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As you already know, real estate is an extremely volatile business. With competition rearing its ugly head left and right you need every conceivable advantage to stay ahead. That’s where social media comes in.
If you aren’t already using social media for real estate, you’re seriously missing out. As of 2018, 93% of home buyers start their searches online and thanks to the pandemic, virtual home tours have all but replaced open houses as people are prioritizing social distancing and staying indoors. Thanks to the gargantuan reach potential of social media, realtors are regularly capturing and scoring leads by implementing a powerful mix of content marketing, optimized paid campaigns and dynamic customer engagement.
Sounds awesome right? Well, succeeding on social media involves managing a lot of moving parts. If you want to grow your real estate business and generate 768 leads in two months or reach 2.2 million people with your ads it’s necessary to have a proper social media marketing strategy in place.
In this article, we’ll give you a complete roadmap for growing your social media following and leveraging that following to attract more leads and close more deals.
How to use each social media network for real estate
Facebook for real estate
Facebook demographics:
- Most Facebook users are between the ages of 25 and 35
- 56% of Facebook users are male
- 75% of online users with an income more than $75K are on Facebook
- Facebook has an advertising audience of over 2 billion users
- 75% of Facebook users visit a local business page at least once every week
Facebook has remained the most popular social media network since 2012, with over 2.5 billion active users. And while organic reach on Facebook has fizzled down quite a bit over the past couple of years, realtors can still harness the platform to share great content, interact with leads, book house tours and post local listings.
If you really want to up your networking game, join and even create Facebook groups. Groups are excellent for resourceful real estate professionals who want to connect with fellow realtors, developers, marketers and more. Many groups were created by top realtors who offer opinions and insights on the hottest technological trends and techniques you can integrate into your real estate business. If you’re one such expert and offer training or an educational product, creating a group and sharing your experience can be a great way to attract new students.
Here’s how to optimize your Facebook page if you’re looking to increase the amount of leads in your funnel:
- Make sure your contact information is front and center. You want to make sure potential leads have everything they need to reach out to you.
- Set up a lead generation campaign with the Messenger objective.
- Use Instant Forms in your ads
Facebook Marketplace for realtors:
Facebook Marketplace has been around for a while now. People can list their items, vehicles, job openings and even properties for sale and this year Marketplace crossed the 1 billion monthly users.
To create a property listing on Facebook Marketplace:
- Head to Marketplace, click on “Sell Something”
- Select “Homes for Sale or Sent”
- Upload your property photos. Facebook Marketplace allows up to 50 photos.
- Fill out the Property Details section:
– Use the drop-down menus to select home for Rent and the Rental Type (apartment/condo, house, or townhouse)
– Use the drop-down menus to select the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
– Enter the exact property address. You do have the option to make that address private
We mentioned earlier how Facebook’s organic reach has been dwindling down to basically nothing. And while it is hard to get any eyeballs on your page without a good push, Facebook’s immense reach combined with the sheer amount of powerful and actionable data the platform hosts makes it easy for realtors to get their listings in front of as many people as they want through Facebook ads.
We won’t go through the step by step process of setting up Facebook ads as we already created a guide about that, instead we’ll go over a few optimization tips for effective lead generation.
- Simplify your account structure by combining ad sets and consolidating campaigns to allow Facebook’s machine learning to gather richer audience data and optimize for lower CPC
- Make sure your audience targeting is as detailed as possible. Input your ideal customers’ location, age, income, education, interests and behaviors.
- Set up custom event conversions for when someone who views your ad visits and stays on your website or fills out a form
- Set up custom audiences and lookalike audiences to target people who are similar to others who converted
- Use a Facebook Ads management tool to aggregate all of your creative assets, collaborate with any in-team designers, copywriters or project managers and edit your images, videos, captions and CTA’s.
Instagram for real estate
- The social platform used most by marketers as of 2021
- Leading platform for influencer marketing
- Most frequently opened social network in the United States
- Majority of users are between the ages of 18 and 34
- Most Instagram users are female
Instagram and real estate go together like peanut butter and jelly. Instagram users are visually-oriented, meaning high-quality property photos and videos are bound to perform well. Pretty much everything about the social network is well suited for showcasing properties.
Being a mobile app means location and geo-targeting your listings have the potential of reaching the right people in the right places and due to Instagram’s integration with the Facebook advertising platform realtors gain access to the massive amounts of data Facebook has to offer.
This means that the same ads you run on Facebook can be visible on Instagram as well and not just on the main user feed. With placement in Instagram Reels and Stories, your full screen, scroll-stopping ads can retain people’s attention and amass clicks.
When going the organic route it’s important to keep in mind the overall aesthetic of your feed which is really easy thanks to Kontentino’s drag and drop Instagram grid preview feature.
Your real estate niche can help you figure out which branding you want to stick to when building your Instagram profile. If you specialize in high-end luxury homes, use elegant typography and muted colors. If you operate in affordable housing it’s ok to be more laid back. Having solid branding will ensure your content resonates with the target audience you’re trying to convert.
As for content, Instagram is a great place to showcase your team, the behind the scenes of your operation, inspirational quotes and curated content. If you’re an out-of-the-box creative, experiment with Reels. Businesses have been seeing jumps in engagement by hopping on trends, sharing tips and tricks and industry news.
Here are some things to keep in mind when creating Instagram posts for real estate:
- Use relevant hashtags
- Add a location tag to your post to boost engagement and reach the right people
- Optimize your page for Instagram SEO
LinkedIn for real estate
- There are 326 million female users on LinkedIn and 430 million male users.
- The average income of a LinkedIn user currently stands at $46,644 per year.
- 51% of US College Graduates use LinkedIn.
- There are 61 million senior-level influencers and 65 million decision-makers on LinkedIn.
- An estimated 34% of young millennials (19-25) and 41% of older millennials (26-35) have decision-making responsibilities.
- There are 17 million opinion leaders and 10 million C-Level executives on LinkedIn.
- 37 percent of US adults use LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is the official unofficial social media platform for professionals. As a realtor, LinkedIn is one of the most powerful ways to network with fellow real estate personalities, create compelling and primarily educational content and cement yourself as an expert in your field.
The two best LinkedIn tools to take advantage of are Showcase Pages and Group.
There are different types of pages you can set up on LinkedIn for your business — Company Pages and Showcase Pages. Think of your Company Page as your website and your Showcase Page as a dedicated landing page (like your real estate blog or your “about me” page).
Company Pages and Showcase Pages:
Once you’ve signed up for a business account on LinkedIn, fill in all of the information about your company on your page inducing your real estate website URL, links to other social accounts, location, bio and contact information.
Next, create an eye-catching banner that showcases your personal branding and what makes you unique as a realtor. The more you can build your case that you’re a knowledgeable, experienced, hard-working real estate agent, the more likely a local lead searching LinkedIn for real estate representation will consider working with you.
Group:
Similar to Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups lets you create or join communities of hyper-relevant people in your niche. Whichever Groups you join, be sure to include members of your target audience. Talking with fellow agents and consumers from across the country can help you build an online presence. If you want to find more leads then go local. If you can’t find any Groups that interest you, create your own. Starting your own Group provides you with the opportunity to become a thought leader and go-to resource for nearby buyers and sellers.
Other Social Media Platforms to Use For Real Estate
TikTok in real estate
Ah, TikTok. The now social media giant exploded in popularity to become one of the top downloaded apps of all time since its release in 2017. The best part? Businesses (including realtors) are still hesitant to join the app due to the relatively young user base, despite the numerous success stories of businesses garnering millions of views and tons of brand recognition when they figure out the formula for winning on TikTok. So is TikTok a platform worth pursuing as a realtor? Absolutely.
Though TikTok is dominated by younger users, Gen Z is the second-biggest generation and many of them are starting to invest their money and manage their finances, which means that if you remain a prominent industry expert you can tap into that purchasing power in the future. In addition, TikTok is a great place to let loose, get creative and be yourself. While older Facebook and Instagram users appreciate a formal facade, people on TikTok are more aloof and open-minded, appreciative of authenticity and personality.
YouTube for real estate
The importance of YouTube for real estate can’t be overstated. We already went over the example of Graham Stephan, a realtor who managed to amass over 3 million subscribers by sharing educational content about real estate investing and personal finance. Other prominent YouTube personalities induce Grant Cordone, Bryan Casella, Max Maxwell and Loida Valesqueze.
The winning formula for gaining subscribers and keeping a steady engagement, as shown by the above examples, is consistently sharing educational content.
This is ideal for realtors who provide training or courses, but can be also leveraged by real estate agents who want to close more leads. When you share your expertise you’ll be seen as an authority on the subject of real estate and people will want to work with you to sell their homes. In addition to educational content, house tours, collaborations with other prominent financial figures and behind the scenes content perform well on YouTube.
What content should you share?
New property listings
This one is a no-brainer. With every new listing should come a new post to every social media platform you operate on. This not only ensures that your followers know when you have a new property for sale but also communicates that you’re active and busy hunting for new homes. Make sure that your listings come with stunning photos and that your captions house all of the information an interested buyer might need including a description of the home, the area it resides in and your contact information. It’s crucial to be transparent about the properties you list and provide accurate information about any emotional assistance animals allowed in the home.
In a post-pandemic era, in-person tours may not be the norm anymore. Some people might prefer virtual tours of the properties they’re interested in. Use a virtual event planner or checklist to ensure you take care of all the loose ends associated with hosting an event online.
Property tours
Video content tends to perform the best on most if not all social media platforms. To make the most out of your properties, invest time to make sure your photos and videos are well-lit and highlight the magic each home or apartment has to offer.
If need be, outsource the brunt of the content creation to local talent. When brainstorming content ideas for social media, throw in some unconventional material like drone shots or 360 degree interactive photos.
Make sure to repurpose your videos so you can feed each of your social media accounts on each social network with content that works best on said platform. For example, post a lengthy house tour on your YouTube channel and the short-version highlights on Instagram or TikTok.
Once you get your creative assets in order, it’s important to efficiently manage everything. Kontentino’s robust software can help you schedule posts ahead of time, collaborate with photographers and social media page managers and manage all of your content in an intuitive drag and drop calendar.
DIY Home tips and renovations
A great way to engage, educate and appeal to your audience is giving them useful, actionable information. Showcasing your know-how with fun and innovative ways to improve one’s home is a great way to serve your potential leads and past customers. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t love seeing a kitchen or bathroom go from drab to beautiful in a single video? Here are some ideas for easy renovations anyone can do:
- Painting walls and trim
- Applying removable wallpaper
- Replacing old cabinets
- Simple bathroom rejuvenation (replacing shower doors with frosted glass, installing a new sink)
- Hanging wall art
- Replacing old kitchen trim
If you’re currently working on renovating a property, be sure to bring a camera along and record the contractors when they’re hard at work. You can even prominently feature them on your account and ask them to share their own advice for sprucing up an old home, turning your home renovation videos into a mini series.
Tips and tricks for new realtors
As we’re sure you already know, networking is one of the many skills any successful realtor needs to master. And what better way to build a strong network of fellow real estate professionals is there than by sharing actionable content that could help them out? Sharing your journey and the experience you’ve garnered over the years will not only make you stand out as an expert in your field to other real estate agents but also to potential clients. Educate aspiring realtors about sales tactics, getting a real estate license, managing their time and finances and keeping clients happy. Your goals should be to provide as much value as you possibly can. When you provide free value to others, chances are that value will be returned back to you.
Advice for aspiring home-buyers
Buying your first home is no walk in the park. It’s often a stressful ordeal that requires months if not years of planning, both financially and emotionally.
With home buyers being your target audience as a realtor, what better way to warm them up to becoming a customer than by helping them navigate the treacherous waters of fixing their credit, taking out a loan and weighing the cost of buying vs. mortaging.
People are always more likely to purchase from someone they trust, so cementing yourself as an authority in real estate early on will go a long way further down the line when those now-educated potential buyers are looking for realtors to do business with.
Share motivational content
Real estate is all about the hustle and you know what it takes to succeed more than anyone else. In addition to providing advice to new realtors and home purchasers, share things you’ve learned throughout your real estate journey like general financial rules, people skills and persevering when things get rough.
Use graphic design tools like Canva to create simple yet visually appealing quotes, post short inspirational, short-form videos to Reels or your TikTok page and experiment with live streaming to take your audience engagement efforts up a notch. Read about the best social media tools to help you work as efficiently as possible to create quality content for potential home purchasers.
Collaborate with other realtors
Once you’ve gained traction with your social media it’s time to spice things up a bit and feature other real estate personalities. In addition to forming new relationships, working with other influencers in your niche is a great way to introduce yourself to a whole new fanbase.
If you choose your collaborator well, you’re targeting viewers who should already be interested in the types of videos you make. You can use tools like YouTube’s Creator Academy or Tubefilter to find realtors who have an established social presence, then reach out to them via email or shoot them a DM on Instagram.
It’s important to keep your expectations reasonable and respect their time. It may take a while to organize a formal collaboration but being affable and putting whoever you’re featuring first will ensure the process is seamless and enjoyable for both parties.
Make your real estate social media marketing a lead-generating machine
Both real estate and social media management involve juggling multiple tasks and investing oodles of time in order to succeed. But once you nail the basics and find a rhythm that works for you and your audience, your social media presence can easily become a lean, mean lead-generating machine.
