Which digital marketing for real estate agents should you use?
We’re all familiar with the term digital marketing, but what exactly does it mean? Broadly speaking, digital marketing for real estate agents is any marketing activity that uses an electronic device or the internet – and in this day and age, that’s a long list!
Trying to master all available types of digital marketing can quickly become overwhelming, so to help you focus your efforts on the digital channels most likely to benefit your agency, we examine 6 of the most commonly used and provide recommendations on those best suited for real estate agents.
1. Content Marketing
This type of digital marketing for real estate focuses on creating and distributing content for a target audience. The content aims to be valuable, relevant, and consistent and the target audience should want to seek out the content and consume it.
Examples: Blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, white papers, case studies, ebooks
Recommended? Yes. Promoting knowledge and expertise is key to winning more business.
2. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO is the process of getting quality traffic from free or organic search results on search engines like Google or Bing. By optimizing your content for search engines, you can increase a steady stream of traffic that will grow over time. Without it, people won’t be able to find you online.
Examples: Keywords on your website copy, optimizing website titles and descriptions, website load speeds, and building relevant backlinks
Recommended? Yes. This long-term strategy can help reduce your advertising spend over time, attract the right visitors to your website and build your reputation for expertise.
3. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) & Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
SEM and PPC is the process for getting quality traffic from search results using paid advertising. Depending on how much you are willing to pay for SEM ads, this is the fastest way to get your website on page 1 of search results. By combining both SEO and SEM, you can put your brand in front of audiences searching for you.
Examples SEM – Google Ads, Bing Ads
Examples PPC – Display Ads and Affiliate Marketing
Recommended? Maybe. It depends on your goals and what other avenues you are using to promote yourself. If you’re going to spend money on SEM or PPC, do it with a strategy to avoid wasted spend.
4. Social Media Marketing (SMM)
SMM refers to the process of using social media platforms to attract traffic and attention. You can also use social to increase your exposure and build meaningful relationships with potential clients. It’s important to listen to what your followers have to say, engage in conversation and share valuable content.
Examples: Share a blog post, develop an Instagram hashtag strategy, do a Facebook live video or run a property Q&A session.
Recommended? Yes. Choose a max of 2 or 3 social platforms and commit to posting to them regularly to share knowledge, engage your followers and build trust in your brand. Experiment with hashtags to increase your reach on Instagram.
5. Social Media Advertising
Paid social media advertising gives you the opportunity to reach a wider audience with the social content you’re already producing. The key to a successful social ad lies in how having a clear goal, how you target your audience, and the quality of the content you are advertising.
Examples: Run a Facebook ad to increase page likes or encourage more downloads of a piece of content you have to share.
Recommended? Maybe. If you do decide to pay for social media advertising, have one clear goal in mind. If you want to build your database, use a downloadable piece of content on the state of the market, or if you want to find more potential clients, share a downloadable piece of content on preparing a home for sale.
6. Affiliate Marketing
This is a type of digital marketing where you partner up with another business to place a link to your business on the partner’s marketing channels. For every click generated, an agreed commission is paid.
For example: you ask a local business to place a link to your agency on their website or a social media influencer to post about your business
Recommended? Maybe. If you are considering this, do your research. If your partner doesn’t have the right audience or the right follower demographic, you could end up paying for leads that will never convert to clients.
7. Email Marketing
One of the most common digital marketing channels, email marketing is not just a great place to promote listings but when used as part of a content marketing strategy, it can also help build relationships. One thing that should be included in your email is a lead capture functionality that you can use to get a feel for who amongst your audience might be considering buying or selling.
Example: Include a downloadable piece of content on preparing your property for sale and follow up on anyone who downloads it with a property appraisal offer.
Recommended? Yes. Email marketing is free, and you’ve likely already got a database audience to work with. Share your latest listings, but also keep your audience engaged with content that answers a question or solves a problem they may have. An engaged database will be more likely to reach out to you when they are looking for real estate services.
Digital marketing can be a powerful tool to attract, engage and convert potential clients. Take advantage of the digital options best aligned with your specific goals and ensure that whatever channels you are using, you are using them to increase your exposure, demonstrate your expertise and attract more leads.
