Real estate professionals put a lot of effort into building their individual online “brand”. Just like other independent business persons, agents promote themselves online. Your name, reputation, and professional brand marketed on the internet becomes a great source for new business, but how do you grow your online presence?
Social Media must become a part of your online marketing efforts. More than websites, social media builds customer loyalty. That’s because social media is all about “engaging” with viewers so they get to know and trust you. Here are some tips on how you can improve your social media activities:
Promote the Neighborhood along with the Home
Homebuyers want to know the positives and negatives concerning the neighborhood of a prospective home’s location. Use social media to explain the pros and cons or each neighborhood of homes you promote. Research Twitter handles/usernames like “@CityOf….” and “@Neighborhood….” and add further insights and tips which result in shout-outs and retweets of your postings which increases your viewers and followers.
Promote Yourself
Don’t rely on ghostwriters or marketing companies to write your marketing content. They fail to give prospective clients a feel for who you are. Marketing gurus claim that consumers want to personally connect with professionals they conduct business with. Write your own authentic social media posts showing off who you are as a real estate agent.
Teach Your Buyers
Explaining typical real estate purchasing pitfalls and how to avoid them makes your buyers smarter. In addition, they appreciate your saving them time and money. Social media provides the perfect channel for making buyers want to work with you. Remember, always hashtag “#realestate” and similar ones to attract other viewers and create new followers or even ride the trend.
Engage Your Followers
More home buyers ask questions on social media channels like Facebook, Quora, Twitter, and real estate forums. Find buyers asking questions about your city and its neighborhoods. Answer their questions and engage with them. Facebook Recommendations feature contains numerous home buyers asking questions.
Respond to All Comments
Reply to every comment on your blog (except for abusive ones). Join LinkedIn Groups like real estate, social media, marketing, and specific cities and locations. Engage with postings and articles by posting comments and responding to other comments. Post your own articles offering tips and advice.
Create Videos
Over 45% of viewers watch more than an hour of YouTube or Facebook videos per week. The popularity of online videos as a marketing tool requires you to take the time to produce them. Buyers want to see what a listing looks like before taking the time to preview them. The same goes with promoting neighborhoods or upcoming local events. In addition, YouTube videos improve your website rankings with Google searches (since Google owns YouTube) where buyers search for new homes.