Real Estate Social Network: The Game Changer in Getting More Clients and Listings

Nearly three-quarters of all American adults use social media. This is up from just half of all Americans 10 years ago. Furthermore, while social media was once the domain of young people, older adult usage has increased in recent years. And we can only expect the number to continue to climb moving forward.

The takeaway for real estate professionals looking to connect with new and existing customers alike? Social media or social network platforms are the places to be.

 

Here’s a closer look at why social media is so important for Realtors, along with tips aimed at helping your real estate business make the most of it.

Social Media for Real Estate Agents

The real estate industry has changed dramatically in recent decades. While ads in the real estate section of your local newspaper, shopfront listings, and “for sale” signs were once the primary way to find clients, the digital aid has had a transformative impact.

Now, if you want to reach quality audiences in the most effective and efficient way, you have to be online — and on social media.

According to a survey conducted by real estate website The Close, 44 percent of real estate agents reported that posting on social media brought in clients. Social media was second only to referrals, and out-performed online advertising, buying leads, print advertising, and cold calling.

Given these stats, it’s hardly surprising that a staggering 82 percent of real estate agents plan on improving their social media presence moving forward.

Three Benefits of Social Media for Realtors

The advantages of incorporating social media into your marketing plan include the following:

1. You’ll reach more high-intent prospects

   Internet usage isn’t happenstance; nor is social media. When customers find your real estate business on your website or on social media, their wants and needs have brought them there. Social media is an opportunity to show that they’re in the right place —that your products and services are the solutions they’ve been looking for.

   Deliver the right content to this qualified audience, and you will start driving more traffic to your website and turning more prospects into leads.

   On that note, social media also offers greater insight into what your audience is looking for. Zeroing in on this allows you to develop deeper relationships and provide more tailored offerings.

2. You’ll save money and be able to measure results

   Digital marketing, including social media, has a higher return on investment (ROI) than print marketing.

   Furthermore, you can also use analytics to track the performance of your social media campaign. These metrics will help you identify where you’re doing well and where you’re falling short. You can use this information to adjust your strategies — in real time — for immediate results.

3. You’ll boost brand awareness and increase customer trust

   The best way to connect with customers is to meet them where they are, and where they are is on social media. Social media is an excellent way to raise your visibility, increase brand awareness, and build trust and loyalty. Then, when your customers are ready to act, your real estate business will be top of mind.

   There are a couple caveats to this, however. For starters, it’s not enough for your business to be on social media. If you want to facilitate meaningful relationships, you must have a consistent and reliable social media calendar.

And then there’s the fact that posting alone is not enough. You must also commit to interacting with visitors to your social media pages. Encourage them to comment on posts, respond to their comments, and use polls and other kinds of interactive content to boost their engagement. This matters. A lot. Every real estate social media post comment that you fail to respond to is a missed opportunity to engage.  And the data tells us again and again that an engaged customer is a loyal customer.

The Best Social Platforms for Realtors

With so many social media platforms out there, you may be wondering which are the best for your real estate business. According to real estate education experts The CE Shop, Facebook leads the pack as the top social media platform for Realtors. Not only is it the biggest social media platform, but the number of active Facebook users continues to grow. Plus, it’s especially popular with older demographics.

Other reasons why Facebook is a smart social media choice for Realtors include that it offers ad targeting, user data, and sophisticated tracking and analytics. Plus, if you’re looking for the highest ROI on your ad spend, you’ll find it with Facebook.

The second-best social media platform for Realtors? Instagram. Offering similar benefits as Facebook, Instagram’s focus on photos and videos is a natural fit for the visual nature of the real estate industry.

Twitter claims the third-place spot. While this platform lacks the user base and high marketing ROI of Facebook and Instagram, it is still an effective way to reach potential clients by sharing short posts, images, videos, GIFs, and links.

While YouTube didn’t make The CE Shop’s top three social media platforms for Realtors, it’s not to be overlooked. Not only do today’s consumers vastly prefer video over text and images, but the Google algorithm rewards the use of video with higher SEO rankings. (Did we happen to mention that YouTube is owned by Google?)

Social Media Content Ideas for Realtors

Now that we’ve established why real estate firms should be posting on social media, it begs the question: What should you be posting about?

Here are a few ideas for real estate social media content:

• New and featured listings
• Customer reviews and testimonials
• Market trends and updates
• Neighborhood descriptions and summaries
• Local events and activities
• Personal and professional awards and achievements
• Property images
• Video tours
• Marketing updates
• Home maintenance and renovation tips
• Events you’re attending
• Community involvement and philanthropy
• Pertinent entertaining content

One last thing to keep in mind? Leveraging the full power of social media involves much more than throwing up the occasional post or photo.

To get the most out of your social media efforts, you must implement a consistent and comprehensive social media campaign. One of the easiest ways to do this is by using a social media calendar to plan and schedule all of your social media posts across all platforms.

That’s where The Light Digital comes in. Sure, you could spend your time building a social media calendar for your real estate business, but why reinvent the wheel when you can use our proven social media marketing for Realtors and other digital marketing and advertising techniques?

To learn more about how we can help you start reaching more customers and clients by maximizing your real estate social network, contact us today.