Social Media Tips for Real Estate

As of October 2012, Facebook reached 1 billion monthly active users. LinkedIn® has 175 million professionals worldwide, including all Fortune 500 companies. Twitter users generate an average of 400 million tweets each day. And, according to the 2013 National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Member Profile, technology tools such as websites, social media and mobile apps are integral to REALTORS®’ business success. A growing number are embracing new technologies and marketing strategies to attract buyers, including social media. Fifty-six percent of NAR members are using social media while an additional 9 percent plan to in the future. The use of social networking sites is more widespread among younger REALTORS®, with 79 percent of those 29 and younger using social media.

For example, save homebuyers time by enabling them to preview potential homes online via social media, like Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube. This maximizes the exposure of the home and is convenient and efficient for would-be buyers. Those that have previewed it online will be much more serious if they decide to come for an actual walk-through.

Yet the landscape is changing so quickly that it’s hard to stay current with the latest and greatest. Here are tips on how to use some new and also enduring social media tools to maximize your home sales and enhance your client relationships.

Using Instagram
Instagram is an easy-to-use and share photo service, which is increasingly used by agents to take photos of property listings, for example, using different angles and lighting filters. Agents can photograph key features of the home and share comments about the home or its features. Instragram complements other social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. Users can connect their Twitter and Instagram accounts, as well as Facebook, Tumblr and Flickr, in order to push photos out through these sites and gain exposure.  
      
Using Google+
While it has not been as widely embraced as other social media sites, Google+ can be a very powerful networking tool to connect with potential buyers and sellers, as well as others in your field. Unlike Facebook, where most users have adopted strict privacy settings, Google+ users often make their profiles and posts public to promote networking and interaction. Also, there are far fewer posts and distractions on Google+, so it can be easier to be heard. Moreover, Google+ has search engine optimization (SEO) benefits, since content is indexed by Google quickly.

Using Pinterest
Since its launch in 2010, Pinterest has become the fastest-growing social media site. In fact, Pinterest has surpassed LinkedIn® and Google+ for referral traffic. Because Pinterest is so visual, it can be a great fit for marketing. You can post visually appealing pictures of homes for sale, gardens, before and after photos, neighborhoods, as well as “how-to” videos, etc. Follow your clients on Pinterest to learn about their dream homes and their styles and preferences, which can help you identify potential homes they might be interested in. It can also be very helpful to partner with local businesses, such as painters, carpenters, landscape architects. Pin their most appealing images to your pinboards and promote them with comments. Don’t forget to include a link back to your website

Using Facebook
We’re all quite familiar with Facebook by this point, but not all of us are using it to grow our businesses. Ideally, establish business pages, rather than using your personal pages, to promote properties, invite clients to open houses, and share relevant content with “friends” and clients. This might include articles, links to your blogs posts (note that you can set blog posts automatically to link to your Facebook account), photos of house tours, new listings, etc. If you are using your personal page to share information about your business, it’s essential to make sure your page creates the image you want conveyed to your clients. Facebook’s privacy settings can be helpful and filter which content different groups are able to see, but it’s best to keep it professional and appropriate across the board.

Using Twitter
Plan a strategy to provide relevant, interesting and timely content to engage your followers in a conversation. You can also share good content from others that reinforces your message. This can include invitations to an upcoming open house, comments about the industry or homebuying experience, or links to your own website that features your newest blog post or video about, say, how to buy a short-sale home. You can write multiple Twitter posts at one time and then schedule them to be released at set times, using a tool such as HootSuite.        

Connecting with clients via social media is a ripe opportunity to foster client relationships and gain exposure for your business. To learn more about how technology can help your business, NAR’s e-PRO certification and Tech Edge events enable REALTORS® to hone their skills in mobile marketing, online reputation management, Google and cloud computing, content strategy, social media, the importance of photo and video, and much more. 

Article courtesy of RISMedia