Social Media Marketing: Real Estate

- As of 2016, there are 1.2 million national association of realtor members. It's a competitive industry, where by standing off from your colleagues is a challenge in itself. Whether you're an experienced or new real estate agent, to grow your leads pipeline and sell more homes, you must develop an online marketing strategy comprised of the most effective tactics for social media and customer relationship management, also known as social selling. If you don't want to be left behind, you cannot ignore social media or its value that it can potentially offer you to grow your business.

For example, a quick search on Instagram for #realestateagent reveals over 3.5 million posts. While a search for real estate agent in the U.S. on LinkedIn reveals close to 200,000 user profiles. To create an effective social media strategy, you must do the following: The first step is to identify who are you trying to reach? Are they buyers? Sellers? Renters or investors? Your approach to how you create content and who you engage will vary based on your client's persona.

Next, what social networks is your target demographic using? For example, users of Snapchat and Instagram tend to be younger than who you will find and engage with on Facebook. As seen in the example, U.S. adults between the ages of 30 to 64 are most active on Facebook and Instagram. Next, how are you going to reach potential clients? Will it be exclusively through Facebook ads or will you strategically build a personal brand? Although the leading age for a real estate agent is 53 years old, newer agents, as seen here, are building personal brands on Instagram to connect with millennial consumers.

Last, what types of content will you post on social media? Will it be listings? A mix of personal and professional photos? Videos of home tours? Or will you spotlight your clients when you put them in a new home? Remember that social media is a tool that can help you increase awareness and exposure for your brand, as well as help drive clicks to your website listings. However, it also requires an abundance of time and strategy to effectively stand out from the competition.