February 2018 - iDashboard Blog

Making the Most of Instagram for Business Marketing

With the world of business having become so competitive in all industries over the years, effective marketing has become more and more vital. These days, there are various ways in which you can market your business and this includes a number of cost effective solutions that can help to expand your reach when it comes to marketing.

Traditional forms of marketing such as print media and TV advertised can be expensive. At the same time, they can also limit the number of people and the locations that you can reach with your marketing message. With digital marketing methods such as social media, you can market your goods and services on a global level, which makes it easier for your business to compete internationally as well as nationally and locally.

The key benefits of using Instagram for exposure

One of the many popular social media platforms that businesses such as real estate agencies use these days is Instagram. There are many benefits that you can look forward to when you use this platform as part of your marketing strategy. Some of the key benefits that you will be able to look forward to include:

Customer engagement: Customer engagement is crucial in all business marketing, including real estate marketing. Instagram is a great way to boost customer engagement and research has shown that this platform generates a massive 120 times more engagement per follower compared to well known sites such as Twitter. This makes it the ideal channel for connecting with customers, keeping them engaged, and building relationships.

Spreading the word: With sites such as Facebook and Twitter, you can spread the word about your products and services through shares and re-tweets. However, with Instagram you may find that your audience is sharing photos with their own followers along with details of your business. For instance, if you post details and photos of a property for sale in the site, you could find that someone sees it and then shares the photo and details with all of their followers.

Reach out to new people: If you are looking to expand your audience, using Instagram is a great way to do this. People use this channel to find new photos, people, and businesses, and this can be done with ease through the use of hash tags with your posts. Like other social media sites, Instagram makes it easy to find new followers and audiences from countries around the world so you can really expand your reach.

Promoting your account

Once you have opened an Instagram account, you should look at following some people – preferably people who would be classed as influential in your industry. You can then focus on the promotion of your account, and this can be done through cross promoting on other social media platforms as well as on your own website. If you use business cards and other printed marketing materials, make sure you also put the details of your Instagram and other social media business accounts on there.

Check out our Guide to Using Instagram for Real Estate

Why a Personal Website is Vital for Real Estate Agents

In any type of business these days, it can be difficult to effectively market products and services or capture the attention of consumers. For real estate agents, this can be a particular challenge especially given the level of competition in the market. With real estate agents having to compete with more and more rivals, success is set to become even more difficult for real estate agents. However, there are ways in which you can combat this problem and improve both your marketing and success levels.

The world of marketing has changed radically over recent years, with businesses including real estate companies using a variety of different platforms to gain exposure and attract new customers. This includes platforms such as social media, forums, video marketing, and more. However, one thing that many real estate agents fail to do is take advantage of their own website in order to market properties and services.

Capturing the attention of potential customers

One thing you have to bear in mind is that every man and his dog are using marketing platforms and channels such as those mentioned above. This means that your message is left to drown in a sea of other similar messages from rivals. However, the only person that is using your website for marketing and to engage readers is you, which means that when someone is on your site they are only paying attention to what you have to say or offer.

Of course, there is no problem using other digital channels to help boost business. However, rather than using them to convey your message, use them to drive traffic to your site so that you can grab their undivided attention. Making use of your own website for marketing and customer engagement can benefit you in many ways. This includes improve ROI, greater levels of control, and less competition to worry about.

As we continually highlight, blogging is one of the most important things you can do to increase your digital reach – adding these to your personal agent website and then sharing those posts out to your social networks is a great way to keep potential clients informed. This also provides another organic method to lead people to your website and increases your sites authority on search engines such as Google.

Making your personal website a focal point

In a nutshell, as a real estate agent you should be making your personal website your focal point when it comes to marketing your services and attracting new prospects. Your core aim should be to drive people to your website and for this you can utilise the various digital marketing solutions that are available. Once a person is on your website, you are part of the way there. It also means that you don’t have to be reliant on third party sites, you can enjoy a far higher level of control, and you can ensure that your personal site is the first to show up in search results for your name.

With our agentPages.com.au product, you can stand out from the rest and enhance your digital footprint with a beautiful and affordable looking personal agent website.

4 Top Tips to Improving Your Personal Brand

As a real estate professional, your personal brand is a catalyst to success. It’s your major selling point, and in today’s world, standing out from the crowd with effective self-promotion is what puts the distance between you and the next agent.

As a result, learning how you can build out your personal brand is absolutely paramount. Read on to find out the steps you can take to make it happen:

1) Define Who and What Your Brand is

It’s not a show or an act – your personal brand is who you are, to the very core. It’s these qualities and characteristics that you should make part of your personal brand. To find out what they are, ask yourself the following:

Where do your passions lie?
What makes you different?
What are your biggest strengths?

If after answering those questions you’re still unsure, speak with some close friends, co-workers and members of your family, as they’ll be able to give you a clear picture of who they think you are.

2) Work Out Your Priorities and Stick to Them

In order to find success, you firstly need to find out what your definition of success is. For example, are you aiming to get a certain volume of real estate clients, hit a personal financial target, or change your market?

When you see a new business opportunity arise, cross-check it against your priorities. If it doesn’t measure up, it’s more than likely going to be best to wait for the next opportunity that comes along. Building your brand is about defining goals and sticking to them when asked to compromise.

3) Design a Brand Message that Defines What You’re About

When you’re pitching your services to prospective clients – or even new agencies – you need to keep it short and sweet – and that doesn’t give you a lot of time to play with.

Within that short timeframe, you need to communicate who you are and what sets you apart from the thousands of other real estate agents. A good example would be “I’m passionate about helping my clients find their dream homes.”

4) Plan When to Share Your Message

If you’ve been paying attention to the methods big companies use for their advertising, you’ll have noticed that they don’t just post updates randomly. In fact, time is a huge determining factor for the success of their brand messages.

If you want a large number of your target audience to see your message, and your target audience are young professionals, posting during working hours likely won’t render the results you’re after. Instead, use data to find out when your audience are online, and create a post schedule around it.

What to read next:

Facebook Algorithm Changes to Have Heavy Impact on Real Estate Businesses

The other week, Facebook came out and stated their plans to shake things up on the News Feed. The new initiative, which is set to change the way content is displayed to users in 2018, has sparked a great deal of discussion in the real estate industry as to how it’ll impact the network’s usefulness as a marketing tool.

In the statement, Founder Mark Zuckerberg stated that the 2018 focus for Facebook is “on making time spent on Facebook time well spent.”

What he meant by this is that Facebook is going to give priority to posts from friends and family – the content type their research showed to have the most importance to its users.

In turn, fewer organic posts from businesses and brands will be shown in the News Feed. However, Facebook knows where their money comes from, and as such has made no claim that there will be a reduction in the number of ads displayed to its users.

Who Will be Affected by This Change?

The effects will be pretty widespread – in fact, any business that relies on organic posts as part of their marketing strategy is going to feel the squeeze. This includes everyone from news organisations, fake news pages and spammy entertainment pages.

Facebook’s primary goal is to facilitate meaningful interactions for its users, as opposed to the passive, one-way interactions that often occur with business posts. As a result, Facebook users can expect to see more posts from friends, and fewer tacky articles about how the first-born child is the smartest.

What can Businesses do?

Facebook are doing this. It’s going to happen. And whilst there’s not much we can do to change this, there are a couple of steps we can take to ensure we’re as prepared as we can be:

1) Don’t 100% depend on organic reach

On average, Australian real estate business pages on Facebook have received a 3-5% organic reach. So, if you’ve got 1,000 followers, only 30-50 of them are seeing each post you make.

If you’ve managed to incorporate organic reach into your marketing strategy, you need to set your sights on the enviable ROI boosted posts and paid ads can produce. Why? Because in 2018, your organic reach is going to plummet to zero.

2) Use Facebook the way it’s meant to be used

Facebook for Business is intended for professional use, but not in the same way traditional advertising is. After all, it’s meant to be social. So, don’t make your content overly promotional – try and make it entertaining for your audience instead.

Additionally, if you’re thinking of switching your business to a personal profile, remember – you’re going to be missing out on a number of targeting and boosting opportunities.

3) Ensure your content is high value

Sure, you can throw $50 at a post to get it in front of a few thousand people. However, if your content isn’t high-value, you’re not going to generate the results you should.

If your content is low-value, it’s simply not going to reach the number of people you’d like, and this is true for both organic and paid posts. Both are subject to Facebook’s algorithmic focus on user experience, so invest in the quality of your content and create something you’d want to read.

4) Brace yourself for an increase in Facebook advertising costs

With these algorithm changes taking effect, businesses that previously relied on organic reach for marketing their properties and general news will now have to put budget behind them to help them gain traction. And with increased demand comes increased prices.

The raised number of businesses seeking that coveted ad space on their audience’s News Feeds means more of us will be fighting for the same space, turning it into a real commodity. Ads are charged on an auction-like system – the highest bidder gets the ad space. So, it’s only natural to assume your ad space is going to get a whole lot more expensive. You can prepare for this by carving out an extra allotted budget to be spent on your Facebook advertising.

5) Seek professional advice

As always, if you’re unsure of what steps to take, it’s smart to get advice from an expert. Social media marketers will be well versed on these changes, as a large portion of their clients will already be questioning how they’re set to impact their businesses.

They’ll be able to give you the information you need and set you up on a new marketing plan that factors in additional expenditure and helps to maintain your ROI.

5 Real Estate Marketing Secrets You Should Know About

Ever feel like you’ve known there’s a way to easily grow your real estate’s online marketing presence, but you can’t quite put your finger on it?

Don’t worry – we get it.

We understand that you might think it’s the strategies themselves that are letting you down. That they aren’t pulling their weight. They’re simply not strong enough. However, more often than not, the strategies themselves aren’t to blame – it’s the implementation.

In this article, we’re going to take you through 5 of the biggest real estate marketing secrets, blowing them wide open so you can be bigger, badder and better and take your market segment by storm. Read on to find out more.

1) A Real Estate License Doesn’t Mean Real Estate Leads

Getting your real estate license is a huge step, but it isn’t the last one you’re going to have to take. Many budding agents think they’ll land their license and business will start to fly your way, but it’s just simply not the way things work.

Your business doesn’t have any historical communication channels set up, and it’s your job to get them up and running. These should be your next steps, so get to it.

2) “List My Property Now” Calls are Few and Far Between

Got a friend or relative who promised they’d call you the next time they needed to sell their house? Well, we hate to break it to you, but the deal isn’t sealed until their signature lands on the contract. On top of that, there are going to be a huge number of other experienced agents also competing for their business.

Ask yourself the questions –

WHY would someone call me over anyone else?

WHAT benefit or expertise do I provide that others are not?

WHO else would you call if you were Joe Bloggs looking to sell and why?

3) Direct Mail Marketing Tactics Take Time

Another massive misconception about real estate marketing is that leads roll in as soon as you launch a campaign. And this simply isn’t the truth. Whilst a really successful marketing campaign might render you some quick wins, old-school tactics like postcard and flyers will take time to gain traction.

One mailbox drop might not secure you a lead, but a slow consistent advertising campaign will enable you to cement yourself as an active player in this market. So when someone goes to buy, sell or lease, your name and brand is one they will associate with having an effective market presence. This is the same with your emails and digital newsletters, having a strategy and long term plan is the key to success.

As a result, you shouldn’t expect to see results overnight. It’s simply not going to happen, and chances are that if you go into a marketing initiative with this perspective, you won’t have the stamina to follow it through.

4) Paid Ads Don’t Mean Guaranteed Results

Studies have shown that people need to see an ad an average of 7 times before they’re inspired enough to take action. So, as with direct mail, digital advertising also requires you to stick to it.

Set a realistic time frame of the results you expect to see over the first few months, then compare it with what you actually see. This will help you to manage your expectations, as well as giving you a platform to secure consistent, continually improving results.

5) Small Wins Can Mean Big Business

It’s no secret that a lot of agents are in business to make money, but far too many of them make one common mistake –They shoot for the end goal in one shot. And this simply doesn’t work.

Whilst it might be hard to conceptualise each step you need to take to achieve your aim, small business wins add up. Before you know it, those 3 deals have brought in another 3 referrals. Over time, these add up to a serious bottom line of profit.

Give yourself a 24 month plan with goals, so you have something to measure yourself by and a long term plan of how you are not only going to get your foot in the door of your market place, but cement yourself as the go-to for anyone thinking real estate.

6 Content Marketing Mistakes That are Costing You Real Estate Leads

In the heated, highly competitive digital landscape that real estate is increasingly calling home, the importance of content marketing shouldn’t be underestimated. If you’re getting it right, it can be a solution to the majority of your marketing challenges, whilst maintaining an enviable ROI.

However, there are a number of pitfalls real estate agents fall into that harm your lead generation and can even damage your business. Are you making any of them? Read on to find out.

1) Completely Avoiding Blogging

Your real estate agency’s blog, if handled right, can be your best source of free and qualified traffic which, in turn, translates to more enquiries and more closings. The benefits of content marketing for real estate are enough for several full-length blog posts, but here are some of the key ones you can expect to experience:

You’ll strengthen your SEO rankings
You’ll boost your organic lead generation
You’ll supercharge your social media reach and following

Real Estate Blogging – Why You Should Do It

2) Avoiding Local SEO

One of the biggest and best ways to outrank the larger property portals is to switch your focus from national to local SEO. And this is the main place where your real estate content is sure to come in handy.

It’s your chance to shout at search engines and tell them to “look over here”, signalling that local real estate is what your business is about. The best way for you to handle this is by jotting down a list of keywords onto a notepad and creating content around them. If you’re tight on budget, Google Keyword Planner is an excellent way to locate relevant keywords.

How To Beat The Real Estate Competition With Local SEO Terms

3) Only Targeting Final Sales Stages Topics

It’s no doubt tempting for you to jump headlong into topics that deal with the last stage of the buyer journey, such as the closing process.

Remember, however, that your audience aren’t all sales-ready. Some of them are likely to be evaluating your area, some are browsing new property options, and others have just seen your website for the first time.

In order to contact all these people, you need contact details. And to get those contact details, you need to guide your target audience through each stage of the sales process with valuable, engaging information.

4) Making it Difficult to Opt In to Your Service

Attention spans online are short. So, if it’s difficult for your website visitors to get in touch or provide you with their contact details, they’re simply not going to do it.

The key advantage of real estate content marketing is that you’re getting permission to have a long-term relationship with your readers, as opposed to them digesting content and bouncing from your site. With an email address, you’ll be able to send newsletters, email communications about offers and hard sells to drive them through each stage of the funnel.

70% of your customers learn about your business through your content, as opposed to through your ads. Avoid making the 4 common mistakes above, research content marketing in more detail, and you’ll be ready to go.

New Style Real Estate Website

Long time clients Style Real Estate in Brisbane were leaving their franchise group to go to First National Real Estate. As their Director Peter Elisseos wanted to remain using iDashboard to manage their listings and database, to get the most out of the system he knew it was best to have the team at iDashboard design and create them a new modern, & responsive website design that integrated with his CRM.

The First National Real Estate Style website is completely responsive; working on Desktops, Tablets and Smartphones allowing their staff and visitors to access any property any time, incorporating the First National Real Estate branding and colours.

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

Quick Property Search Panel
Latest Listing on Home Page
Quick Links to Social Media, Staff List, Property Alerts Sign Up and Contact Page
Latest News and Updates
Buyer and Renter Email Alerts Signup/Login

Along with this fantastic home page, the website boasts an easy to use navigation, property grid & list view, property information pages, interactive forms and many more professionally designed features.

As experts in the Real Estate industry, the team at iDashboard understand that changing brands or starting a new agency can be a stressful time, so we work to ensure that everything takes place without fuss. Their Director Peter Elisseos was very happy with the changeover, commenting ‘the transition went very smoothly’.

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

If you are looking for a new website for your new agency or want to upgrade to a modern responsive design, contact the team at iDashboard today.

Email Marketing 101 – Best Practices for Real Estate

In the digital marketing space, attention spans run low – and the web is coated in a thick layer of content produced by your competitors. So, in an environment this competitive, how can you ensure the words you’re writing are the hot topic, attracting the eyeballs you need?

Okay, social media can be a solid source of traffic. But, with Facebook once again moving the goalposts on how many users your organic content will get in front of, it’s simply unlikely to be enough.

No, you need something else. Something your competition haven’t necessarily caught wind of yet. You need something that isn’t dependent on how well your website ranks on search engine results pages.

You need email marketing.

On a global basis, there are estimated to be over 3 billion email accounts – that’s roughly half of the world’s population. Each year, close-on 95 trillion emails get sent, and if you’re not part of that number, you’re missing out.

However, with this influx of email popularity has also come an unfortunate by-product – your target audience are increasingly careful about who they let into their sacred inbox space and, more importantly, whose emails they even bother to read.

As a result, you need to make the most of every opportunity you have to maximise the amount of benefit your business sees. Read on to find out more.

Ensure Subject Lines are Strong

Your email’s subject line is the first thing your audience see, and because of this, it needs to be seriously strong.

Your subject line is the first thing your email subscribers will see, and research shows that 62% of subscribers will read an email if the subject line is interesting. Focus on getting your subject line down as a first priority and you’ll be off to a great start.

Create a Clear Call to Action

As a real estate agent, it’s unlikely that you’re emailing potential customers just to find out how they are. You’re much more likely to be trying to get them one course of action or another. And to get people to actually do what you want them to – instead of simply closing your emails – you need a convincing call to action.

You need to be clear with your message. If you’re trying to get them to download a free e-book, your CTA button shouldn’t read “Free eBook”- instead, it should be closer to “download this eBook now”.

Focus on Your Body Content

Once you’ve got your leads to open the email, that’s only half of the battle done. You can put all of your effort and creative talent into a subject line, but the truth is, people will only keep reading if the body content of your email is engaging.

And although you’re handling a prospective business relationship, you should be writing as if they’re your friend. It’s this friendly, conversational and informal tone in an email that keeps your consumers interested and helps to cultivate trust and build a bond.

Steps to Success with Your Email Marketing Strategy

10 Fresh New Ideas for Real Estate Agents Ready for 2018

It’s a fact and we need to accept it – we’re now getting deep into 2018. And whether you’re still sticking to your New Year’s resolutions or have given up on them completely, we’ve got a couple ideas for routine changes that’ll help you boost your productivity and increase your ROI. Read on to find out more:

1) Work Smarter

“Work harder” is so 2017. Instead, you should focus on working smarter and placing a priority on jobs that’ll have impact over jobs that require urgency. Schedule your big jobs into your diary first, then fill in the blanks with less important tasks.

2) Automate Where You Can

The use of robots in real estate is rising, and you should use them wherever you can to help you save time and cut down on human error. Use them to condense your reading list, help you follow the 20-20-20 rule, and cut down on multitasking.

3) Up Your Social Media Game

Consistency is key with this one. If you can maintain a regular posting schedule on social media, you’ll be amazed by the benefits you’ll see.

A Social Media Schedule for Real Estate Professionals

4) Make More Videos

If 2016 was the year of the photo, then a year of the video is long overdue. Set yourself apart from other real estate agents by tapping into creative video marketing ideas.

8 Real Estate Video Marketing Ideas to Action Right Now

5) Get in Contact with More Local Businesses

Reach out to businesses in your area and work to form partnerships that’ll benefit both of you. For example, you could host your real estate events at a local independent café, and they could return the favour by providing you with a discount for your loyalty.

6) Realise Real Estate Robots Won’t Steal Your Job

Okay, if you coast, there’s every chance they could. But if you’re focusing on upskilling every week, you’re going to lock your job down. If you can make yourself irreplaceable, you’ve got nothing to worry about – and upskilling is a great way to make this happen. A great thing to begin with is social media and blogging, your digital presence is going to become more and more important. Just because you might not see this as important, doesn’t mean your competitors won’t.

25 Ways to Use Social Media to Get More Real Estate Clients

7) Take Time Out

Remember to breathe. Real estate can get busy, and you need to take time for yourself and come up for air occasionally. Set yourself a rule where you don’t work past 7pm, and set aside time to speak with friends and family.

8) Get a New Headshot

New year, new you – update your social channels with a fresh headshot to keep things current.

8 Profile Picture Rules

9) Protect Yourself Online

Ramp up the security you’ve got on your business by introducing two-factor authentication on your social platforms, regularly updated software and stronger passwords.

How Can You Keep Your Real Estate Business Safe From Hackers?

10) Embrace Change

Last but not least, you need to keep up with the current. Times are changing, and it’s sink or swim. Learn to embrace change, however, and you’ll be fine. Adapt to new technologies, make the jump and switch to cloud computing, and use it to scale your business.

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