Real estate agents are often beat about the head and shoulders with the latest & greatest marketing and lead generation fads, websites, sales funnels, search engine optimization, blogging, articles, and of course, social media.

The good news is that the strategy behind social media hasn’t really changed over the years. Yes, the mechanics behind social media has and even the social media channels themselves have, but the strategy is pretty much the same as it has always been.

Real estate agents who are successful using social media approach social media in much the same way they approach being social in real life … by being personable, engaging, and participating in the conversation (sounds about the same for nearly every business that is showing success using social media.

Before we get into specific tips for realtors using social media, let’s put a couple things into perspective.

As I’m writing this, some 3.2 billion (about 42% of the population) use social media. Of course, Facebook is still the giant in the room with nearly 2/3 of U.S. adults reporting they are Facebook users. Interestingly, baby boomers make up the smallest slice of the social media user population coming in at 48.2% while 90.4% of millennials are using social media platforms (and of course your next buyer targets). The average person is spending 2.22 hours a day on social media. Finally, it’s important to understand that 91% of social media users are accessing the platforms using mobile devices.

Bottom line is social media isn’t going anywhere and is probably more relevant for connecting to consumers then it was even 5 years ago (when most people thought it was just a fad).

So what are some tips for realtors using social media?

  1. Be personal. This is far and above the biggest piece of advice we can give. Think about the people who are following your page and posts while they are scrolling endlessly through their social media apps. What are they looking for? Something that catches their eye – something captivating, not just another bland new to the market listing or another boring open house listing. Show some personality, be funny, get creative, be personal, why should someone want to work with you during the buy / sell process?
  2. Get your seller involved. Are they social media savvy? As them to share a personal story about their home, the neighborhood their favorite hang-outs, what do they like about their community? What do the utility bills look like. Again, the goal here is to showcase the properties you are trying to sell using a little personality and connecting with the interested buyers.
  3. Create a buzz. Know about a property coming to market soon? Hype it up! People want what they can’t have (yet), There are tons of examples of businesses who hype things up months in advance (tv shows, movies, concerts, etc.) – they all announce something new weeks or even months in advance to generate the buzz and interest.
  4. Drive people to a website that has information about the listing. Don’t try to take the listing information and make all of that into your social media posts – people will get bored and either fall asleep or move along in their scrolling activities. There are benefits outside of social media to driving people to your website – SEO (search engine optimization) is one of them. Put up enough of a teaser message in your social media content (with a compelling image, gif, or video of course) that inspires the reader to click on the “learn more” link (the actual listing information on your website). The more often you serve something up on social media where the user clicks on a link back to your website, you get a secondary benefit in search engine optimization. It should go without saying that you don’t link your social media posts over to Zillor or Realtor.com for example – they get enough SEO equity – keep it all for yourself.
  5. Promote and promote often. Dive into social media advertising (particularly on Facebook). By default you’ll be able to tap into Instagram users as well; assuming you are active on Instagram (you are active on Instagram, right?). Got an upcoming open house? Get creative on the images you are using (we like a tool called Canva.com), create multiple images and create a couple different advertising campaigns for your open house, The more impressions the better, especially when you are not promoting the same status update and the same image for the same open house. Keep your audience on their toes, you’ll be rewarded for that!
  6. Become a subject matter expert. Talk about the community, the schools, the night-life, give them an education on all things involved buying and selling – mortgages, getting pre-approved, first-time home-buyers, home inspections are all great examples of information you can share so your social media channel doesn’t come across as self-promoting “yet another property for sale or open house coming up.”

Peoples attention are online and it is more critical than ever to maximize the incredible opportunity social media has to offer at little to no cost to expose your listenings to as many new people as possible.