Social media marketing has really taken hold, and for the most part, real estate professionals get it. Posting statuses that are about more than just listings, connecting with other professionals in the area or staying up to date with what your followers are doing, these are all things that you know are important. What real estate professionals are really missing is a way to stand out from all the noise of social media.
Competing businesses, pictures of a new puppy or those addicting Buzzfeed articles all make up this noise that is distracting clients and prospects away from your business. Regaining their attention will require you to spend a lot of time building and maintaining your online reputation. Setting the time aside for this is crucial, but the busy schedules of real estate professionals can make it seem like a burden. This is why it’s important to have a strategy that allows you to make the most out of every minute spent on these social networks. With this in mind, here are 3 tips to maximize your time on social media.
1. Create a Facebook Group
Once you’ve helped someone buy or sell their home, keeping them in your network should be of utmost importance. The average Facebook user has 338 friends (Pew Research 2013), all of which are steering attention away from your business. This makes it difficult to stay top of mind, simply because they have a million other things to look at.
Instead of competing with friends and family for space on their newsfeed, Facebook groups create a “back door” to reaching your clients and prospects. Whether you want to wish them ‘Happy Birthday’ or share information about the local housing market, Facebook group gives you a place to become a conduit of the conversation.
Maintaining these relationships can provide you with great referral sources and possibly lead to more business down the road. This is a lot easier said than done, because keeping up with all of these clients can be a daunting task. Instead of scrolling through your contacts, checking up to see what they’ve been doing and then making contact with them, save time and create a Facebook group because it allows you to do all of this in one location!
2. Eliminate the Nonsense
Every 60 seconds on Facebook, 510 comments are posted, 293,000 statuses are updated, and 136,000 pictures are uploaded (Zephoria). To say the least, that’s a lot of information being passed around. To make the most out of your time on social media, you need to find a way to filter out the useless stuff and get right to the content that matters to you.
This is why creating lists come in handy, as you’ll only see the type of content that you’re interested in. The “interest list” on Facebook is a great way to do this because it allows you to create a specific list of people you want to follow. For other networks like Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram, be selective about who you follow because it will just add more posts for you to scroll through at the end of the day.
3. Great Photos Go a Long Way
Photos are engaged with more than any other type of content (SocialMediaToday). If you are maximizing the way you share your photos, you’ll start to notice that they are more effective than normal photos in driving traffic back to your page.
Be sure that you are posting relevant hashtags, as they will allow other users to easily find your photos when they search for that term. When deciding on a hashtag, be sure that you’re looking it up to see if people are searching for it. Whenever you post pictures of your listings, focus on the unique features of the property and use filters to make them shine! With that being said, try to avoid stock photos, because there are plenty of people that have probably used them. Instead, try getting your followers involved by running a “photo of the day” campaign. Ask your followers to submit their own creative pictures for an opportunity to have them displayed on your website or social pages, and be sure to incorporate a hashtag so that you can keep track of all your awesome photos! You could even get creative by going out and taking your own pictures, especially if they are of your hometown or listings.
Once you sell a home, be sure to post a picture of it with phrases like “Sold in One Week” or “Another Dream Home Sold,” because it better demonstrates that you are selling houses. Finally, be sure to frequently post awesome pictures of the city you are trying to build a presence in. When people search for pictures of that area, guess whose picture might capture their attention!
Creating a strong social presence doesn’t come easy. Use these tips to maximize the time that you spend on your social networks, so you can get back out there and sell some houses! Looking for a way to manage your social media strategy? Homes.com Social was designed to cover all aspects of your social media presence, so you have the comfort of knowing that your social channels are working for you!
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