Adding a Social Media Brand Manager to Your Team
When coaching agents that are trying to grow their business to the next level, many agents ask me how to find the right person to manage their social media brand marketing and manage their CRM program. Hiring this person who can put the proper system in place that makes managing your business easy, and with total organization and less time, will catapult your business and scale it quickly, allowing you to focus on what you do well: list and selling activities.
The purpose of expanding your team and adding people is to leverage your time and effort to create more opportunities. If you are considering hiring your first staff person, or you need an additional staff member to focus on social media and your online marketing campaign, as well as effectively manage your CRM, here are some things you need to consider to be sure you find the right person, and how to implement the job position for maximum results that will ensure your team’s accelerated growth.
- Hire someone smarter than you. If you are looking to delegate the social media and marketing of your brand, you will want to hire a person who knows social media and online marketing, not real estate. Also, realize that you need their expertise. Knowing what you don’t know is as valuable as knowing what you do know. You need someone that can create and manage your online platform and communicate your messages. This candidate will most likely not be in the real estate industry, and that is OK; in fact, it is preferred that they are not from the industry. Remember, you want someone who knows social media and back-end marketing on websites, and how to successfully manage your CRM. They aren’t selling houses; you are.
- Search online and Indeed or LinkedIn for candidates. Post your job and identify a person who can take your branding and marketing to a new level. Make sure they can work with video, posting, photos and WordPress, and can learn and manage your CRM. If you haven’t selected a CRM, have this person be part of the process of trying CRMs; after all, they will be the one using it for you to create more business and keep in contact with your leads and past clients and referrals. You can post on Facebook, but remember, you are looking for the right skillset, not an existing agent who isn’t selling homes but knows a little bit about social media and online marketing.
- Make an outline and job description. Have an outline and list of job duties and needs before you start interviewing candidates. This way you can speak to all the necessary job duties and expectations you have of this person in his/her role on your team. This list should include any or all of the social media, landing page creation for lead generation, general marketing, property marketing for your listings, website maintenance, CRM, executing email campaigns, MLS input/updating, and more.
- Full-time or part-time—it works! How profitable your real estate business is right now may determine how many hours you can afford to hire this person, and what you pay them. That’s OK. It can start with flexible part-time, or, if you are able financially to start someone full-time, that’s great. You can ease into this process or you can jump right in. The point is you are leveraging your time and ability to create social marketing and an online presence, and be on more appointments at the same time.
- Create the vision of the social media brand manager and empower them to own the job. Share your overall vision of how you want to be branded online both on social media and your website, and allow this person to implement the plan for you. They will learn your voice. You can’t possibly manage all the social channels, and the CRM, and list and sell houses. So, give them direction and expectations, and a calendar. Outline how many posts you would like, and when and where. Develop your social media marketing plan with their expertise, and then let them create it for you. Give them the ability to use their creative skills to start a social media branding campaign that explodes your Facebook business page followers and creates more leads per month.
By implementing a social media brand manager into your team, you will leverage your time and manage every piece of your social marketing and website functions, allowing you to look professional and relevant online, generate massive amounts of leads, stay in contact with your past clients, sphere and referral sources, and keep you focused on what you do: list and sell homes.
For a FREE template of a prewritten ad to help you hire your social media brand manager, as well as a copy of my “Getting Started With Social Media Marketing Plan,” email yourock@sherrijohnson.com.
Sherri Johnson is CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting. With 20 years of experience in real estate, Johnson offers coaching, consulting and keynotes, and is a national speaker for the Homes.com Secrets of Top Selling Agents tour. For more information, please contact coaching@sherrijohnson.com or 844-989-2600 (toll free) or visit www.sherrijohnson.com.
