Information is one of the most valuable resources today and a potent weapon in the battle for online supremacy.
No matter what business or industry you are in, information rules. In the real estate industry, agents who wield the power of information are likely to have the edge over their competitors.
Welcome to the information age
Nowadays, those looking to buy or sell property go to the internet to look for information they need. Everything they need to know is just right at their fingertips without having to go places or spend countless hours fumbling through book pages.
In the real estate business, the agent who becomes a source of industry information is sure to succeed and win more clients, because they provide a valuable resource and relevant solutions to their clients.
How to succeed in the information age
To establish yourself as a reliable source of information, it’s important that you understand and know how to make good use of it to your advantage.
As a real estate agent, people expect you to have the information they need and those that you may deem useful and supports them in their real estate journey.
Be visible
This is the first rule of thumb and the most obvious one. Without an online presence, how can home buyers or sellers be able to find you when they turn to Google to search for real estate agents?
Take advantage of your website and social media.
There are several social media platforms that can give your online visibility the boost it deserves.
Create a LinkedIn account and join communities or groups, so you can engage in discussions and be updated as well with the latest happenings in the industry and around your professional network.
Join and participate in Facebook community groups where you have the opportunity to share your ideas and expertise. Post unique and compelling content that can be valuable to members of the group.
Post your listings on a Pinterest board as well as amazing interior design ideas and renderings that you feel can be useful for those who are interested in sprucing up their homes or looking to find great designs for their beloved homes.
Use Instagram and take advantage of hashtags commonly used by buyers and sellers in the comments section of posts.
Digital ads
Target your ads to reach buyers and sellers, because you will be capable of narrowing down your specifications to reach the right demographic profile, occupation, and preferences, just to name a few.
You will also be able to fit your target audience’s search categories such as navigational for those searching for specific websites, informational for those searching for information and details or transactional for those looking to make a purchase.
Once you have determined what your readers are looking for, you can pay for targeted keywords that are associated with those search properties. Take note to also link the ads to your social media or website content for more mileage.
SEO
Build your website’s SEO to have your content ranking in the search results and make it more visible to those searching for information related to your business.
However, since SEO is organic it takes time to establish the ranking properties and characteristics to get you moving up the search ranks. You also need to put some elbow grease when using SEO so don’t expect to get instant results.
Remember, patience is a virtue, so is SEO.
Google My Business
This is a great way to make your presence felt because having your GMB Business Listing makes you visible in Google Maps.
Here’s a tip, you can use GMB in the same way you use your social media because you can also post content to make you more visible other than social media and your website.
Think and work smart
Having a customer-centric cross-channel engagement strategy is critical if you want to be smart about reaching out to your audience.
Always remember to put your client and audience at the centre of all that you do for your business, which means that your goal is to always provide the best outcomes for your clients and be consistent with your marketing message.
Use calls to action (CTA) throughout your content to encourage engagement whether be it an enquiry, call, share, or click-through to your website.
Speed is critical
People want access to information fast, so if your webpage takes a while to process actions taken by readers, expect them to abandon the page and look for other options.
Studies have shown that 40 per cent of users will not continue to wait for more than three seconds then abandon the slow-moving site, while 29 per cent of users look for other sites when they can’t find the information they are looking for.