Creating and maintaining an effective social media strategy is a top priority in today’s real estate climate. Posting active listings and sharing relevant real estate content across social media is an obvious, yet essential marketing strategy. However, it’s likely many agents aren’t utilizing these platforms to their full potential. With a constant influx of news, photos and updates flooding accounts, agents need to find new and creative ways to stand out on these platforms and, most importantly, present themselves as a well-rounded, relatable resource.
Showcase Your Community
Create content directly related to your local community. From a buyer’s perspective, especially those looking to move out of state or across the country, understanding and experiencing a community is very important when starting a home search. This will also showcase how connected you, as an agent, are to your neighborhood and where you are selling homes. From local events to small businesses, and historical homes to new developments, photos and videos can illustrate a more intimate view of the city or town that can’t be showcased in a listing. Add detailed captions to your posts, engage with people in person or go live online during an event and answer questions in real time.
This will encourage your prospects and followers to get involved while simultaneously showing how involved you are in your community.
Share Office News, Awards and Milestones
Whether you just closed on a big sale, you received an award or your business is celebrating a milestone anniversary, share this with your social circle. Celebrating a milestone anniversary for your firm? Create a graphic and pair it with a team photo so prospects and other professionals can share in the celebration. Posting photos of homes you and your team have sold, along with a testimonial from the buyer, will showcase your success in your local market, as well as the great customer service you provide. If you, your agents or your firm receives an award, such as becoming an RISMedia Newsmaker or Power Broker, put it out there.
This will showcase your business success and allow prospects to see that you are a trusted and hardworking agent.
Make a Personal Connection
Let your personality shine across your social media accounts. If you’re an avid golfer, an artist or baseball fan, share that with your social sphere. Before a homebuyer reaches out to an agent, it is likely they will visit their social media sites, not just to find available listings and contact information, but to discover who you really are and if you are the right agent for them. Remember, even when posting about your personal interests and stories, be sure to keep it professional.
This approach is about connecting with your clients on a deeper level, building a rapport and creating personal connections; a key ingredient to any successful business strategy.
Don’t Be Afraid to Have a Little Fun
While keeping each post professional, it’s never a bad idea to show off your sense of humor and share some inspiration in creative, modern ways. As buyers and homeowners navigate their way through the homebuying process, sharing content unrelated to real estate can be refreshing. Offer some comedic relief and expand your viewership with memes, making sure they are appropriate, of course, considering the NAR Code of Ethics and Standards. These can be real estate-related, news-related or simple, lighthearted humor. You can even post inspirational quotes from industry leaders or motivational phrases to encourage your audience.
Sharing a laugh and developing a connection with your followers allows them a chance to get to know you on a more personal level, creating an invaluable connection.
By adding variety to your posts, you can significantly grow your business while also coming across as a relatable and relevant resource for clients, new and old. Improving your social media efforts with a little bit of personality, creativity and humor, you will not only benefit from a significant return on investment, but also build and maintain valuable relationships in your industry as a well-rounded real estate agent. Get the most out of your social media accounts today to build a better business for tomorrow.
Paige Brown is RISMedia’s content editor. Email her your real estate news ideas to pbrown@rismedia.com.
