When you’re a Realtor®, you’re already well-aware that you have plenty of competition. If clients don’t pick you for buying or selling, they’re not going to go without an agent – they’re going to find someone else.
So how can you make sure you have a competitive edge?
How to Make Sure You Have a Competitive Edge as a Realtor
First things first: Your brand strategy has to be on-point, and you have to know how to market yourself offline and online.
From there, you need to have the right real estate marketing materials, such as:
o Custom magnets for real estate agents
o Custom full-color postcards for real estate agents
Once all that is squared away, it’s time to learn about – and implement – competitive awareness.
What is Competitive Awareness?
While you don’t have to start a playful Twitter feud with your competitors to show that you’re aware of what other brands are doing.
Speaking of playful Twitter feuds, check out this exchange between Oreo and AMC Theatres:
This one started when a woman mentioned Oreo and Kit-Kat in the same tweet, saying “Can tell I like chocolate a bit too much when I’m following @KITKAT and @Oreo hahahahahah”:
Here’s one between Taco Bell and Old Spice:
The point of all these images (well, aside from giving you your daily laugh) is to show you that big brands are watching every move their competitors make.
We’re not saying you should challenge your competitors to a Twitter duel – but we are saying you need to be aware of what your competitors are saying and sharing on social media.
Then you need to do it better than they do.
How to See What Your Competitors Are Up To
Step 1: Identify Your Competitors
Do a little sleuthing. Type your city and “real estate” into the Facebook search bar:
What companies, and more importantly, which agents, in your market are most active on Facebook and Twitter?
Are they doing much on social media?
How much?
Step 2: Look at Individual Social Media Activities
Are your competitors using hashtags? What are their most-shared or most-retweeted posts? How many “Likes” and comments do they get, and what are people saying? Which are their most popular posts?
Look at how many people follow each of your competitors here:
Step 3: Analyze Your Competitors’ Post Frequencies and Responses
Check out the last time your competitors have posted on social media. How long has it been? When was the last time before that? Was there a long stretch of time without any new posts or tweets?
Do your competitors respond to comments on their pages?
Step 4: Evaluate Your Competitors’ Post Content
What percentage of your competitors’ posts are promotional? (You can get a good feel for it by looking at the last 10 posts on the page). If a post has a call-to-action, it’s promotional.
How to Evaluate What You Find
Look at what your competitors are doing with an objective eye. If they’re not gaining followers (or worse, losing them), don’t bother evaluating their strategies – that’s not what you want to emulate.
If they are gaining traction, see where they’re gaining the most. Are they getting comments, shares, and “Likes” from the right audiences, and if they are, what platform is getting the most activity?
The idea isn’t for you to copy exactly what your competitors are doing. Instead, it’s for you to use the tactics they’re already using, but with your own twist on them.
What Do You Do to Evaluate Your Competitors and Get Ahead?
We’d love to hear what tools you use to monitor the competition or if you’ve scoped things out personally. What did you do with the data? Please share your thoughts here, or stop by the Real Estate Calendars Facebook page to say hello.
Other topics you might be interested in:
o What is Paid Search Advertising, and Why Do Realtors Need It?
o Why Calendars Are the Perfect Marketing Materials for Realtors
o Visual Content Marketing for Realtors
o Online Marketing: The Perfect Complement to Your Offline Efforts
Real estate marketing materials you may be interested in:
o Branded calendars for real estate agents
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