Think of social media as a spoke in your overall mindset of serving your clients with excellent, consistent values and authenticity.
Most all, 97.14%, of real estate agents surveyed for Inman’s special report on social media indicated that Facebook is the most important social media platform for their business. After Facebook, 65,71% agents used Instagram 53.71% used LinkedIn, 42.86% used YouTube and 26.6% used Twitter. If having to choose just one social media platform, 77.6% reported that they would use Facebook.
Extra benefits of Facebook: it’s the easiest to learn; once learned, it will make learning other platforms easier; it allows and enables multiple forms of content from long-form blogging to long/short videos to polls to info-charts to ads to etc.
Know that your brand is how a consumer finds you so make sure that brand is you. If you specialize in first-time buyers, make that specialty front and center to your brand with verbiage and quality content that informs your users with your expertise. Do the same with all of your specialties.
Once you’ve done the necessary self-exploration to define your brand, look outward to define your audience. Not every demographic fits every specialty you may have. For example, downsizing boomers are not first-time buyers and vice versa. Link your specialties to your demographics and then, you’ll be able to determine which social media platforms work most effectively with your demographics.
Chelsea Peitz, social media wizard, suggests that, “Everybody should not be using everything.”
The Pew Research Center’s research on demographics and social media usage came up with these statistics:
- You Tube – 56% are 50+; 94% are 18-24
- Facebook – 55% are 50+; 80% are 30+
- Snapchat – 28% are 30+
- Instagram – 18% are under 30; 71% are 30+
Know that LinkedIn is, according to Inman’s special report on mastering social media, is “the best kept secret.” Rather than consumer-facing Facebook, LinkedIn builds connections with other professionals.
LinkedIn is the only social media platform that actually encourages you to talk about your business all day long. Regularly update your profile. Make sure your contact information is correct. Write posts that share your expertise, re-release your blog content, follow other thought leaders both in and out of your areas of expertise and give/get recommendations.
Inman puts content creation front and center to your mastery of social media. Inman suggests that real estate agents focus on be educators and answering questions about the buying and selling process. Direct the content focus on specific topics such as tips for first-time buyers. This content grabs users and keeps users
Consider doing 10-15 posts and/or videos about each step of the home buying/selling process. Create a programming schedule just like TV shows and weekly publications have. Consider theme days such as Monday Market Update or Fun Friday Activities. Having a schedule helps you create content on a regular basis and helps your users know what and when to expect hearing from you. This enhances consistency and expectations plus programmed content gives users something to forward to on a regular basis.
