Which Social Media Platform is Right for Your Real Estate Business in 2019?
Which social media marketing platform is right for your real estate business?
When working with real estate professionals. I get this question quite a bit, along with the following:
“Do I need to be on every single social media platform to market my real estate business? I am overwhelmed as is!?”
“Should I be on Instagram? What about getting a Facebook business page setup?”
Today, I am not only going to answer those questions for you but, I will also giving you some in-depth insight on each platform.
First Let’s start with where you Don’t need to be.
First thing first
Your real estate business does not need to be on Google Plus! Google will be discontinuing Google Plus soon. Over the years, I would tell people that Google Plus was a 100% useless yet at the same time altogether necessary platform. It was useless because no one ever used it. Google Plus was also a cumbersome and confusing platform to figure out. It was totally necessary because being that it’s owned by Google, using Google Plus gave brands and businesses the opportunity to leverage Google’s SEO.
Google Plus is a perfect example of what it means to be on a channel that you don’t need. We all have limited time and because of that, we want to make sure that the platforms that we choose will give us a return on our vested time and marketing dollars.
Secondly
Don’t be on a platform that your audience is not on. If you work with a lot of millennial buyers and you are finding that they are not on Facebook, that platform will not be your best option for reaching your marketing and business goals.
Who is your ideal client?
What type of clients do you want to work with and attract? This question needs to be answered pretty early on before you settle on your key social media platforms to market your real estate business. For example, if you get a lot of referral based business from other real estate professionals, LinkedIn should be your top platform. The end goal is to position your business on the top platforms that your ideal clients are on.
What are your goals?
With over 500 million users who access the site daily, Instagram is an ideal platform to reach an incredible amount of people. Many top producing real estate professionals have realized that it is more important to build relationships with their ideal clients instead of spending their time trying to sell to them. People are becoming savvier when it comes to marketing messages. Your leads, clients, and prospects for your real estate business want to see what you’re all about. This is one of the quickest ways to win over their loyalty. Instagram marketing for real estate professionals provides you with an incredible opportunity to connect one on one with folks.
As a highly visual platform, Instagram is an ideal place for you to pull the curtains back and show the personal side of your business. Posting content that will engage the average everyday person is a good strategy here. Just think about the sort of content that you get excited and intrigued by when scrolling your social media feeds. Sharing things when you are out and about with clients, posting home showings to your stories or even that selfie that you took in a continuing education class are all great strategies to grow your business with the power of Instagram marketing. When it comes to this platform think young and affluent. Around 64% of the people who use Instagram range from age 18-29 years old. If your ideal clients are millennials and first-time homebuyers, Instagram is the place you want to be!
LinkedIn is the largest social media platform in the world for business professionals. It’s the twelfth most visited platform in the world. LinkedIn is often times overlooked. Earlier in my career, I was a recruiter for the financial industry. I used LinkedIn to find top candidates for the jobs that I needed to fill. LinkedIn has evolved so much more since the mid 200’s when people primarily used it to find a job. Marketing your business with LinkedIn is a great strategy especially if your leads come by way of referrals for the most part.
Also, if you target a specific demographic, LinkedIn is a great tool to use. What’s key here is to build a valuable network of people who are interested in what you have to offer. Just like all of the other platforms, LinkedIn ranks your content by the amount of engagement. The more your audience engages with your audience, the more likely LinkedIn will deem your content as relevant show your content to more people. For this reason, it’s important that you are building a network of people who would find your content and services valuable. They would be more likely to engage with you.
I know there has been a lot of buzz around Instagram lately. But, we can’t turn our back on Facebook, one of the original social media platforms. Even today, 15 years after its launch, Facebook serves an important purpose when it comes to marketing any business. Facebook has over 2.2 billion monthly users and is an excellent platform to use to stay top of mind for people who already know, like and trust you. You can also drive new leads and prospects to your real estate business through a Facebook Business page.
This is an ideal platform to reach second time home buyers and sellers, downsizers and those who are looking to relocate. Use the Facebook Ad platform by wither boosting a post or going to Facebook.com/adsmanager. You can run highly targeted ads to reach the people who are looking for you but have not heard of you yet. Facebook is a great platform to stay top of mind with your sphere of influence. The best strategy for that is to use your personal profile to grow your business. Connect with clients, leads and prospects and start posting fun, upbeat, educational and inspiring posts. When it comes to your personal profile, leave the salsey messages out of your content. I guarantee you, your friends and family will thank you for not spamming them.
Twitter – Launched in 2005, Twitter is one of the oldest social media platforms. when it comes to this platform remember these 3 things: Location, location, location. If you are looking to be seen as a local expert, drive targeted leads to your business or cater to a niche market, then Twitter is a great place to start. Because this platform has a scrolling newsfeed, the best content strategy here is to post short, snappy messages that get straight to the point. Consider creating a Twitter account that is not solely focused on selling listings or attracting homebuyers. Instead, consider a Twitter presence that is dedicated to the local community, events and neighborhood happenings. Your Twitter account will soon be the talk of the town and where people who are interested in the community that you serve will log in and engage.
Pinterest – In my opinion, Pinterest is one of the most underrated social media platforms to date. Launching in 2010, Pinterest is often seen as the go-to hub for crafters and bridal parties to pin their respective interests. However, Pinterest should not only be seen as an online scrapbooking tool, but it can greatly enhance the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of your website. The key here is to create a business Pinterest account. The next step that you should take is to fill out every aspect of your new business account and make all links for your social media profiles are LinkedIn to your Pinterest Business account. An important benefit of using Pinterst to market your real estate business is your ability to drive traffic to your website. In order to do this, create a Pinterest board for your listings. When your audience clicks on your pins, they are driven to your website where they can get more information on each of your listings.
Google Business Page
