Social media marketing for real estate: Dos and don’ts

Social media marketing for real estate has a lot going for it – it’s free and your potential clients are already using it, so most agents will agree that having a social presence is a no-brainer.

However, having a social presence and being able to use those social platforms to promote yourself and generate business are two very different things. 

It’s important to remember that growing your profile and your brand on social is a marathon, not a sprint. The tips below will help you get the most from your social efforts and help you stand out from the competition.  

Do post regularly

Probably the most important thing on social media is to post regularly. Posting regularly will keep your audience engaged and top of mind for all thing real estate. If you have ever gone to check someone’s social media accounts and see that the last post was six months ago, it plants a seed of doubt in your mind – it makes no sense but psychologically you start to wonder if the business is up to date – even if unwarranted.

Do include links, but don’t send them anywhere except your website

We see a lot of real estate agents find articles on other peoples websites and post that on their social media channels. The problem with this is you are showing that someone else is the authority on a subject you want to be the authority on. Worse still is that you are sending potential customer away instead of bringing them to you. Add content to your own website and then share that to your social media channels, with a link back to your own website. You should always be looking at how you can get people out of your social media audience and into your own.

Don’t underestimate hashtags

Hashtags are effectively searched terms and can help you build a loyal following and increase engagement. 

Many social users bookmark hashtags to ensure they don’t miss any content they are interested in, so use them to your advantage.

Start by building a core hashtag set like #realestate or #homeforsale to use on all posts, then add post-specific hashtags like #dreamhome, #firsthome, or #investor to help you target the right audience. 

LinkedIn recommends limiting your hashtags to 5 per post, but Instagram allows you to include up to 30 per post. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new post-specific hashtags so you can measure which ones work best for you. 

Don’t feel like you need to be on every social channel

The single biggest mistake all small business owners make, including real estate agents, is thinking they need to be active on every social media channel available – you don’t!

The key to social success is to make sure you’re visible on the channels frequented by your potential clients. For real estate agents, Facebook and Instagram are the obvious choices, and depending on your client demography, LinkedIn is worth considering too. 

Every social channel has its own niche best practices, so managing your social can take up a lot of time. You’re more likely to see better results when you focus on mastering 2 or 3 channels and avoid the temptation to be everywhere.   

Do use a variety of content

Of course, you should be including listings and sales results in your posts, but you need to remember that most of your followers won’t be actively looking to buy or sell right now. 

The opportunity for agents is to keep followers interested and engaged over time so when followers are considering engaging an agent, they already have a level of trust in your brand.   

To build that trust online, you should be aiming to share fresh ‘valuable’ content on a regular basis. Valuable content answers a question or solves a problem for your followers, and topics like the state of the market, how the self-employed can secure loans, how to prepare the property for sale, and tips for home renovation demonstrate the breadth of your knowledge and helps promote your expertise. 

Do show the real you 

Real estate is a competitive industry and it can be difficult to differentiate yourself from other local agents in your area. 

One sure-fire way to stand out is to tap into the ‘authentic you’. Share ‘behind the scenes insight with your followers eg What makes you tick? What do you love about real estate? What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? What are you most proud of in your career to date?

By allowing yourself to be ‘real’ and authentic through your social channels, you not only paint a picture of what it would be like to work with you, you also showcase your unique personality and separate yourself from the competition.  

Do create a content calendar

Posting regularly is easiest when you plan ahead. Create a content calendar of the sort of content you are going to post for the coming month. You don’t have to post everyday, despite what a lot of people will tell you. Several times a week is a good start if you haven’t been posting at all recently. If you go too big too soon, you will get disheartened and are more likely to not post at all!

Do take advantage of scheduling tools

Managing your social media can quickly become a time-consuming exercise, but the good news is there are a number of tools on the market that enable you to schedule your posts in advance, access analytics, and save you a lot of time. 

The Real Estate Voice

The Real Estate Voice is the leading social media tool built specifically for real estate. Trev automatically shares your listings to Facebook and Instagram true to brand graphics, driving traffic back to your own website. With a built in library of over 500 real estate articles you can schedule to publish on your website, you will never be short of anything to say. Articles get shared to Facebook, and there is an Instagram tile library so you can easily queue a months’ worth of content in just a few minutes.

Facebook business suite 

Facebook business suite is accessible via your Facebook page and is a free and easy option used by many small business owners. 

You can schedule your posts in advance and at a glance see how well each of these posts has performed in terms of likes and comments. 

This is a great option if you are only using Facebook and Instagram. 

Later

This visual social scheduling tool has integrations with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, and Pinterest, and markets itself as the #1 marketing platform for Instagram. 

Later is free to use across all the social platforms they support. The free plan is limited to 30 social posts per month, however, this is generous enough to allow you to post daily so will suit most agents.  

Hootsuite

One of the original social scheduling programs, Hootsuite is still a solid option when it comes to scheduling and tracking your social media. 

Hootsuite can be used to manage posts across a large range of platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, however, their free plan is limited to 2 social platforms.  

When used correctly, social media is a great platform for agents to build their brands, engage their followers, and generate new sales opportunities. 

The tips above, combined with a well-thought-out social content plan will help you focus on the most important elements of your social strategy and set you up for social media success!

If you want content for your website and other awesome time-saving hacks like automatically sharing listings and content to your socials, then book a call today.