By Jessica Micmohen 
What fuels real estate industry success? While there was a time when the industry ran almost exclusively on word of mouth, today the field relies heavily on social media to present properties to an audience of buyers. Promoting properties for sale requires more than just posting some images on Facebook, though; it takes a clear understanding of industry trends, as well as extensive social media skills to succeed.
If you’re a real estate agent working to build a social media presence, you’re in good company – and there’s plenty of knowledge out there for you to lean on. Let these 4 best practices guide your approach to social real estate marketing, and then innovate from there. You already have all the tools you need.
Post Volume Matters
For the average business, posting once a day on social media is enough – unless there’s a special promotion going on, there’s not a lot to report. Real estate is different, though. You’re promoting a significant number of different properties, so you need social media volume to match. That means you should be posting to your social channels multiple times per day.
Depending on the platform, how you post will vary. While Facebook can sustain multiple visual posts about different properties each day, Instagram is primarily designed around its stories feature. Take advantage of those snippets to highlight interesting characteristics of different homes, talk about the neighborhood, or promote a property that’s seen a price drop. Consistent, engaging posts are critical to catching buyers’ attention. Promoting your posts in social media will increase the chance that customer calls for a business deal.
Offer Industry Insights
In order to become a licensed real estate agent, you had to learn a lot about your industry, and while a lot of that information is technical and of little interest to the average person, some of it is engaging and valuable for those seeking an agent or who plan to buy or sell a home in the near future. Why not offer some insights into what makes the industry run, or share statistics about home sales? Such content shouldn’t be the bulk of your posts, but can lend your social streams added authority and bolster your brand.
Take Charge Of The Tools
When we talk about social media strategy – in real estate or in any other industry – we tend to focus on the front end, or what your followers see. That’s a useful lens, but as a real estate agent, some of the most valuable social media tools are hiding in the background, and you need to learn to use them.
Among the most valuable social media functions you should be taking advantage of are the demographic data provided by Facebook, along with Facebook’s ad function, and promoted posts on Instagram. The demographics data is critical because it allows you to get a sense of who your posts are reaching and whether they’re potential buyers; it can also help you retarget your advertisements to reach the right audience. Meanwhile, ads and promoted posts help keep key properties in the public eye.
Add A Personal Touch
The last key element of successful social media use for real estate promotion is to add personal elements that help potential clients make a deeper connection with the work. That might mean sharing photos of families celebrating their closings, posting testimonials, and even telling your own story of becoming a homeowner. Buying a home is intimidating, and people need to see others successfully navigating the process as a way to support their own journey.
Managing your real estate business’s social media presence can seem time consuming at first, but once you get the hang of it, you can easily schedule an array of posts and just let them run. Before you know it, you’ll have a robust digital presence and a following of potential buyers excited to work with you.
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Digital Editor