In today’s competitive real estate market — especially with the distinct lack of buyers and sales activity in 2023, generating quality client leads is crucial for the success of real estate agents. We’re already seeing Realtors exiting the industry for lack of business. Let’s fix that right now.
Of COURSE markets are cyclic and today’s hardships will be a thing of the past before long and literally any agent with half a brain will be able to use any lead generation strategy to get clients — no matter how difficult, expensive, or stressful these methods may be.
Photo by Many agents get stuck on a never ending hamster wheel of having to put a bunch of work in to get more clients — not only is this incredibly exhausting, but it also means that agent can literally NEVER retire or stop putting in effort to put food on the table. Absolute. Disaster.
Fortunately, there are a handful of strategies that are free (or almost free), are working today, and are likely to be working well into the future where the more work an agent puts in, the more leads per week/month/year they get.
Imagine if every time you put effort into your realtor lead generation, instead of just a few more leads, you instead increased the number of leads that reach out to work with you each month. That’s what we’re finding successful regardless of the market type and is the absolute best use of time for agents!
Instead of work in, leads out — you get work in, leads per month increase. Even when you pause your lead generation efforts, you’ll still be getting new clients! Even better yet, these are clients reaching out because they WANT to work with you, rather than dozens of low quality prospects you have to work your butt off to convert.
Here are the lead attraction techniques that are working today for my national real estate team!
Trigger Warning…Agents Read This…
Warning. If you want to be a successful agent but you’re unwilling to either create SOME sort of content (video, blog, social media posts) or network to meet new people… then stop reading and you’d better start driving for Uber. At best, you might be able to make ends meat without those. But if you lean in and embrace content creation and networking, you can grow EXPONENTIALLY and your income becomes limitless!
1 — YouTube
YouTube is the powerhouse of video content and is still the #2 search engine in the world (owned by the #1 search engine!). Video content for real estate agents is usually longer than a minute and YouTube is the king of long form video. That makes it the perfect place to showcase your expertise as an agent and deliver value to your ideal clients searching for information that YOU can provide!
I talk to so many real estate agents that don’t understand just how untapped of an opportunity YouTube STILL is! Many agents make a terrible, shaky property tour video or two, slap an address as the title, and post it and then complain when it doesn’t work. Of course that didn’t work, dummy!
Here’s the not-so-secret formula for real estate agent YouTube success:
- Quality audio and video
- Clickable title with good keywords
- Standout thumbnail with your picture
- Description with more keywords and a call to action
- Immediate and continuous value for your ideal client
Publish that video. Repeat. Nothing crazy, right?
Creating engaging video content that your clients are looking for, such as property tours, market updates, neighborhood tours and info, helpful home buying and selling content, and educational videos, can attract potential clients and establish trust. Leveraging YouTube’s wide reach and using relevant keywords in video titles and descriptions can significantly boost visibility and generate leads.
2 — TikTok / Reels / Shorts
With the rise of short-form video content, platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts offer real estate agents an opportunity to captivate audiences with quick, attention-grabbing videos. By showcasing properties, providing tips and insights, or sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses, agents can attract a younger demographic and generate leads in an engaging and interactive way.
Short form video content isn’t just for “the kids.” For some shocking statistics on video content consumption, read this article — bottom line: you NEED to be creating video content. Short form video is a great place to be right now because that’s where so much attention is focused, yet so few creators are.
One really cool tip: you can use long form videos to chop up into many short form videos — and you don’t even have to do it all yourself. If you hire an editor (like a Freelance editor) for YouTube, you could have them do it. You can also dozens of companies and tools out there that convert one YouTube style videos into many short form videos — check out Opus Clips if you’re looking for an easy one.
Plus, for all videos under 60 seconds, you can place them on all three platforms!
If you ask me what one form of content is the best place to spend your time right now in 2023, it would be short form video.
3 — Facebook Communities
I was able to become a full time real estate agent thanks to my brokerage and to building my own value add local Facebook Community for my ideal clients. I’m not talking about spamming and DMing leads in other groups, I’m talking about your very OWN group!
Facebook groups and communities focused on real estate provide an ideal platform for agents to connect with potential clients. By actively participating in discussions, providing valuable insights, and establishing oneself as a trusted resource, agents can generate leads within these communities. Sharing listings, market trends, and local news can further enhance engagement and lead generation.
The steps to do this are simple:
- Choose a Niche
- Create Your Content Schedule
- Grow the Group
- Engage with Value
- Convert Members to Clients
My three favorite things about growing a local community of my ideal clients is:
- My members engage, invite others, and organically grow the group
- Almost 100% of the time, new members give me their email address!
- I have complete control over who gets in and what they see
4 — Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This is by far the most underused long term client attraction strategy. Real estate agents aren’t doing it because they percieve it as hard. Here’s the thing about SEO: if no one else is targeting your local keywords, then you WILL rank high on search engines and drive organic traffic to you!
Optimizing your website and online content for search engines is a long-term lead generation strategy. By incorporating relevant keywords your ideal clients are searching for and providing useful content, real estate agents can attract leads through search engine results. Higher visibility translates to more organic traffic and, ultimately, more potential client leads.
While there are are a ton of different ways real estate agents can create ranking blog posts, here’s my method:
- Create a Carrot SEO lead generation website for Agents (You can link it to your existing CRM via Zapier, like I do)
- Brainstorm, search, ask ChatGPT, or use a tool like AnswerThePublic to come up with a list of keywords and questions your ideal clients are searching for
- Write a helpful answer in a Keyword optimizer — the one I use and love is RankIQ
- Copy your article into a Carrot and finish the post by adding images, links to other posts, a call to action, and by optimizing the post using Carrot’s SEO audit for your keyword
And boom. Within 30–60 days, your post will rank for that keyword!
5 — Online Reviews
Building up your social proof online with 5-star reviews from clients on platforms like Google My Business, Facebook Business Page, Realtor.com, Zillow.com or others, does three amazing things for your real estate business:
- Convert prospects into clients — when they look you up online you show up in search results with all those 5 star reviews!
- Create clients out of thin air — by being a highly reviewed agent online, leads who have no idea who you are will be shown YOU when they’re searching for a local agent! They will reach out to work with you.
- Social proof marketing — You can use raving reviews and a tool like Canva to create social media posts and videos showcasing your reviews. This creates a pull to work with you!
Positive online reviews can greatly influence potential clients’ decision-making process. Encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews on platforms like Google My Business, Facebook, and real estate-specific websites. These reviews can boost your credibility, reputation, and online presence, attracting more leads through word-of-mouth and social proof.
To see how to endlessly get 5-star reviews, check out my Realtor Review YouTube playlist:
6 — Value Add Email Newsletter
An email newsletter is a powerful tool for nurturing client relationships and generating leads. By consistently delivering valuable content, real estate agents can stay top-of-mind with potential clients.
But what is valuable content? I can tell you what it ISN’T.
Sending a weekly email about the real estate market is a quickest way for your entire database to unsubscribe!
So what should an agent newsletter contain? It should provide something of value to your ideal clients! What is it they want to know on a weekly basis that is actually helpful? One that works for most agents is an events update! Here’s a glimpse of the opening for my team’s weekly newsletter:
We help our prospects figure out what they’re doing every weekend! That’s value ADDED.
Can you or should you include things like market updates, neighborhood spotlights, home buying/selling tips, exclusive listings, and other real estate related content? ABSOLUTELY. But lead with value.
We have a market update video we change out each month and include team benefits and contact info at the bottom. This keeps them subscribed and reminded that we’re the team adding value on a weekly basis!
7 — Social Media Showcasing
Why is social media ranked so far down? Two reason:
- It’s mostly NOT evergreen — so you have to continuously post.
- If you do the items above… you won’t need much social posting. I know… not the advice you expected to hear!
You can certainly build an entire business around ONLY social media posting. But it’s a hamster wheel of continuous effort. The goal is to leverage platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, and others, to showcase your expertise and attract potential clients.
Post visually appealing content, share success stories, highlight unique aspects of properties, and engage with your audience through comments and direct messages. Consistency and authenticity are key to building trust and generating leads through social media.
My favorite types of posts for social are:
- Sharing client and team wins
- Showcasing positive reviews and closings
- Updating property statuses (under contract, listed, sold)
- Showing our activities and events
Which platform(s) should you use? The answer is simple: whichever ones you like using personally. This is the ONLY way you will be consistent without outsourcing that work!
8 — Strategic Partnerships
Forming strategic partnerships with complementary professionals, such as mortgage brokers, interior designers, and home stagers, can create a mutually beneficial lead generation ecosystem.
By referring clients to each other and collaborating on joint marketing efforts, real estate agents can tap into each other’s networks and generate high-quality leads. I refer clients to my favorite lender all the time and in return, they send me all their Realtor-less clients to help!
Partner in more ways with your favorite industry partners like lead generating TOGETHER!
Another interesting thing to consider is teaming up with one of your favorite industry partners to work on lead generation TOGETHER.
9 — Intentional Networking
Networking remains an essential lead generation strategy. Attend industry conferences, local events, and community gatherings to connect with potential clients, fellow agents, and influential individuals in your area.
By actively participating in conversations, sharing knowledge, and building meaningful relationships, you can expand your professional network and generate referral-based leads.
Can’t find events to go to? Time to start one! Why not start an investor meetup or a first time homebuyer seminar? Agents with hustle win the day and so shall you!
10 — Agent & Client Referrals
Lastly, never underestimate the power of referrals. Specifically, the two best referral sources are past clients and real estate agents from other markets!
Providing exceptional service to your current and past clients can lead to future referrals. One of my favorite strategies here is to ask for referrals after a closing when I’m also requesting a review as well as providing a super unique closing gift where my clients will NEVER forget about me. This usually results in one instant referral and many more in the future!
Helping inbound moving clients by taking on referrals from out of area agents is another great way to grow your business! I love to stay tuned in to multiple referral networks within eXp Realty for easy referrals nationally and globally. I had one month where I received FOUR inbound referrals from this network!
One of many eXp referral networks.
Notice I Didn’t Mention…
There a slew of real estate lead generation strategies you’ll commonly think of that I didn’t mention… here are a few notes on why:
- Cold Calling: Sucks. You hate it, they hate it, and so few people are in the market to buy or sell a house, especially today, that why waste time when you can be attracting the few people who ARE in the market right to you?
- Door Knocking: Stoppit. It’s 2023. Nobody like soliciting. Let ’em come to you!
- Mailers: Expensive… and again, most people aren’t in the market to buy/sell especially right now. If you want to spend money, spend it on video content editors and writers and assistants to help you with evergreen content creation instead!
- Ad Spend: Reference mailers. Though, one thing I WOULD consider is retargeting people who found your organic content (YouTube videos, etc.)
- Billboards: This only works if you have lots of ways you are reaching people… and one of those must be social media or video content!
- CRM: Why do people list this as a lead gen strategy? It’s a useful, enabling tool in ANY lead generation strategy but a CRM itself ISN’T a strategy!
How to Learn More
Visit www.AgentWealthHustle.com to learn more about real estate lead generation, client attraction techniques, growing your realtor business, and achieving financial freedom along the way! You can also learn more about eXp Realty and our free partnership team there.
Feel free to schedule a call to chat more about how our free national team endlessly attracts clients!
Our (Free) team hanging out in Vegas at a professional growth event!
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