Social Media Tips for Realtors: How to Get the Most Out of Your Online Presence
As a real estate agent, there’s no doubt that you understand the importance of having an online presence to reach prospective clients in your area. However, social media offers more than just a way to connect with prospects in your local area; it can also be an opportunity to reach people who may have never even considered buying or selling real estate before. With all of the choices you have to make to begin your social media marketing strategy, it's easy to become overwhelmed and bogged down with time-wasting platforms and ineffective posts. Here are some helpful tips and tactics on incorporating social media into your real estate marketing plan.
Choose Your Platforms Wisely
Real estate agents should choose the best social media platforms for marketing their business. With so many options, it can be difficult to know which channels are the most effective for realtors. Here's a rundown on what you need to know about the biggest players in the game, your options, and how to decide which platforms you should focus on.
For realtors, the most important things to consider are how far reaching is the platform and what are the user demographics. Let's take a look at two of the biggest social media players, Facebook and Twitter. Consider the following statistics:
Facebook
- Over 190 Million active monthly users in the U.S. (Statista)
- 79% of American FB users is between ages 30 and 49 (Statista)
Twitter
- 48.35 million active monthly users in the U.S.
- 26% American users are 30-49 years old
With the broadest reach, Facebook is perfect for real estate agents. The age demographics fit nicely into the average buyer/seller range, making it easy to post with potential leads. Twitter, on the other hand, only has slightly over a quarter of its users falling into the ideal home-buying age range, nor does it get anywhere near the reach that Facebook does. Do you see where we're going with this?
Let's look at another comparison - Instagram and Pinterest.
Instagram
- 105 million active monthly Instagram users in the U.S. (Statista)
- Most users are between the ages of 16 and 24 (Statista)
Instagram is pretty time-consuming. Photos and videos have to be near perfection if they’re going to grab the attention of fellow Instagrammers. Then, there’s the fact that the audience is all wrong for real estate agents since most Instagram users are below the home-buying age.
Pinterest
- 86 million monthly active Pinterest users in the US (Statista)
- Most U.S. Pinterest users are between 13 and 49 (Pew Research)
- 43% plan on getting their ideal home within the next five years (Sprout Social)
Did you pick up on that last stat? If you've ever spent any amount of time browsing Pinterest, you know that home interiors, home exteriors, home landscaping, home decor...is HUGE on the platform. That tells us that many people using it are interested in HOMES. So, while Pinterest can be time-consuming, it's a much better time investment for real estate marketing.
LinkedIn is one of the best social media platforms for real estate agent marketing. While it doesn't boast the staggering user numbers of Facebook,Instagram, and Twitter, LinkedIn is mostly business-oriented. This platform has a much higher viewer to lead conversion ratio than the other platforms mentioned because there are so many fewer social-type posts. You won't find your LinkedIn feed full of cat memes and posts about what everyone ate for breakfast. 77% of its users are 30 years old and up, half of its users are college graduates, and 90% of its users make household decisions. Compare those statistics to Tik Tok, in which 61% of its users are between 10 and 29. Chances are the vast majority of Tik Tok's audience is useless to real estate agents looking for effective social media marketing platforms.
Build Your Community
Invite previous satisfied buyers and sellers to join you on social media. Ask them what they loved most about working with you. Did you assist your clients in finding their perfect property? Did you assist them in selling their homes quickly? You can build trust in your brand by sharing client success stories and testimonials. People trust online reviews just as much as they trust personal reviews from people they know, so sharing feedback publicly can help increase your trustworthiness.
Prepare Content For All Levels Of Experience
This tip starts with a warning: Don't prepare your social media posts assuming you're only connecting with first time buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 24% of America's home buyers are 41-50 years old or younger. About 22% of them are first-time buyers. If you approach your posts thinking you're just talking to first-time home buyers on social media, you're mistaken.
Social networks can be ideal forums to engage followers and find out what they're looking for in a real estate agent, but it's important to remember that they're not all new to the home-buying process. You never know who you'll connect with, so have content tailored to all levels of home-buying experience available.
Use Video
It may be tempting to skip the time and expense of shooting and editing a video, but online video is an important element of real estate marketing. Then there's this staggering reality - there are more than 8 billion (with a ‘B’!) daily video views on Facebook.
It's helpful to remember that a lot of potential buyers are visual buyers. Your video can create an emotional connection with visual home buyers that a photo-based listing might not be able to create. YouTube videos can also help increase your website's rankings on search engines like Google, which is a very common place for buyers to start their homes search.
Valuable Content
In 1996, Bill Gates coined the phrase "Content Is King". 26 years later, content still reigns supreme, particularly when it comes to effective social media marketing. You might think that your status update or post, your link, photo or video, looks great, but if it doesn't pique the interests of the people who follow you, it means very little. Pay attention to what people are saying about you and your brand. Think about common questions home buyers and sellers ask you, and turn these into posts. In doing so, the content you share on social media will reflect the interests of your customers . By providing valuable content, you'll keep people coming back.
Interact
Today, buyers expect instant responses to their questions, but where and how they ask them has changed. Home buyers are calling real estate agents with questions about a property or neighborhood less and less. Instead, they're researching online, using online recommendations and ratings, and interacting with real estate offices on social media. Use these questions as an opportunity to start dialogue with followers who may be in the early stages of buying.
When you receive comments on your social media posts, make it your regular practice to respond promptly. Quick and courteous replies can lead to engaged readers who post comments on your social media sites. One caveat: Don't feel obligated to respond to those who post abusive comments. Social media isn't immune to online bullies and not every message is worth replying to. In all of your replies and engagements with your followers, always remain professional and cordial.
Embrace those who praise your service and resist the temptation to engage in conflict with your harshest critics. Most people who contact you are simply looking for more information about a listing that they thought was still available, but is now sold or rented. Even if they seem frustrated, use the opportunity to pivot their interest to another property.
Be Yourself
Consumers want to connect with those whom they do business with, and writing authentic social media content that represents your personality is important in making that connection. You may be tempted to hire someone to post on your social media accounts, but remember that what is being shared could completely fail to give potential clients a sense of who you truly are. In addition to making real estate services more appealing to a potential client, sharing your personality across the various social networks can make a connection and start a conversation before ever picking up the phone.
Boost Your Marketing Strategy With Quality Signs
The benefits of using social media to market your business are undeniable, since statistically speaking, your target audience is already using it. Furthermore, establishing a strong social media presence generates trust with your audience and helps you build your brand recognition.
Continue to boost your business marketing by choosing the best real estate signs. Look to Lowen Sign Company, the nation’s top producer of real estate signs, for all of your signage needs. Most orders ship in as little as three days, straight to you from our manufacturing facility in Hutchinson, Kansas. Visit our website to browse our online catalogs and use our simple ordering system. If you have questions, call us at 1-800-545-5505. We'd love to hear from you!