Expand your business with social media
Social media have completely changed the way real estate agents connect with potential clients and market their services. We’ll guide you on how to be successful on social media to boost your business results.
This article is part one of a series and will help you understand the importance of social media in general, understand how to work with each different social media channel and finally, how to produce the best visual content to support your social media marketing.
Now, let’s start with the importance of social media and map out the specifics on how to present yourself in the best way possible on Instagram and Facebook.
Your social media benefits
Why is social media actually important for real estate agents?
Here are the main reasons so you get a good understanding of why you need to up your game on your social channels.
Increased visibility
Social media platforms offer an enormous audience of potential clients. By building a strong social media presence, real estate agents can increase their visibility and reach more people than ever before. Particularly relevant to build your brand and attract homeowners who want to sell using your services.
Improved Engagement
Social media allows real estate agents to engage with clients and potential clients in a more personal and meaningful way. By sharing valuable content, answering questions, and responding to comments and messages, agents can build trust and establish themselves as experts in their field. Build trust before you even officially start working with a new client.
Enhanced Networking
Social media is also a powerful networking tool. By connecting with other real estate professionals, agents can expand their reach and tap into new markets and opportunities. By being well-connected, you multiply the effect of your social media efforts and who knows, you could even go viral.
So, hopefully now you would like to start using social media effectively? Keep reading.
6 steps toward your social media success
Choose the right platforms
Not all social media platforms are created equal. You should focus on the platforms where your target audience is most active. For example, if you specialize in luxury properties, Instagram might be a good choice, as it's a highly visual platform that attracts a more affluent audience.
2. Create engaging content
To build a strong social media presence, you must create content that is engaging, informative, and relevant to your audience. This includes property listings, market updates, tips for buyers and sellers, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the real estate business.
It’s key to be consistent with your posts if you want to be engaging for your audience. Post every day, or every few days. The hardest, most important part is showing up.
3. Use high quality visual content
Visuals are a highly effective marketing tool, especially in the real estate industry. By creating high-quality images, video and stagings of properties, agents can provide potential buyers with an immersive experience.
Using high quality visuals you can help potential home buyers envision themselves in the property. Home owners will see your visual marketing materials and want the same for their property when the time comes to sell.
4. Build relationships with potential clients
Social media is an excellent tool for building relationships with potential clients. By engaging with followers, responding to comments and messages, and sharing valuable content, you can establish yourself as trustworthy and a knowledgeable expert in your business, region and property market segment.
5. Leverage social media advertising
Paid social media advertising can be a powerful way to reach a wider audience and generate leads.
By targeting the right audience and creating effective ad campaigns, you can drive traffic to your website and increase your chances of making a sale.
6. Track and measure social media ROI
Finally, it's important to track and measure the success of social media marketing efforts. By using analytics tools to track engagement, website traffic, and leads generated, you can adapt and optimize your social media strategy and improve return of investment (ROI) over time.
Next level social media & image editing
So, what are you waiting for? It's time to take your real estate business to the next level.
In our next article about social media we will give you a practical guide of all the specific image formats for social media and how to take care of editing your images for your social media in the most effective way.
But before we proceed to that topic, we’ll help you understand what you need to know about each social channel. First, we’ll look at Instagram and Facebook. In the second article of our social media series, you’ll find the best practices for YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn.
How to work with Instagram
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, with over one billion active users. It's also an excellent tool for real estate agents who want to reach a wider audience and market their services more effectively.
Must-have: high-quality visuals
Instagram is a highly visual platform, so it's essential to use high-quality photos and videos to showcase your properties. Work with the best visual provider for real estate to ensure that your images look professional and eye-catching.
To have greater control over your social media marketing, it’s essential to have the ability to crop and edit your images for use in different visual formats.
Strong brand
To stand out on Instagram, create a strong brand for yourself using consistent colours, fonts, and imagery across all of your posts and incorporate your logo and branding elements into your profile and all content.
Consider Instagram as the window into your world and the perfect opportunity to present your professional expertise and flourishing business.
Post consistently
Consistency is key when it comes to Instagram marketing. Aim to post at least once a day to keep your followers engaged and interested in your content. Use a social media scheduling tool to plan and schedule your posts in advance. Another helpful solution you should look into is a way to do simple editing on your photos and visual content.
Engage with your followers
Instagram is a social platform, so start building relationships with potential clients.
Respond to comments and direct messages promptly, and like and comment on other users' posts to build your visibility.
Use relevant hashtags
Hashtags are an essential tool for getting your content discovered on Instagram. You should use relevant hashtags such as #realestate, #homesforsale, and #realtor to reach a wider audience.
Use Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are an engaging format you can use to showcase behind-the-scenes glimpses of the real estate business, share property tours and open house information, and offer advice for buyers and sellers.
Using Facebook
Facebook is still one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, with over 2.7 billion active users. It remains an excellent platform for real estate agents who want to reach a wider audience, especially to market your services to an older target audience more effectively.
Facebook’s peak activity level seems to be in the past and so it may be more relevant in certain regions and for certain target audiences than others. Younger people have joined Instagram and TikTok instead.
Set up a Facebook Business Page
The first step to successful Facebook marketing is to set up a Facebook Business Page. This will allow you to create a professional profile for your business, share your services, and engage with potential clients. As this page lies at the heart of your brand presentation on Facebook, use consistently high-quality visuals to present your business.
Use Facebook Live
Facebook Live is a powerful tool you can use to showcase a house or give a presentation. Going live can help you build a personal connection with potential clients as they can comment and ask questions directly and allows you to demonstrate your expertise.
No need to act, just be authentic and don’t force it. More outgoing real estate agents may find the Facebook Live format works wonders for them.
Facebook + Instagram = Meta
The first 4 tips for Instagram also apply to Facebook: Use high-quality visuals, build a strong brand, post frequently and consistently and engage with your audience.
Measure your success
As Facebook and Instagram are both part of Meta and can both be monitored through the Meta Business Suite, it may make sense to maintain pages on both if you choose to set up a page on one of the two.
Use the Meta Business Suite insights to track engagement, follower growth, and other metrics, and adjust your strategy as needed.
That’s all for now. In part 2 of this series, we’ll discuss YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn, so keep an eye on the blog and come back soon.
