When you use social media the correct way, it’s a fantastic way to generate leads for your estate agency. With these social media hacks, you’re sure to see an increase in enquiries, traffic and engagement. From organic posting to paid adverts, we talk about how to make the most out of your social media channels.
Ideally, you will master all of your social media for Real Estate, because what if someone stumbles across your account or does some research into you and sees an inactive account, with poor content? From experience we would suggest that you are active on the following social channels:
Facebook is the largest platform with over 2 billion active users, it is a free way to get all of your brand information out there, with the option to post imagery or videos of available properties, showcase the surrounding area and sell them the lifestyle.
Why not make the most of Facebook… Reach specific audiences based on age, gender, interests, targeted areas, you name it you can target it.
Generate large amounts of traffic and leads for a low price (if you market correctly). You can monitor your results at all times with Facebook Insights, allowing you to track engagement, reach, traffic and leads.
Generate leads through Facebook
Instagram is a great way to interact with your customers and future prospects. A critical mistake that most estate agencies make is thinking that social media is just about SALES, SALES AND MORE SALES!… It’s not at all, social media is social for a reason, it’s meant to be fun, it’s there for your business to create a personality, so anytime someone comments on your images or direct messages you, be friendly and reply…having a conversation with someone and building a rapport can go a long way when gaining brand loyalty.
Make the most of your space, Instagram allows you to use 30 hashtags, so find fun and relevant hashtags that will instantly increase your engagement and reach. Utilise carousel images and post multiple photos in one go, show the exterior and encourage people to swipe across to see more, let’s get them interacting!!
You are probably wondering what value Twitter can have on an Estate Agency… It’s about opening up another channel that buyers and prospects can seek your help on, customers in 2020 are pretty clued up, and they can access an ocean of information at the touch of a button. So you need to win them over by showing them that you care. Nurture them, listen to their needs and offer your advice and help.
Again, it’s not about sales marketing. There’s really only one way to correctly use Twitter for real estate agents
: To do some research on their real estate areas, to hear the local news whilst curating interesting community news. Twitter used to be an amazing resource for real estate agents to produce leads, but due to the huge rise in usage, the platform is so saturated that it isn’t feasible to generate leads this way.
Always engage with your users about the local issues that have meaning to them. So if you are in one of the properties and it is a sun trap, take a photo and talk about it, show people the fun quirks of the homes. Make it feel personal and immersive, the more they feel like they know you, the more incentive they have to buy with you.
If you’re using social media then you really should be placing hashtags on every post (apart from Facebook). It’s a way for smaller agencies to get their name out into the online realm. Make sure to use #realestate on property posts, then create more specific hashtags for where the property is based, for example #hartlepoolrealestate. It may not be a popular hashtag but if someone is seeking it out and you’re the only one using that # then you win
Finally, a social site you’re encouraged to post content as much as you can, the average lifespan of a post on Twitter is around 18 minutes, it’s fast paced and content disappears quickly. So the more you post the better you stand a chance of getting noticed.
People see thousands of adverts every day and everyone is always on the move digesting new information. Get your message across straight away, make your content snappy and easy to digest.
Like we said previously, you don’t want to post every single property you have as it ends up looking like spam and people will switch off from it on their feed, or simply unfollow you and get rid of the problem. So below are key pieces of content you should focus on posting.
Only if it’s not every single post, and please make the caption short and snappy! Ask questions, “who would love to live here? hands up!”
Show a bit of the behind the scenes, introduce the team… become more than just another agency, become a friendly face. People will feel like they know who works at your company before they even visit your estate agency
Don’t constantly bombard people with products, show them that you have a fun personality behind that corporate face. Memes are the perfect way to increase engagement and make people laugh.
Share up-to-date property news. This gives you the opportunity to keep up to date with all the latest industry-related news as well as being the one-stop place your followers will visit to view all the latest property news. Share local news If you are a localised Estate Agency, make sure you share local events and news and ultimately become involved within your local community
“Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags, make the most of them all!”
Hashtags are a guaranteed way to increase your posts reach and awareness, it opens up a new demographic that are seeking out those specific hashtags. Use relevant and popular hashtags so that the newcomers are going to be engaging and inquisitive with your content, so if you are posting about a property for sale, the #househunting would be relevant for your users.
If you are a local agency then make sure to use local hashtags for that area, as an example we are located in Hartlepool so we like to use #hartlepool, #hartlepoolmarina and other local hashtags, this pulls out an even more refined audience as they’re local to your properties.
Making connections can take your business a very long way, and it’s so simple and easy to do. I’m not saying it’s going to be like Tinder where you have to swipe left, then pop up to them and try to win them over. Not at all, if someone leaves you a comment on your posts, then reply to them and open up a dialogue Are they asking you a question? Be as helpful as you can. Are they saying how gorgeous the house is? Agree with them and tell them what you like about it.
A simple conversation can go a long way. Every person is a potential buying customer, even if it isn’t straight away and is 5 years down the line. If you have treated them with respect and given them your attention then they will feel a sense of trust and will remember that they can talk to you, so they may pop into your inbox any time they see a house available, or they may even recommend you to a friend as they know you’re friendly and comforting.
By Ben Spowart
By James Sheldon