We recently conducted a series on the blog about how to harness the power of social media to successfully market yourself as a real estate agent. This next series will warn you of some of the most common pitfalls we see in online marketing—specifically in the real estate industry.
Keep It Personal…
Show off who you are through whatever modes of online media you tackle. This is a surprisingly hard concept for a lot of people to grasp. The temptation is to go into “business-mode” with educated jargon speaking strictly about your profession.
There’s an old mantra around election time that people are likely to vote for the candidate that they could most picture themselves shooting the breeze with. A similar principle applies to real estate. People will hire the agent that they feel like they can relate to, and who understands their values and concerns. Customers want to know they’re not just a number. A house is likely the biggest investment they’ll ever make, and they want a friend to help them through the process, not just a businessman/woman.
Plus, a cool thing about real estate is that it turns out you can make just about anything seem relevant to the industry. Here at HouseHunt, we provide “virtual tours” of available listings. They’re really just slideshows of the estates, but we add some fitting background music to introduce you to one of our favorite artists-on-the-rise. And when the HouseHunt social media department was devastated by Breaking Bad coming to an end, we shared specs on the real estate used in the show.
…But Don’t Get Crazy
The goal of a personalized online presence is to seem approachable, not to let any random person get all up in your business. Don’t let people think it’s a robot behind the content they’re seeing, but also recognize when you’re not on your personal accounts.
Save your political soapboxes. There’s no denying the success of real estate tycoon Donald Trump, but there’s also no denying how polarizing he’s become since he started using his Twitter account as a medium to bash anyone who disagrees with his conservative views. The only difference between you and Donald Trump is that he has the money to get away with being polarizing. Your goal should be to stay accessible to any potential clients.
While you’re at it, avoid the other big clichés of social media: Don’t post pictures of your feet or take selfies, etc. Again, there’s generally nothing wrong with these kinds of updates (actually there’s always something wrong with posting a selfie), it’s just that it’s not the best use of your professional platforms unless you’ve found a creative way to tie them into your business.
Social media isn’t meant to be a commercial. People have no reason to click the “Follow” or “Like” buttons for a commercial. Social media is an opportunity for interaction, and that’s only going to happen when you talk to your following in a way they understand while maintaining an authoritative voice in your field.
Check our blog for what not to do when operating your business from a mobile device.
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