For those real estate professionals feeling overwhelmed by social media marketing for real estate or who haven’t yet embarked on their social media journey, the year 2024 could serve as a wake-up call. While you’ve been fretting over crafting the perfect social media post, other realtors in your area have taken the plunge, making mistakes along the way but ultimately using their social media presence to enhance their personal brands and attract leads around the clock.
Indeed, establishing a social media presence that passively attracts leads is no small feat. It demands careful planning, the appropriate tools, and a significant shift in mindset. To assist, we’ve compiled top tips for effective social media marketing in the real estate sector as of 2024, including common pitfalls to avoid, advice on selecting the right platforms, and top picks for social media tools, both free and paid, that can dramatically reduce your workload.
Still Social Media?
Let’s first explore why social media remains an unparalleled marketing tool for real estate agents:
The fundamental aim of real estate marketing is straightforward yet challenging:
To make potential buyers or sellers feel familiar with and trusting towards you, to the point where they’re compelled to call you.
Much of the legwork in building rapport and trust for social media leads has already been accomplished. The following tips will make your social media profile showcase your expertise in real estate, thereby building trust with potential leads, and give them a glimpse into your personality, humor, daily successes and challenges, and even personal interests and family life.
Research supports this approach, revealing that 58% of consumers are willing to pay more for the services of someone who has built a strong personal brand rather than a faceless corporation.
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Social Media Marketing for Real Estate in 2024: Tactics
Let’s delve into the strategies that can elevate your social media presence:
Focus on Quality Connections Over Broad Reach
Successful social media marketing is about creating genuine connections with individuals in your target area looking to buy or sell property. While going viral and garnering thousands of likes may stroke your ego, it does little to further your real estate business if those engaging with your content aren’t in your target market. That is why we at roomvu have always recommended our agents not focus on getting likes.
We recommend that you try to understand your ideal client’s concerns, aspirations, and the solutions you can offer them. Therefore, before posting, invest time in identifying who your ideal client is and what they seek from your services. You do not want to spray and pray.
Craft Eye-catching Hooks
In today’s digital era, where social media feeds are inundated with overwhelming content, users’ patience has significantly dwindled. Whereas a post might have been afforded up to three seconds to capture interest in the past, the window of opportunity has now narrowed dramatically.
If the initial glimpse of content or the first one or two seconds fails to engage, users are quick to scroll past with a decisive “NEXT!”
This underscores the critical importance of crafting compelling hooks for real estate social media marketing. Concise and engaging, these hooks are essential for boosting views and likes and making a lasting impression on viewers encountering your profile for the first time. A well-crafted hook can effectively intrigue visitors, encouraging them to explore more of your content and, ideally, make the leap to reach out to you.
Emphasize Storytelling
A compelling hook may prompt someone to view your post, but an engaging story will keep them engaged. To effectively generate leads from social media, focus on sharing stories that resonate with local buyers and sellers. If you fail to tell a good story, your audience will be bored quickly. Moreover, as social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok prioritize content based on engagement duration, storytelling can increase your content’s visibility.
It Does Not Have to Be Perfect
A common barrier for agents hesitant to start on social media is the fear of embarrassment. They claim that every marketing piece must be polished to perfection. However, in 2024, authenticity trumps polished professionalism. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels reward content that feels genuine and relatable.
Simply pick up your phone, hit record, and share your thoughts. Sometimes, it does not even have to be about real estate. Share your life and let your audience get to know you. Overcoming the pursuit of perfection and creating content that speaks to your audience is key. Remember, people want to connect with real individuals, not faceless brands.
Optimize Your Profile
Your profile often serves as the first reference point for anyone contemplating employing your services. It’s imperative to streamline the process for them to engage further, whether by following you or initiating direct contact. Ensure your profile comprehensively lists your contact information, including phone number, email address, and the regions you cover. Incorporating a “link in bio” feature, such as link.tree, can facilitate seamless access to your website, Zillow profile, or a form for new clients.
However, simply having your contact details available may not be enough to compel every visitor to reach out. The ease of contacting you plays a pivotal role; if potential clients find it challenging to connect or if your contact information is ambiguous, they might opt for another agent who is more accessible. Additionally, while visitors peruse your profile, providing evidence of your credibility can significantly impact their decision-making. Including testimonials from previous clients prominently on your profile can greatly affirm your expertise and reliability, encouraging those who are undecided to choose you as their real estate agent.
Consistently Share Content
Share content for your social media channels daily. As a realtor, you’re never short on content opportunities. Creating a tour of a new listing? Share a sneak peek video. Hosting an open house? Broadcast it live on Facebook or showcase your marketing materials. Overcame a challenging closing? Tell the story in a video. If all fails, we at roomvu have your back.
Use a Content Calendar
If you’re creating content daily, you’ll soon amass enough material for a week or even a month’s worth of posts. The next step is to organize this content into a calendar, ensuring a balanced distribution of posts that foster familiarity, likability, and trust throughout the month. Once your calendar is set, start scheduling posts using a tool like Buffer.
Social Media Marketing for Real Estate: Common Mistakes
With a better grasp of effective social media marketing for Real Estate, let’s address common mistakes agents make:
Neglecting Video Content
Video remains the most potent tool for marketing real estate and agents on social media. Listing videos provides a more comprehensive view of properties than photos alone, and research suggests that eye contact, even through video, fosters trust with consumers. Video helps sell properties build trust and enhances your content’s visibility, as social media algorithms favor video content.
Lacking Content Diversity
A common error among agents and brokers is the repetitive posting of similar content types. While videos are excellent for building rapport, not all followers prefer video content. Diversifying your content types can broaden your reach and make your profile more engaging.
The Top Social Media Platforms for Real Estate Agents
Let’s briefly compare the marketing potential and challenges of the top social media platforms.
While it’s true that organic reach for business pages on Facebook has diminished, as the platform increasingly encourages businesses to use paid advertisements for lead generation, it remains an invaluable resource for audience engagement. Your Facebook presence can serve as an informative hub about your services, complemented by the strategic use of ads. Additionally, cultivating positive reviews on your page can significantly enhance your credibility. Therefore, despite the shift towards paid promotion, Facebook continues to offer substantial benefits for real estate professionals, aiming to establish trust and visibility among their target audience.
Instagram’s appeal to a younger demographic positions it as a less optimal platform for targeting homeowners over the age of 60. However, it is an exceptional venue for connecting with first-time buyers and younger sellers, thanks to its 35-44 age demographic that mirrors Facebook’s. With engaging features like Stories and Reels, Instagram offers a dynamic platform for sharing diverse content, making it an invaluable tool for real estate professionals looking to reach a broad audience.
LinkedIn holds the third spot for its effectiveness in engaging with high-income professionals planning to relocate to your area. This platform stands out for lead generation, particularly due to the fewer realtors utilizing it, which translates into less competition. LinkedIn not only garners significant engagement but also has a smaller presence of active real estate agents than other social media platforms. Many agents tend to focus their social media efforts on Instagram and Facebook, often overlooking LinkedIn. This scenario presents a unique advantage, allowing you to capitalize on the reduced competition and establish a strong presence where others may not.
YouTube
YouTube, functioning as a powerful search engine, is particularly adept at capturing the attention of first-time buyers through localized content. By taking advantage of Google’s algorithm, which favors local videos, YouTube emerges as an ideal platform for disseminating neighborhood guides and providing market insights. Additionally, YouTube is the premier destination for individuals seeking to educate themselves about real estate, offering an excellent avenue for sharing educational content with your audience. The platform accommodates short and long-form videos, making it versatile for various content types. Moreover, YouTube provides a fantastic opportunity to highlight your property listings, allowing you to showcase homes in detail to potential buyers.
TikTok
TikTok, with its expanding demographic of users aged 35-45 and a focus on entertainment, offers a promising avenue for long-term marketing efforts. Despite the challenges associated with transforming views into leads, this is attributed to the platform’s predominantly younger audience base.
Moreover, TikTok stands out as a prime platform for achieving viral status on social media, demanding that users shed any reservations and embrace the vibrant spirit of its predominant audience: Generation Z. By keeping up with trends and engaging actively with the community, you’re well-positioned to make a significant impact.