Whether you’re a first-time buyer or a seasoned property mogul, house shopping is primarily an online venture.
A recent NAR report showed that 93% of all home buyers found either a home or an agent using a mobile device. In the same report, social media was cited as the best tech tool for generating the highest quality leads by realtors.
When it comes to real estate pr, social media is viewed as an unimportant afterthought by many businesses, including realtors. However, social media can be your real estate business’ secret pr weapon.
Why is that?
Social media improves your business’ visibility, the various social media channels help drive more traffic to your website and allow you to look personable and connect with your audience.
Having a website is one thing, but an absent social presence drastically reduces your digital reach. But don’t fret. We’ve compiled a list of four easy-to-follow methods for getting your real estate firm on the social media map.
Shout about your property success stories on Instagram
It may seem cliché, but success sells. And there’s no better way to show off your business wins than on social media.
Visually shouting about your success stories on Instagram, especially luxurious listings, should be your first port of call.
If there’s one thing that builds credibility with property buyers and sellers, it’s seeing a real estate business that consistently delivers results for its clients. Eye-catching photos of your listings can increase shares and likes but will persuade your target audience to reach out and contact you.
If you’re looking for a blueprint of how to use Instagram as a realtor, check out @brendacamachorealtor. Brenda has carved out a large space in her target real estate market with a shrewdness for success posting.
Her engagement (a sum of all the likes and comments per post you receive) matches other realtors with 10 times the number of followers.
How did she do it?
She understood the importance of eye-catching photos and posting a variety of different social media content. She uses a mix of:
- Property sale photo posts
- Milestone achievement posts
- Eye-catching, information-heavy infographics
Know your real estate target audience
Have you considered how you’re driving social media content to your target demographic?
Sure, update your channels with slick property photos. However, if your followers are primarily teenage girls eyeing their future dream house, your efforts will prove fruitless.
That’s where hashtags come in. Creative and relevant hashtags allow you to capture search made specifically by home buyers and sellers in your domain.
For example, if you only sell homes in the Connecticut area, you’re only interested in capturing an audience already in Connecticut or buyers or renters attracted to the area. A simple #realestateconnecticut on your Instagram photos could expose your real estate firm to a ton of new business.
Furthermore, analytics tools like SocialBakers give a more granular understanding of your target audience profiles. It provides a qualitative and quantitative summary of your different social media follower profiles – including their age range, interests, and percentage of your total audience – as well as useful suggestions on how to tailor posts to the right people.
For real estate businesses, analytics tools like this gather valuable insights of homeowner and buyer profiles visiting their platforms and can help inform your social media pr plan.
Harness the power of videos on social media
What’s better than scrolling photos of a property?
How about a virtual tour.
Videos are becoming increasingly interwoven into social media use. On Facebook alone, 8 billion videos are watched daily. If it isn’t already obvious, your real estate business needs to get on board the video train!
Here are just some of the video options presented across the different social media channels:
- IGTV – IGTV is an Instagram plugin that allows you to create and post your own videos on the platform. It’s revolutionizing the way real estate businesses interact with their followers. Using clear, online tutorials showing how to use IGTV effectively, some realtors are already taking advantage of this feature to further bolster their leads. However, it’s still an unused pr tactic by the majority of realtors.
- Facebook Live – Facebook Live is another great social media resource for posting videos. On top of virtual home visits and capturing a vendor’s post-sale elation, Facebook Live is perfect for live streaming auctions, furthering your credibility as an active and successful realtor.
- YouTube- YouTube is the most popular website in the US. So, if you don’t have a YouTube channel, make one right now! You could use it to interview other real estate industry leaders or answer paint points your target audience may have when it comes to house hunting.
According to the NAR, only 14% of realtors make use of online videos to market new properties. This is madness when the study also reveals that 45% of buyers find these videos useful.
It seems the real estate market has missed a trick. Get a head start on your competitors and start directing and shooting.
Build client rapport on all social media platforms
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are meaningful client relationships.
Buying or selling a home is a significant life event, so developing trust with potential clients takes serious investment in time and effort for realtors. One of the best ways to form customer bonds is through social media interactions.
Here are just some of the ways you can establish strong ties with home buyers and sellers:
- Hosting competitions on Facebook
- Announcing existing clients’ home purchases and sales on Twitter
- Endorsing real estate industry influencers on LinkedIn
- Making positive company announcements on Instagram
- Responding to posts and direct messages on Facebook and Twitter in real time
When receiving negative press from an unhappy customer, it’s vital you follow the last bullet point to a tee.
It’s well documented that people are more likely to tell their friends about a negative customer experience than a positive one, and the real estate industry is no exception to this rule.
Your real estate business’ pr efforts on social media can be made a lot easier if you use scheduling tools such as Hootsuite or Gain to plan your social media marketing strategy ahead of time. However, if you want some outside help, give us a call!
Final Thoughts
As the world becomes increasingly digital, so has the real estate industry. Realtors should be using all the tools at their disposal to create a bomb real estate pr strategy, and social media should make up a large part of that.
The bottom line – get social media smart by following these tips and watch your presence and authority within the real estate market blow up.
