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If you take a look at any of the social media profiles for the average real estate agent you will likely find lots of the same stuff.
Posts about listings.
Posts about closings.
Generic posts about houses asking which you like better, living room 1 or living room 2, etc.
How often have you posted these exact same types of posts?
Be honest…
Now, that’s not to say that these types of posts don’t have a place in your market strategy, they totally do.
They just shouldn’t be your entire marketing strategy.
In this post, we are going to break down a smarter way to do real estate social media marketing in 2022.
We are going to show you a three-part content strategy that you can use to connect with your audience in a genuine way, build their trust, and become the person they will look to for all their future real estate needs.
BECOME A LOCAL MEDIA COMPANY
At any given time the majority of your audience on social media is not in the market to buy or sell a home. So, posts about listing or selling homes may not be of great interest to most people on a daily basis.
But that doesn’t mean those same people wouldn’t be interested in other stuff you post.
This is why the first part of our content strategy is for you to act like a local media company.
What does it mean to be a local media company?
As a real estate agent you should be an expert in your area, right?
Many real estate agents are the person within their friend group that their friends turn to when they want to know about a new restaurant in town or about that new shopping center that’s being built up the road.
I can’t count the number of times each year that I get a text from one of my friends or family members asking about these types of things. Or driving directions. Apparently being in real estate makes you a better resource for driving directions than google maps.
But we are not talking about being a media company in the traditional sense of the word.
What do you think of when you hear the phrase media company?
If you are like most people you probably think of the news.
That’s not what we are telling you to become.
Nobody likes the news anymore.
We are talking about becoming a resource for all things happening in your area.
Let’s take a look at some areas that you can focus on:
- Restaurants
- Shopping Centers
- Local Events (Sporting Events, Concerts, Beer/Wine Tastings, etc.)
- Holiday Events
- Proposed development
- Zoning or legal changes that will impact real estate
These are just a few categories- there are tons more.
The idea is to cover topics or events that impact both the community as a whole and your potential followers.
That means that you need to ask yourself, “would my typical follower care about this” before you post anything.
If they would care, then that would be the type of content you want to cover.
If they wouldn’t care, skip it and move on to another topic.
BECOME THE GO-TO REAL ESTATE EXPERT FOR YOUR AREA
Even when people aren’t in the market for a new home, they may love to see posts about the city they live in.
I follow a couple of different accounts that show off historical vs current day locations within their city with a backstory explaining what has changed over time.
These types of posts are so cool.
But that’s not the only type of content you can share about your area. Here are three categories of content that you can create about your area that your audience will love:
Show off local neighborhoods
Most real estate agents take for granted how well they know their city. They think that the average person following them knows it as well as they do.
Let me let you in on a little secret…
Most people don’t know the name of neighborhoods other than the one they live in.
Most people don’t know the name of more than one or two home builders, and they couldn’t tell you which neighborhood they built in, or tell you who built a specific home if they were shown a picture of it.
Most people don’t know what price range different neighborhoods are in, even a general price range, other than their neighborhood and potentially the extreme high and low priced neighborhoods in their general area.
Most people don’t know anything about real estate… but they are super interested in it when they see posts about it.
This is a huge opportunity for content as a real estate agent.
You can create neighborhood profiles showing off all the features of different neighborhoods.
Talk about the number of homes in the neighborhood, the size range, price range, age range, common amenities found in the homes, who built the homes, the number of homes on the market currently as well as points in the past, and the trends and outlook for that neighborhood moving forward.
This is extra powerful if you can create some great video content of you talking about the neighborhood, with some video of you in the neighborhood, as well as some fly-over video showing off the neighborhood.
Don’t like being on video?
I get it.
But I would encourage you to push yourself out of your comfort zone and do it anyway.
Remember, this isn’t content to sell a home in the neighborhood. It’s strictly meant to show off the neighborhood and help show your audience that you are the go-to authority for that neighborhood.
Pick a new neighborhood each month and go in-depth to show your audience everything they may want to know about that neighborhood.
Make sure to focus on the neighborhoods you want to do work in, or the neighborhoods that you feel are the most popular and will draw the most attention from your followers.
Talk about schools
One of the most important things in many people’s buying decisions is the school district that their home is located in.
This is beginning to change a little bit in some areas that allow choice schools, where you are not restricted to send your kid to the neighborhood school, but even for them, the school district may play a part in their buying decision.
Obviously, there are regulations regarding what you can and can’t say about schools, but that doesn’t mean you can’t talk about the districts, talk about new schools being built, sports teams that won championships, or new types of school curriculum that is being brought to a district or school.
Sure there are other resources for finding information on schools, but very few tie that information back into how it affects the real estate around it.
Highlight the fun stuff
What is it that you love about living in your area?
Are there amazing restaurants you like to eat at?
Maybe there are some great opportunities for outdoor activities like hiking, fishing, hunting, or golfing.
Show this stuff off!
Here’s the key though…
You have to add a bit of yourself to this type of content.
If you don’t hunt or fish or hike, don’t create lots of content about it.
You want to create content that is going to genuinely attract people who you will get along with.
Perhaps you have heard the saying, “People work with people they know, like, and trust.”
If you haven’t heard that saying go read it again.
It’s so true. And here’s the thing, if you only work with people that know, like, and trust you, the number of frustrations and headaches you will have with your clients will significantly decrease.
Plus it just makes work better when you get to work with people you get along with.
When you add a bit of your personality, likes, and interests to the content you cover, you are likely to attract others who are similar. This will also help ensure that you have the best ability to help them find the right home since it may be the same type of home you would look for yourself.
SHOW OFF YOUR REAL ESTATE
People love homes. Period.
They love to look at pictures of homes even if they aren’t in the market for a new home.
The thing is, they just don’t want to feel like they are being “sold” a home every time they see a post from you.
But like we said up top, there is certainly a place for “sales” type posts.
We believe that posting your listings, as well as under contract or closing type of posts should definitely be part of your strategy. But even here in the third part of your content strategy, these types of posts should only be part of the strategy.
For most agents, they are the entire strategy.
Think of it this way, social media is about giving content to your audience. But when you make a sales pitch, it switches from a give to an ask.
The goal is to have a lot more giving content than asking content.
Maybe it’s 4 to 1 or 5 to 1 giving vs. asking.
Maybe slightly more or slightly less. It’s up to you and what you think will best resonate with your audience.
Try out a frequency, and if it seems like people aren’t responding well to the sales posts, try adding in more giving content between them.
So what kind of real estate can you show off if you’re not making a sales pitch?
You can share pictures of past listings.
You can share pictures of other agents listings that have special or unique features (but make sure to get permission from them first).
You can repost content from builders or interior designers.
Show off real estate photos that you think your audience will connect with.
Just make sure that it makes sense.
Too often agents in cold-weather states will post lots of stock images of real estate with pools or on the beach. And while that may be interesting in some ways to your audience, it does not correlate with your service as a local real estate agent.
Plus there are already tons of real estate accounts online posting this kind of content.
Focus on sharing local real estate that your followers would be interested in.
CONCLUSION
When it comes to real estate social media marketing, the average agent is approaching it all wrong.
If that’s currently you, don’t worry. Most agents have been there at some point.
It seems hard to come up with content, we get it.
But it doesn’t have to be hard.
If you follow the three-part content strategy we covered in this post you will have plenty of content to cover, and you will be doing it in a way that is far more likely to connect with your followers and generate real engagement….which is the most effective way to generate business from organic social media market.