Marketing and PR have dramatically changed in the past several years because of the financial woes gripping the nation. Gone are the days of fat budgets for glossy printed brochures, multiple billboard ads, TV commercials and other forms of traditional methods. While many of these old marketing channels will hang around with a diminished stature, the social media way of marketing and PR is spreading like wildfire, and with Facebook having over 500 million members, social media is here to stay. It is therefore important to learn its relationship with the real estate industry and the right way to play it.
The foundation of an effective social media strategy starts with the website. A website is the backbone of an agent’s online presence. Baby boomers and the younger texting generations do most of their searches online for researching and buying all kinds of products and services. Even if agents have a strong social media presence, prospective clients will always want to visit their websites to gather facts and do a gut-check. Some of the key ingredients of a good website include an elegant design, user-friendly navigation, great content and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), to make it appear at the top of search engine results. Since consumers are increasingly using their smartphones for web searches, it is important to make your website mobile friendly.
After taking care of the website, it is time to create a social media strategy. This is important because social media gives agents the opportunity to create a two-way conversation with their prospects. Today’s prospects demand and expect immediate information. They also want it to come directly to them through smartphones, tablets and in some cases, their automobile dashboards. There are many ways to enter and conquer the world of social media. It may be through blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIN, and a plethora of other platforms. It is therefore imperative to first become familiar with some of these popular sites because it will help you determine which direction to go in depending on your interests and strengths.
Facebook is perhaps the best platform for real estate agents because of its relationship factor. It allows people to easily opt-in and refer others. By creating relevant content, it can also be used for targeted advertising campaigns and online promotions to attract potential customers to the agent’s website and Facebook page.
Realtors can carve a niche by using blogs to position themselves as experts in their field, particular neighborhoods, types of housing and other aspects of their business. By consistently posting blogs on a variety of focused topics and issues, agents can attract a huge following, which could bring in qualified leads and referrals, and increase their visibility. It is important to make your blog insightful and interesting in order to continuously add new fans.
Twitter is also a great tool for realtors because it can be easily used with smartphones. Because of the 140 character limit for each tweet, brevity is the key. Unlike email, it provides you an opportunity to broadcast your message to all of your followers in real time. It can be used to broadcast new listings, open house events, model home showings, and links to pertinent articles.
LinkedIN can be used to build meaningful and direct connections with vendors, lenders, prospects and past clients. You can build credibility by answering questions in your area of expertise. You can ask satisfied customers to recommend you on your LinkedIN profile, which can help potential clients to choose you for their home buying and selling needs. You can join and participate in many groups or start your own group.
Other sites such as YouTube, Flickr, Stumble Upon and Digg are also good social media applications for agents. You can create your own customized YouTube channel to show videos of listings, virtual tours, testimonials of happy buyers/sellers, how-to video articles, etc. Similarly, Flickr can be used to display photos of homes, office events, and conferences.
If you are active on multiple social media accounts, there are apps available to help you automate and schedule the delivery of posts and tweets. Also feeds from one or more accounts can be syndicated to your other social media accounts, which in turn will help you in creating a greater following.
Coldwell Banker Ackley Realty is at the forefront of social media technologies to better serve its buyers and sellers. Raising the bar on traditional home searches, Coldwell Banker has created smartphone apps which enable tech savvy consumers to perform GPS-enabled searches for listings and sales in 28 countries. Also, their listings from Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow and other websites feed directly to Facebook and Twitter accounts.
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Very well said. The internet, particularly social media has never failed to help business owners to promote their businesses, as well as help the customers look for the best real estate company for their investing needs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! It just goes to show you how critical social media marketing is becoming for today’s businesses to be successful. Best of luck!
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