We just talked about Google Plus pages and some of the logistics you need to consider when setting them up. But once set up, what do you do with one? Whether you are on Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other social network, even this one, you will have greater success if you have a plan.
Just like a business plan or a general marketing plan, your social media marketing plan should include the basics such as the purpose and the process. You can be as detailed with your plan as you like. Some prefer to wing it with just a general plan in place, whereas others prefer to have everything planned out down to the time, length, and subject of each and every post—a month ahead of time. Either of those, or anywhere in between, will work, but you should think about what best fits your style and whether you have others assisting you with your marketing efforts.
The Purpose
Why are you going onto social media platforms? It’s not as simple as to say “to sell houses.” Your efforts on social media will not sell a house alone, but it will help you to build the necessary relationships that make it easier to do so. Your active buyers might even be watching your posts for new listings. Primarily though, your purpose of being on social media should be to establish relationships, a network, and referrals. You want to be the first person that someone thinks of when they decide to buy or sell a home. This requires a relationship, not a sales pitch.
The Details
You need to decide how often you are going to post, what types of things you will post about, how often you will post your new listings, if and how often you will post about your kids or dog, how often you will post about office happenings, etc. People want to do business with other people so don’t leave the personal stuff out; it’s what creates those important relationships. You probably should refrain from the more torrid personal details though. Also decide on an approximate number of new people to connect with each week, and how often you will comment on other people’s posts each day, etc.
The Tools
There are the basic platforms, Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. But there are also other tools available to help you use them. You can give Hootsuite a try, as well as TweetDeck. If you have a smart phone, there are apps you can download that will allow you to easily interact on any of the platforms. If you don’t have a smart phone, you can still connect via SMS (text) with several of them. Also consider creating a posting calendar or a spreadsheet for your future and past posts.
The Process
Many of us stumble when it comes to the day-to-day implementation of our plan. It will require the establishment of routines. You can spend 2 or 3 hours on Sunday afternoon scheduling a week of posts to Facebook and Twitter via a platform like Hootsuite, but you will still need to have time each and every day to focus on the more personal aspects of your media. Write out the details of what you plan to do each day, and consider the best time for you to do so. Does it work out best for you to do it first thing in the morning, or perhaps on your lunch break? You can use your smart phone to interact on social media while your youngster is in soccer practice each evening, while you wait your turn at appointments, or even while sitting in traffic. (Notice I said “sitting”…not to be confused with “driving”.) Be flexible and allow your plan to change if it isn’t working for you. Make yourself reminders—whatever sort of reminders work best for you—so that you will remember to do your online socializing.
The Measurement
Another important aspect of a successful social media campaign is the measurement. You will need to have set up some basic tools, such as Google Analytics, first. Create a spreadsheet and track the number of responses you get each day or week and the corresponding website clicks, new fans, reposts, etc. You can compare this with your posting calendar, and eventually you will start to see a pattern. If you never get any boost in clicks on your listings when you have posted about them, then perhaps you need to reevaluate that part of your plan, for example. If your photos of the crazy clown at the holiday parade got lots of comments, some shares, and even some clicks over to your website on that day, well then you know the funny personal stuff works in your market! After a couple of months you should take your measurements and rework your overall plan as the patterns suggest. Do this every quarter or so and you will be rocking social media in no time!
Are you feeling completely overwhelmed by all of this? Best Agent Business has social media marketing experts who can help you from the planning stage through the implementation stage of your social media campaign. We recommend that you be an integral part of it, because no matter how hard we work we will never be “you”, but we can alleviate much of the stress by helping you post timely information, updated listing details, and even take those too-dark clown pictures and lighten them, crop them and post them. Schedule a call with Steve Kantor today to explore the possibility of hiring a social media virtual assistant to help your real estate business.
--Submitted by Kim, Virtual Real Estate Assistant, Best Agent Business
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