Get Started with Social Media: Understand the Basics and Get Started – An Agent’s Point Of View

Introduction

Social Media In Marketing: The Power and Possibilities

Social media is a must-have tool for real estate agents these days. It can help you reach out to new clients, connect with potential buyers and sellers, and build your brand. However, it can be tricky to navigate if you don’t know where to start. In this post, we’ll give you tips on how to get started with social media for your real estate business. We’ll discuss popular social media networks, offer some suggestions for content creation, and ways to get started on the right foot. Stay tuned – by the end of this post, you’ll be ready to take social media by storm!

Why get started with social media?

Did you know that over four and a half billion people worldwide use social media? Every real estate agent should be thinking about social media marketing. Moreover, they need to have an active presence on social media. It’s where your current clients are, along with many homeowners and future homeowners searching for guidance. 

If you are an agent and you are not on social media, you are leaving behind a lot of opportunities. Don’t ignore the multitude of consumers that use social media when searching for companies for the goods and services that they desire, especially when it comes to real estate. A vast audience of potential clients passes you by simply because you didn’t take the time to be social. 

Don’t be a Secret Agent – with that said, the logical course of action would be to take the initiative – get started with social media.

How do you get started with social media? Keep reading:

To get started with social media, create a profile on the platform of your choice and start engaging. The best way to begin is by starting with the forum you are most comfortable on and then slowly working your way around to the others.

Choose the best social media platform or platforms for your real estate business

Social media should be a critical element of any company’s marketing strategy, and for a real estate business, it can be even more critical. The best social media platform for you as a real estate agent depends on your target audience, the demographics of your area, and the needs you have for that platform. What are the best social media marketing platforms for business? 

Over the past few years, social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have become increasingly popular with consumers. However, while their capabilities to connect with users across the country may be different, their usefulness for marketing, sales, and customer service is undeniable.

These are the four leading social media platforms that every creative real estate agent should participate in:

Facebook – Almost every demographic is active on Facebook. So, it’s a great place to find prospects.

Instagram – This platform is ideal for posting beautiful pictures of homes for sale, which you can use to reach more of your potential clients.

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LinkedIn – Use LinkedIn as a place for networking with other realtors and prospective clients in your location.

YouTube – This platform (technically a search engine) helps your business increase its reach, build brand awareness and engage more with prospective clients.

Once you decide which social media platforms you want to use. The next steps would be to create objectives and goals for each social media platform.

What steps should I take to achieve my goals for each social media platform? Keep reading:

Here is an example of an objective and a goal to spark your thought process:

Facebook –

Your objective could be, “we will use our Facebook page to have one-on-one conversations with our clients by providing feedback to the questions they ask.”

Your goal could be, “we will maintain a 100% reply rate with customers interacting on Facebook.”

Pro-Tip – Set up your social media profile section with a high-quality photo of yourself or a logo and an optimized social bio complete with contact information. Create a strategy that will help guide your content creation process and help you determine whether or not the platform is working for you.

How should I go about developing my content strategy? Keep reading:

What is your current activity level? Can you manage multiple platforms, or will you outsource it?

·  What are your goals on each platform?

·  How will you measure them?

·  What is your target audience?

·  What is the most effective way to engage with the target audience on each platform?

·  What content should you share on each platform to reach your goals?

·  How will you measure the success of each social media platform? 

Get to know your audience

Social media trends can help you know what your audience wants to see from you – identifying what your target audience wants to see on social media is critical. This knowledge will help you understand what content will attract your target audience, which is a crucial step in content optimization. For example, your audience may appreciate interior design tips, knowledge about renovating a home to increase its value, or whether or not they should hire an inspector for an independent home inspection.

To post the most relevant content, think about your target audience (current clients, as well as your “ideal client”) marry that with the following criteria:

·   The age group and gender of the target audience. For example, are they millennials, Gen X, military, executive professionals, etc.?

·   How do you want them to feel when viewing your content?

·   What is the message you want to convey to your audience?

·   What are the lifestyle and the interests of your target audience?

·   For example, are you selling to high-end buyers or the upwardly mobile community who prefer condos nearer the city?

·   The location of your target audience is.

·   Stay consistent

·   Don’t just post—participate

·         Use content creation tools

·         Repurpose, repost, recycle

·         Curate your feed

Study your competitor’s social media pages

There is a high possibility that your competitors are already on social media. Not to worry, social media is a “long game,” and you will catch up quickly by using your social media platforms correctly from the start. Your competitor’s platforms can provide you with several key lessons. What they are doing correctly and what areas can be improved. You can genuinely benefit from observing the methods they use in their social media marketing strategy. 

Therefore, do a simple competitive analysis and visit their pages to learn the following:

·   Which social media platforms are they using actively?

·  How often do they post?

·  What type of content do they post?

·  What type of engagement did they receive?

·  Do they use paid advertising?

All the information you collect will help you discover “what works?” and “what doesn’t?” helping you identify the gaps in your competitor’s content strategy – and fill it! For example, your competitors may have a solid following on Instagram but have devoted less effort to Facebook. This information will help you see that opportunity and, through data, drive your decisions, ensuring you place an increased focus on your Facebook social media marketing strategy.

Create a social media posting schedule

A social media posting schedule, also known as a content calendar, is a schedule of posts for a specific period. You can easily manage social media posts with a content calendar. A well-thought-out social media posting schedule can help brands, public figures, organizations, and even solo real estate agents build a solid social media presence. Think in terms of “campaigns.” Making sure your posts are associated with specific campaigns will help you track and correlate the results of those campaigns more effectively and make them more seamless.

Plan out what you will post with all the collected information about your target audience and competitors. You can create the content or have it done for you by social media experts. Whichever you decide, don’t forget – a schedule helps you think ahead about promotions you may have in mind, any special events or holidays coming up. A content calendar also helps to stay consistent and avoid panicking when you have “Creator’s Block.” Elevated Agent has a fantastic assortment of marketing materials that can help you effectively build your brand.

Do some detective work. Research the internet for the best times to post, then identify the time, day, week, or month to post your content, and schedule accordingly to get the feedback you desire.  

What should I put in my content calendar? Keep reading.

Ensure your content aligns with the objectives of the platform you are using. So as not to compromise your goal achievement. For example, you should post more blog-style content on LinkedIn and more pictures and videos on Instagram. 

Include – the time and the date that you intend to post your content to yield the desired impact.

Include – the type of content you post should contain a mix of good-quality images and videos.

It’s time to start posting!

Well, not so fast. A key concept to keep in mind is the 80/20 rule. When posting on social media, 80% of your content should be informative, educative, and entertaining to your audience, while 20% of what you post should promote your brand.

Post moderately, three to five times a week. If you can sustain more, go ahead, but three times is usually the sweet spot. 

Create compelling content

What kind of content should you post?

It’s a bad idea to post only house listings, “For Sale” this, “Open House” that – who wants to see that, not even you would be interested in only promotional material. Mix it up with a few of the following ideas:

·  Post about what you do as a real estate agent on a day-to-day basis. For example, …you at work during an open house, touring a new home, during a meeting with the team, etc.

·  Post about the location or city where you work. Highlight the unique aspects of your city – the landmarks, the schools, the amenities, the best coffee shop, the best place to grab some garlic wings, etc.

·  Post testimonials from happy customers (in video or photos). Show off your success to build credibility.

·  Post about yourself as a person. It’s essential to show your human side, so share pictures of you going to the gym, volunteering, or some cute shots of your furry family members.

·  Post news and updates about the real estate market in your area, which helps build your credibility as a leader in the industry.

·  Use the video features of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram LIVE to create short videos. These are easy to share and get more views than standard posts. You can go LIVE and hold quick Question and Answer “Ask Me Anything” sessions with your audience. You can also share tips on the most common challenges your clients have. These greatly help to build the credibility of your business and brand.

·  Have fun with posting content and be yourself. It is your personality that will get you, customers, and clients.

Keep an eye on your analytics

When setting out to analyze your social media stats, it’s essential to understand what the “expected norm” is for the real estate industry. What are the “expected norms” for an agent such as yourself? Once you have that figured out, set some goals to surpass them. 

Once you have implemented your posting plans on social media, monitor the engagement to see how it changes over time. You can utilize a different solution to monitor your analytics. However, using the analytics page on your social media platform is an easy way to determine what kind of audience you are attracting and what content they react to the most. What you find may surprise you!

Plan your editorial content around the analytics you review to stay ahead of changing popularity trends.

Experiment, experiment, experiment

Social media involves a lot of trial and error. Spend some time learning more about each social media platform you use and the different features you can employ. There are many ways to learn about social media: YouTube videos or blogs.

You may also visit the social media pages of successful businesses in your industry to get a few good ideas and inspirations of what else you can do to improve your real estate presence. 

Try different ways to engage your audience. For example, hold a poll question, runs a quiz campaign, or a competition with an attractive prize. 

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Do an audit of your social media platforms

By auditing the different social media platforms, you can decide where to spend your advertising budget. Ideally, the platform where you get the most engagement is where you should advertise. Alternatively, you can dedicate an advertising budget to build a more substantial presence in a poor-performing platform. The best advice we can give is to consult with a social media marketing expert to help you understand the best place to spend your advertising dollars so that you get the most return on your investment. 

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Final take away

Social media or social media marketing is how people interact when they share their stories and thoughts with other people interested in what they have to say. That said, because of how appealing these platforms can be for marketing brands and businesses who want to convey the story behind the products and services they offer – whether through something like Facebook, Instagram, or even Pinterest! – If you’re interested in sharing your opinions on social media for your business and using it as an effective marketing method, you should get started TODAY!

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