become aware of your service. If you don’t follow through on the later stages of the funnel, however, you’ll never get the chance to sell your services to them.
How to Build Your Social Media Sales Funnel
Your funnel needs to answer the 5 questions we’ve raised above. If you can do that, the leads will start rolling in.
1) Awareness: How will your customers find you on social media?
There are hundreds of ways for you to grab the attention of your audience, but it’s best to settle on just one. Take a look at the list below for some ideas:
Organic tactics
- Facebook Live
- Free content
- Social media contests
- Facebook group participation
- Attract free subscribers with YouTube and SEO
Paid tactics
- Facebook & Instagram ads
- YouTube ads
- Pinterest ads
- Pay influencers for guest blogging opportunities
2) Evaluation: How are they going to use social media to compare you and your competitors?
Getting their attention isn’t enough – you need to ensure you’ve got enough social media reviews, case studies and credible information online to persuade them your agency is the best choice for them.
Organic tactics
- Build positive reviews on Facebook
- Give inside sneak peaks of your agency on Instagram
- Create video testimonials from happy clients and add them to your page
- Answer client questions on Twitter
- Service explainer videos on YouTube
Paid tactics
- Remarketing ads on Facebook detailing your service
- Sponsored posts with customer reviews
3) Acquisition: How are you going to turn them into leads?
You need to give your target audience a nudge before they’ll get in touch. These tactics can help them to make the jump:
Organic tactics
- Drive email sign-ups with social traffic
- Run social media contests with service incentives (25% discount)
- Timed offers and coupons on Facebook and Instagram
Paid tactics
- Remarketing ads on Facebook with offers
- Facebook Messenger ads
- Pinterest call to action buttons
4) Engagement: How will you keep in touch with customers on social media?
Finding clients is a lot of work, so why not keep them? Stay in touch to earn repeat business with these tactics:
Organic tactics
- Host Twitter chats
- Run a Facebook Live series to answer customer questions
- Send a quarterly newsletter to your email lists
Paid tactics
- Sponsored Facebook posts promoting engaging blog content
- Create a “members club” Facebook group, helping customers connect with one another
5) Advocacy: How will you get referrals on social media from satisfied customers?
Give your customers a voice and platform for them to share their experiences of your service with friends or members of the public. This boosts your credibility and in turn increases the number of lead conversions.
Organic tactics
- Private Facebook Groups for previous clients
- Create a customer advocacy program
- Create a branded hashtag
Paid tactic
- Promote your Facebook page to build your audience
Remember – the overall goal of your social media funnel is to attract potential customers then lead them to take action. If you follow the guide above and settle on one tactic from each list, you’ll have a high-performing funnel in no time.