How to get ROI from real estate content marketing
Content marketing has exploded over the last few years and the reasons are obvious. Content marketing improves search rankings, increases traffic, builds trust, positions you as an expert, and drives lead.
That said, figuring out how to create content that benefits your bottom line may leave you feeling a bit overwhelmed.
In this blog, we explore 3 proven strategies to get you started on the right content marketing track and help you to improve ROI from real estate content marketing.
1. Measuring the impact of content marketing
The common goal for any agent is to help more people buy and sell more homes and content marketing can help you do that. What’s more difficult is measuring the impact your content has on your outcomes.
The fact is human decision-making isn’t simple. Did that person call you because they saw your Facebook Ad a week ago or because they read your blog post today? Or maybe because someone recommended you after they saw one of your Facebook Ads…
You may never know for sure, but what you can do is set specific content marketing goals and measure common content marketing metrics associated with those goals eg:
- Increase website traffic by x% in the next 60 days
- Grow email subscriber list by x in the next 30 days
- Gain x Facebook or Instagram followers in the next quarter
- Turn x% of my email subscribers into leads in the next 60 days
To really get a measure of your content marketing success, it’s important to keep your goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-based so you can track the impact your content marketing is having
2. Get your content mix right
The value of content marketing lies in sharing real solutions regarding real problems that help real people – and doing it for free.
Keeping that definition in mind, if you want content marketing to support your overarching goal of selling more property, you need to get your content mix right.
There is no shortage of content ideas and what you choose really depends on your capacity to produce useful and authentic content.
Some ideas to consider are:
- Blogging. Blogging can immediately boost your traffic and your blogs don’t need to be long. What you do need to be mindful of though is focusing on quality over quantity. If you produce shoddy content, your readers aren’t going to engage. If you’re finding it difficult to put pen to paper or you just don’t have the time, there are great real estate content resources that you can leverage for low-cost original content.
- Podcasts. Podcasts have been on the rise for the last few years and most listeners are tuning in when they’re on the go. These don’t have to be long and they don’t have to feature just you – you might want to interview a colleague or client. Just make sure you’re providing useful information and that you link everything back to your website and social media.
- Live Video. This might sound like a scary prospect, but some of the most viewed videos are the authentic and unpolished ones. Give away a quick tip or consider a live Q&A on a property you have on the market. This type of content isn’t something that can be replicated by other real estate advertising platforms and helps you stand out in a competitive market.
- Infographics. People like to view images and if you can combine useful tips or statistics in an easy-to-read you’ll definitely attract attention. Don’t worry if you’re not a design pro, Canva is a great free tool that allows you to create professional infographics in minutes.
- Q&A. The primary job of a real estate agent is to answer people’s questions, so why not turn common frequently asked questions into online content? You’ll not only be sharing your expertise and building trust, but you may see some additional lead generation too.
3. Consistency is key
When you share a large variety of content across a variety of channels (newsletter, emails, social, etc), you’ll reach a large variety of people. And posting on a regular basis will help build trust with your readers.
A study by Hubspot found a direct connection between the number of blog posts shared and website traffic. If you post 5-10 blogs per month, you can reasonably expect double the traffic of a competitor who only publishes 3-4 blogs each month.
To ensure you can maintain consistency, create a content schedule and stick to it. By doing this, you’ll not only feel more organized and less overwhelmed, but you’ll also see a better ROI in your content marketing metrics
Like anything new, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. These mistakes aren’t failures, but instead should be viewed as opportunities to hone your content marketing strategy. Use the tips above as a guide to get started and before too long, you can start to reap the benefits of content marketing.
