Now that you’ve decided on what social media platforms you want to focus on (see part 1), it’s time to get down to the business of posting.
What to post
Of course, you’ll want to post your listings, and the visual nature of social media makes for great show and tell. But your audience may start to tune out your posts if you keep striking the same note. Consider going for a mix of topics that include your listings and other news related directly to your business, education and the occasional “just for fun” post that shows off a bit of your personality.
Post ideas include:
-Promoting open houses, new listings, just solds, great reviews (don’t forget to include links to your website)
-Brokerage news (such as welcoming a new team member) & events
-Sharing industry news & local news that may affect homeowners
-Educating readers on the buying/selling process, your local market, etc.
-Sharing household tips: organization, decorating, yard care, etc.
In general, aim for quality over quantity – the goal is to spark conversation and shares on your posts. One well-crafted post that initiates discussion and gets people sharing (or retweeting, repinning, etc.) is worth more than three posts that fall flat.
Getting to “well-crafted” has a lot to do with remembering what audience you are appealing to (since it may be different on different social networks). Watch what others are doing to get a feel for what kinds of posts seem to work best, and then feel free to experiment a bit. It won’t take long to figure out the best formula for delivering your content.
Where to post
In part one we gave you a range of platforms to choose from, but it is important to recognize that the audience varies for each. When you browse Instagram you expect to see (and often follow) different topics, people and images than you would see on LinkedIn. Therefore, your content, or how you interact with that social media platform, will change for each.
Let’s look at some specific ways you can utilize some popular platforms.
Twitter and Facebook are great places to make connections. The simple act of liking, favoriting or reposting and retweeting other’s posts gets you in the discussion and your name on the radar. This applies to most social sites, with Twitter and Facebook being the strongest at building connections.
Use Pinterest when posting household tips or sharing that blog about home make-overs.
Instagram is a great place to post events – open houses, events you or your brokerage is hosting, conferences. Hype with some teasers leading up to the event, and make sure to follow up during and after with pictures of you and guests at the event to show your engagement (and maybe says thanks to those who attended).
Work your network
Social media platforms are called networks for good reason: they are virtual meeting places connecting us to key people in our community (whether that community exists solely online or it’s right outside our door).
Your social network may include past clients, current partners and future prospects. Making sure you connect with each of these groups is vital.
Linking with your key collaborators to build a virtual team not only positions your business as a “one stop shop” but also provides referral business to those people whom you partner with, such as mortgage lenders, stagers, landscapers and other service providers you work with to list and sell a home. In turn, those partners will likely share and promote your services as well.
You can ask clients and friends to spread the word for you as well. With one quick click they can share one of your posts or endorse you for specific skills on LinkedIn.
Leverage your Zillow profile by linking it to your Facebook page, and also encourage satisfied clients to post reviews on Facebook, LinkedIn or Google as well.
Now that you’re armed with a multitude of content ideas, we’ll talk about scheduling posts and tracking your success in the next installment of this series. Until then, happy posting!
Use Brivity to automate your social media posts
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