There is no doubt that every real estate agent should be using social media as a way to build their brand and grow their community.
However, one of the biggest roadblocks that they often encounter is wondering what to post.
There are a number of practical and effective ideas that any realtor can use to start building a following on social media that you can find below.
There are many businesses that promote how great they are by sharing nothing but testimonials and products, expecting sellers to line up for their services.
The problem is that this doesn’t work.
Your goal should be to establish yourself as an authority in your field while at the same time building a personal relationship with your fans.
Sharing an intentionally curated mix of content in your social network can help you achieve this.
Always remember to take note of the following considerations when creating content;
Using authority content will help you establish yourself as a credible expert in your field.
Content that builds likability and trust in order to build a relationship
It is important to create promotional content that can generate new business for your company.
Now that we’ve got that in mind, let’s get started with the social media content ideas!
Ensure that you answer questions that are asked of you
By doing this, you will be able to address the topics that your audience is most interested in.
This is something you should learn so that you will never run out of things to say. You might want to think about what is always on the minds of your audience when it comes to popular topics. Among the examples that might be given are:
Which should I do first, buy or sell?
How does the market look right now? Is it doing well or not so well?
I would like to sell my house at the best time possible. What should I do?
What can I do to increase the value of my home?
If you are responding to questions through your social media pages, it not only adds value to your audience, but it also showcases you as an expert and an authority in your field.
By consistently adding value and answering questions, rather than shamelessly talking about your sales you’ll build a better, more loyal and more engaged following.
Consider these…
Experts don’t need to say they’re experts. Their expertise is evident by the fact that they show it.
You can upload short little snippets to Instagram Stories, and you can upload longer videos to Facebook Live, or you can even have a live Q&A session on Facebook Live.
As opposed to focusing on yourself, if you add value and answer questions, you will be able to build a more engaged following.
Advice for property owners
While answering questions is fantastic – there are times when people are not aware of what they should do when it comes to real estate, especially if they are just starting out.
Take a moment and think about the last appraisal that you did, or the last property investor that you spoke with (whoever your target market is). In your advice to them, what did you suggest?
A good example of this would be when someone is trying to sell their home, and perhaps you told them they should make some light renovations such as painting, fixing up the yard and other cosmetic upgrades that don’t cost a lot, seeing that the budget is small.
Alternatively, you may advise them on how to sell an investment property that is currently occupied and the scenario and market conditions at that time made it the best time to take action.
Whatever it is… that’s a lot of great content there!
In order to become the go-to source in your field, you must educate your audience.
Tell stories, not just your testimonials
Almost everyone loves a good story. Bragging is not something they enjoy doing. It might be a better idea to take a picture with your client outside the sold sign, rather than just talking about how great you are, and tell a story about the transformation of their situation instead. A good example of this would be:
How do you know who the client is? What is their name?
How did they start the process? What were they doing before they started?
How did they intend to achieve their goal? What was their end result?
How did they overcome the obstacles that they encountered?
What prompted them to come to you for help?
How did you handle the turnaround? What was your plan?
What was the end result of the project? What impact did it have on their lives and how did they cope with it?
In all likelihood, the people reading your story on social media are in a similar position as the client you just helped, so discuss the situation and explain how you were able to assist this person in reaching their goals. Show that you are caring and instill a sense of inspiration and pride in others, rather than just bragging about yourself.
Home design and decor
There is always something to be enjoyed about adding a little spice to your home and looking at beautiful renovations or interiors. Provide them with some interior styling ideas, renovation ideas, or practical tips they can use to make their own homes more beautiful and comfortable.
There are a lot of places on the internet where you can find photos, including Pinterest, Instagram, and Unsplash. Whenever you share a post, make sure to tag or credit the author in the caption.
If you are looking for interior design inspiration for your home, use Pinterest and Instagram as a resource.
Make a weekly segment
This is an excellent tip, because it will not only help you with your marketing’s consistency, but it will also make coming up with content easier for you as well. Real estate agents are generally quite good at using video as a means of consuming the content they produce online, and video is the preferred method of consuming content online.
Decide on a theme related to your audience and yourself, and make sure that it is relevant to both. Depending on the interests of your audience, it can be anything from a weekly market update to tips, strategies, stories, etc.
Nevertheless, make sure it is interesting, relevant, and practical as always. Rather than just posting a video every week discussing your stats and accomplishments, develop tips that they can take away with them and actually be of benefit to them.
Additionally, it positions them as experts without them having to make a big deal about it.
Whenever you feel a bit nervous about video, it would be best if you did a few practise runs with a regular video that is not live. Once you have a few takes on your phone that you are satisfied with, you can upload that. Getting the hang of live streaming will only take a few tries and you’ll be live streaming in no time at all once you’ve done a few.
Maintain consistency by doing a segment on a weekly basis at the same time each week.
Conducting interviews
Interviews are great because they give you the opportunity to tell stories, add value to your fans, cross-promote to another audience and support local businesses at the same time.
Interviews can be conducted with colleagues, other professionals (e.g. mortgage brokers, builders, or auctioneers) or you can talk to local business owners in the area, such as cafe owners and well-known locals (great for building a sense of community in the area). The most important thing to remember is to keep it straight to the point and NOT to wax lyrical about yourself.
As a tip, it is better not to upload the raw footage to the site. There are some interviews that seem to take forever, there are a lot of inside jokes and chit-chat that doesn’t seem to be relevant to what is being discussed. When it comes to stuff like that, people tend to tune it out. To make it more engaging, it should be updated with the highlights, key talking points, and should be stripped of fluff.
Having an interview is a great way to share stories, add value to your fans, reach out to another audience, and support local businesses at the same time.
Sponsoring contests
It is a great way to generate a lot of buzz and build your page at the same time with a small budget by running a competition. A simple like and share competition or a contest for naming a suburb for cash prize or voucher can go a long way in getting your brand out there.
There are some things that you can do to make these work, such as providing an attractive prize, making them fun, and making the entry conditions easy to fulfill.
Alternatively, you can approach the local business owner and ask them if they can give you the free prize in exchange for you promoting their business, if you wish to be even more clever.
Basically, all you had to do was leave a comment on this post with your favorite part of Australia Day, and a random winner was selected at the end.
Having an attractive prize, making it fun, and making the entry conditions as easy as possible are all keys to making these contests work.